Cheers from Munchen

All is well in the land of beer and brat. We have successfully meet up with Zac and Tara and are in fully enjoying all that Munich has to offer. I have to be brief but after a few beer halls, a bike tour and a late night yodeling tavern which I'll explain later, we are already having a good time.

We are leaving Munich shortly to move on to more adventures - we'll write more soon!

Winding up the short trip to Corfu

To answer my previous question we had our drinks and moved on. As a traveler in unfamiliar environments you can never be too cautious. When something seems a bit off you have to take notice.

"We are just going to have drinks. We had a late Greek style lunch and just aren't hungry." Then we endured the following slightly uncomfortable minutes while we finished our drinks and enjoyed the view.

Afterwards we found a local fast food kebab style place and had a good simple dinner. It turned out to be a better option.

The next morning was already departure day and we only had the morning hours before we had to head to Corfu town and the airport. Up early we headed to the beach for breakfast and some last minute sun. At 8:30am we were no joke, the only tourists on the beach. The restaurant workers and beach hut workers were there setting up shop, but weren't open until 9am. It was kind of nice "owning" the beach for the morning. Oh, and even by 11:30 when we packed up there were only about 20 people in site. It was sunny and hot so I'm not sure why it was a slow day.

Arriving at the airport we dropped off the car and checked in for the flight which was delayed. An hour and a plate of tzatziki later, we found out it was significantly delayed - almost 5 hours. Luckily the airport is tiny and Corfu town was nearby so we jumped in a taxi and headed back out for some more sight seeing.

Corfu town was great and would have been a shame to miss otherwise. With fantastic Venetian style buildings, a mighty fortress castle as you can see with Steph above and great bay to see. We strolled the streets then found one last taverna for a snack before heading back to the airport.

For once we were glad the plane was delayed because it gave us more usable time to spend on the island.

Before this trip I thought last minute travel was a myth. Even saying so out loud looking at some of the prices for airfare leading up to the trip. I may of even said something about lastminute.com needed to change its name, but I was proven wrong.

It was an eventful and extremely enjoyable last minute trip that we concluded was so good because we had zero expectations. We didn't have time to plan or research anything, so everything we did and ran across was a surprise. :) We're going to try to do this more often.

Enjoy the photos

Travelling Dilema

Our cheap trip was a package deal from one of the major tour providers here in the UK. It was just the start of high season in Corfu so seats on planes and hotel rooms were empty. Throw in a credit crunch and you really start to notice the effects. Restaurants, hotels and beaches were all empty. You could tell that everything was geared for big crowds but they just weren't here, yet...hopefully.

Now back in Sidari after our beach hopping experience, we needed dinner.

One of the hardest things when traveling is eating. Finding good "local" places at good prices can be a tough but rewarding task. There are always so many places to choose from and finding the gems can be tough. One way to sort though bad places is to look at the crowd eating. If its busy or full of locals you know it may have potential.

So with all the restaurants having lots of open tables, they all looked the same. The clientele wasn't any help. They were all serving similar food at similar prices and quite a few placed on the beach. After trying some rationale such as "big and shiny", "looks the most local", "has more comfortable looking chairs", "has a Greek looking cook", "serves only local beer", "has the best view", "best menu", etc...nothing worked. Nothing helped us narrow down our selection so we just had to blindly guess and ended up at a place off the main street with a big open air patio and a sea view. We sat down and a friendly Greek server welcomed us so we ordered drinks to start. As we perused the menu "IT" happened.

An older British lady approached our table and said in a low voice, "Please be careful. They have already overcharged two other tables and our food is so bad we can't eat it. Be warned."

This really took us back a step. We had already ordered drinks and told the guy we were hungry and interested in the fish on special.

My question to you is the following:

What would you do?

1. Ignore a fellow traveler's advice, continue with your drinks and order food knowing there is a likelihood things could go wrong?


2. Take her advice, cancel your drinks and leave as quickly as possible?


3. Finish your drinks and make up some excuse as to why you are not hungry anymore?


4. None of the above

Leave us a comment with what you would do.

