Some photos

A quiet drive yesterday to the Foss Hotel, West Fjords.
The day started windy and we had booked in for a trail ride. Dave, Mitch and I went on the trail ride, whilst Lawrie opted to stay in his room, having a sleep-in.

They were lovely horses, with a steady gait, so that when they broke into a trot, you were not bobbing up and down and having to work hard to keep from jiggling.

Once we hit the West Fjords, the wind subsided somewhat.

Past photos from the land of Fire and Ice

Nearly 'round

As we have made our way around this amazing island, we cannot complain about the wonderful weather mother nature has dished out for us.

Our first Northern Lights experience
The red glow is from the fissure eruption 100 km away

We have had snow fall and needed to plough our way slowly through a winter wonderland.


The road was cleared later in the morning, after we had drive to the place that Dave and Mitch were going caving.
Lawrie and I had booked in to do a whale watching tour, but the snail pace drive made it impossible to get to our destination. As it happens, the seas were going to be a bit rough and not much chance of seeing whales anyway! Instead, we had morning tea at the 'Cow Shed Café' and went on a nature walk. So glad we did, as the sound of silence along the way was incredible and the colours exquisite.

After lunch, we went on a scenic drive (!), which took us past Dettifoss and the most Northern point of our travels thus far.

Yesterday we left our wifi less abode after the car was packed and then unpacked and packed again. This process allowed the second flat tyre of out trip to be changed.
Shopping in Akureyri, picnic lunch at Siglufjordhur and numerous photographic stops were activities participated in before arriving at our current accommodation, a horse themed accommodation and working horse farm.
We are supposed to go on a horse ride this morning, but not sure if it will go ahead, as there is a storm brewing, which is predicted to have winds up to 20 m/s. That will make today's drive to the West Fjords interesting.......

Conectivitiy - nil

The past two days have been nothing short of amazing.

After such an awesome day, which I called 'speechless', we drove north and arrived at our accommodation on the edge of a fjord.
The show that Mother Nature put on for us after a day of driving up the coast in drizzle, was second to none. I don't think we will see any display of the Northern Light any better than what we witnessed from the hot tub that night.

To be brief, we are having lunch at a restaurant in . We have our heads buried in computers and phones, as our accommodation does not have wi-fi. It is, however in a beautiful place, which you pas through a forest of silver birch to get to. Every day is magnificent. We will return, sometime, methinks!

Sorry, but have to keep you in suspense some more - computer running very slowly.
Dad - I am surprised it made it all the way through your European trip!

Speechless

I think I used some pretty strong words in previous posts, because I cannot put into words what we saw yesterday. Photos to follow, once I have sorted them out.
Also, I though that nothing could top yesterday, but, tonight, we saw the most magnificent display in the the sky........... photos to follow.....

We have had an awesome day!

Most days, I have written the blog posts at breakfast time, but it has been such an exciting day, that I feel compelled to write about it before going to bed!

We started with another nice breakfast at our abode and after a tardy pack-up, we left our fine hosts and headed down the track for the last time.

 

The light was fabulous and we stopped down the road to take some reflection shots.

 

It is very easy to understand the most Icelandic folk believe in Elves and trolls. Everywhere you look, there are faces or figures. Look at the one I captured ‘on film’ today!

 

 

The road twisted and turned and the landscape on the right went from being rocky and unar like to moss-covered lava fields within a blink of an eye! The cliff tops on the left changed form from time to time, but a magnificent sight was had at one point.

The glacier fields began to appear, and it was magical to see three of the magnificent beasts in one sweep of the eye. A couple of days ago, we were getting a bit tired of seeing waterfalls, but we soon lost count of how many glacier tongues were licking their way down the slopes.

 

If the sight of the glaciers weren’t enough, we finally came across the glacier lagoon. That was the most magnificent sights I have ever seen. Gobsmacking – even better than the mirror finish on the river Seine, which was literally jaw dropping in itself.

 

We did not have time to stop for long, but did return later. We were on a timeline to meet a group to go on a ski-doo ride on the glacier top. Now, that was an interesting journey, following our guide to save about $200. We had still not had the opportunity to get a spare tyre, so driving for 30 minutes up the mountain was a bit of a gamble, but we did have support from our guide if we needed it.

It was a fantastic activity to do. Riding trail ride style on snow mobiles, playing in the pristine snow at the top of the glacier. Fantastic! It was interesting to see the deep crevasses and we had fun taking it in turns driving the mobile. Mitch and Lawrie, ad Dave and me.

