Potato and spinach soup

Potato and spinach soup

This soup is a good way to use old potatoes that are already softening in storage. As for the greens, I used spinach. You can also use other greens such as lettuce leaves, parsley, cilantro, or green onion tops - this is a good clean out the fridge soup.

1 diced onion
3 old potato and diced
10 stalk of spinach (just the upper part with leaves)
1 chicken stock cube
2 cup water
1 cup full cream milk

Sauté onion with salt until it softens. Add water and chicken stock cube. When boiling, add the potato until cooked. Just after turning off the heat, add the spinach and cover for 10 mins. Blend the potato with the soup until it becomes puree; don’t over blend. Blend the spinach & milk together with the blended potato.

Serve with Tender pork chop and stirred veggies

Tender Pork Chop & Stirred veggies

Tender Pork Chop
The Pork chops require overnight brining. Brine the chops up to two days beforehand. Just remove from brine after an overnight soak, cover in plastic wrap, and refrigerate until ready to cook.

Ingredients
· 4 Pork chops
· 1 cups full cream milk
· 1 tablespoons salt
· 1 tablespoons sugar
· 1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
· 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
· 1 teaspoon dried Italian herbs
· ½ cup oyster sauce

Combine milk, salt, sugar, grated lemon and pepper in a zip-top plastic bag; shake well to dissolve salt and sugar. Add pork; seal and refrigerate overnight. Remove pork from bag; discard brine. Pat pork dry with a paper towel. Brush the pork with oyster sauce and sprinkle pork with pepper and salt.
Heat a large non-stick grill pan over medium-high heat. Coat the pan with cooking oil. Add pork; cook 3 1/2 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness.

Stirred veggies
Ingredients
· 1 sliced eggplant
· 1 sliced carrot
· Cut Stalks of spinach
· 1 slice of butter
· Pinch of salt

Heat a non-sticky pan on very low heat. Add carrot and stir for 3 mins. Add eggplant and spinach. Stir and cook for 5 mins.

Serve with Potato and Spinach Soup

Paris, France

Paris was the last leg of our Europe trip. We took a high-speed train (which was TGV) from Gare de Cornavin in Geneva to Gare de Lyon in Paris, France. We reached Paris at around noontime. Because we pre-ordered our Paris Visit Pass from the Internet, Alvin had to collect it from the store outlet which was located near the Louvre while Albert and I stayed in the train station.

We decided to take taxi from the train station to the hotel because we had big luggage. The taxi driver took as for a ride! Instead of taking a more direct route, he went around Paris and we had to pay 35 euros!


After a short rest at the hotel, we went to our first item in the itinerary, the Trocadero and the Eiffel Tower. I must say that Paris really has a lot of cultural heritage! All the buildings, structures and statues are picture worthy. We were awed by the sight. Anyway, we walked from the Trocadero to the tower and decided to go up to the top. There were so many tourists so queuing for the ticket already took as 45 minutes. The elevator took us midway of the tower. The view was already spectacular. We could see most of Paris and its entire grandeur. We decided to go to the top. The queue to the elevator was darn long! It took us around one hour to get to the lift. The view at the top was also good.


The second day (21st May) was Albert’s day. We took Albert to Euro Disneyland for the whole day. I bet he enjoyed everything that he saw and did there. He particularly was very happy riding the cars and trains.


Our third day (22nd May) was hectic. In the morning, we went to see Hotel de Ville and Notre Dame. These were really beautiful buildings. I wondered how they could build such intricate and ornate structures. Even the surrounding buildings were also pretty. Everything there was artistic! In the afternoon, Alvin and Albert went back to the hotel to rest while I went around shopping! I went to the popular Paris department stores of Boulevard Haussman, the Printemp and Galleries Lafayette. I saw for myself how Asians were REALLY crazy about Louis Vuitton bags. Everyone was buying more than one bag! Then I also went for a glimpse of another shopping district, the Avenue Montaigne and Avenue des Champ- Elysee where the legendary designers like Chanel, Dior, Louis Vuitton and some trendy shops like Zara and others are located. After the shopping and window shopping, I went to Arc de Triomphe to meet Alvin and Albert. Again, another majestic monument. After climbing the arc, we were very tired. But as the sun was still up (the sun sets at 9:30 pm when we were there which was spring and I think it’s the best time Europe because day-time is longer), we took a bus to visit Louvre. Majestic!