Truly Last minute travels...to Greece

I'm not sure you are going to believe this but we just got back from a weekend in Greece that we booked the day before. So less than 24 hours later we were sitting on the plane cruising at 33 thousand feet to the island of Corfu at a staggeringly cheap price. All the better right...

On arrival in Corfu all we had was the name of the hotel, the city it was in, and a picture of it. No directions, address, maps or arranged transportation. I know its not like us but in the rush we didn't get to those details. To sort out transportation we headed straight for the rental car desk and in less than 10 minutes we were in the car and on the road all before the rest of the flight was through baggage claim. Traveling light does have its benefits. So with a map from the rental car company and a few recommendations from the lady working the rental desk we set off.

Driving up the coast we stopped in the village of Kalami. Strolling along the quiet beach we found the recommended taverna. It was a great time to get out of the afternoon sun and relax. We enjoyed some excellent humous and some local sourced calamari. The taverna had a fantastic open air patio covered in grape vines shielding us from the sun but allowing the breeze to make it a relaxing few hours.

Now the challenging part. Finding our hotel. We drove to the town of Sadari where the hotel was and after a few minutes of driving around aimlessly we gave in and asked for directions. It took a couple attempts but we finally found it. The picture came in handy because there was no name on the hotel.

Dinner started out great with a seat at another taverna on the beach as the sun set. We had some delicious tzatziki and Steph had a bowl of olives all to herself. It was "Greek" night which at first seemed nothing special but turned into quite the spectacle. It started with some dancers doing their Greek dance to some music. Then they lit the floor on fire in preparations for the big finale. Music playing we all stood there in awe as the floor in the middle of the restaurant was in flames as the guy kept fueling it. I took a short video in case you don't believe me. After they put the fire out they gave us all plates to throw at the feet of the dancers during the final dance. Check out Steph, how cool is that!

With a great day in hand we took a walk on the beach. The only problem on the day turned out to be the flip flop that I blew out on the way home.

The next day we let the sun wake us up and headed back to the beach for breakfast. All of the tavernas/restaurants have beach patios which make for incredible dining. We ate breakfast and sipped coffee all morning enjoying the warmth of the sun and calm of the beach and ocean views.

As usual we couldn't just sit around all day at one beach so we headed off to do some beach hopping. Driving in Greece is quite the experience. The roads aren't the best but quite adventurous. They go from nice paved roads to bumpy hardly call that a road, in and out of tiny villages with one way passes. After a few beaches and some good high views from above we hit the jackpot.

The road took us well up one of the mountains where a cliff side taverna was calling our name. We sat literally on the edge of a cliff staring down below and a fantastic set of coves and beaches having lunch. We made friends with the local owner who recommended the kebab meal that wasn't even on the menu. It really hit the spot. The photo was taken just after lunch.

So what do you do after a big meal late in the afternoon...nap on the beach, of course. We made our way down and spent the last few good hours of the day snoozing on the beach.

More to come.

Wales Wrap Up

After lunch we suited up again this time, in a less restricting wet suit, and headed to a nice village, Fishguard, where Moby Dick was filmed, to do some sea kayaking. We settled into our kayaks and paddled up the coast line dwarfed by the tall rugged cliffs. No seals this time but we did stop and watch some interesting birds that are related to penguins, which are known to be terrible flyers. They live on the cliffs and spend all day trying to land on the small ledges. When they leave the ledges instead of flying up they drop like stones going almost straight down even though they are flapping their wings like mad. Getting back to the ledge is even more of a challenge because they keep having to circle because they change there minds at the last moment which is fairly entertaining. They head toward the ledge then at the last second circle around for another attempt and can spend hours trying to land.

With the sun setting we headed back to the lodge for dinner and a bonfire. The sky was clear and the fire was great. We roasted some marshmallows (they don't make good marshmallows here!) and entertained the the non Americans with stories of S'mores then called it a night. We were exhausted.

The next morning we had our last event of the weekend - a 7 mile hike along the Pembrokshire coast line. The weather was bright and sunny so the hike was very enjoyable. We walked along the coast high above the sea in and out of little sea side villages making our way back to the lodge.

