Tuesday, June 26, 2007

IWC Cocktail Party

Last Thursday Rene and I went along to the cocktail party for the launch of the new IWC Da Vinci watches. It was a fabulous night. It was held in the marquee where the current exhibition of Leonardo Da Vinci is being held at Fox Studios. The exhibition is of models made in Florence using Da Vinci's notes, drawings and ideas. Amazing workmanship in the models which are mostly made of wood.

Rene with the Helicopter Model

Rene and Mark


As for the watches....they were beautiful. Here is a link to IWC https://www.iwc.com/index-en.asp and about the Da Vinci watches here....
https://www.iwc.com/messepopup_2007/davinci/index-en.asp.
We met some friends there who also had invitations..Helena, Mark, Shaun, Julian and Christina, Teng and Robyn, Chris and more. We also had the pleasure of having a chat with 5 time World 500cc Motorcycle Champion Mick Doohan who we found out is the Australian brand ambassador for IWC. Great talking to him and being able to not only get an autograph but also a photo.

Rene, Mick Doohan and Me

Our Friend Helena with Mick Doohan


We had a great night despite the cold(only one heater unfortunately). Great canapes and lovely Moet. The real highlight of the evening was being able to hold and admire the new Da Vinci watches.

That is all for this time nice and short. Ciao for now!

Viktoria

Friday, June 15, 2007

Singapore and Hong Kong Holiday Part 2

Well back again with another holiday post. This is edition is about everything except the beads and gems.

We left Sydney at 8am and arrived in Singapore at 2pm(Singapore time). Nice and hot there. We got our transfers to the hotel checked in, relaxed a bit, checked what time our friend Dave was picking us up and then decided to head in to Orchard road. Not much had changed in the 7 years since our last visit, just a few improvements and 1 or 2 new plazas.

Did our initial reconnaisance of some watch shops and discovered that Van Cleef and Arpels had moved in to Ngee Ann Plaza. Yippee!! A new store to visit. After our whirl wind visit to Orchard Road we returned to our hotel to get ready to meet our friend Dave who lives in Singapore. We went for a fantastic Chinese dinner at The Asia Grand. Amazing food! Really delicious bean curd with mushrooms in it and garlic and oyster sauce, So much food but all delicious. After that we went for a coffee in a cafe in Raffles city and had dessert too!

Monday and Tuesday we mainly spent working our way through two pages of watch boutuques that we had to visit and found one or two that we hadn't anticipated. We also looked inlots of other shops too. Tuesday night we went to an American steakhouse called Lawry's which was fantastic, beautifully decorated like in a grand house, and great steaks(good wine too).

Rene and I at Lawry's


Wedesday and Thursday, Rene went to work for a bit and I got time to myself(see post for Part I) and got to explore on my own a bit. Wednesday night we had dinner with Rene's new work colleagues and then Rene and I went to Raffles for a Singapore Sling. YUMMO!!!! They even let you throw the peanut shells on the floor....how decadent!

Rene enjoying a real Sling!


Me at Raffles


Thursday night our friend Dave took us out for another delicious meal followed by cocktail at the Sentosa Resort. We went to Jumbo Seafood over on te east coast and hed real Singapore chilli crab, pepper crab - the crab is cooked in a wok with black pepper, hot but a different heat to the chillies in the chilli crab. Satay chicken and noodles rounded it out. We also had a late afternoon tea at Vivocity of Singapore style tea and toast with an amazing Singapore spread on it.

This was about the best photo we were able to take of Jumbo Seafood

Me at the Sentosa Resort


Friday morning we checked out of the hotel got our transfers to the airport and took the plane to Hong Kong. This was our first time there and it was a great time. We didn't do much. Lots of wondering around, took the funicular(sounds rude doesn't it?) up to Victoria Peak. Went to watch boutiques and jewellery stores. Just did a reconnaisance of the main area really. Had dinner at Hard Rock(yes we got souvenir glasses), Japanese in our hotel for lunch was great, dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, amazing steaks and fantastic service!! Saw a movie(Pirates of The Carribeanpt3) and then after that had afternoon tea at the Peninsula Hotel. So much food for afternoon tes that we didn't need dinner.
Next time we go to Hong Kong we will definitely be going for longer 3 nights was not enough. Anyway here are a couple of photos from Hong Kong to finish this post off.

Me at Victoria Peak


Me waiting for the Peak Tram


View from the Peak Lookout

Me enjoying a cocktail at Hard Rock Cafe


That is all for now. Catch you soon!

Ciao
Viktoria

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

A Couple of Little Videos from Hong Kong

Well I have just discovered how to put videos on to my blog(I am rather techno challenged!!!) So here they are. The first one is me on the Star ferry which I still have to email to Mum and Dad.



This next one is one Rene did when we went up Victoria Peak(wasn't it nice of them to name it after me except they got the spelling wrong!LOL)



Here is Rene at the Hard Rock Cafe when we went for a cocktail.



And here I am at the Peninsula Hotel before we had afternoon tea, but after spending some cash!! As you can see I went to the same school of presenting that Belinda Jeffries (From BHG) went to....have to learn not to smile while talking!!LOL I think a bit of lippy might have been a good idea too! At least I wore some jewellery I made myself.



Ciao for now time for bed!!