Prague Day 2 & 3

On our second day at Prague, we decided to visit the Museum of Antonín Dvořák. I love his Symphony No.9, “From the New World” and am interested to know more about his life. Actually, Dvorak had never stayed in this house. This small building housed his works including manuscripts of sheet music and correspondence. It also guided us through the life of Dvorak.The house itself was also a masterpiece displaying beautiful drawings and paintings on the walls and ceilings. After our short visit, we headed down to Charles Bridge and crossed the Vtlava River. Part of the bridge was closed for works and there were many artists and painters selling their creations.

At the other side, we reached the Lesser Quarter side. We visited this charming and calm part of Prague and settled for lunch here. We saw this watermill that was turning and along the fence, there were many padlocks. There was no explanation around so we had no idea if there was any special meaning to that. Nevertheless, it was intriguing.

After lunch, we continued walking up towards the Prague Castle. The Prague Castle contained a cluster of buildings and the castle ground was huge. We visited the St. George Basilica , St. Vitus Cathedral (pic below), Old Royal Palace and the Golden Lane. I was least impressed with the golden lane as it was a short lane and I felt that it did not live up to the nice critics I heard.

By the time we made our way down to the Lesser Quarter, it was almost dinner time. We remembered seeing an Indian vegetarian eatery and decided to try that out. It was served by a very zen Czech and Seb enjoyed the dinner. During our dinner, we overheard a conversation between the owner and his english speaking friend. At one point, the owner said "Michael Jackson is very fine now." Er... MJ was dead. We were quite sure that this guy was high on drugs or something.

After a whole day of walking, we decided to take the tram back to the Old Town. However, lousy us took the wrong side and ended back at the Prague Castle top. We changed tram and returned back to the bottom of the Castle. From there, we decided to continue our walk slowly. As we turned a corner, we saw a sight-seeing boat anchored and walked over to check on the next departure time. It was perfect timing as the boat was about to leave. We spent the next freezing cold hour along the river and taking in the night scenes.By then, I was exhausted and we took the tram to reach the other side of the river. We alighted at a shopping mall and bought a bottle of wine. From there, we just walked back to our hotel. It was a really long walking day.

The next day, we packed our bags and checked out. We left our bags at the reception area and started our last day at a leisure pace. Seb would like to check out CD shops and I would like a massage for my tired body after so much walking. We checked out the busy street at Wenceslas Square. We found a Thai massage parlour and there was a slot available for me. Seb had an hour to check out the CD shops he eyed along the way. After an hour of good and cheap (compared to France) massage, I found Seb waiting for me at the entrance. He found his Jazz CDs. The two happy people continued the last discovery of Prague, the Jewish Quarter.

Above is a statue of the famous author Franz Kafka. At the last hour, we stopped by a supermarket and bought some local delights for friends and families. We then headed back to the hotel to get our bags and walked back to the train station to catch the bus back to the airport.

It was a lovely short getaway and we enjoyed ourselves a lot. We would have missed many interesting details had it not been for the guide book.

Very bad idea

When Singapore was building casinos at Sentosa, a lot of people thought it was a bad idea. Now, this had been confirmed. Only vices and no merits!
Less than a week since the casinos were opened, the news reported a theft commited by a gambler who lost all his money. Then, there were other casino-linked offences.
I wonder how many Singaporean families will be broken due to these casinos. Yes, I know what I am talking about. I know so many uncles and aunties, including family members who loved to gamble and sometimes beyond reasoning. They not only got themselves into troubles but dragged their families along. Very sad.

Prague Day 1

Seb and I went to Prague last Nov to celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary. We booked a 3 days 2 nights trip with Lastminute.com. Upon arrival at the airport, Seb withdrew some local cash, the Czech crown from an ATM. After that, we took the public bus which cost 2.50€ per person to our hotel, Esplanade.

I booked a deluxe double room and it was actually the only room with balcony. The room was spacious and nicely decorated. We were not disappointed. After dropping our bags, we headed out to town.

Our hotel was located at Washingtonova road. At the end of the road, we turned right and reached the main street of the New Town district. There were shops and hotels and hot dog stands.

We took in sights of the busy street and continued our way until we reached the Old Town district. There were many beautiful buildings in Prague. Each façade has its own characteristics; be it drawings, paintings or statues.