On the fourth day (23rd day), we went back to the Louvre Museum. We first had our lunch in the Jardin de Tuiliries which was just in from of the museum. Then we went to the museum. It has three major wings. We decided just to visit one of the wings were Mona Lisa was exhibited. I must say that there lots of exhibits from various artists in Europe and different times. It was just overwhelming to absorb everything. The most famous of the exhibits were of course the Mona Lisa. Everybody was scrambling to get a picture of the piece! We had to really squeeze in to get a good view (and picture) of her famous smile. And that was it. After that, we strolled on the streets of Paris, the ones along the Seine River going towards the Conciergerie. I also bought some souvenirs from the street vendors. Another tiring day was over.


On the fifth and final day in Paris, we went to Versailles. We visited the palace which was again, very gorgeous. As our train was very early in the following day, we went back to the hotel early to pack up and get some sleep. The last five days in Paris were really tiring but amazing for us.

More Photos

Hair Cut

Albert will go back to school after almost 2 months of vacation including our Euro trip. So yesterday I sent Alvin and Albert for a hair cut. This was the only 2nd time Albert went to a barber shop. I usually cut his hair but I thought I couldn’t cut because his hair is so thick. I was really hoping that he won’t cry as he’s not used of other people cutting his hair. I’m glad he didn’t. I was surprised that he behaved above my expectations.

After their hair cut we went to the playground and let him play for a while. But it was cloudy so we decided to rush and go back home. But we got caught by the rain so we had to wait at the food court until the rain stopped. At the food court, I met and chatted with a mom and son whom I thought was the same age as Albert. During our chit chat we both discovered that our sons have the same birthday and same year.

The rain stopped after almost 30 minutes. Before we went home, I asked Alvin to buy 4D (a lottery) using Albert’s birthday combination. I checked if we strike but unfortunately, we didn’t. Hahaha!

Junk food weekend

For the first time in our lives (or maybe Albert’s) we ate so much junk food. We ate Doritos, Pringles, cheese balls and cheese rings while watching movies. This was the first time we treated ourselves with so much junk food. Although we don’t eat a lot of junk food, we’re still overweight and not that healthy.

We don’t eat junk often but does it sometimes because it’s yummy and fun!

Father’s day

We celebrated Father’s Day by having a fun bowling. Bowling is Alvin’s favorite sport. He’s been an active member of FBCS (Filipino Bowlers Club of Singapore) from 2004 to 2005 but since we moved to Sengkang, he didn’t find time to play again.

We had lunch at Kenny Rogers at Suntec Mall. After our lunch we went to Toy’s R Us to claim my voucher and used it to buy Hot Wheels cars for Albert’s. We then went to Marina Square to play bowling. Alvin and I played 2 sets while and Albert and Juvy only played one set. It was a fun day. Maybe we’ll play again next month.

Smalish Citizen

Last year, I have been bringing Albert to Ikea-Smaland for at least twice a month during my off. I was waiting for Albert to turn 4 so he could be a “citizen of Smaland”. With that, he can participate in indoor and outdoor fun activities of Smaland. Last week, we visited Ikea but I forgot to bring his birth certificate. Today, we went there again and I managed to apply a “Smaland passport” for him.

Here are some of the rights of Smaland Citizen:

· Every visit, can scan at the smales shroom (coupon machine), and receive a sticker for passport (maximum one per day). By scanning the passport, a visit will be registered and he will receive S$0.50 Smalish sants.
· The smalish dollar and sants can be withdrawn and printed from the smales shroom.
· By scanning the passport, a Smalish can also receive a coupon for one discounted kid’s meal and one free drinks at the Ikea Restaurant from a price S$2.90 to S$1.50.
· A chance to participate in special activities and events of Smaland

Funny little fish(reading at 4yrs Old)

Two weeks ago I ordered a book series from Colliman.com, the distributor of Paul and Mary.