After taking it easy the rest of the day on Sunday, actually getting sunburnt, we set off for the drive home the next morning. We stopped off to tour a coal mine called Big Pit which supplied much of the coal to drive the UK's industrial revolution but has been turned into a museum. We put our hard hats and lights on and toured the actual mine. We left thinking, why hadn't we done this in KY or WV where we still mine coal.

Arriving back in London there were protests in front of Parliament blocking our preferred route to drop the car off back at Waterloo station. A few detours later, a wave to the queen and a "Hey look kids, there's Big Ben..." we were able to find our way back to drop the car off. Oh and a tip for anybody renting a car in London, ask for a Hybrid because you don't have to pay the congestion charge which can run 8 pounds a day.

We went to Wales to get away and that is what we found. Fresh air, open spaces and adventure. We made some new friends, funny enough one girl was from Northern Kentucky and another couple live around the corner from us in Clapham. Small world huh?

Here is the photo link in case you missed it.

Wales and coasteering

We were starting to get a little stir crazy with winter winding down. To escape we booked an Easter bank holiday weekend trip to Wales. Rugged coast line, beautiful countryside and best of all, sparsely populated outside Cardiff and Swansea.

To make the most of the long weekend we took off after work opting to do the easy but boring motorway driving to Swansea.

One quick side note. Driving into Wales on the M3 you cross a great bridge across the bay where you have to pay toll. This is when you see that the pace of life has changed. Things instantly SLOOOOW down and from the non stop, out of my way attitude in London to the "Have a lovely evening" way of Wales was a very welcome way to start the trip. Even if I did have to pay toll for it.

Knowing we'd be getting in just short of midnight we opted to stay at a cheap sea side B&B in a little place called Mumbles. Well cheap is what we got. It was a bit rough but luckily we only had to sleep and go...

A major theme for the trip turned out to be the weather. Wales is known for its unpredictable weather and there were no guarantees we would even see sunshine but we did and lots of it. What a change from the winter gray of London.

From here a buddy of mine from Wales recommended we explore the Gower, a little peninsula sticking out below Swansea where he was from. We drove around the peninsula ending up in a fantastic village, Rhossili, at a place called Worm's head. It is a little island stuck out off the coast. Possibly resembling a worm's head? We walked along the high cliffs out towards the island that is only reachable in low tide.

From Rhossili we headed towards our main stay near the village of Mathry stopping along the way at a fantastic castle. If you don't know Wales its the land of castles. Throughout the centuries everybody wanted their own piece of Wales so in defense they built castles and lots of them. This particular castle was stuck on a hill top with a staggering cliff face. Check out the photos. Very cool. I'm not sure if you can see it in the pictures but there is a man made walk way built out on the cliff face leading to a natural cave which was fun to explore. Steph got a big kick out of taking our small flash light and leaving me in the dark. Not funny Steph!

After a bit of castle exploration and a few pictures we set off to the main attraction. Our Adventure Cocktail Weekend. A 2 day adrenaline filled weekend of coasteering, sea kayaking and hiking on the rugged coastline all staged from a 5 star ecolodge. Green and fun, what a combination! All provided by our friends at Preseli Venture.

I'll start with the lodge. It was a very camp-like atmosphere. With housing facilities for 30+, all full for the weekend. Some of the rooms had bunks for 6 or more and a big room to eat and hangout. Meals were served all at once and were a very hearty mix of soups, lasagna, jacket potatoes, ect. By "Eco" they really mean self sufficient. They would never say but I'm guessing it was geothermal powered. They used ecotricity and the building was built to maintain all the heat possible plus, as everyone should, they made huge efforts to recycle everything.

Now back to the events. First up Saturday morning was coasteering. Yep - you read right so what is coasteering. Its a combination of swimming, climbing, jumping off cliffs through sea caves, up and down with the sea swell all in the frigid ocean which even in April was a staggering 7 degrees. ( 40 Fahrenheit ish ). Luckily full winter wet suits were provided along with gloves, booties, buoyancy aides ( haha ) and helmets.