I like the building below and after taking the photo, I realised that Hard Rock Cafe was the ground floor boutique.
Prague is known as the city of a thousand bells. That was true. We even found a bell stuck in the corner of a building. This was at the Old Town Square. The Tyn Church towers looked impressive. We tried to find the entrance to the church. After passing a row of restaurants and walking into the inner court of the building did we see the entrance of the church. It was weird to have the entrance of such a big church hidden by a building.

As we continued our walk, we came upon the Powder Tower. This was one of the 13 entrances to the Old Town. Now, the old walls were no longer around, this tower really stood out.

Just beside the Powder Tower stood the Municipal House. It was the most spectacular Art Nouveau building in Prague. In the evening, Seb and I attended a concert performing the works of Dvorak, my favourite composer. The principal concert hall, Smetana Hall, was famous for its grandiose glass dome and its elegance.
That summed up our first day at Prague. We walked a lot around the New Town and Old Town.

NICOLE

Nicole came and left. Last year, she promised to come see Baby A and she kept her promise. It was so sweet of her. We could tell that Baby A enjoyed her company. We spent a few relaxing and quiet days togather. Given the fact that I do not have much leave left, I took 2 off days to be with her.
We did our traditional stop at Coolins after visiting the photos exhibition along Jardin de Luxembourg. It was cold but unlike last year, the park was not covered with snow. There were always interesting photographic exhibition along the fence and this time round, the theme was on the Mekong river.

At Coolins, Baby A had his milk feed. His first drink in a pub!

In the evenings, we walked down memory lanes and looked at old photos. Gosh. I have known Nicole since my french class days and that was several years ago. Amazing how our friendship keeps going strong. I promise Nicole that we will visit her in Munich. I have no idea when that will be but I do want to fulfill this promise within the next two years. I do miss Munich and when Baby A can walk, it will be great to make him discover this nice city.

2010 Quality of Life Index

So, which country tops the quality of life index calculated by International Living.

Yes, it's the country I am living in now.

It seems to me that the scores were calculated fairly. Obviously, I am not so glad that Singapore did not score so well.

That is an extra good reason for my mom to come over here and stay with us. I am so looking forward to Baby A being taken care by his grandmother soon.

Child sick leave

A new year begins; which means I have 3 new days of child sick leave.
In my company, every parent is entitled to 3 days of child sick leave regardless of the number of children in the family. These 3 days are on top of the 6 weeks of paid leave.
But not every company is that good. For Seb, his child sick leave is considered as an urgent paid leave.
During the first winter, babies get sick so easily and in just Nov and Dec, I used up my 3 days allocated in year 2009.
And yesterday, just the beginning of the new year, I consumed a day of child sick leave. I truly hope that I do not have to consume the rest of the two days for a long time to come.

Baby A is fine. Just coughing and having runny nose like me.

Free pairs of glasses and free foot treatment

The title is a little misleading. There is no such thing as free lunches. I pay taxes (a lot indeed by Singaporean's standard) and my company pays my private health insurance. So it is natural that I do not have to pay certain health related services and goods.

Coming from a country where we have to pay out of our own pockets for a pair of glasses and also medical bills, I am still not used to this social system. Furthermore, my glasses cost me about 750€ and my medical treatment was in Singapore.

As mentioned about 3 years back when I made my first pair of glasses in France, I did not have to pay a single cent. OK. Maybe 3€ max. This was because I have good company health insurance. When I changed job, the coverage on glasses was even better. I could spend up to 1000€ on eyewear (frame + glasses). As usual, I think the optical shops here charge autrocious price for glasses. It is really to the limit of what I call "abusing". The optical shop I went to was kind enough to throw in a pair of glasses for free.

And back to my accident in Singapore, I incurred a total of about 200€ in medical bills. The travel insurance guy told me to claim back my bills from social security and my mutuelle first. Then would he cover the rest of the amount. Usually, social security only accepts medical claims
from the European Union countries. As I had an accident while visiting my home country, SS accepted my claims and gave me half the money back. A week later, my mutuelle gave me the other half. How cool.

No wonder my mutuelle is increasing its price and SS is having a big hole in its pocket. But well, c'est la France et vive la France!

Diapers bin

If you ask Seb what is the essential baby stuff that he could not live without, he will tell you this: the 'used diaper' bin. I do not know about you but when my neighbour told me that this is one thing we should have on top of the babycook, I was skeptical. Seb however insisted we get it, just like me insisting on the babycook.

