The trip is all over now, returning to New Zealand.

We cleaned up the house, and departed at about 7am for Charles De Galle airport in Paris. It was about a 90 minute drive.

We dropped off the car and checked in for the flight. The flight from Paris was quite long and I could not sleep at all – 12 Hour Flight

We arrived in Singapore at about 6:45am local time and checked into the Transit hotel for 7 hours – 108 Singapore Dollars.

The airport was very busy then, just like  busy shopping center, and it was quite warm inside – the aircon in the airport not really working too well.

I finally got to sleep after an hour (not sure about Pam) and slept until 1:30 so I got a good 4-5 hours sleep.

Currently waiting to catch the next flight which is at 7:50pm about 4 hours away.

Just a little video to show some of the activates Pam & I have been up to, mainly drinking Champagne

Far too much food, far too full…

All up about 64 Euro

Quaint little place with lots of packed in small tables.

We both had the snails for starter, I then had a local dish which was Chicken cooked with Riesling with a mushroom sauce and ……. Pam had a local meatball dish…

I had a boysenberry tart, and Pam a Crème Brulee.

We shared a bottle of Pinot Gris.

All up about 75 Euro.

Along our walk we found a bar called the Academy of Beer and since it was 4pm on Friday we stopped in for a beer.

The beers were expensive at ~ 7 Euro for 500ml.

We had:

• Delirium Tremens – 8.5%
• Tripel Karmeliet – 8.4%

Pam did not really like either of them, but I enjoyed the Tripel Karmeliet more than the Delirium Tremens.

The hotel is positioned well in the old historic section of the city right outside are all the restaurants.

The room is pokey small especially after Sablet, the view from the room is nice and has a partial view of the river.

We had to pick up our rental car today even though we do not leave until tomorrow because the train station car rental is not open on a Sunday and the one at the airport only opens from 2pm on a Sunday far too late for us to leave Strasbourg.

We have again a Citron DS5 so that is nice.

We decided since we had the car that we needed to go somewhere and we choose Haut-Koenigsbourg Castle

The castle was built in a very specific manner – actually, in a way, it was carved in into the rocks standing on the top of the mountain as to preserve its natural strategic and defensive position. Although rebuilt in 19th century as a replica of the original castle situated on the same spot, Haut-Koenigsbourg offers a unique and indeed authentic impression of castle life led during the middle ages. The castle is divided into two parts – the upper and the lower courtyard. The upper part, the one which is today a private part of the castle, was reserved for the owner of the castle, his family and their highly ranked guests. The lower part of the castle was the home of craftsmen, servants and their families, and also a place where accidental travellers could find a warm refuge to spend a night in. The castle, due to its quite isolated position and common sieges, owned its own windmill, animal farm and storage rooms with wine, wheat, and other groceries essential for the life inside of the walls. All of this can still be seen today.

Today was rainy and not a good time to visit a castle on a high hill – about 700 meters.

Very misty and ethereal looking….

A ticket to go inside was 8 Euro and since we had not spent much on this type of thing we decided to go ahead and buy the ticket.

and back outside

Just down the road about 50 meters there is a market on a Saturday – it starts about 8am to 12pm. Mostly books and antiques but some foods as well.

The first mushrooms we found other than normal button mushrooms. This guy above had Oyster mushrooms and a few other types. We bought some for our time in Champagne region which starts on Sunday.

After the market we stopped in for a coffee, 2 euro each – and ok, better than yesterdays 2 euro coffee but nothing on Lucianoes in Christchurch.

Strasbourg Cathedral or the Cathedral of Our Lady of Strasbourg, also known as Strasbourg Minster, is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Strasbourg, Alsace, France.

It is 142 meters high and opened in 1439, making it currently 575 years old. The building of this cathedral started in 1176 and completed in 1439 a total of 263 years.

It is incredibly detailed