Resembling a surfboard sitting on top of three high-rise buildings, the Marina Bay Sands hotel is an iconic part of the Singapore skyline.

Allegedly, a deck of cards inspired Israeli-born Canadian architect Moshe Safdie’s blueprints for three main towers which house over 2,500 hotel rooms with prices that usually hit $500+ a night. Cantilevered on top is the SkyPark offering a 360-degree view of Singapore and the opportunity to dip into an infinity pool!

In front of the hotel are three low-rise domes featuring wave-form roofs which are home to an exclusive shopping mall, fine-dining, an indoor skating rink, nightclubs and all the facilities necessary to support a convention centre capable of holding 45,000 people!

A short walk from Singapore’s main business district lies an engineering and architectural marvel known as Gardens by the Bay.

It is hard to imagine that this horticultural destination was once sea, then sand and soggy soil. Yet, in a five year time-span, an inter-disciplinary team of international and local architects, engineers and landscape specialists successfully transformed a barren site bereft of road, drains and electricity into a lush green space where over 1 million plants reside. Plants, trees and flowers from every continent, except for Antarctica, can be found in the Gardens.

Inspired by mature trees in a rainforest, the  16-story-tall, vertical gardens are fitted with state-of-the-art technology that mimics the ecological function of real trees. These man-made structures have been designed to collect rainwater, generate solar power and act as venting ducts for the park’s conservatories. 

The Cloud Forest, above right, is one of the two armadillo-shaped hothouses located within the Gardens by the Bay. It houses the world’s largest indoor (man-made) waterfall. The Flower Dome, above left, houses plants from the Mediterranean and semi-arid subtropical regions.

Singapore is a sunny, tropical island in SouthEast Asia off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. It is a city, a nation and a state which covers some 275-square miles and is inhabited by some 5-million people from four major communities: Chinese, Malay, Indian and Tamil.

Known as a City in a Garden, nearly 50 percent of Singapore is a green space. It is a thriving metropolis offering a world-class infrastructure with a fully integrated island-wide transport network, a dynamic business environment, vibrant living spaces and a rich culture largely influenced by its four major communities with each offering a different perspective of life in Singapore in terms of culture, religion, food, language and history.

The Singapore River.

I am taking a day or two to recover from jet lag and will be back blogging on Sunday, October 28th and look forward to sharing our adventures with you.

We are a party of three for the first two weeks – Mike, myself and long-time friend and traveling companion Mike Neary, aka Uncle Mike – spending six days in Singapore, six days in Bangkok and two days in Pattaya Beach, Thailand.

Uncle Mike then returns home to Chicago and Mike and I join the Silverseas ship, the Silver Whisper, for a 14-day cruise to Vietnam stopping in Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Ha Long Bay, Nha Trang and finally ending in Singapore.

From here, Mike and I fly to Adelaide to see family, returning to Singapore for a overnight stop and then homeward bound some 35 days after leaving.

Good to have you aboard and see you Sunday!

With tropical depression Laura entering the Gulf of Mexico, where the water is super warm this time of year, she has been upgraded to hurricane status and is expected to increase in strength before she makes land.

With this in mind, we thought it would be prudent to up sticks and head for home so that we could empty the motor home and return her to the storage unit before we experience whatever weather is on the cards for us!

Before leaving, we spent some time in the company of a home “designer” who is on our list of possibles for our new digs. Fredericksburg designers and builders are hugely busy, which is good, and we are in no hurry to rush anything as we really want to take our time in honing our ideas and thoughts.

It’s been great to have you accompany us for this short road trip. We have yet to develop future plans and will let you know once we know!

While out driving around at the weekend we came across this magnificent Ostrich who was seriously keen on having his photo taken! Ostrich farms were developed in Texas some years ago but many have gone out of business as Ostrich meat is just not a Texan thing … there is so much beef here! Hopefully “Oscar” as I named him can just enjoy the outdoors and occasionally pose for a passing visitor!

 

 

 

 

Wishing my beloved Husband, a very Happy Birthday!

I thought it would be fun to share some old photographs of him and compare them to his son, Chris, as the Acorn certainly hasn’t fallen far from the Oak Tree!

This is Michael at his Navy Boot Camp graduation in San Diego, California in December 1972. He was 18 years of age!

Here he is again alongside his brother Chuck who attended the ceremony. Chuck lives in Adelaide, Australia.

Fast forward to March 2019 and this is Chris, Mike’s son, at his Navy Boot Camp graduation in Great Lakes, Illinois.

Navy men – the Oak Tree and the Acorn, March 2019!