Getting up the mountain was one thing, as the guide was expecting up to be behind him, but getting down was another. Dave did a superlative job of getting us down the mountain in low visibility, as the clouds had begun to roll in. The other thing was the guide did not stop to help us down the mountain. Thankfully we did not pop a tyre… That is a job for tomorrow morning.

 

We then made our way back to the glacier pool and stayed there for a little while - not long enough for me, but Lawrie and I can spend some more time there tomorrow whilst Dave and Mitch do something else.

 

We arrived at Hufn (pronounced Hupb), wishing that we had booked somewhere closer to tomorrow’s activities. On arrival, we found out that we probably could have, as our apartment that we booked had burst a pipe. The owner was very helpful and found somewhere else for us to stay. She was very apologetic, but the place we are in, she said is much nicer (it is beautiful), and more expensive, but she paid the difference in price and gave us a reduced fee. Great service. We do still have to go way back down the road tomorrow, but the weather report is looking great!

 

 

 

Our cheapest day yet and 'We got away with it'

A good breakfast gave us the energy for the ‘big’ day ahead.

The weather was overcast and drizzly at times. Not too promising for taking photos.

We went into the town of K to suss out the shops for supplies, but they are not open on Sundays. The tourist information was not open until 1pm, so we went for a drive to a canyon which Dave had read about. The walk up the canyon, was said to have been a couple of kilometres long and we set off up the hill.

The sights were pretty unbelievable, with sheer drops off the sides. The boys reckoned that they would not die if they were to fall off, and had great pleasure in teasing their mother!

The walk up the canyon finished at a view of the convergence of two ‘streams’ and their waterfalls. The colours were awesome.

 

The walk back down was pleasant and the soft, mossy ground was perfect for some gymnastic opportunities.

 

 

We took a risk and drove up an F grade road. The risk was that we have not yet had the tyre replaced, as the garage was not open on a Sunday. There was no phone reception on the road either. We decided to turn back when we came across a ford. The insurance does not cover any problems encountered when crossing waster.... There was a photo opportunity of some sheep, however! They are good at seeking shelter.
Yes, we got away with it!

 

 

We went back to the tourist information centre and watched an interesting movie on an eruption which happened in 1783.Very interesting, but the final words were ‘Scientists predict this sort of event would happen every 500 years, but then again, it could happen tomorrow’. Very heartening words, given the current fissure eruption. That’s how the other one started……

Good to think of ponies and other sweet things...

We visited another waterfall in the town and made our way up the track to see the waterfall at the top. There was another way down, which Dave suggested would be easier than going down the multitude of steps. About 3 kilometres later and some lovely scenery, mixed in with gusts of winds on the peak of each undulation, we made it to the other side of town from where we started.

Lawrie and I stopped at a café for hot chocolate whilst Dave and Mitch went to get the car. We had ordered a serve of fries which arrived just as the car pulled in to the car park.

After sussing out a few eateries, we decided to go back to the Foss Hotel for dinner. The food was fab and not as expensive as what we first thought.

No light show tonight.

Iceland Day 2

We left Reykjevic in good time and were very impressed with the gorgeous weather conditions – blue skies and hardly a breathe of wind! The car was in as Dave had left it, safely parked up the street.

After a short stop at the little supermarket, we ventured off on our first driving leg of this interesting island.

We thanked our lucky stars for the perfect weather conditions, because we ended up with a flat tyre! A good learning experience for Mitch and Lawrie, as they learnt to change a tyre. Lawrie though it was just as well he had just had an energy drink!

 

Off we headed again to see the first waterfall of the day, Seljalandsfoss, another of the most photographed waterfalls. Dave noticed that the driver’s side mirror had been moved and the plastic was broken. Dave reckons the travel insurance will pay for it to be repaired. There will be an excess, however.

 

 

The second waterfall for the day was an awesome sight. One of the most beautiful hings Dave has ever seen. The first vision from the road was amazing, but once we had parked and approached by foot, the rainbows being created by the mist were gorgeous.

We spent a good amount of time at Skogafoss, the boys taking the path to the top and finding a small cave in their explorations. Mitch, Lawrie and I watched Dave on his descent from the viewing platform, waiting to see if he would be sliding down the handrail.

 

We made our way to our accommodation, stopping at the town of Vik, firstly to have a look at the beach and secondly to ask for directions. The people at the service station were most helpful and printed a map for us.

Our accommodation did not disappoint. A lovely guesthouse in the middle of a sheep farm. The lovely host, Ásdís directed us to the Foss Hotel for dinner. It was the best meal so far on our trip. Very tempting to go back there again. The lamb shanks, grilled char and vegetable penne pasta were all very delicious and beautifully presented and served by our waiter, who reminded me of a charming Guy Henderson.

