Friday 7^th October 2016

The plane landed in Singapore at 7:10am on Friday 7^th October 2016 so the day we picked up on the way over we have now lost.

Clearing customs and collecting and collecting luggage is always straightforward in Singapore and only took 15 minutes. As the plane arrived at terminal 3 we only had a short walk through the terminal, along the air bridge and into the hotel. Fortunately our room was ready so we were able to check straight into the room and get showered and changed.

Weather in Singapore 27° overcast and has been raining all day.

The Crowne Plaza Hotel is in the airport complex and after such a long travelling day yesterday we are not planning to do any site seeing just look around the many shops in the airport.

Our flight departs tomorrow morning at 7:45am so we will and we have already checked in on-line so just have to put baggage through and then wait to board.

We expect to arrive in Melbourne at 6:10pm and Kelly is going to pick us up.

Dinner tonight was in the Azur restaurant in the Hotel. Excellent Chinese smorgasbord. It was lovely to have something light for a change.

Thursday 6^th October 2016

A very early start this morning. Up at 4:45am and got a taxi at 5:30am for the 25 minute trip to Manchester airport.

As we had already checked in on-line we didn’t have to queue for long, however, getting through security was a different story. It is probably the most thorough we have experienced. We had to take everything out of our pockets. Even had to take off our jackets and put them through separately. Lynne even had to take her lipstick and ventolin inhaler out of her handbag and put them in a plastic bag to be scanned. She had also forgotten there was a sample perfume bottle in her carry on bag. It showed up on the scan so the security people made her take everything out of the bag and they then proceeded to open every box.

We boarded the plane at 9:30am and landed in Munich at 11:00am for a 1-hour stopover. We had to disembark and take our carry on bags with us. We boarded the same plane at 12:00pm (sat in the same seats) and settled in for the 11½ half hour flight to Singapore. The flight was a little bumpy and the plane was full so there were no spare seats to move into for a little more room. Premium economy for us on long flights in future as there is more legroom.

Wednesday 5^th October 2016

The weather is still being kind with clear blue sky, however, the temperature is getting decidedly cooler with an expected top of only 15° today.

Today is our last day in UK for this trip.

We had breakfast with Heather & Michael and said final farewells to them as they are heading off ot Yorkshire today.

After breakfast we walked into the main Manchester shopping area for a look around then got a pizza for lunch. Back to the hotel mid afternoon to and sat in the lounge area catching up on emails and checking in for our flight to Singapore in the morning.

We had dinner in the Hotel Restaurant, which was very pleasant, and the food was good then headed upstairs to finalise the packing ready for tomorrow.

Tuesday 4h October 2016

The weather is still good. Today we woke to clear blue sky with temperature predicted to be 17° in both Liverpool and Manchester.

After a lovely breakfast we checked out of the hotel and headed to the railway station by taxi to catch the 11:16am train to Manchester.

The trip was only took about 35 minutes and we arrived at 11:50am. We had lunch in a café at the station then got a taxi to the Midlands Hotel where we are staying for the next two nights. The Hotel, built in approx. 1902 and has played host to Kings, Queens, Prime Minsters and Rock Stars. It was also the venue for the meeting where Rolls met Royce.

After checking in we walked round the city centre. It seems like there is a pub on every corner so we visited a few for some refreshments before having dinner at Dutton’s pub.

After 47 days together, tonight is our last with Heather & Michael, (they are heading to Leeds in the morning to spend time with relatives), so we found a quiet place to sit in the lounge of the hotel and celebrated our fantastic and amazing European Vacation with a few nightcaps.

Midland Hotel

Manchester Town Hall

Pubs on he City

Manchester Cathedral

Manchester Station

Basil at lunch in Manchester Station

Our hotel room

Monday 3^rd October 2016

The good weather is staying with us. A very pleasant 16° with clear blue sky and a light breeze.

Breakfast at 8:30am on the top floor looking out over the river and docks.

WE caught the hop-on-hop-off bus and did the one-hour tour round Liverpool, stopping off to visit Liverpool Cathedral (the biggest in Britain) which whilst quite plain is nonetheless very beautiful. It was commenced in 1904 and not completed until the mid 1960’s. After a lovely morning tea at the Cathedral we re-boarded the bus for the last part of the trip, which finished at Albert Dock.

Next was a visit to the Beetles Museum. Understandably Liverpool is al about their most famous sons “The Beetles”. The museum was very interesting and informative. We had a light lunch at the museum and then set off to do a bit of shopping before returning to the Albert Dock to see the Mersey Side Maritime Museum. The Museum had to excellent displays, one on the Lusitania and the other of course was the Titanic. Both were very interesting. This now completes our Titanic journey as we have seen where she was built, launched, sailed from and now the White Star Line Headquarters.

Next was a short walk further along the dock to go on dockside Ferris wheel that provided us with some excellent views over Liverpool, the Mersey River and docks.

WE had dinner at the Smuggler Cove pub then returned to the Hotel. We took our remaining bottle of Champagne up to the top floor and drank it overlooking the lights of Albert Dock before returning to our room to pack ready for our trip to Manchester tomorrow morning.  

Liverpool Cathedral

Chins Town Gate in Liverpool

Our Hotel

Albert Dock lock system

Titanic Memorial

Lynne on the Liverpool Ferris Wheel

Liverpool Cathedral from the Ferris wheel