I was convinced about the usefulness of the used diaper bin when we run out of recharge (the scented plastic bag). We had to find plastic bags to store the used diapers and they stinked in the rubbish bin. Unlike the old appartments in Singapore, there is no rubbish chute in our appartment. We had to put out our rubbish bags in a common rubbish collection area in the residence and I tend to throw my rubbish once every few days.

The used diaper bin is very easy to use and can store many diapers without leaking the smell. Just open the cover, push the used diaper into the bin, turn the grey ring to isolate the diaper in the plastic and close the bin. It makes diaper changing a step easier and faster.

Once the bin is fulled, throw away the string of sausage look alike diaper bags. There is no bad smell. To better understand the concept, check out the Sangenic website. For me, this bin is a bonus. However, Seb finds diaper changing a lot easier with it. So of course, I am more than happy to have it.

Strike and Snow

It is the usual period of strike.
RER A, the regional train most used by Parisiens with almost 1 million of passagers each day has been on strike since 8 days. During peak hours, there are only 1 train out of 2 and for off-peak hours, no train at all.
I am only slightly affected since I come to work by car and I leave home really early to start work at 8am.

Last week, there was a day where I took 1h45mins to reach office due to an accident. Horrible. Seb and I work not far from each other. When I left home in a hurry and kissed my son goodbye, Seb was preparing the milk bottle. While I was on the road, he fed the baby, dressed him up and brought him to the child care center; came back home to get his scooter and zoomed off. After an hour and half in the car stuck in traffic, Seb zoomed pass me on his scooter and even waved at me. That is the advantage of having a scooter in Paris!

This morning, I left earlier for work as other train lines are going on strike and snow is expected. I came to office at a record timing of 30mins. Cool. Usually, it takes me 45mins. Along the way, it snows. It is still snowing. Maybe we will have a white christmas this year. Yipee!

PS: a post done in a hurry for my own memory sake.

Babycook

Baby A is increasing his intake of solids nowadays. I try to make home cooked food for him as often as I can. During the weekends, I prepare his purée and fruit compte with Babycook. It is real easy. Just cut up the vegetables or fruits and put them in the steaming basket. Pour water into the appliant. Turn the knob to steaming mode. Once the food is cooked, just pour the contents in the steaming basket into the blender and turn on the knob to the mixer mode. Voila!

Babycook really ease our lives. It is highly recommended by my neighbour and colleagues. Well, I do admit that it is really handy though at first, I was deterred by its cost. When I cooked porridge, I put the porridge into the Babycook and mix it up.

So far, Baby A enjoys what I make for him and is not fussy. Today, I added in 2 teaspoons of fish in his porridge with carrots. He finished them up. Tomorrow, I will make him try chicken with sweet peas and carrots.

One crazy, scary week

Baby A was at his grandparents' 2 weekends ago while Seb and I went on a long weekend to Prague. I was looking so much to this vacation and indeed, it was great.

On tues, when I drove to Chartres to pick up baby A at noon, he was starting to have fever. Baby A's grandma and I decided that he should see a doctor in Chartres right away. The pediatrician advised us to go to the hospital as baby A was having a fever of 39.9°C. He was coughing, having diffculty breathing and was suspected to have H1N1. By the time we were attended to at the emergency room for children, it was already late afternoon. Blood test was taken and baby A was admitted to the baby ward. Seb rushed home after work, packed some clothes and took the train to Chartres. We had to bring down baby A's temperature and also to stablise his breathing.

Baby A stayed a total of 5 nights in the hospital and was discharged on sunday. Seb and I took turns to stay overnight as only one parent was allowed. During the day, we were both at our son's side. Each day, we held hope that he would be discharged.On Wed night, I was asked if I could share the room with another baby who was also suspected of having H1N1. The children ward was over crowded and the hospital could not afford to give each patient a room though in the ideal situation, this should be the case. I accepted as there was really no other choice though I heard other parents insisting on not sharing rooms.

The test result came only on thurs for baby A and he did not have H1N1. He had virus infection to his lungs and it triggered an asthma attack. However, the 4 month old baby who shared his room was tested positive with H1N1. When her fever subsided on Friday, she was discharged. This time round, I insisted that I won't allow my baby to share the room. The head doctor of the children ward was apologetic.

Since admission, all patients who were suspected to have H1N1 were given Tamiflu. This included babies though no lab test had been done for babies under a year old. A 5 weeks old baby in the ward was given Tamiflu too.