The whole day was fabulous. The sights along the road were spectacular and the weather was brilliant. We were seriously getting excited about the clear skies, which would give us a good chance to see the Northern Lights, but the suspense builds for another night, as the clouds rolled in at sunset…..

Dave did get up to have a look at about 3am, though!

In Iceland

We arrived safely in Reykjavik and quickly found that the prices here are VERY expensive. About $10AU for a block of chocolate at the duty free shop on the way in......

We picked up our car - a Kia Sportage (very nice) and made our way to the beautiful 'Blue Lagoon' - a thermal pool. I wasn't going to go in, but Dave said I was. I am glad I took his advice!

After about a couple of hours, we headed off to Reyjkevic to find our apartment. The GPS worked pretty well, once Lawrie figured it out, although we do wonder if it took us on the scenic route!

The GPS took us to the place we needed to be, only the street was blocked off for roadworks. About three times around the block and we sussed out where to park.


Very comfortable beds - from IKEA, I think!

Friday was the day for our Icelandic photo tour. We met Tony at the end of the street (!) and went on our 10 hour tour of Snaefellsness peninsular. Tony is a Bit who has moved here for love and has been here for 10 years. We just about learnt his life story and his view on politics.....
He took us to many lovely places and we picked his brain for things to watch out for and a few photographic tips.

We finished up at the place where everyone wants to photograph and it features on the wall of Charles de Gaulle airport.

 

A sound sleep was had by all.

A few days worth..

 

Our own way around

After putting on last minute washing, Dave and I went shopping along the Seine, buying goods from the vendors at the green boxes. Posters, postcards and signs. We stopped at the wineshop, to see if they had any Mercier, but apparently it is an exclusive type champagne. We decided to go to the minimart to buy supplies for a picnic lunch.

Lawrie relaxed at the apartment and psyched himself up to do his maths test sent to him on-line.

Mitch went to the Natural history museum and “just walked around”.

Dave and I returned to the apartment to find Lawrie nearly having completed his maths test, so we put the washing into the dryer and waited for him to upload his answers.

By the time this had been completed, our picnic lunch had turned into a late afternoon tea, which we took to the walkway along the Seine and enjoyed our Champagne, wine, cheese, hommous, tomatoes and baguette. The assorted meats which we had bought were OK, but the prosciutto was quite fatty and not enjoyed. The company was excellent and we were quite relaxed.

A shop at the Flower and Garden market
 

We took Lawrie to the pet shop that we had visited the day before and he enjoyed patting the shop cat and looking at the turtles and blue frog. We went into the bird section, where we discovered they had a Major Mitchell Cockatoo and Galahs. I wonder if they were bred in France, or captured in the wild and imported.

After the pet shop, we ventured into the Halles area to try to find the Pattisserie where we bought pastries from last time. We went into the Halles Cathedral, which Lawrie seemed impressed with. WE did not spend too much time looking for the Patisserie, as there are so manty about, tat it would be a total waste of time looking too hard. We decided to go into a different one, as I think the other had moved. We bought a chocolate éclair, a pistachio éclair, a Paris Brest and a Chocolate Ganache form.

 

In the evening, Dave and Lawrie went to find a place in which to watch the soccer, whilst Mitch and I went to a concert being held at the Madeleine church. The concert began with a string quartet playing Mozart Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, Albinoni Adagio and Pachabel Canon. A soloist joined them to play Mediation by Thias, Ave Maria and finished with the complete Vivaldi Four Seasons. Quite a nice concert, but the quartet had to work hard at dealing with the very live acoustics. There were a couple of ‘moments’, but all in all, very good, especially once joined by the soloist, except I am not sure why he needed to conduct his colleagues so much.

Mitch and I then ventured into the Latin Quarter to have a “Giros” for supper (it was about 10 o’clock).  I like the way the fries are wrapped in the Yiros. You can pick them out as you go or eat them as part of the yiros.

Dave and Lawrie only just beat us back to the apartment, where we enjoyed our selection of patisserie delights together. The chocolate Ganache being my favourite. There were some pieces left over, perfect for breakfast! ;-)

Packing can wait for the morning!

 

Au revoir to Paris!

