The Long Way Home

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.

http://eldgos.mila.is/eyjafjallajokull-fra-thorolfsfelli/

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!

…that there was a big volcano erupting in some place called Iceland, and that flying over it to Europe would end in trouble? Here we are now, stuck here for four days.

A visit to the Glacier Lagoon.

Filling up a bottle that previously contained the worlds’s best drinking water, with more of the same…

Anyone doubt the polar bear is the largest bear in the world?

A geysir blowing steam…

The Blue Lagoon, with a thermal power station in the background:

Goodbye USA!

Al Capone used to buy bootleg liquor in the top floor office of this Toronto flatiron building.

Even on such a beautiful day, it’s easy to picture this historic home covered in snow.

Canada’s famous ‘Fuzzy Peaches’.

Eastern Beaches area of Toronto, right by our cheap, comfortable, safe hotel. A great place to stay next time you visit.

Lake Ontario from 24,000 feet.

Between two layers of cloud on descent into Boston.

Since posting about our visit to Mall of America in Minneapolis, we have received thousands of emails from people all over the world, wanting to know what we bought at the Mall.

So, to satisfy everyone’s curiosity, I can say that we only shopped at one store; the Lego Store. The girls enjoyed it and even I had fun. We bought a three-pack of build-yourself Lego men.

Erin and Marti pose with a life-size Lego man:

From left: Lego Fangio, Lego Farmer Joe, and Lego Porn Star.