We’ve been reading at least once a day with Albert for almost two weeks. It takes Albert a longer time to recognize all the words in the story which has longer sentences and more new words.

click here video

I miss

I miss colleagues at RSH(Gina, Joy, Mylene, Mina and Rose)

I miss my housemates(Anita,Mars and my crying partner Ems)

I miss my college friends(Leizel, Marshia, Hermie, Winnie and my Betchay)

I miss my high school friends( Angela, Sheila, Catherine and partner Claudette)

I miss holy week

I miss Christmas

I miss Glorietta, Landmark and Greenbelt

I miss SALE in Megamall

I miss Rocks, sbarro and jolibee

I miss LFS(last full show)

I miss Halo-halo, Bibingka and palabok

I miss ube-cake and ube ice cream

I miss my Mom’s cooking and never ending reminders

I miss my Tatang’s face when he’s mad

I miss my ugly sisters who are now very pretty and smart

I miss Victory liner (Makati-Guagua)

I miss jeepney ride

I miss Ate Rose our landlord telling me “sana next time no more telebabad”

I miss kids at Tuloy-Don Bosco

I miss my YMC-Makati Aikido group

I miss Don Bosco Church

I miss Greenbelt Chapel

I miss rushing for work and cursing the traffic

I miss jeepney’s horn & noise pollution

I miss PICC jog during weekends

I miss family and relatives who always says that I’m pretty (feeling)

…I miss the smile of fellow Filipino people.

Day-out

It’s school holidays here in Singapore now and I managed to invite my friend Karen for a play-date with our kids and the two of us had some chikka moments.

We went to Ikea and left our kids in Smaland to play for an hour. Meanwhile, Karen and I walked around and talked about many things under the sun. After an hour, we went back to Smaland to fetch our kids and went for lunch at Ikea Restaurant.

Karen has been my chat mate for almost 3 years already and we talked online almost everyday. But even though we chat a lot, we seldom go out because of our busy schedule with our small business and own families. I realized that it’s really hard to find real friends and I’m certainly glad to know I have them around like Karen.

"our" room

It’s been a while since we had a guest in our home so we decided to make one or our rooms useful. This weekend, we emptied one of our rooms and made it as our activity room. A library for all or us, a play area for Albert, a room space for our Tomy(our hamster) and a work place for me and Alvin.

We bought some furniture from Ikea to make the room more organised and neater. It was a fun weekend activity for us building the furniture like Lego puzzles. Alvin was so exhausted after all the carrying and assembling, especially the book case which took us more than an hour to complete. After everything was done, Albert became very enthusiastic playing even with his older toys in the room.

Sixty piece-puzzle

Just a while a go Albert completed his Thomas and Friends 60 piece puzzle. Albert had been trying to complete it since Sunday. Finally he made it!

Hamster

The night before Albert’s birthday, I showed him our plan to visit Escape Theme Park at Down Town East. I showed him the rides we planned to take.

The next day, on his birthday, just after he woke up, he told us that he didn’t want to visit Escape. Here was our conversation:

Mommy & Daddy: Happy birthday Albert!
Albert: I don’t want to go to Escape. I don’t want to ride car rides.
Daddy: Then what do you want?
Albert: I want a pet.
Mommy: What pet do you want?
Albert: I want to have a horse.
Mommy and Daddy: A HORSE?!
Albert: Yes a horse
Daddy: How about smaller one like a hamster?
Albert: Hamster is ok.

After having a birthday lunch at Swensen’s, we had a colouring activity at Kiddy Arts Paradise. Albert specifically chose a car to colour. Then, he went for a merry-go-round and rode a choo-choo train.

We went to Serangoon North Pet Center to fulfil our promise to Albert. We let Albert choose the hamster. After looking at different hamsters, he settled for a gray-coloured one.

click here photos

In Lucerne, Switzerland

May 15th was our last day in Bremen. As our train would depart early at 7:15 in the morning, we woke up as early as 5 in the morning. After the early breakfast, we rushed to the train station and got to the right platform just in time. We traveled from Bremen to Kassel then transferred to another train from Kassel to Frankfurt.

After having lunch at Frankfurt, we headed to Zurich. We were supposed to alight at Basel to wait for our train to Luzern but along the way we decided to drop by Zurich instead since the train was going there. The train reached Zurich at around 3 in the afternoon. The weather was not very good at Zurich but at least it wasn’t raining.

We left our luggage at the storage lockers which cost us 18 Swiss francs (8 for the locker and 10 for the store-a-bag counter). For toilet use, one needs to pay 2 Swiss francs. After walking around the area, we had our snacks at Burger King. We had to pay 29 Swiss francs, really expensive for 2 burger meals! We took the 8 p.m. train and reached Luzern an hour later. We arrived at Hotel Seeburg past nine and we all quickly dozed off.

The hotel served good breakfast, a mix of different types of breads, cereals and cold cuts. I made sandwiches for our lunch J so we could save some money. We went to town and followed the walking tour suggested by the tourism office map. In the market place, I found a very nice leather bag but didn’t buy it.

