19 Dec 08 – Day 8 (Mont St Michel)

Ate breakfast in hotel at 8am before going to Mont St Michel on a coach for a tour with a local guide till 12+pm. Travel back to mainland for lunch at restaurant La Bergerie then back to Mont St Michel for free & easy time from 2pm – 4pm. Kim and I took our time to explore the place, took some photos along the way before going to the post office to get stamps and postcards and some other souvenirs.

Area around Mont St Michel

Numbers and alphabets on the bricks were used to identify the workers who carried them up during construction in order to pay them accordingly

The narrowest staircase in Mont St Michel

Got back to hotel, freshened up and then we were out again on our own to explore the area near Hotel Digue. We took some photos and found a postal box along the way where we posted our postcards back to Singapore. Dined at Restaurant Le Relais du Roy and we ordered Pumpkin Tart with sweet Chestnut Pieces; Stewed Pork with Lentils; Foamy Omelet with Glass Worts; Bread and Fries and Apple and Red Berries Clafoutis with Calvados. Then we were cack to hotel around 9pm. MSM is a nice place but probably not going back there. The price of the items in the souvenir shops get cheaper as it gets nearer to the Abbey.

Postal Box

Beautiful Sunset

Pumpkin Tart with sweet Chestnut Pieces

Stewed Pork with Lentils

Foamy Omelet with Glass Worts

Bread and Fries

Apple and Red Berries Clafoutis with Calvados

17 & 18 Dec 08 – Day 6 & 7 (Caen & Mont St Michel)

Ate breakfast in Hotel Park, Bruges around 6.30am and departed for Caen at 7.30am. For some reasons, our driver liked to tease me a lot. While he was loading my luggage onto the coach, he commented that at the start of the trip, my luggage case was the lightest and after Bruges, it suddenly got heavier. He then asked me what I put inside and I replied chocolate, feeling very embarrassed. Fortunately he was also a chocolate lover and understood.

After 3+hr journey, we met up with the Caen local guide at 2pm for a walking tour and we visited The Abbaye-aux-Hommes and the City Square. The local guide told us that Apple wine, Calvados and Prommue, is the specialty in Caen and that Le Drakka is a type of small chocolate pastry only found in Caen. It’s powdery on the outside, hollow in the middle filled w soft chocolate. We checked into Hotel Holiday Inn City around 3pm and walked around the City on own till 6.30pm. Bought a small box of the Le Drakka to try and then headed back to the hotel for dinner.

Street of Caen

The Abbaye-aux-Hommes

Building used to be made of wood but due to fire reason, new ones were made of limestone

Church of St. Pierre

During the dinner, each table was given two bottles of wine, red and white. The people on my table don’t drink and that include myself. Our driver sat with us and tried his best to psycho us to drink or at least taste coz he said the wine from Europe is the best. Kim simply refused to try and in the end only another teenage boy and I tasted both the red and white wine. I must agree that both were very smooth and I prefer the white one.

The next day we had breakfast in Hotel Holiday Inn City around 8am and then walked around the City as well as to explore the Caen Castle from 8.30am – 10.30am. During the walk around the City, we saw people protesting. Fortunately, all they did was hold banners and nothing more serious. After that we were on the road again to travel to Mont St Michel via the coastal road. Along the way, we visited D-Day landing area and ate lunch in a restaurant in Arromanches before reaching Hotel Digue around 3+pm and walked to Mont St Michel on foot to explore. Headed back to the hotel around 6.30pm and ate dinner there at 7pm.

D-Day Museum

Our lunch - Starter

Our lunch - Main Course

Our lunch - Dessert

Mont St Michel

Area around Mont St Michel

16 Dec 08 – Day 5 (Ghent & Bruges)

Took breakfast in Hotel Gresham Belson and departed for Ghent at 9am on a 3+hr journey. We did a city tour, visited Cathedral St Baaf and walked through the town square. We saw the Winter Market in Ghent and ice-skating rink but unfortunately, the stalls were not opened coz we were too early. Most of the shops in Ghent were not opened too for the same reason.

The Saint Bavo Cathedral (also known as Sint-Baafs Cathedral, or the Dutch Sint Baafskathedraal) is the seat of the diocese of Ghent. It is named for Saint Bavo of Ghent.