Baby A and I are staying at home this week since we had been exposed to a H1N1 carrier. Seb and I are on Tamiflu as well as a preventive measure. The thing is, no doctor can be certain that Tamiflu works or that it prevents us from getting H1N1. And all doctors have different views about the vacination.

The 4 month old girl was alright though she got H1N1. In another case, this was not so. On Saturday, the doctors were trying hard to rescue a kid. Seb and I saw the actions as the emergency room in the ward was in front of baby A's room. We read today in the newspaper that the kid, aged 6 died from H1N1 plus another virus. She came to the hospital on thurs and was told to go home after consultation. Her condition worsen on friday and was rushed to hospital.

This whole affair drained out all our engergy. It scared me too. I am confused. Baby A is determined as asthmatic. With this complication, we were strongly advised to vacine him. But did he already had H1N1 during his stay at the hospital?

For this week, I am bring baby A to a session of respiratory kinesiotherapy each day. I do hope that he will fully recover soon. Winter is just beginning and I pray hard that my son will be well.

I need another vacation but I have no more leave and I don't think I can leave baby A behind. Not that I think my in-laws did not do a good job. Baby A falling sick had nothing to do with them. They took great care of baby A and they love him.

Given a quiet moment, I will look at the photos of Prague and write a little post about it. That will maybe lift up my spirit.

Paris Markets

A friend from Singapore was asking me about the markets in Paris. Which days are they available and at which district.


I checked through internet and found the list. However, the list is in french. It states the district in Paris, the Metro station, the day and time. I guess it is not difficult to make out the information except for the days. So here is a table showing DAYS in english and french.


I hope this information will be useful to tourist. French markets are a pretty sight and is something not to be missed when visiting France. After all, this is a country of great gastronomy.

Label label

Got this cloth from a UK website while shopping for bandana bibs. Baby A likes to chew on labels. Once he is handed a toy, he would nibble on the label. Somehow, babies prefer that than the toy itself.

With this cloth, he has lots of labels to choose from. Still, I saw him putting the real label to his mouth once. Coincidence?

Beyond mouldy cheese and heart shaped clouds

I have problems getting shoes due to my small feet. As winter approaches, I wanted to equip my feet with a pair of heeled ankle boots. I found a few addresses on internet and on saturday, our mission was "Mom buying shoes".

We decided to go to the shoe shop at rue de Provence at Paris 9th district. As Galleries Lafayette Gourmet was along the way, we stopped by there to appreciate the delicious food. Seb and I adore this place. There are tasting bars, restaurants and deli counters. One could buy bread from Kayser bakery or pasteries from Dalloyau, have an Italian ham sandwich with a glass of white wine, drink (expensive) freshly squeezed fruit juice, buy some foie gras or cavier. And the list goes on. The food variety is international. My favourite deli counter is chinese. The food are fresh and tasty. Seb's favourite counter is cheese. We saw this really mouldy cheese.

Here's a closer look of it. This is beyond me. I doubt I will ever be able to put this in my mouth even with the surface scrapped off. Would you?

Paris is a city of surprise. One should always bring out the camera even if one lives in Paris.

Did you notice two heart shaped clouds in the photo above? For an obvious view, see the photo below. Heart shaped clouds were being blown out of a box planted in the middle of a street in Paris. Everyone was taking photos with their handphones. Really funny.

It was a fruitful day as I managed to get my boots and we had a lovely time walking from Saint Lazare to Les Halles. The next day, we went to Saint Michel area after church but as the weather report predicted, it was a rainy day. I guess saturday was the last day of warm autumn.

All in a day's work (maybe two)

I went London for a worktrip on wednesday. It was an overnight affair and it was the first time I was away from baby A. To make things difficult, baby A was sick. As winter approached, a lot of people were down with cold. We could not make a quick appointment with the doctors. They were either fully booked for the next two weeks or the timing was not right. There was a doctor near our place who started at 6am. Seb brought baby A there at 6.15am and there was already 7 people before him. While I reached London via Eurostar at 8.30am, baby A just finished his consultation with the doctor. He had a little fever and Seb had to stay at home with him for the day.

The next day, baby A was well enough to go to the infant care center. If he still had fever, baby A's grand-father would have to come from Chartres to pick him up for an overnight stay there. This was because Seb had a meeting in Belgium and could not cancel it.