Once at the coast we made our way down to the sea, sun shining and waves tumbling. We all took a big gulp knowing what we were about to do. As we edged into the cold water it hit us. The water was so COLD it was almost painful. In fact, it was painful.

Eventually the wet suit did its job and we started to warm up, sorta. Then a distraction. A bull seal, how cool! It came to investigate and then was off. Game on.

Up and over rocks, swimming through little coves dodging the surf we went. Jumping off into the water at different points was the best. The last jump was 25ft up and was exhilarating. Just the pure shock of it all. The water was so cold, on the rocks the sun warmed you up and then nervously jumping off back into the cold water adrenaline pumping all the way.

Before I go for now, I should say I froze the whole time. The wet suit helped but not enough. Steph had a hard time breathing deeply - it was so cold! After more than 2 hours we were ready to get out! The hot chocolate afterwards was needed but I'd still recommend it to anybody with an adventurous spirit. It was a fantastic way to spend a morning.

Kayaking and hiking still to come.

All Wales Photos

A long winter's slumber

I realize we have been offline for a while but we have now awaken from our long winter slumber. We haven't been traveling January through March but things are starting to pick up again with the end of audit busy season and the start of spring weather and holidays.

To catch everyone up - we have decided to stay in England a bit longer so we won't be coming home in April as originally planned. I have changed jobs in the past few months and am really enjoying my new and challenging role. Steph has also just changed roles in her company moving from audit to business consulting. Its a move she is excited about which should give her some incredible work experiences.

We are also moving flats this coming weekend. After 2 years we have finally figured out all the little apartment intricacies that are important to us (we hope!) and we have found a great flat. We are staying in Clapham Junction but moving to a quiet street, in a Victorian house with a massive back garden that is all ours! The new place is small (just 1 bedroom!) but as Steph puts it, "oh-so-homey". It has the original hardwood floors, decorative crown molding, french doors opening to the garden and a small finished cellar.

Also in the past little while, our friends Hal and Stacie came over to London and we got to spend time with them while they were in town. On the Friday they were in, we took them out for fish and chips to a place supposedly in the top 10 fish-n-chips shops in London and - WOW! It was the best fish and chips I have had since moving here. It's always excellent to have visitors as we often spend a little extra time looking for things to do/eat and we come across jewels like that fish and chippy shop! Rock and Sol Plaice, good name huh. We also had a fabulous dinner in China Town that was chart-topping as well.

Well, I think that's about all that's happened since January. I wasn't lying when I said we were in a winter slumber! Our first official trip of 2009 was this Easter weekend. We took the 4 day weekend to head over to Wales and spend some time out in the country. More to come on that in the coming days.

A couple notes to wrap up the post. Our 2 year anniversary of living abroad has come and gone with today marking 2 full years of us working in the UK. Oh how time flies! We want to thank everyone for their continued support. We couldn't do it with out you.

It is also my Mom's birthday so I want to wish her a very BIG Happy Birthday!

For a teaser I attached a picture from Wales...

It's 2009?!

Where does time go?! I know, I know, we haven't posted an update in a while so let me run down whats been going on.

After Prague we spent 2 weeks at home for the holidays. It was great to be home for a bit seeing everybody for the first time in almost a year. Some fresh Kentucky air, a few basketball games, 3 wins to be exact, plus lots of events to catch up with friends and family.

While we were home we did put one of our travel gained skills to use by making homemade pasta. Thanks to our good friends at Blueone we put together a fun dinner of tortellini filled with pancetta, spinach and ricotta cheese in a chicken broth along side tagliatelle in sauce. We didn't make picture perfect tortellini but it did turn out to be quite tasty and fun. Here are a few photos.

So after the whirlwind two weeks at home we've been laying pretty low settling back into work and riding out the gray January. We took in a show for Steph's birthday, have been trying out new places to eat, some new pubs and that's about it. This weekend London's throwing a big Chinese New Year celebration which we will probably take part in...as well as going to a Jazz bar to celebrate a friend's birthday.