We then continued to Bruges and had a brief tour around the old town. Saw the canal where people called it “The Venice of the North” and also saw The Chapel of the Holy Blood. We were given free & easy time and so Kim and I explore the Winter Market and we saw the ice-skating rink, lots of food stalls and stalls selling Christmas stuff. In the end, instead of eating proper lunch, we ended up snacking around the winter market where we had tartiflette, grilled prawns and fruit fritties.

The Chapel of the Holy Blood

The Venice of the North

Trtiflette

Grlled prawns

Fuit fritties

Found The Chocolate Line where I was told they sell very good chocolate and so bought some chocolate from them. Checked into Hotel Park at 2.30pm and after that we walked around the old town on our own from 3.15pm – 6.30pm. Found the TinTin shop but unfortunately they didn’t have stock for the TinTin mug and so bought a postcard for a colleague instead. Passed by The Chocolate Line and couldn’t resist the temptation to buy more chocolate from them.

Bruges Markt Square

Ate dinner with the rest at Le Panier D' Or and then wandered around the old town some more where we saw the shop that sells beer glass from each Belgian brewery before heading back to the hotel around 9pm. Bruges is a very nice old town and had very strong Christmas spirit so I won't mind going back to Bruges during the Christmas season again coz I like the festive spirit. Also there are lots of chocolate shops, sweet shops and pastry shops that I didn't get to visit. I won't mind going back to Ghent too coz I didn't really get to see much of it during this trip.

15 Dec 08 – Day 4 (Brussels)

Had breakfast in hotel Die Port Van Cleve and then departed at 9am from Amsterdam to Brussels on a 3hr journey. We did a photostop at Atomium around 12+pm and passed by the Chinese Pavilion and Japanese Pagoda. Then lunched at Restaurant Chauchow City (HK Restaurant), which was near Grand Place around 1pm.

Atomium

Eva brought us to walk around Grand Place and showed us Manneken-Pis where we took turns to take pictures. She then brought us to hunt for Jeanneke-Pis before showing us her favorite shop “Moeder Babelutte” for purchase of chocolate where I bought Liquor Truffles and Seashells Chocolates. Went to another shop to get some souvenirs before heading to Dandoy, which is famous for their waffles. There were a few outlets of Dandoy along the street and I didn’t get to eat the waffles coz my friend didn’t want to share with me. So instead I bought a packet of speculoos, Belgian tradition biscuits.

Manneken-Pis

Jeanneke-Pis

"Moeder Babelutte" Chocolate Shop

We were given free & easy time for the rest of the day till 7pm and so we explored the Winter Market. It was my first time to a Winter Market and there were a lot of interesting things and food to see and eat. However, we only managed to covered part of the Winter Market near the Bourse and Grand Place, so didn’t get to see the ice-skating rink, the Ferris wheel and carrousel which were further away.

Grand Place

There were a lot of restaurants selling seafood and mussels but I was told that Chez Leon served the best and freshest mussles. So ate there and even Kim who doesn’t like mussels commented that they were good. The service was good too and staffs were friendly. When one of them saw us taking photos of our food, he even offered to take a photo of Kim and me with our food. After we were done, we went to see the Electrabel show and it was breathtaking. Finally we checked into Hotel Gresham Belson around 7+pm and ended our day.

Our dinner at Chez Leon

Electrabel show

Electrabel show

14 Dec 08 – Day 3 (Amsterdam)

We had breakfast in the hotel before heading off for the morning canal cruise at 9.30am which lasted for 1.5hr. We saw the Heinken brewery and other olden buildings during the cruise and took many photos along the way. Most of the people in the groups stayed inside the boat while Kim and I stayed outside for the entire time despite the cold.

Heinken brewery

Other buildings along the way

After that, we proceeded to the Coster Diamonds factory where we were explained how diamond is cut and polished, taught how to choose a perfect diamond, etc. We were then led to a room where we were shown a lot of good grade diamonds. Eva was given a ring with a “diamond” that has a new cut called “The Coster Royal 201”. The Royal 201 is a patented diamond polish with 201 facets which generates the ultimate sparkle. It could almost pass off as the real thing and we were told later that it was actually made of glass. Eva subsequently bought herself a real good grade diamond and had it mount on a white gold ring. There were a couple of other ladies in the group who bought diamond rings and of course their purchases were paid by their husbands.

Examining the diamond

Kim and I couldn’t afford diamonds and so we left the room early to look at other displays and I ended up buying a watch with a tiny, tiny diamond on it. It was during payment that we got to know that the lady that served us was from Malaysia, she likes to watch Korean drama and explained to us that there are 4 blocks of the building for Coster Diamonds factory and they used “canister” system for transfer of items and cash due to security reason.

