Fabulous France Dec 2016 (Day 6): Catacombs of Paris, Musée d'Orsay & Seine Cruise

We started the day with a visit to the Catacombs- underground ossuaries which hold the remains of more than 6 million people- created as part of the effort to eliminate the city's overflowing cemeteries. It was pretty interesting, and not as macabre as it sounds. The kids seemed ok and did not freak out or anything.... Hehe.

Having audio guides helped, otherwise it would have been quite boring.

Fancy this Christmas tree?

We then made our way to the famous Musée d'Orsay to check out the beautiful building and of course, the famous works of art inside. Housed in a former railway station, it certainly stands out as a museum- as you can see from the photos below.

Such a lovely building!

We capped the evening with a Seine cruise. It was quite cold so we could not sit out on the deck. Nevertheless, it was still lovely to see all the sights, and we got a few decent photos. Paris is such a romantic city!

Fabulous France Dec 2016 (Day 5): Eiffel Tower

Our little girl was running a high fever the next day (poor thing), and so we had a late start to the day. Fortunately she was feeling better in the afternoon, so we managed to go up the Eiffel Tower.

Walking past the Palais de Tokyo - a building dedicated to modern and contemporary art

Isn't she beautiful?

We timed our visit to catch both day and night, and it was absolutely worth it. It was a beautiful clear day as well, so we were very blessed. We could see for miles, and could spot many of Paris' iconic landmarks. We spent a lot more time on the tower than we expected to, and I think we saw the blinking lights at least 3 times. We had loads of fun indeed!

Fabulous France Dec 2016 (Day 4): Notre Dame, Sainte-Chapelle, Musée de l'Orangerie, Christmas market along Champs-Élysées & Arc de Triomphe

Day 4 was a super packed day for us. We started off with Notre Dame- but we made the mistake of taking too long to see the interior, and forgot to start queuing outside to climb the tower! Arrrgh. So we had to skip that, as the queue was too long and it was too cold to be standing in line for such a long time. Super disappointed. To this day the boy still talks about missing the climb to see the gargoyles! :(

Our next stop was another church- Sainte-Chappelle, on the Île de la Cité. My son said, "Another church??" Welcome to Europe, my child. Haha! Anyway, this church was really unique- with lower and upper levels- and fantastic stained glass windows on the upper level. We had fun trying to spot scenes and characters on the stained glass windows- and yes, it is harder than it sounds!

We then made our way to Musée de l'Orangerie, catching a bus to Place de la Concorde and walking from there. I remember the short walk from the square to the museum being such a fun one- some of our best family photos on the trip were taken there. We were just goofing around with the selfie stick and enjoying the wide, open space.

We then explored the Christmas market along Champs-Élysées, and tried some mulled wine and churros. Yummy!

Our last destination - Arc de Triomphe, the famous landmark honouring those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. We made it to the top- which wasn't exactly easy! So glad that I finally got to do this.

What a super long day!

View of the Eiffel Tower from the top of Arc de Triomphe 

(super zoomed in, of course!)

Fabulous France Dec 2016 (Day 3): Musée du Louvre & Saint Eustache

We visited the Louvre the next day- taking the lesser-known entrance via Passage Richelieu. We got in very quickly, which was fantastic of course. As you probably know, the Louvre is HUGE. It is impossible to see everything in a day- in fact, I don't think one can even see all the highlights in a day.

Here are a few photos of what we managed to see....

Aphrodite, known as the 'Venus de Milo'

Winged Victory of Samothrace 

The famous Mona Lisa

Mummies- my favourite

Model of the Louvre

The gorgeous Cour Marly

Four Captives

Entering the Louvre through the side entrance meant we only got to see the famous glass pyramid after we exited the museum (we exited via Carrousel du Louvre- the underground shopping centre, where we also saw the famous glass inverted pyramid). Once outside, we had lots of fun taking photos of the iconic glass pyramid with the Louvre as the backdrop- complete with silly poses and all.

Even after such a long day, we managed to squeeze in another destination- St Eustache, where we got to listen to a free organ recital. We also got to hear a bit of the choir singing, which was lovely- as you can imagine. Being so tired, we didn't sit through the entire recital though. Still, it was a good experience!

