Peelin' spuds

Away from all that northern sunshine and beautiful tomatoes I'm craving stodge again. Shepherd's pie, pasta and lots of bread. Not to mention mashed potatoes. Thankfully I have help in the kitchen.

Winter

We certainly got a temperature shock when we got back with a number of icy, cold days. Today though is lovely (in the sun) and just the right weather for a spot of painting.

Singapore II

We crammed quite a bit into our 'day' in Singapore, though not as much as I'd planned. Originally I'd wanted to take Jack to Sentosa Island to go to Universal studios but didn't tell him in case it didn't happen. We arrived at 6am and were flying out at 8pm that night. We checked into our hotel and then showered and slept. Neither of us had slept well on the flight from Rome, though we did share some wedding cake with some lovely Italian newlyweds. I was still planning the trip to Sentosa even though time was slipping away and Jack opted for a swim instead in the hotel pool. It was pretty nice even with the distinctive tang of av gas in the air.

After our swim we caught a taxi into town for a look-see which involved shopping and eating, because we hadn't done nearly enough of that on our trip. Jack when faced with a huge choice of foods like sushi, yakitori, hainan chicken rice, mee goreng and more chose fish and chips (they were actually very good) and at least he didn't want pizza..

We found some amazing toy shops and checked out the bookshop Kinokuniya.

We got back to the Crowne, packed and re-entered Changi airport where we once more visited the butterflies and used the free wi-fi while we waited.

Jack loves these feedback screens at Changi Airport. He usually said everything was excellent.

Jack did this list on the way to Italy. I think we covered it all, though maybe not in quite that order.

Danger Money

The traffic in Rome is crazy, cacophonous and chaotic. I'm surprised we only saw one minor accident. Roundabouts seem to be every man or woman for themselves with no indication where they begin or end and as for lane markings, I think these are viewed as suggestions only. Think then of traffic policemen standing in the middle of intersections directing all of this armed with only a whistle and one of those natty uniforms that the Italian police love so dearly.  What you can't see from this photo is the number of large buses just metres from where he stood serenely waving his arms and scores of tiny cars and buzzing vespas waited impatiently for their turn. 

On our last day we found a book called This is Rome by M. Sasek from a wonderful series including Paris, Venice and New York. Jack particularly liked this illustration. 

Jack's Rome

As our bus ticket was for 24 hours we decided to rest after the Colosseum and hop on again later that day. We scored a seat upstairs and outside, though at a price as we were surrounded by a large family who yelled across us, jostled us and kept bumping me in the back of the head with their ipad when they stood up to take photos. A dramatic thunderstorm meant we took cover and escaped. Jack took charge of the camera and took some interesting photos so here's a selection. I won't put all of them on because he took so many but I think you will get the idea.

Durps

As I may have mentioned I have this thing about not wanting to look like a tourist, even though as S reminded me I am. Maybe part of it it is not wanting to draw too much attention to myself saying,"Soft target! rob me!" so I avoid sandals and socks and taking photos with gigantic tablets and doing segway tours. We saw them almost everywhere we went, though funnily enough not in Venice. There's just something about these groups that makes me giggle. From their matching helmets and their upright postures and earnest expressions. What would the collective noun for a group of segways be? A durp? 

 Or maybe I'm just secretly jealous because I've always wanted to try one.

ticking off the to-do list

On our last day we had many things left to do like see the Colosseum (tick), buy presents (tick), eat gelati, play one last game of foosball, catch the bus and find a substitute for the Trevi Fountain so we could fling in coins for friends and family.

We decided this one in the Piazza Navona would be most satisfactory and Jack set about flinging fistfuls of coins forward and backwards, over his shoulder with abandon. He only hit one person and was pleased to have crossed that off his list. (the coin in the fountain task not hitting someone with a coin).