I had set the alarm for 8:30, to give us enough time to make sure the bags were packed, ready for our taxi pick-up at 11 am. I woke at about 7:30 and curious me opened the curtains to see what kind of morning was in store for us. It is not often that this happens to me, but my jaw dropped at the beauty of the dawn. I hope my photos do it justice! The sky was splattered with cloud, which were all rimmed with an amazing orange glow. The Seine was still, with perfect reflections in the mirror finish. I excitedly grabbed my camera and took a few shots out of the window. Then the dilemma set in – do I remain in the one place, or head downstairs?  I guess the lessons the Olaf taught me and Lawrie set in and I thought ‘what if?’ I stuffed the apartment key into my bra pocket and headed downstairs with camera and tripod. The boats soon started up and began to stir the water. It was then that I realised how lucky I was tat I had seen such a sight as a glassy Seine! I can’t wait to have a proper look at and play with my photos! I took the opportunity to take some photos of the amazing foyer to our apartment building. The mirror was incredible. Alain, who firstly showed us into the apartment told the boys to not look for too long into it, as it might well take them to a different dimension. I hope the photos do it justice, as it was an amazing building!

Our last minute flurry to get out of the apartment was only flawed by the fact that I had put down the bag of ‘left over’ picnic foods whilst concerned over the whereabouts of the keys. This probably cost us just over 20 Euro, as the food on our Icelandair flight was not complimentary. The wine, chocolate and olives were very nice. I think Jill Morrison and Wendy would approve of the Chardonnay!

Would I return to Paris? As much as I don’t like the crowds and big cities, there are many things in Paris that we did not get to do, so the answer to the question is a big, fat OUI!

We all had separate seats on our flight, which was a bit upsetting to begin with, but I think we probably all need the time out of each other’s’ hair!

Onto the next part of our journey…….

 

 

A bientot to Paris

We have had another couple of huge days, with not much time to post.
I have been doing the blogging in the mornings whilst the men folk have been sleeping in, but today I do not have the luxury, as it is the day we leave to go to Iceland, so, the packing has to be done.....
We have five hours on the plane, so will try to catch-up then!

Portrait at Montmartre by Christos Karamisaris
A lovely man!

Paris 15th Septembre

A lovely, blue sky day again in Paris yesterday. The boys don't believe me when I tell them it is unusual!

We left the apartment at about 12 noon to head to the museum d'Orsay, but found out that it is closed on Mondays! We turned in a different direction and headed towards the Louvre. It is said that if you spent 3 seconds in front of each artefact, it would take you 3 months to get though the museum. As there was washing to be done, we left the boys to see the main attractions. Dave and I headed to find the minimart to get some supplies.

In line at the Louvre

The boys had 3 hours in the museum. Mitch said he could have spent more time in there, but Lawrie was starting to get bored.

Dave and I passed ac ouple of pet shops and I was interesting in seeing what they had to offer. Puppies and kittens for 850 - 1500 Euro - mostly pedigree (I hope), there were the regular mice and rats, fish and birds. We also saw ferrets, hamsters and gerbils, and a little blue frog!

After doing some washing and having a power nap, we rushed down to the Louvre to rendezvous with the boys at the allotted time. Next stop: the Eiffel Tower.

We decided to take the Metro to the Eiffel Tower, and a map would have come in handy a few times, although the maps on the wall at each station would come in handy if they were all up to date!
The vending machines in the Metro became one of our favourite puzzles. One swallowed up 2 Euro, much to Lawrie's displeasure and another almost gave us the same 'entertainment'.

At the top



We conquered - the boys took the stairs down!

The Eiffel Tower made up for the disappointment of the Metro, except we did have a turn around moment when the sign above the ticket office read 'top level closed'. Thankfully it was a temporary closure. It was open once we had made our way to the front of the queue. The view from the top was fabulous, but personally, I preferred the second level best.










The street gamblers were interesting, dealing in 50 Euro lots. We watched some people gambling, making some very interesting observations, losing easy money! Funny, we saw the same people a little while longer trying to go in the exit gates at the Metro!

Which cup is the ball under?

About the Metro - be careful. When you put your ticket in, go through the turnstile thing, but push the door AT THE SAME TIME. It is possible to get stuck between the turnstile and door - trust me, I know....

We decided to try to find the little Cambodian restaurant which we had found last time we were here, but were unable to find it, so settled on a little corner 'sports bar'. The food was quite good, but much to the horror of the boys, the men's toilets had 'squats', which proved a tester for Dave's thigh muscles as he is still suffering from Istanbul belly.....
As it happens, we were only one street off the Cambodian place - we found it on the way home!

A tripod moment on the way home

Day ?

Well, probably should be day 3 - 8!

Sorry it has taken so long to post something on here....
Technology can be tricky at times and when you are kind of busy, it is hard to keep up.
We have all had a bout of Istanbul belly, with Dave being the worst.