Over the coming weeks I'm hoping to do a little tidy up from travel season with a few posts we never quite wrote. We'll see...

In the meantime check out these great night photos of London. My new office is visible in picture 10.

Before I go, if anybody has an travel ideas please feel free to send them our way. We are always looking for new and exciting places to visit.

Finally, its a bit late but Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays? Czech!

In a last minute thought, we booked a frenzied weekend to Prague. Fly out Saturday morning and fly back Sunday night. This crazy plan was inspired by the famous Prague Christmas markets - outdoor tents set up all over the quaint city selling crafts, mulled wine and hot fresh made goodies galore!

We spent Saturday strolling the markets and seeing the sights in Old Town. The streets are all cobble stones and the sidewalks are all mosaic marble with a different pattern for each street. The buildings are fascinatingly old, gothic styles, all beautifully preserved and the streets wind around the base of these beauties making for great walks.

Saturday night we hit the oldest beer hall in Prague, U Fleku. Sitting at long tables, in crowded smokey rooms (yes, they still smoke indoors in Prague - seems like everywhere else doesn't anymore!), squeezed amongst strangers with a two-man-band playing the tuba and accordion. A guy walks around with a massive tray of beer steins filled with their homemade brew, just passing them out and putting a little tick on your ticket for each one he gives you. It was quite an atmosphere! And we topped it off having traditional Czech dinner there - beef with bread dumplings and pork and potato dumplings and some sauerkraut.

On Sunday morning, we went to the Prague castle - the biggest castle in Europe. After a stately tour, we headed back to town to cap off our shopping at the markets and to relax for the remainder of the day.

Our dinner before heading off to the airport was entirely market food - ham sliced right off a pig roasting over a fire, a fried massive piece of dough brushed in garlic butter with cheese and ketchup, churros con chocolate (yes, wrong country, we know) and dough cooked over a fire around a metal rolling pin then rolled in sugar and crushed almonds and walnuts. (We had a big sausage with ketchup, mustard and a slice of rye bread on Saturday!)

Finally I wanted to mention the tree in the background of the photo. It was real and the star of the markets. The pictures don't do it justice.

Happy Holidays!

Prague Photos

Blue Lagoon Television Debut

Our final day in Iceland was a trip to the Blue Lagoon. What is the Blue Lagoon you ask? It is a geothermal spa rich in minerals in a lava formed pool that has natural revitalizing qualities. Basically its an excuse to kick back, relax and enjoy a hot bath Iceland style.

Being a spa, we decide to go all out and each have a massage. You should know this wasn't any ordinary massage. We laid on a floating mat in the lagoon then were covered by a hot blanket soaked in the hot water for the massage. You'd think it would be freezing but it was nice and toasty. We'd recommend it to future travelers as a great end of a trip! And to make it even easier its on the way to the airport...

On arrival we could see the Today Show setting up for another live broadcast except this time the broadcast was in an hour or so. After making a few calls home to tell people to tune in we covered our faces in the blue lagoon mud and were right behind Al Roker during the broadcast. Unfortunately we weren't interviewed but we did make it on TV. I've been searching for a video online but I can't find one.

Now back to the lagoon. There are certain parts of the water that are almost scolding hot. Basically the water is pumped in from the nearby geothermal power plant straight from the Earth's core after its cooled down a bit. This makes for just the right temperature to soak in. The water is about 100F and the air temperature is about 32F. Needless to say there is a huge shock when you get out of the pool and run to your robe. Its so cold it actually stings and SHOCK might be a better description. At first you don't think much about it then your body wakes up and realizes...

Its actually quite amusing soaking in the pool watching others run around in shock as they get in and out of the pool trying to find their robes. I'm sure we gave the same enjoyment to others because its cold!

We couldn't have asked for a better way to end the trip in Iceland.

Blue Lagoon Photos

Glacier Journey to the Top of the World

Oddly enough our hotel rented cars and with a open day and spur of the moment decision we took them up on the offer. After only 5 minutes, one small form to fill out we were driving out of the city to try and get a closer look at one of Iceland's glaciers. Renting a car doesn't get much easier than that.