The only two things in life that make it worth livin’

Is guitars that tune good and firm feelin’ women… 

Let’s go to Luckenbach, Texas

With Waylon and Willie [Nelson] and the boys.

… so opens the first two verses of the song, Luckenbach, Texas released by Waylon Jennings some 40 years ago which became one of the biggest hits for the Outlaw country movement.

Not only did the song transcend the Outlaw movement and become their anthem, but it made Jennings a household name. The movement was not just about rejecting conventional wisdom but rejecting mainstream.

There really isn’t much to see in the town of Luckenbach some 20 minutes’ drive outside Fredericksburg. It’s barely even a town. A sleepy settlement with its lone mailbox and boasting a population of three!

But Luckenbach was a perfect would-be mecca for wanderers with its old general store and dance hall that was turned into a sort of art piece in the 70s when the new owners plastered the walls with old metal signs and license plates.

These days, Luckenbach is a mecca for all those who appreciate sitting under the shade of large oak trees, enjoying a cold drink and listening to great country music which is exactly what we did. And, it was so good to do something “normal” in the midst of this crazy pandemic we are all experiencing!

Mike and I.

Together with our friends Romeo and Meg, who are spending the weekend parked alongside us in Fredericksburg, we took a drive out today to Marble Falls some 20 miles or so from where we are staying.

It’s a lovely town with a very famous restaurant called the Blue Bonnet Café where two US Presidents have come to enjoy their famous, homemade pies!

The classic café first opened its doors in 1929 and soon earned a reputation for good food and friendly service. The menu features breakfast items that are served all day alongside classic American staples such as fried catfish and chicken-fried steak. But it is the dessert pie list for which the café is famed!

All the pies are made fresh, in-house each day and the bakers have perfected the mile-high meringue and creamy custard fillings that attract their regular customers and visitors from around the globe. And, for those not working on their beach bodies, pies can be ordered ahead and picked up on the day for as little as $16 – for a whole pie that would feed a small army!

Thankfully for our waistlines, we were too full to enjoy a slice of pie … I don’t think I have ever seen quite as much meringue on a slice of lemon meringue pie!

 

Sorry for the late posting, but our RV park is pretty full and there was absolutely no speed to the internet last night. I guess it will be the same until Monday and folks go home!

We have been out visiting the Hidden Springs neighbourhood today, and no major surprise for you that we are moving forward with buying a plot of land, lot number 13 to be precise … unlucky for some, I hope not for us!

If you’d like to check out the area where we are buying , please go to: www.hidden-springs.com and plan your future weekend away or annual holiday … we are so looking forward to having company and taking the time to explore the surrounding area with you!

For all the anglophiles out there … there does seem to be the potential for a “Margot’s Good Life” to play out at Hidden Springs! I am not too sure how the 30-acre “farm” will work out but look forward to playing my part in helping it get somewhere!

Due to the pandemic, we have yet to experience the Fredericksburg “Octoberfest” festival but for beer aficionados it’s the place to be in Texas! The town also has a film festival, an active arts and theatre calendar, wineries, restaurants galore and a thriving music scene. And, a thriving farming industry as I gleefully stopped by a roadside stand today and bought peaches, melon, tomatoes and goat’s cheese spiked with chipotle pepper!

In order to help shape our ideas on what we want from this home, we were measuring where the trees are on the lot in order to help us plan were we put the house, outbuilding, etc. He’s Mike, measuring tape in hand!

It’s good to have you along for the ride and I hope that you and your families are staying safe in these crazy times we all find ourselves experiencing.

Welcome back to Fredericksburg in Texas where we will be staying for the next week.

Decades ago, Mike’s Grandparents arrived in America having traveled from The Ukraine and Russia. When he recently completed a DNA test, Mike was fully expecting the results to come back confirming that he was 75% Ukrainian and 25% Russian/Polish. Instead his genetic blueprint showed that he is 76% German, 17% Ukrainian, 6% Finnish and 1% Russian Yakut (central Siberian)!

No wonder he has always felt so much as home during our trips to Munich and Berlin and not just because of the beer, although I’m sure it has something to do with it, but because it’s in his DNA! And, here we are now in a town which showcases its German heritage and celebrates all things Germanic!

We wandered into town tonight and found the lovely Cultures Grill & Bar serving an eclectic menu spanning American, German & Mexican cuisines! With over 44 beers on tap, live music on the patio outside, socially distanced seating and all staff wearing masks, it was a fun place to be.

Above is a photo of the blogger, Mike, Uncle Mike and Chris taken at the Octoberfest Festival in Munich, Germany in 2012!