The time spent in Santorini was not as good as we had hoped in a way, because we felt like we not only could go very far, but the washed out feeling one gets from pooping a lot and eating very little took its toll on us.
The biggest disappointment for me was not being able to eat the fresh Greek foods that I was looking forward to . Anyway there are some Greek restaurants close to our accommodation her in Paris, so we could have a yiros to make up for it. We all seem to be over our illness now, touch wood, with everyone having a proper meal last night. Not sure what happened with the others overnight, but I am safe.......

The highlights of Santorini was the wonderful view of the Caldera from our accommodation and the photo tour which Lawrie and I went on.

The view to the left from our room



Lawrie getting a posing lesson from Olaf

Our guide, Olaf took us to a little town which is rarely visited by tourists, except on a Friday. Lawrie learnt a lot about how to use the basic settings on the camera, and I learnt about how to become a better travel photographer, putting my camera into P mode. Olaf talked about the three 'C's in photography. Cheeky (get the shot and ask for forgiveness later), Curiosity (what if I do this?) and Control (know about the camera and it's settings.

The Cheeky shot

 

There were some amazing architecture in the place that he took us. We went into a little Greek Orthodox Church, but no photography was allowed as they were holding vespers. The sound of the priests singing and the smell of the incense was intoxicating.

Opposite the Church

It was a brief stop at the church, photos taken in the immediate area and then onto a 'secret' location for sunset shots, followed by some night photography just past Fira town.

One of the highlights for Dave, Mitch and Lawrie was the black sand beach, where Dave and Frank had gone many years ago to participate in cliff jumping. Lawrie, Dave and Mitch did some cliff jumping and Lawrie said that was the most fun he has had all trip.



Mitch chasing aeroplanes



Paris, has been an eye popper for the boys thus far. It has been fantastic to see the excitement in their eyes and voices.
Mitch, Dave and I went for a walk to get some supplies, only to discover that the supermarket type shops are closed on Sundays. (later in the day, we also found that Galleries Lafayette and Printemps are also 'firme'.)
Anyway, we came home with some items from the Boulangerie and convenience store.
That took it's toll on Mitch and he stayed at the apartment whilst the rest of us went on an open top bus ride, which took us around most of the big sights, including Louvre, Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower et the Notre Dame.


On the open top bus

Speaking of the Louvre, you can just about touch it from our apartment, but you have to reach over the Pont Neuf to do so!

We took an open boat ride last night, after dinner. This was the first time Mitch had seen the Eiffel Tower and was very excited to see it in it's beautiful lit up glory. He took many photos of bridges and other things along the way too!

One of Mitch's photos
 

Will try to keep up with posts from now on, especially since we are feeling better and I have all my technology under control now (I think)!

Day 2: Istanbul

The dawning of the day was heralded by the mystical refrain eminating from the loudspeakers of the three nearest mosques. One in the distance began and were joined by the closest two within a few seconds, reminding me roosters, crowing at the first hint of light. Fortunately, they did not go for too long and we promptly fell back to sleep.

After a hearty breakfast from a smorgasbord of pastries, eggs, yoghurt, fruits and cereals, we headed of towards the Grand Bazaar.

It took what seemed to take half a day to wend our way through the myriad of shops. There were rows of jewellery shops, followed by scarves, ceramics, light shops, bags, etc. A shoppers paradise! You were expected to haggle and could usually get the prices down by more than 50 per cent.

After the Bazzar, we headed past hundreds of clothing shops to the Spice Market, which had similar stalls, plus spices and dried fruits. The pistachio covered candied carrot was tasty, and the boys enjoy they dried kiwi fruits.

Lunch was had at a fish and meat restaurant on the Galata Bridge whilst waiting to take a boat ride down the river and back. Effes beer comes in 500cl glasses here and 5 glasses took up half the bill....... These were shared between Dave, Mitch and myself.

After lunch and the boat ride, we made our way to the Blue Mosque. We spent a fair deal of time there, in wait of a promising photo from a rising full moon. Not quite as good as I hoped, but good that we were able to sit and relax for a while.

Back to the hotel to put our feet up. I fell asleep a couple of times uploading photos onto the computer. 

After a bowl of chips in the hotel restaurant, we retired to our room and I fell asleep as my head hit the pillow. Dave said I did not move a muscle.

Kate

Our first Post

Thanks to Dave's superb nighttime driving, we arrived safely at Tullamarine and handed the keys over to Rakesh to take the car back home.

It  was sad leaving the animals, the dog's puppy dog eyes and Spooky's  "how dare you " stare.

Here we are  getting ready to enter "no man's land".(insert photo)
All good, except Someone forgot to tell Lawrie that you can't take scissors on the plane . The studious young man has some schoolwork with him and in his pencil case was.......

Only a small  delay. Gotta wait somewhere along the way!,