Leaving Singapore

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Good Morning from aboard the Celebrity Millennium -

Before we start, Tim had an interesting encounter with a fellow passenger. Monday morning about 6:30 Tim went to work out. When he got on the eliptical machine the man next to him asked if he was up early because he was an early riser or because he still had not adjusted his biological clock. Tim informed him he was still having problems adjusting to the time change. The man then asked Tim where he was from. When Tim answered Michigan the man immediately said "Go Blue". It's amazing how quickly the crew responds to a man overboard! We've since found out that there are people from 55 different countries aboard - what are the chances that Tim's first encounter would be with a U of M fan?

Sunday morning, while waiting to go to our ship, Tim took a short walk about. During our tours in Singapore we had driven by the St. Andrews Cathedral many times. It was a short distance from our hotel so Tim decided to walk to the Cathedral for a visit. St. Andrews is the oldest Anglican church in Singapore. While it is called a cathedral it in no way matches the size of the famous European cathedrals. Despite its small size it was a lovely church to see. It was built in 1863-64 in the Gothic style using Indian convict labor. The interior of the church was lovely in its simplicity; the walls were painted white and the ceiling a dark royal blue, not quite navy blue. Unfortunately, there was a service in progress so he was unable to walk around the inside of the church.

Believe it or not, on Monday the ship had the Super Bowl on the television throughout the ship. They also had a watch party in the theater. The game started at 7:30 a.m. and there was beer, hot dogs and chicken wings available. Even a hardcore tailgater like Tim wasn't ready for a dog and beer for breakfast. Instead, he opted for a tortilla wrap with scrambled eggs, bacon and sausage, and an orange juice. Before the game was over we took a cab to the Art/Science Museum meaning that Tim missed one of the best Super Bowl finishes of all time. The Art/Science Museum is an architectural wonder located very near the Marina Bay Sands Hotel. It looks like a lotus flower in bloom but actually depicts a pair of hands intertwined. We did not want to spend $25 each to see the DaVinci exhibit but did go to the free contemporary art showing. This was true contemporary art ranging from the whimsical to the down right bizarre. We have found that contemporary art of this type is meant to be shown in a gallery not in a home. After viewing the art, we walked across the street to the Sands Hotel. Our last posting showed a picture of this resort, but to refresh your memory, there are three towers with a large atrium at the base that connects the towers into one building. What looks like a boat sits atop the three towers. The outside towers each have a bar/restaurant at the top. We went to the top of each, 57 stories, and sat and enjoyed a drink in one of the bars.  Obviously, the views were spectacular and we also had an excellent view of the swimming pool at the very top.  It was a lot less freaky looking from the side then it probably was in the pool itself.

The next two days will be spent at sea as we sail to Bangkok.  Our next posting will be after that port of call.  Hopefully, by then all of our family and friends in Michigan will have dug out from the storm.

Art/Science Museum from atop the Marina Bay Sands Hotel 

Pool atop the Marina Bay Sands Hotel, Singapore