We set our sites on the south coast and headed down the ring road, route 1. One good thing about Iceland is that almost everything of interest is off route 1 so its not hard to find what you are looking for, that is once you go in the right direction out of Reykjavik...

With so little day light this time of the year we were going to be cutting it close to make it to the Myrdalsjokull Glacier before dusk. It was a few hundred kilometers and there were other sites to see along the way.

Once you get outside of Reykjavik, the country side of Iceland really opens up. It is very easy to see how vast and sparsely populated it is. Miles would disappear with out seeing much of anything but natural country side. For lunch we didn't have much time to waste nor had any clue if we would find a better option so we stopped at one of the only easy places to grab some food, I bet you can guess - yep, KFC. For all of our traveling we just can't get away from good ol' Kentucky.

After a few small rustic villages we came across a waterfall. Not on the scale of Gullfoss but much more traditional waterfall. A big noisy falls set in a little cove shielded by its misty spray turning into a quiet peaceful stream just right for a fresh drink of crisp cold water.

For a while it was just Steph and I at the falls and it seemed like there was nobody else around for miles. We took some fun photos and walked up through the mist to get close to the falls. As we were leaving another car pulled up. They too were heading to the Glacier so we decide to caravan with them since they had a 4x4 and we weren't sure what the road to the Glacier would be like.

The road up the mountain seemed to wind forever, gradually getting more and more difficult for our small little car. I was a bit nervous but we were following our new friends so we pressed on. Finally we reached the top and it couldn't have come too soon as it quickly turned very icy. The glacier was still some ways off but there was a lodge type building that appeared to be a base camp for the snowmobile and off road jeep tours of the glacier. But there it was, glowing white from the reflected sunlight. Neato.

When we got out of the car we were hit by the huge gusts of COLD wind. It was a brisk reminder of exactly where we were but hey what can you expect being on top of the world!

A couple of side notes to pass along. The fresh air was such a treat. I'm not sure it gets much more natural than that anywhere. Also we accidentally lost our camera lens cloth getting out of the car. Thanks to a big gust of windy our little blue lens cloth is blowing around somewhere on top of the mountain...

At this point the sun was fading fast and not wanting to risk getting stuck on top of the mountain we headed back down. We drove a little ways where the snow started to clear and stopped for more pictures. This is where we had the best views of the trip. We could see for miles. The glacier in the background looking down to the coast. We set up the tripod, secured it a bit better this time to avoid the camera blowing off the mountain. Here's a good shot of us.

Back at sea level we pressed on further around the ring road which turned out to be a good decision because we found ourselves in this small village on the coast called, Vik at dusk. For some reason I had an urge to get down to the water front so we took a small little gravel road leading down to the water where we found a black sand beach. This was totally unexpected. However it was a little different than the last black sand beach in Hawaii. For starters we had the entire beach to ourselves. However this wasn't a place to layout and catch some sun but it was a great few minutes enjoying sights and sounds of the birds nesting on the steep cliffs behind us and the waves crashing down. Off in the distance were some incredible sea stacks Steph nicknamed the trolls.

I won't go into to much detail here but the Icelandic people have superstition about trolls. For instance when they build a new road they have a committee that has to explore the proposed route to make sure they will not be destroying any troll's homes. If they disturb the trolls bad things will happen.

By this time the sun had set and it was time to head back to Reykjavik. It was only 5 o'clock but what adventurous a day!

Here is a good map of Iceland that shows our route, from 1 to 8 on the map.

Glacier Journey Photos

Tomorrow is our TV debut, so stay tuned...

Thanksgiving Abroad Part Deux

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Our second Thanksgiving away from home makes us more thankful than ever. Family and Friends, our opportunity to be here, our health, our readers, our cats, and that the election is over...among other things...

So, what are you thankful for? Drop us a comment no matter how big or small...let us all know what you are thankful for on this good Thanksgiving day.