The following day, we went to “The Swiss Transportation Museum” which was just a 10 minute walk from our hotel. Of course, Albert enjoyed this day seeing all kinds of transportation. He especially enjoyed the train exhibit as he really likes trains!

Before heading for Geneva the following day, we took a day trip to Engelberg and Mount Titlis. The trip to Engelberg itself was quite fascinating. The train had to ascend a mountain slope. Albert enjoyed the journey especially every time the train sounded its whistle. It sounded like Thomas, his favourite tank engine. Engelberg was quite foggy when we reached there. It was very cold; the temperature was probably less than 10 degrees C. The cable car to Mount Titlis was 10 minutes away (by walking) from the train station.

The ride to the top of Mount Titlis was divided into three segments. On the first segment, we took a cable car that could fit six persons, similar to the ones in Sentosa. On the second segment, we took a big cable car that could fit more than 30 persons. On the last segment, we took a rotating cable car which could also fit more than 30 persons. When we reached the summit, it was darn cold. It was snowing and windy. Despite that, Albert enjoyed playing with the snow while Alvin and I were shivering. After a while, we managed to adjust to the weather and threw snow at each other. It was cloudy so we couldn’t see anything far. But it was good to touch and play with real snow.

We went back to Luzern to collect our luggage at the hotel. Alvin went alone to the hotel and we waited for him at the train station. While we are in the train station I bought food for our trip. We managed to catch the 5 p.m. train to Geneva.

click here pictures

Paul and Mary(reading 4years Old)

Yesterday was the last day of Albert’s first school term and his teacher’s assessments were good. He also got a book from the school.

After reading with him for 3-4 times yesterday, this morning(his birthday) he tried to read by himself.

click here video

In Bremen, Germany

Our SQ flight left Singapore at 11:50 p.m. and arrived at Frankfurt at 6:30 a.m. the following day, Sunday. The total travel time was around 12 hours and 40 minutes. On board the flight, they served us three meals. Since we couldn’t finish all the stuff in the meals, especially Albert’s, I packed some of those that we could still eat (we still had to take a five-hour train to Bremen) so my bag became really bloated and heavier.

During the flight, Albert was behaved quite well which was really good since we didn’t want to disturb the other passengers. He watched two movies, his favorite “Thomas and Friends” and “Bolt”. He also was kept busy by some computer games. When he got tired, he managed to sleep for three hours. He woke up two hours before we landed in Frankfurt and saw the pretty sunrise from above the clouds. My two boys greeted me Happy Mother’s Day!

I was not really impressed with the Frankfurt airport terminal (the airport seemed comparable with NAIA terminal 1). There were only four immigration officers on duty at that time (two of which were handling for European passports) so there was a long queue for non-European travellers.

We had a sort of difficult time looking for our connecting train. Luckily, we arrived there three hours before the train departure so we had enough time to look for the train. We followed the signs (saying “long distance trains”) but were led to the wrong train terminal. The German train system is quite complex and they have a lot of train types (city trains, regional trains, long distance trains, express trains, etc.) The express train that we were taking was in another terminal, but also in the airport. Luckily.

Anyways, Alvin had to have our rail passes validated first before we could board the train (or else we might pay a fine). It took him around 30 minutes to do this because the queue was super long! For our food, I bought two cheese buns (costing 0.90 each), a chicken sandwich for 4.50 euros, and 1 L Evian bottled water for 1.90 euros (bottled water is expensive in Europe and I only saw three brands: Evian, Volvic and Vittel).

We went to the designated train platform 20 minutes before the train arrived. It was really cold! The temperature was probably 10 - 13 C. The trains were very punctual and departed on time. A practical advice: it’s good to arrive several minutes before the train departure to know the exact location of your train coach as the trains can really be very long! It’s also advisable (always is) to travel light as the train floors are not levelled with the platform. You have to lift you luggage by yourself and do it very quickly.

The train (ICE, or inter-city express) departed Frankfurt at 9:57 a.m. and we had to travel for another five hours to reach Bremen, Germany. The train could go super-fast, up to 300 kph, but amazingly there was not much vibration that you could feel inside the coaches! The travel was much smoother than the MRT in Singapore even when the trains were running at blistering speed!