Am super proud of the kids for surviving the Louvre!

Fabulous France Dec 2016 (Day 2): Jardin du Luxembourg, Pantheon, Gallery of Paleontology and Comparative Anatomy & Pompidou Centre

We managed to squeeze in a lot into our first full day in Paris- starting first with Jardin du Luxembourg. Being winter, there were no beautiful flowers to speak of, but there was still a silent, wintry beauty about the park. It was very cold, but we managed to secure a spot in the sun so it wasn't too bad. We munched on some snacks and lounged around for a while- the kids chasing pigeons and us adults trying to take decent selfies with the selfie stick.. :)

Next up was the Pantheon- which was just up the road from the gardens, but we ended up taking the bus, which was a tad silly... Haha.

After that, we took a bus to the Gallery of Paleontology and Comparative Anatomy, and that was a very interesting place to visit, as seen from the photos below. The skeletons and preserved 'stuff' may not be everyone's cup of tea- but none of us got queasy so that was good.

We had time to squeeze one more thing in, so we decided to make the trip to check out the Pompidou Centre. Modern art is not really my kind of thing, but I guess the building was worth seeing -although we forgot to check out the coloured pipes when it was still light! Duh.

City Hall- enroute to the Pompidou Centre

Eh?

Fabulous France Dec 2016 (Day 1): Hello Paris!

It all happened so fast. One fine day my mum suddenly suggested a trip to Europe to see the Christmas markets.. I was like 'EH'? Anyway, to cut a long story short- we soon found ourselves booking flights (which were crazy expensive since it was a last-minute unplanned trip) and scrambling to book accommodation, work out an itinerary, etc. All this happened after we came back from our trip to Perth in September.....

Thank God it worked out ok- and we had a good trip in the end. There were blips here and there- but nothing major.

We flew on Qatar Airways (great airline), and the short stopover helped to break the journey.

Love this view!

Super excited to see the famous landmarks and buildings as we made our way via taxi to our apartment.. Are we really in Paris???

I bought a really great 'Paris City Trails' book by Lonely Planet Kids; and that really helped to prep the kids for the trip. We also watched some cartoons as prep- such as Hunchback of Notre Dame and Ratatouille- to introduce them to some Parisian landmarks. I am super proud of how well they took to the trip, and of course- Pokemon Go helped as well! Haha.

We booked an apartment in Paris via FlipKey- and it was a really good deal. The location was fantastic (1st arrondissement!), and steps away from the Metro and the Seine. The size was just nice for us as well- 2 adults and 2 young children. Such a gem of a place!

More stories to come!

Star Walkers Episode X: The True Hope

No prizes for guessing the VBS theme this year... see below, aren't they fantastic decor ideas?

Even the theme song had elements of the Star Wars theme song incorporated, which was really clever. The kids had a wonderful time learning about God. We managed to find a 'passport' for our girl, but unfortunately not our boy. Thankfully he was still accepted to attend.

Check out the lightsabers! The tube of Jaffa Cakes is for comparison..

The Music Run 2016!

Another year of Music Run! This time I had to do a bit more 'work'- there were media interviews lined up for me! That was daunting, but a good experience of course. I had to do one in Mandarin *shudder*- but with the help of my colleagues who penned down the script in 'hanyu pinyin' for me, I pulled through.

Beautiful set-up with vibrant colours!

These meals were surprisingly yummy- even though I expected them to be affected by the mass production and the heat at the venue

The Sepang track was unbearably hot this year. Almost died doing the 5km loop! :p

Celebrating our little girl's 6th birthday!

So we decided to throw a surprise birthday party for our little girl at her kindergarten. Logistics was tricky, as the school was undergoing major renovation and we had quite a lot of stuff to lug up 2 flights of stairs!

She is mad about My Little Pony and so we had that as a 'theme' for the celebration. The look on her face when she showed up was absolutely priceless. She was so happy! Made all that stressful planning worthwhile :)

Happy 6th birthday my little sunshine! May you sparkle with joy always!

Ordered some cupcakes online- the taste was ok but they didn't look great. 

In fact, the ones with the pony were quite ugly... Hmm.