Golden Circle

Geysers, hot springs, mountains, lava fields, glaciers, water falls, a continental rift valley, the first parliament and a hearty Icelandic lamb and vegetable soup. What more can one ask for in a days work..err travel?

This is the Golden Circle. A natural, fresh and rugged part of Iceland not far from Reykjavik that makes for a great day trip.

Up early, as became the trend in Iceland, we headed off in the snow towards the Þingvellir National Park (pronounced Thing-vel-ear) where the first Parliament was founded back in the 900s. It is also the home to the Mid Atlantic Ridge or what tectonically speaking separates North America and Europe. Iceland is the only place where you can see this on land and where you can actually walk through the rift. In most of our daily lives we have no clue that tectonic plates are real and continually moving but in Iceland, a world far from normal, it's normal. Walking through the rift was hard to comprehend but I have one question. If the rift is where the plates have separated, what am I walking on IN the rift?

Next we moved on to Gullfoss. What a name. It sounds so dangerous. Gullfoss is an impressive waterfall generated by the massive amounts of run off water from the nearby glacier that stair steps down into a massive valley then makes a huge left turn. We hiked up to the falls to get a better view point where you could really see how rugged and mean waterfall is, just like the name implies.

We can thank a young woman for Gullfoss being what it is today. The story goes that back when Iceland was making huge investments into hydro power the government had ear marked the valley that contained the falls for a dam and power plant. The young woman threatened to throw herself off the falls if it was not spared. Luckily it was spared and turned into a national park. On a side note, the wikipedia article disagrees with this story but we heard it from multiple Icelandic guides. Who knows...

A short hike from the falls was our scheduled lunch stop and on our way we had our first encounter on this trip with the Today show. They were setting up for a live broadcast from Gullfoss. We will see them again in a few days at the Blue Lagoon.

For lunch we helped ourselves to a hearty Icelandic lamb and vegetable soup. Cambell's Chunky soup can't compete. What a treat on a chilly snowy day. Homemade, hearty and GOOOOD!

The final notable stop was to visit the grandfather of all geysers, Geysir. The English word geyser is derived from Geysir in Iceland. Today Geysir is only rarely active after things such as earth quakes but his cousin Strokkur only a few feet away erupts every few minutes.

Interesting factoid, every week something like 7 tourists get burned by reaching out and trying to touch the water erupting from the geyser. It sounds stupid but its hard to resist even after knowing better. You just have a natural instinct to get as close as you can then touch the water. Even expecting the eruptions to happen every few minutes they are always so unexpected bringing a happy grin to your face. I was able to get a few good action shots of the exploding out of the ground. Such raw energy, I like it!

Golden Circle Photos

Tomorrow we go on a glacier hunt...

Hunt for the Northern Lights

Winter (roughly October through February) is supposed to be the best time to find the Northern Lights. I can't tell you easily what exactly they are (see Auroa in wikipedia) but I can say I was a skeptic. All those fascinating pictures of green cloud-looking streaks filling the sky...I was sure someone had worked their magic in photoshop. So I was anxious to be proven wrong.

We set out from Reykjavik on a large bus, filled to the brim with people. Apparently, the tour had been canceled for the past 5 nights. As our guide from Cape Cod, of all places, will tell you, the conditions have to be right to find them and there are no guarantees in the Northern lights business. First, it has to be a clear night, no clouds and preferably not a full moon. Then the atmospheric ring of particles need to be circulating in the area. To find this out you need to check your local northern light forecast much like a weather forecast. And finally you need to be away from light pollution, which in Iceland isn't a problem due to all the vast wilderness. So, we set out on a near cloudless sky, a full moon and a low forecast given for the lights.

On the way we were able to see Yoko Ono's Peace Tower dedication to John Lennon. Here's our photo.

We went to a large national park where it was truly pitch black except for the glowing moonlight reflecting off the snow. We stood there for ages all staring in to the sky waiting for something to appear. It was B-I-T-T-E-R-L-Y cold. Josh and I had to take turns going back on the bus to warm up. While we were waiting we did see a meteor fall - it was like a white firework falling from the sky - quite cool! I saw a second one while I was talking to Josh...it happened behind him.