I feel that travelling through the train was really more enjoyable than if we travelled by plane to Bremen. We had a good view of Germany’s beautiful countryside landscape, old castles on hilltops, villages and towns. The train passed and stopped at the following cities: Mainz, Koblenz, Bonn, Koln (Cologne), Wuppertal, Hagen, Dortmund, Munster, Munster (Westf), Osnabruck and lastly Bremen.

When we arrived at Bremen, there was a football riot. Police were all over the place and the rioters were shouting and marching through the train station. Not really scared, just shocked with the very loud noise. We took a cab from the train station to the Hotel Bremer Haus. The hotel was actually near from the train station but we were very tired so we just decided to take cab.

We reached the hotel around 4 p.m. After eating the cakes that I packed from Singapore Airlines and the Rollo(cost 4.20 euros) I bought from the train station, we all went to bed.

click here pictures

The Journey (Euro Trip)

Our SQ flight left Singapore at 11:50 p.m. and arrived at Frankfurt at 6:30 a.m. the following day, Sunday. The total travel time was around 12 hours and 40 minutes. On board the flight, they served us three meals. Since we couldn’t finish all the stuff in the meals, especially Albert’s, I packed some of those that we could still eat (we still had to take a five-hour train to Bremen) so my bag became really bloated and heavier.

During the flight, Albert was behaved quite well which was really good since we didn’t want to disturb the other passengers. He watched two movies, his favourite “Thomas and Friends” and “Bolt”. He also was kept busy by some computer games. When he got tired, he managed to sleep for three hours. He woke up two hours before we landed in Frankfurt and saw the pretty sunrise from above the clouds. My two boys greeted me Happy Mother’s Day!

I was not really impressed with the Frankfurt airport terminal (the airport seemed comparable with NAIA terminal 1). There were only four immigration officers on duty at that time (two of which were handling for European passports) so there was a long queue for non-European travellers.

We had a sort of difficult time looking for our connecting train. Luckily, we arrived there three hours before the train departure so we had enough time to look for the train. We followed the signs (saying “long distance trains”) but were led to the wrong train terminal. The German train system is quite complex and they have a lot of train types (city trains, regional trains, long distance trains, express trains, etc.) The express train that we were taking was in another terminal, but also in the airport. Luckily.

Anyways, Alvin had to have our rail passes validated first before we could board the train (or else we might pay a fine). It took him around 30 minutes to do this because the queue was super long! For our food, I bought two cheese buns (costing 0.90 each), a chicken sandwich for 4.50 euros, and 1 L Evian bottled water for 1.90 euros (bottled water is expensive in Europe and I only saw three brands: Evian, Volvic and Vittel).

We went to the designated train platform 20 minutes before the train arrived. It was really cold! The temperature was probably 10 - 13 C. The trains were very punctual and departed on time. A practical advice: it’s good to arrive several minutes before the train departure to know the exact location of your train coach as the trains can really be very long! It’s also advisable (always is) to travel light as the train floors are not levelled with the platform. You have to lift you luggage by yourself and do it very quickly.

The train (ICE, or inter-city express) departed Frankfurt at 9:57 a.m. and we had to travel for another five hours to reach Bremen, Germany. The train could go super-fast, up to 300 kph, but amazingly there was not much vibration that you could feel inside the coaches! The travel was much smoother than the MRT in Singapore even when the trains were running at blistering speed!

I feel that travelling through the train was really more enjoyable than if we travelled by plane to Bremen. We had a good view of Germany’s beautiful countryside landscape, old castles on hilltops, villages and towns. The train passed and stopped at the following cities: Mainz, Koblenz, Bonn, Koln (Cologne), Wuppertal, Hagen, Dortmund, Munster, Munster (Westf), Osnabruck and lastly Bremen.

When we arrived at Bremen, there was a football riot. Police were all over the place and the rioters were shouting and marching through the train station. Not really scared, just shocked with the very loud noise. We took a cab from the train station to the Hotel Bremer Haus. The hotel was actually near from the train station but we were very tired so we just decided to take cab.

We reached the hotel around 4 p.m. After eating the cakes that I packed from Singapore Airlines and the Rollo(cost 4.20 euros) I bought from the train station, we all went to bed.

Trip prepations

I was quietly stressed and filled with fears and so many what ifs about the swine flu pandemic news. But still, I set aside my feelings because I didn’t want this to ruin my planning.

I even home quarantined Albert from school. I didn’t send him to school since Monday for fear that he might catch some virus from school and get sick. Kiasu Karen J

With some hesitations, I still continued thinking and buying stuff for our trip. I even documented the packing of our luggage which I did last Tuesday.