Then we ate lunch at Restaurant Oud Holland at 12.30pm and after that it was free & easy for the rest of the day. Kim and I walked the 9-streets and Dam Square, visited some vintage shops such as Zipper, Episode, Lady Day and Laura Dols and we found out that Laura Dols offers better bargains. We also walked along Kalvestraat where we saw brands like Zara, H&M, Berska, Hema, etc. Then we ate waffle for dinner before going back to hotel at 7pm.

Part of our group lunch

12 & 13 Dec 08 – Day 1 & 2 (Amsterdam)

Gathered at the Terminal 2, met the tour guide Eva, checked in and boarded the plane around 11+pm to our first destination, Amsterdam. It was a very long flight and by the time we touchdown in Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (Luchthaven Schiphol) including clearing the custom, it was already 6.40am.

Bought a bottle of 500ml mineral water for 2.90 Euro at the airport and then boarded the coach to visit a farmer in Holland Village for cheese and clog making demonstrations at 8am. Took some photos of the cheese, clogs and the house and bought some souvenirs. Next we visited Zannse Schans at 9.30am and stayed there till 11.30am. Took some photos, explore the area, climbed a paint mill “at own risk” (that was what was written inside the mill), tasted stroopwafels and they were yummy.

Wooden Clogs

Cheese

Zannse Schans

Zannse Schans

Me climbing down the paint mill

Then we made our way to de Kroonprins (Prins Hendrikkade 52-58 1012AC Amsterdam) where we had lunch. We ate mushroom soup, salad, roasted half chicken with boiled carrots and potatoes and vanilla ice cream drizzled with chocolate fudge and whipped cream. While on the way to the restaurant, we noticed that there were a lot of bicycles in the city. They even have designated bicycle tracks for the cyclists and a multi-storey parking for bicycles near Central Station.

After eating, we checked into Hotel Die Port Van Cleve to rest for 2 hours till 4pm before going for a walk around the City Square and the Red Light District where we saw lots of skimpily dressed women standing at the display window trying to get business. We were told that if the curtain is not drawn and neon light is on with a woman at the display window, that means she is available for business and if the curtain is drawn and neon light is off, that means the woman is doing business.

There were a lot places for live show and shops selling adult toys in the Red Light District. Eva told us that the Rainbow Flag that we saw in some establishments is also known as Happy Flag and that means gay is welcomed into those establishments. The iron pole on top of the buildings is used for transfer of furniture into the house coz the doorway is small.

City Square

Then we had dinner at Nam Tin (Jodenbreestraat #11) and the food wasn’t that great. After eating, we headed back to the hotel for the day.

26 Dec 07 - Day 10 (Sapporo)

Did the final packing and went for breakfast. Departed at 7.45am to Curb Market where BIL bought lots of seafood that includes two hairy crabs, some fresh scallops, some kelp products, a box of sea urchins, etc and I bought some frozen scallops, some dried scallops, some dried kelp, etc. After that, we headed to the airport to take the domestic flight to Kansai and transited to SQ flight which landed in Singapore around 10.10pm.

Look at those big crabs

Other fresh seafood

25 Dec 07 (Christmas Day) - Day 9 (Sapporo)

Only left for breakfast about 9+am. Then walked to the shopping centers at the South, Odori Park area. The departmental stores sell mostly winter clothing so nothing to buy. Checked out their supermarket and they sell a lot of interesting pastries and snacks. Bought two boxes of snacks to bring back Singapore while BIL bought mochi cream to share. Walked along the street shops and sis checked out their ankle boots while BIL brought the kids to game shops. Came after, walked to Ramen Alley and ate in a ramen shop. It was really nice and cozy to eat in a small warm shop out of the cold street.

Then walked back to the hotel to rest. Sis and I then walked to Daimaru at the North where people said the Burberry products were cheaper but we bought nothing and ended up spending most of the time in an accessory shop where sis bought a ring. Headed back to the hotel to wash up and then went for the Christmas Dinner. Finally dinner ended around 8+pm, collected our clothing and headed out to Odori Park to see the Christmas lightings and went up the TV Tower. It was snowing heavily compared to the other days of my stay and the feel of Christmas was really strong.

Sapporo's TV Tower taken from Odori Park

Streets of Sapporo from the TV Tower

Christmas Lightings in Odori Park

Christmas Lightings in Odori Park