Then in the distance, low on the horizon, we started to see a faint green glow...and then the glow got a little more vibrant. It was the Northern Lights! We did manage a couple pictures but they aren't very good. The glow only stayed around for a few minutes and we were doing 30 second exposures, hence very few pictures. But, we did see them - I was proven wrong - there is truly something that goes across the sky like green clouds that look like they are straight from a modern sci-fi movie.

Now a bit more on the lights. Apparently, you can only really see them from around 9pm to about midnight. At this point we had waited and waited and it was after midnight. The clouds moved in and we started to head back to town.

However on the ride back the tour guide pulled the bus over on the side of a rural highway saying he saw them. Sure enough, way above us, straight up in the sky we saw vast light green haze. They were quite faint but you could see the extent of them streaking across the whole sky. They were there-and-gone quickly again, but we could get an idea how neat they could be.

All in all, it was a slightly disappointing evening. The tour guide called the night a 1.5 out of 10 as far as viewings go. Not good at all, but hey, we were lucky enough to see them. The northern light tours were canceled for the following two nights during our stay so I feel rather fortunate that at the tour even operated that one evening while we were there and that we did get a glimpse of the mysterious northern lights!

On a side note, the next morning my cheeks had a slight purple hue and were radiating heat - I had wind burn! Yikes. But I DID see the Northern Lights!

Welcome to Iceland!

And what a welcome it was! We jumped off the plane and followed the masses in to the duty free store. Things are so expensive (yes, still, even after their currency has taken a dive) that everyone fills their bags with food, drinks and other goodies from the duty free in the airport to avoid the almost 23% tax rate. Loaded down with luggage and duty free, we caught the 45 minute bus to Reykjavik. We arrived at our hotel around 2:00am and promptly went to bed so we could catch some z's before our 8:30am tour began.

The Reykjavik city tour was nice, nothing terribly exciting, but out tour guide's commentary was worth it. He pointed out all the huge new apartment buildings being built and noted he had no idea when they would now be finished given their economic woes. We drove through the financial district seeing all the banks that have been making the headlines. You can tell the Icelandic people are hard-working and live a high standard of living, but their commentary on the current times is rather pessimistic and uncertain. Josh and I decided that if they can't recover their financial services status, at least they have a goldmine in tourism - Iceland is a stunning, rugged and fresh country, well worth a visit.

Tourism also brought about a disagreement between Josh and myself. I was loving the icy harsh conditions and Josh was saying he would prefer to be there in the summer. I do agree summer would be fantastic and would allow for some superb camping opportunities and the midnight sun, but winter gives you the rare chance to catch the Northern Lights which I think is the ultimate winning factor for me. Josh kept arguing that you could see Northern Lights in several places in the world and it wasn't worth the trade off for the short winter days, it was barely 6 hours in November, Hmm. We never settled this disagreement, so we will let you all decide. (You might want to read ALL the Iceland posts before you decide).

Additionally on tourism and their economy - there is no tipping. Strange but true - and probably the first place we have ever been where the waiters have no expectation of tips. Admittedly, we did leave a couple tips here and there as it felt strange to just walk away. We heard the service is included in prices...but still...

After our city tour, we toured the rest of Reykjavik on foot - its a small town so this should have been easily accomplished although the freezing, windy weather made it a bit challenging. The picture you see above took considerable effort in trying to set up the tripod with near-numb fingers and it almost cost us our camera. While we were smiling for one of the pictures a gust of wind grabbed the camera and tripod and it fell straight over to the ground. Our faces must of been of pure horror as it happened (no, the camera didn't capture those looks, it should be smarter than that) but fortunately, no harm was done - just a couple small scratches on the corner of the camera body. After that, we headed back to the hotel. The cold wind was so strong that it was going right through our wool coats. We decided we'd seen enough and gotten numb enough so we'd just wait out the rest of the day in the hotel until our Northern Lights tour that evening.

Reykjavik Photos