Today’s news made me happy and less worried because the Ministry of Health – Singapore raised down the alert flag from orange to yellow.

click here photos

Our Luggage(Europe 2009)

Finally, we’ll be flying in several hours time. I planned to sleep longer than usual but still woke up at my normal waking time. I was probably just excited (and anxious) for the trip.

We’ll be traveling for 18 days (including air travel times) and will be visiting places where the temperature ranges form 8-18 degrees Celsius. Winter Time and Cold Wear’s list suggests that we need 3 layers of clothing. I spent a lot time just planning what to include in our luggage…I didn’t want to spend extra money to buy necessary things in Europe (because I heard that its expensive to buy stuff there). After listing down everything that we would need for 18 days, I discovered that we needed to pack at lot for the three of us. Instead, I decided just to pack for 7-9 days and we will just find a laundry shop around our hotel.

Our packing list
Alvin’s Conference
4 Long sleeves
2 Pants
1 Coat
2 neck tie
4 handkerchiefs
1 belt


Tops
Inner (long john, intimate wear, shirts)
6 Dad
6 Mom
8 Albert
Mid Layering (sweater/cardigan)
2 Dad
4 Mom
4 Albert
Mid Layering (long sleeves)
3 Dad
3 Mom
3 Albert
Outer wear(jacket/coat/windbreaker)
1 Dad
1 Mom
2 Albert
Sleepwear (tops and bottoms)
4 Dad
4 Mom
6 Albert

Bottoms (corduroy/jeans)
2 Dad
4 Mom
3 Albert
Underwear
8 Dad
15 Mom
8 Albert


Accessories

Cotton socks
6 Dad
6 Mom
6 Albert

Belts
1 Dad
1 Mom
1 Albert

1 Backpack
1 umbrella
1 water bottle
Sunglasses
Albert’s milk powder

Toiletries
Lip balm
face moisturizer
body moisturizer
tooth brush & tooth paste
comb
nail cutter
shaver
shaving cream

Medications
Pei Pa
Cold & flu remedy
Fever & pain
White flower
Plasters
Bengay ointment

Extra for suppers
3in1 wheat sachets
Biscuits

I managed to pack all of the above in 1 large and 1 medium luggage bag. I also packed 1 empty sports bag as spare.

Planning our trip was really fun indeed.

Europe Trip 2009 (Planning Stage)

In March, Alvin’s research paper was accepted in a conference to be held in Germany. I actually didn’t have a plan to go to Europe but after seeing the different sights, I decided to “tag along” with Alvin and visit other places in Europe.

I actually started looking out for popular tourist destinations in Europe using Google Earth since late last year (even though we had no immediate plan at that time). We “officially” started planning after Alvin’s paper was accepted. We first applied for an entry visa. The processing took 10 working days.

Just want to share what I learned during the planning:

A) Visa Processing Requirements:
1) Airline itinerary: can get from travel agencies for free
2) Hotel bookings: Can get bookings online
3) Child does not need to pay visa fees
4) Insurance: NTUC is cheaper than AIG and more comprehensive

B) Airfare Comparison (SG to Frankfurt):
1) Etihad Airways (has stop-overs) was the cheapest but they don’t fly daily
2) Qatar Airways (has stop-overs) was also cheaper than SQ but they have a stop-over of more than 15hrs in Qatar.
3) Qantas Airways flies direct and cheaper than SQ by a few hundred dollars
4) Singapore Airlines flies direct but more expensive than Ethihad, Qatar and Qantas. But if you get the odd flight times, it will be cheaper than Qantas and Qatar Airways.

C) Euro Rail
1) Can by online thru www.eurail.com.sg (Dynasty Travel)
2) Point to point 2nd class seat is much more expensive than Global Pass (if you are going to visit several countries).
3) Global pass are 1st class seats and Flexible for 15, 30, 60 days.


D) Hotels
I compared the prices of several websites such as bookings.com; hotels.com; and Octopus.com. We used our Marriott points for our accommodation in Paris.

E) Clothing – For a budget-type like me…
1) Cold Wear – I got some cheap on sale clothes from here
2) Winter Time – They have more variety than Cold Wear
3) John Little – Cheaper than 1&2 but lesser options
4) Song Song – Cheaper than the rest J bought some cotton turtle neck shirts.

