Day Two of Singapore - Evening...

After my snooze by the pool all afternoon, I began to feel human again, and when Robyn got home from work, we all headed into Singapore... The architecture is quite something...

Keith, Lara and Robyn...

I'm not exactly sure what these were but they were colour and there were a few around...

When it rained it really rained.

We found a bar and I tried my very very first Singapore Sling. And YES I loved it!  Who wouldn't?

Then we went to another bar which had trees growing through the canopies...

There were lots of question marks around, which were questionable!

And we drank our alcoholic beverages and watched the sunset...

The buildings dwarfed me!

Lots of Sculpture...

It was a rather pretty sunset...

More Sculpture.  I think this one is quite clever!

After the rain...

We started wandering down to the food...

Amazing food hall, and one of the oldest in Singapore.

After dinner we headed to here to watch the laser lightshow.  Really pretty and fortunately it didn't rain!

Singapore has a lot to offer, great food, city sights, rainforest, wildlife, zoos, birds. Two days probably wasn't enough. Not sure if I could get used to that heat though!

Robyn, Keith and Lara were great hosts. Thanks for having me to stay :)

Arnhem and Kroller-Muller

I got up really early – 6.00am and went to the station with Anne.  Anne got off the train at Utrecht, and I carried on to Arnhem.  I was there over an hour before Arthur was due to meet me, so I walked to the city centre and wandered around the shops, found a supermarket and bought some more nurofen as my foot was sore.

Arnhem is a really pretty place - I was most impressed, and I have plans to explore this city in more depth on my next trip!

I have no idea what any of the buildings are, although the bottom of this one is a cafe, and they were really friendly and helpful to me in my quest to find a supermarket!

After an hour I then headed back to Starbucks at the station, bought a hot chocolate and sat and warmed up while waiting for Arthur.  He arrived at about 9.30am and we were off. Our destination - Kroller Muller.

The Kröller-Müller Museum has a world-renowned collection of mainly 19th and 20th century visual art. Centrepieces include the large collection of work by Vincent van Gogh and the sculpture garden.

What a beautiful drive to get there too - stunning tree lined roads..

The museum itself is also beautiful as it's located in the Hoge Veluwe National Park in Otterlo in the Netherlands. The museum was founded by art collector Helene Kröller-Müller and opened in 1938. It has the second-largest collection of paintings by Vincent van Gogh, after the Van Gogh Museum and also has a sculpture garden. The museum had 330,000 visitors in 2013. - Gosh - I was one of those visitors making up the 330,000!

Inside the Van Gogh Collection, people were busy taking photographs of them. In the Kroller-Muller you were allowed to providing you didn't use flash. At the Van Gogh Museum that I had been to a few weeks earlier, taking photos was prohibited!

The works of art was varied and interesting...

And I particularly liked Charley Toorep's Clowns in front of the Ruins of Rotterdam.  I've been trying to find out more about this painting, but to no avail.

The Sculpture garden was really pretty as well.

I enjoyed this one which was Jardin d'émail by Jean Dubuffet.  We were able to climb onto it via a narrow staircase and become part of the sculpture.

The gardens themselves were beautiful - Rhododendrons were trying hard to flower, despite the absence of Spring.

We walked for a bit and managed to get a bit lost...So many paths.  Had it been warmer I would have suggested hiring a bike and biking through the paths.  But.  It.  Was. Freezing!

A Chickadee of some sort on the lawn..

Did I mention it was beautiful?

On the way out we spied some wild deer so a photographic stop was in order!

I was meeting Anne and Jori in Arnhem at 5.30pm  - 6.00pm and we had some time left, so  Arthur and I went for a hot coffee at a lovely cafe somewhere between the Museum and the station.  He dropped me off and I went back to Starbucks for another hot drink trying to warm up.  I was so cold.

Anne, Jori and Roeki met me and I was taken back to a wonderful evening and fabulous meal at Jori's parent's place.  I enjoyed it immensely.  Jerome played the old Turkish Flute for me so I could get a photo - which has subsequently done very well in local competitions.

Looking forward to catching up again.

From Dubrovnik to Split, Croatia

Cheap Dubrovnik Tours picked us up at 8.00 to take us to Split.  We thought this would be a better option as we could stop and take photos along the way, whereas the bus would mean we were stuck in the bus.  Unfortunately it didn't work out as we liked, but we got to Split nice and early, and we did manage a couple of places for photography on the way.

We were taken down to a little bay with an abandoned house, that nature was gradually claiming back...

Rachel up on the stairs taking photos of the 'lounge'. Our driver was getting worried about our safety!

We stopped to have morning tea. I have no idea what they were called but they were delicious!

A bit further on we stopped for photography at a little picturesque village..

Leaving the village we came across this country scene.  The clouds were starting to look a bit weird!

A long hike up a hill and this opened up for views.  What a beautiful country Croatia is...

I have no idea what these clouds are, or what they convey other than bad weather coming, but I had never seen anything like it!

We dumped our bags at the apartment then walked into split – only a 5 min walk to the old town from our apartment which was great.  Rachel was not feeling so good, but we headed to the bus station to get our tickets to Zadar for tomorrow.

Split is the second-largest city of Croatia and the largest city of the region of Dalmatia. It lies on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea, centred on the Roman Palace of the Emperor Diocletian. It is one of the oldest cities in the area. While it is traditionally considered just over 1,700 years old counting from the construction of Diocletian's Palace in 305 CE, archaeological research relating to the original founding of the city as the Greek colony of Aspálathos in the 4th century BCE establishes the urban history of the area as being several centuries older. The city turned into a prominent settlement around 650 AD, when it became successor to the ancient capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia, Salona. Split became a Byznantine city, and later drifted into the sphere of the Byzantine vassal, the Republic of Venice. For much of the High and Late Middle Ages, Split enjoyed autonomy as a free city, caught in the middle of a struggle between Venice and the King of Hungary for control over the Dalmatian cities. After a long period of Hungarian rule, Venice eventually prevailed.

Prokurative , or officially the Republic Square, the famed Mediterranean plaza in the center, also known as a stage for cultural events in the city

One of the entrances into the old Town..

Inside the Old Town...

One of the narrow streets in Split, if not the narrowest!

We wandered around a bit more, and found these singers in the Diocletian Palace singing traditional Croatian Capellas.  They were amazing.

The Palace was decorated with numerous 3500 year old granite sphinxes originating from the site of Egyptian Pharaoh Thutmose III. Only three have survived the centuries. One is still located on the Peristyle, the second sits headless in front of Jupiter's Temple, and a third is in the city museum.  I guess this is the one located on the Peristyle !

Archeological work still goes on inside Split...

As well as building reconstruction...

Furniture makers working in the street...

Stopped for dinner at a pizza place and I had a glass of red wine for 20 kuna – which was really nice.  Rachel felt worse so Steven walked her back to the apartment while I kept wandering around.  I met Steven back at the cup sculpture about 15 mins later but while I had been walking around I had found a hairdresser that would cut and tidy up my hair for only 75 kuna or 10 euros.  So I booked it, then showed Steven where it was, so he could find me at 8.00 when it was finished.

The hairdresser was brilliant and cut my hair really well – super pleased with it, and I jokingly told them I’d like to book another appointment in 10 years!  Lots of laughs.

People were sitting around drinking wine and listening to entertainment here...

Steven and I then carried on walking around, exploring the little alleyways, and taking photos of the town as night fell.  At about 10pm we decided to head back, but we found a winebar and stopped for some red wine – beautiful.  When I told the waiter I was from Marlborough he just about swooned and said it’s the best wine growing region he knows!

Rachel was already sound asleep when we got in.