We both returned to Gare du Nord at around the same time. 8pm. I rushed home to pick up baby A from the nanny. As the infant care center closed early at 6.15pm, we had a nanny to occasionally fetch baby A from the infant care center at 5pm. We would then pick him up from the nanny's place (just a floor down from my appartment) at 7pm.

It was a very tiring 2 days for us. As economy is picking up, Seb and I have to start travelling again. As I am writing this, Seb just arrives in Amsterdam. I will be alone with baby A for 2 days. Hats off to single moms. I will never be able to stay zen if I had to take care of baby A alone. I am really thankful to Seb for his 100% participation as a dad. Bisous papa!

Half Marathon

Last year, I witnessed the Saint Denis Half Marathon from my balcony. Today, I witnessed it again. It was pretty entertaining watching men and women; fat or thin, tall or short, young or old enjoying their passion. RUNNING. The slim and tall men were the ones heading the race.
On two occasions, I saw wheelchair bounded person being pushed by his running partner. The runners moved forward in a silent procession. Only once did I hear two ladies chatting while running.

We are not a family of runners. Seb and I have no interest in jogging or running at all. In fact, we detest jogging. I very much preferred watching people running pass my balcony on a good sunny day. I tried to get baby A to watch the runners but he only noticed the flowers on the balcony and tried to put them in his mouth. At the moment, nothing interest him except things that he could put in his mouth. Well, so be it.

My feet

I used to think that I had beautiful feet. I mean my toes looked decent and the overall shape of my feet was "correct".

This is the state of my feet 1.5 months after the accident. New skin has grown on my left foot but that area is still sensitive.

I thank God that the weather in France is warmer than it should be at this time of the year. I am able to wear open toes shoes even until now which was never possible in my 6 years stay in France.
Since we wear cover shoes 10 months in a year over here, it is easier to accept the fact that I only have a beautiful foot now.

BTW, aren't the footwear pretty? Thanks to Elena!

A new chapter

Baby A has been at the infant care since a week. Things are going well. Our lives have settled into a comfortable routine.
Baby A is at 4 feeds of milk per day. He usually starts his day at 7.30am with 210ml of milk. At the infant care, he drinks at around 11.30am of 180ml of milk. Tea time is between 4 to 5pm with a fruit compote and 180ml of milk. At home, he would drink 210ml around 9pm before sleeping through the night.
My first week of work was slow and steady except for a bad news that really disturbed my state of mind. My colleague passed away suddenly on tues morning. I returned to work on monday and we talked a little. He asked what was the "saucisse" (sausage) that I brought to office. I explained that it was the famous pineapple tarts from Singapore (Bengawang Solo). I was saddened by his demise. So was everyone else in office.
Back to our home affairs.....
A new chapter has started with Baby A going to the infant care. Me starting work. Seb continuing his work. Despite extra domestic workload, we are coping well. Of course, I have less time and inspiration to post new entry. I do love to write. But at the moment, I spend whatever free time I have to update on baby A's journal. It will be great to keep track when he starts to flip, his reaction to compote, etc....

Claiming 'GST' or 'VAT' from shopping in EU

A friend asked if it was possible to claim tax rebates in London on purchases done in Paris. I remembered Ian telling me that it was possible but troublesome. So I dropped him a message via Facebook and he sent me this long email. Very kind of him.

I thought this info might be useful for other travellers. So here's the copy and paste email with authorisation to publish from the owner. Thanks Ian!

Ok... There are 2 ways for declaring the goods that you want to claiming the 'GST' (VAT), and then after declaring them, there are 2 ways of claiming back the money. (This is based on what I saw and gone through at LV in France, and leaving Europe (EU) via London Heaththrow) as the last port. It must only be claimed from the last port, and yes UK is part of EU especially for this reason.

After buying the goods, you will need to get the vendor to provide the tax invoice, plus fill out all the details to the vendor(retail shop).The vendor should also provide a self addressed envelope (reputableones).

At this point, I suggest you first write down on a piece of paper, some details of what you are claiming, from where, the currency (Euro orPounds), the invoice numbers, and the values and what you believe are the claim back amounts. You may have more than 1 item to claim, and writing these and totalling them up before going to the airport, will save you a lot of hassle. Plus, when you go home and check credit card/bank statements.

