UPDATE: Paris sucks when you book only one night to have the option of relocating to a better place once learning a thbg or two about the capital, just to discover the French open is on and finding a reasonable (read: cheap) hotel is nigh on impossible. Our first day was spent looking for somewhere to spend the second.
France really is quite civilised. But Paris sucks. Hopefully it will redeem itself.
Congratulations Jamie and Melanie, on a wonderfully successful wedding. We’ll have the photos to you as soon as we can!
We’re sitting opposite the closed Office De Turisme in Bergerac taking advantage of their free Internet. It is VERY fast and even the uploading of our Toronto job that Marti’s doing at the moment is speeding along. Doesn’t leave me much time to blog, so here are a few pics of Greece from my iphone albums to whet your appetite, in case you’ll be in Greece this year too…
Abramovic’s yahct moored at Mandraki, Rhodes.
Theo and Sappho sitting beneath a ~2000 year old olive tree at Χαλάσματα, Militsa.
Militsa, Longa, Messinias, Greece.
Τραουνού (Traganou), how we miss you!!
Mum and dad cool off at Agia Roumeli after completing the Samaria Gorge walk.
Michali’s tractor at the vineyard, Soroni.
Martina waters our newly expanded garden in Soroni.
The view from Kastellorizo towards Turkey; yacht cruises often pass through this narrow strip of the south-east Aegean.
Eleni and Vangeli Hatzis, on their weddng day in Militsa. The first time either of them have seen a camera.
Peter contemplates my perrenial problem; how do you stop yourself eating so much of the kokoretsi that you still have room for lamb?
The wedding went off very well. Pics soon. Headed to the train station tomorrow morning for Paris.
Iceland is technically Europe but since we’re landing on in the continent today in Bergerac, the second chapter begins here. Our last flight until flying back to other hemisphere from Athens! What a relief. Air travel is not what it used to be.
Lots of fun, Reyka-fuelled polaroids were taken at Nick’s place, a sample of which now serves as bookmark in a newly-acquired travel book. It put me over the limit for Ryanair’s 15kg baggage restrictions, but a bit of juggling saved a £100 (!) excess fee.
There’s a pharmacy in East Dulwich which has never heard of Giardia. Skip past it and go straight to the natural medicine place a few blocks down for some Probiotics, Chinese Milkweed, and Arsenic.
This Ryanair Boeing we’re on is very interesting. With yellow decor, we already feel like we’re in a life-raft. To generate income, we have so far been offered the following items for sale, in addition to food and drinks:
- Lotto tickets
- Duty-free goods
- Calling cards
- Smokeless cigarettes (to smoke on the plane)
Photos; A new bookmark; Our jovial London guide; I’m pretty sure this guy is Simon Pegg; We caught up with Raini and met AJ near the Lloyd’s building where AJ works, and had an Indian meal in an unusual underground restaurant; I WISH this was the carpark for Iceland.
Looking through my iPhone photo albums on the plane, I came across this iPhone panorama from my previous trip to Iceland, which I made as part of Team Ruby. I should soon have some more iPhone panos stitched together.
From left: Karl, Tristi, Tim Hynesson, Frank Phillipsson. (Photo has been cropped by wordpress – to see Frank you’ll have to click the photo to open it it in a new window. Sorry Penn!)
We’ve left a number of different places so far. Leaving Iceland has been the saddest goodbye now. Perhaps I have Viking ancestry – there was a striking resemblance between yours truly and a wax Viking figure in the Sagas museum.
Last night’s dinner was a great salted cod (bacalao, or Greek μπακαλιάρο – looking forward to eating more of this Icelandic product, readily available in Greece, just like the old days) for me and salmon for Martina.
Photos: Icelandic architecture; A Viking descendant poses in front of a Reykjavik cityscape; view from our Hotel Vik window at midnight; the creature from the Blue Lagoon; view towards Eyjafjallajökull – not sure if one can make out the syeam tat the fizzing volcano is presently putting out.
For those that would like to see the volcano at Eyjafjallajökull, there are a couple of webcams set up for this purpose. Below is a picture of it taken just now from the cam at Þórólfsfelli – it is quite obviously dying down. I’m not sure whether these two guys know whether they are being watched. Here’s the link to see the real thing – you can also see the other camera at Hvolsvelli via the link at the left of the page.
Lee Richards would be unimpressed with the work done on stuffing these Puffins – but they did make an interesting store display.
Hallgrímskirkja, an impressive church in central Reykjavik. (Photo taken at midnight.)
Something fishy is going on around here, aside from all the fresh cod. A country that is considered to be geologically back in time, yet the people are are of an advanced evolution. They don’t litter. They are independantly progressive. Cars run on hydrogen. The country is so perfect that their next – last? – necessary infrastructure project is to bury all the power lines. Did I mention that sections of the road broadcast free WiFi?
I’ve always loved Iceland and have been lucky enough to vist three times (!) now. This time, all I can think about is the fact that had I entered on my Greek passport, I’d never have to leave…
Martina eats a freshly picked banana. Hang on, are we in Iceland, or did I dream that we left the banana fields of Cuba?
Basalt rock columns facing a wild Atlantic.
We’ve had a great couple of days hanging out with Karl, my ‘brother from another mother’ (and father, presumably). Thanks Karl!