F) Museums Pass
Paris Museums pass: www.Paris.concierge.com
Metro Pass: www.parismetro.com
Disneyland Paris: www.365tickets.com
Switzerland Tours: www.viator.com

G) Reference books for our itinerary
1) Europe Eyewitness
2) Lonely Western Europe
3) Frommer’s Europe
4) Budget Europe
5) Lonely Planet Switzerland
6) Switzerland Brochures: you can request online and switzerland will send you by parcel

G) Itinerary
At first, my itinerary was for 21days and was very ambitious. I had to revise it 14 times to get a more realistic one. Some of the revisions I made:

1st version: Germany (Frankfurt, Bremen, Berlin), Netherlands (Amsterdam), Belgium (Brussels), France (Lille, Paris, Versailles), Switzeland (Geneva), Italy (Milan, Florence, Pisa, Rome, Assisi, Venice)
2nd version: Germany (Frankfurt, Bremen, Berlin), Netherlands (Amsterdam), Belgium (Brussels), France (Lille, Paris, Versailles), Spain (Barcelona, Madrid)
3rd version: Germany (Frankfurt, Bremen, Berlin), Netherlands (Amsterdam), Switzerland(Geneva), Belgium (Brussels), France (Lille, Paris, Versailles), Spain (Barcelona, Madrid)
.
.
.
In the end, we had to cut down a lot of countries (as the cost was too much!) and going thru many countries was not practical and realistic for a very short time. We settled down to three countries, namely, Germany (Bremen, where Alvin’s conference will be held, 5Nights), Switzerland (Lucerne 3Nights and Geneva 2Nights) and lastly France (Paris 5Nights and Versailles)

Hotels:

Bremer Haus Hotel(BREMEN, GERMANY)
The hotel is in the city’s historical core, just out of reach of all the hustle and bustle of the city on a peaceful sidestreet; the perfect Bremen getaway. Start your day with the hotel’s hearty breakfast buffet, then head out and discover all the city’s hidden treasures. For business travelers, the hotel is close to the exhibition grounds, and for those who want to extend their sightseeing to the outlying area and nearby towns, the railway station is also nearby.

Address: Loningstrasse 16 - 20, 28195 Bremen, Germany
Rate: SGD212/night winclusive of breakfast


Seeburg Hotel, Luzern (LUCERNE, SWITZERLAND)
Situated in lush green surroundings in Seeburg, 3 km from the centre of Lucerne and right on the banks of Lake Lucerne, Hotel Seeburg offers stunning architecture and great views.

Spend peaceful nights in tastefully furnished rooms and enjoy the wonderful views towards the lake, the mountains and the forest.

Choose between the elegant Alexander restaurant serving gourmet cuisine and selected wines, and the stylish Seerestaurant with its great views on Lake Lucerne, Mount Pilatus and romantic sunsets.

Enjoy inspiring conversations in the Sunset City Beach Light bar, where all Lucerne meets in summer under the open sky.

A wide range of stylish and fully equipped seminar and banquet rooms are at your disposal as well in the Seeburg hotel.

Hotel Rooms: 57

Addres: Seeburgstrasse 61
6006 Luzern, Switzerland
Tel: 041 375 55 55
Rate: SGD242/night inclusive of breakfast


Renaissance Paris Hotel La Defense(PARIS, FRANCE)
The Renaissance Paris Hotel La Defense is in the heart of La Defense district of Paris, France. Just next to the Grande Arche de La Defense this Paris hotel is just a few minutes from the capital's famous attractions: only 6 metro stops from the Champs-Elysees. Guests can walk from the Renaissance Paris Hotel La Defense to the large shopping center "les 4 Temps" as well as to the CNIT conference center. Whether you come by train, metro or taxi from Paris airports, access to the hotel is easy and for those coming by car there is a private and supervised hotel car park. This upscale hotel provides spacious hotel rooms with Marriott bedding, air conditioning, Internet access, premium TV channels, and in-room safe. For successful conferences and events there are 13 meeting rooms with natural daylight and broadband internet. Hotel guests have free access to the fitness gym with sauna and steam room. Guests can enjoy traditional French cuisine in the hotel restaurant and a relaxing atmosphere at the Colonial bar.

60 Jardin de Valmy, Boulevard Circulaire, Sortie 7
Paris La Defense Cedex, 92918 France
Phone: 33 1 41975050
Rate: SGD321/night inclusive of breakfast