At London Heaththrow, you can:
Method 1 for declaring goods) "If the item is too big, and need to check in to plane's cargo" Method.You need to arrive really early and queue in a damn long queue to declare the goods with Tax Refund Counter, with the invoice, which is located before check-in counters (i.e. located before going through customs). After Tax Refund Counter Officer checks goods and rubber stamps the invoice (you must make sure they do this!), you can then either mail the invoice back to the vendor, or go to "Travelex (orsimilar)".

Method 2 for declaring goods) "If the item is hand-carry-able, and no need to check in to plane's cargo" Method.You can checkin and clear customs first. There is ANOTHER Tax Refund Counter after checkin, which is normally shorter, because a lot of people either don't know about this counter, or their items are too large or dangerous to hand-carry, and had to checkin to the plane's cargo. BUT, to do this method, you MUST hand carry the item, and show the Tax Refund Officer your goods. Obviously, this is the same as method1 above as well, so as to prove to the officers what you are claiming.Again, please make sure they rubber stamp the invoice. Again, same as above, after Tax Refund Counter Officer checks goods and rubber stamps the invoice, you can then either mail the invoice back to the vendor, or go to "Travelex (or similar)".

Ok, you have declared the goods, now the money....

Alternative 1 for claiming back the money) If doing the mailing method,remember to buy a UK stamp with enough value to send it back to the country of the vendor. (For me that was sending it back to LV, so I had to buy a stamp with suitable value at a post office.) You should buy a stamp before going to the airport if you decide to do this, because you don't want to go to another queue to post office .. Etc.. Whilst rushing to checkin in one of the busiest airport in the world (Heathrow)! Then just drop it into the mailbox!

Alternative 2 for claiming back the money) If you want the cash back immediately, then you can take the rubber stamped invoice and the credit card (the same one you used to buy the product), to Travelex or one of these finance companies. I didn't go through this method, but I think they take a fee from your claim. You get the money back on your card,but the queue to this is quite long. You can do this alternative both before customs checkin, or after customs checkin. But both queues are very very long. Maybe they did not remember to buy the UK stamp?? But especially if your VAT claim back value is small, and you don't have to depend on the money to live for the next few days... I don't see the point of giving these finance companies the business.

My Thoughts....Heathrow is really really busy and packed full of people. Although they are trying to make things as quick as possible, it's the volume of travellers, communication barriers, and the lack of space that is making it so congested. It give opportunities for pickpockets, and other hassles like long queues. Hence, I personally prefer the least hassle method, because I don't want to risk running late for the plane.So, I pre-bought a stamp, did the hand-carry method of declaring tax,and put my claim in the mail. Even this quick method, took me half hour minimum. Clearly, depending on time of day of departure flights, these queues may get shorter, or longer!

Hope that helps.... I know its wordy.. But seriously its not that difficult.

Safe at home

We reached France on Friday morning. I extended a week of our stay in Singapore upon my doctor's recommendation. The travel insurance took care of our needs and booked us new tickets with Air France. I would love to travel with Singapore Airlines but all seats were taken up.

Baby A and I travelled on business class. Though the seats were smaller than the ones I saw in SQ's A380, I was grateful for the extra leg room and the reclinable seat. Baby A did not want to stay in his cot and would only sleep on me throughout the 12.5 hours journey.

As I had medical assistance, an airport staff with a wheelchair was waiting for me at the airport. However, I was not allowed to carry my boy while in the wheelchair. So we put my hand luggages on the wheelchair and I walked with my boy in the baby carrier. CDG's terminal 2E is huge and we had to walk really far to catch a skytrain to the baggage area and arrival hall. There was no trolley in sight. So if your hand carry bags did not come with wheels, you had to lug your bags for a long distance. At the immigration counter, the queue was super long. I was glad that we could cut all the queue as I was given priority. Looking at the queue, it could take me at least an hour to reach the counter.

I would not advise anyone to arrive in Paris at terminal 2E. Even the airport staff wondered how anyone could design such a messy terminal. I would be lost if not for the airport staff. Who would have thought of walking a distance to take a skytrain to reach the luggage bags and exit!

Further more, in CDG, strollers were not brought up to the door of the plane upon arrival. Parents would have to collect them at a different baggage belt. Unlike in Changi Airport, baby A's stroller was waiting for him once we got out of the plane. It was a breeze touching down in Singapore.

Baby A cried a lot on friday but he has returned to his cheerful self the next day. This week, we are starting his adaptation at the infant care center. We will start a new routine of normal working life with baby. For the moment, good bye vacation.