The Blue Lagoon

Enjoy a few hours of lazing in the volcanic thermal waters of the blue lagoon….

Remains of a shipwrecked trawler

The remains of several steel hull trawlers litter the coast near Grindavik - all caught in storms and rolled on to the treacherous shore.

Happy Puffins!

Several locations around Iceland are home to the puffin population. Amazing fact that a puffin can dive 200 ft to catch fish and can stay self-sufficient at sea for as long as two years as it can drink sea water and catch food, then return to land to breed.

DC-3 crash landing

On the south coast of Iceland near Vik, a US Navy Dakota DC-3 had to make an emergency landing. Looks like most of the removable equipment was salvaged leaving the remains of the fuselage on the black sand beach.

Jokulsarlon

One of our favorite places!  Amazing glacier breakup on the coastline sends car size chunks of ice flowing out to sea. With blue mystical hues the icebergs have broken off from the massive Icelandic ice cap and gathered in a lake before being sluiced out to sea. This spot provided a setting for several movies including A View to a Kill, Die Another Day, Lara Croft Tomb Raider and Batman Begins.

Vik Reynisdrangar trolls

Vik,  population approximately 350, on Iceland's south coast has three mystical trolls who were suddenly caught in daylight and became rock or,  in fact, basalt stone stacks made from tuff sitting out from the headland which have so far avoided complete erosion. The beach is entirely black sand and is ranked in the top ten most beautiful non-tropical beaches in the world!

Glaciers meet coast

There is a very short distance between glaciers and the coastline on the southern coast as the central mountain glacier sends spurs of ice outwards down the valleys to the sea. A hundred years ago the glaciers went all the way to the sea but they have receded a few miles now! Each glacier has a terminal lake and small icebergs break off and float in the glacial outflow.

Another culinary delight!

Which I will NOT be indulging in! About $8 to a thousand kroners so about $40 for this entree!

Route 1 bridges

There is only one major road in Iceland - Route 1.  It was only completed in the 1990's and there are still some dirt or gravel sections in the east. One complication are the bridges which are one lane only and priority is to the person who arrives first!  We're hesitant to approach at speed when we can't see over the bridge hump or the bridge is over 1/4 mile long!  The usual victims are foreigners like the latest crash with a Chinese driver head first into a Japanese driven car!

Hofn: langoustine capital

Hofn, the langoustine capital of Iceland on the south coast, is a little warmer harbor and fishing port than most Icelandic towns due to Gulf Stream effect. The two main restaurants feature these mini lobsters as the local specialty and are they tasty! Served up by the dozen, grilled with butter and wine sauce they are heavenly! Also I may add quite expensive!

Jokulsarlon

Can't get over how amazing Jokulsarlon lagoon is! You are stunned by the beauty of it and the many perspectives. Coming from Reykjavik, cross the bridge and turn left to the parking area and explore! You don't need to get on the noisy and uncomfortable duck boats and spend a ton of money floating in the lagoon, just use your feet and walk along the shore and hillocks that give you a great view! If the amphibious tour boats took you to the edge of the glacier and close to the calving and shearing, it might be worth it, but they just go around in a small circle near the shore icebergs. Then walk under the bridge and visit the black sand shore! Jump in your car, go back over the bridge and take the first left and park as far down the beach car park as you can, then walk down the black sand to the huge ice blocks stranded on the beach and get some great ice art photos!

Supermarket find!

Wow! Sheepshead cut into two longitudinal halves and frozen waiting for a crack Icelandic cook to turn this into a stunning dinner dish tonight!

Kids having fun in Akureyri

Mid-summer festival where folks who have been under snow for 7 months of the year and in almost permanent darkness get to go out and have fun! With short summer nights lasting only three hours, the party goes on until the next day! These kids are sealed in to clear plastic balloons and try to move around in a pool with hilarious results. I'm not sure what the oxygen supply timeline is but they get pulled back in after 5 minutes and a new occupant is loaded along with a long blast of air from the inflator pump.

One of the best fish soups!

Still searching for the ultimate fish soup at Strikid in Akureyri! Fruity and light with mussels and langoustines!

Elevator selfie

Could not resist the elevator mirror and two stools for the ladies to perch on! Margaret and Houston look delighted after a splendid dinner while Frank and Ben are doubtful ! Splendid dining at the Strikid restaurant in Akureyri - it boasts a wonderful outside dining terrace, but I can't imagine any suitable weather conditions enabling that option unless you are going for soup in your furs.

Godafoss waterfall

We went to Godafoss three times because it was on the way to wherever we were going and we could not resist stopping every time we went by that road! Also a good stop for an espresso coffee one hour out from Akureyri! Named because the Icelandic chieftain converted to Christianity and threw all the pagan Norse idols into the foaming waters! Multiple falls as the waters part and have their own separate thunderous displays!

Trolls abound...

Check out the Wilding area in Game of Thrones and you will find some strange characters who come out in mid winter and hide out in the rocks! An amazing landscape of rock piles which looks like giants have been digging everywhere searching for buried treasure...

Steamed

High pressure and very hot live steam directly from the geo thermal area under Lake Myvaten in northern Iceland! You are no longer on earth - that's the first impression after you alight from your vehicle and wander through the strange landscape of boiling mud craters, steaming fumaroles, wafting H2S and sulphur laden clouds, high pressure steam vents and blue water lakes uneasily shifting with water modulation from deep below the surface! Erie! Smelly! Totally strange and fascinating to see the manifestation of the earth's geo thermal strength in a pacified and approachable environment! This area was used in the Game of Thrones season 3 to simulate a snow blizzard!

Icelandic Hot House!

High tech houses in the Arctic Circle are heated by underground low cost geo-thermal hot water utilities just like any other water, electricity or internet cable utility. Once inside the house the 90 degree Celsius water flows through a heat exchanger and distributes heat throughout radiators or under floor heating loops. Looks complex, but it's quiet, controllable, low operating costs and creates a comfortable living space in a harsh environment.

Extinct volcano

Flying east over central Iceland, we pass over an ancient crater that has a rocky ridge in the caldera along with several turquoise pools of warmer water in the ice captured in the old volcano crater which still has some geothermal activity.

Welcome to Hrimland

Our house in Akureyri almost on the Arctic Circle is very cozy and scenic! Overlooking the fiord and green fields, it is a haven of peace and serenity!

Skip the dessert!

Highly enjoyable dessert course on the hoof provides an alternative to the restaurant option and allows us to explore Reykjavik well into the night! I recommend the pistachio from Paradis on Frakkastigur Street as we amble up to the Hallgrimskirkja "spaceship style" church at the top of the hill overlooking downtown!

Lunch time choir interlude

Dash up the hill to the Hallgrimskirkja church high above downtown Reykjavik and catch the weekly noon performance of the local choir group...

Midnight sun

The best day of the summer in Reykjavik with a high of 64 degrees ended with a magnificent sunset around 11:20 pm and it stayed light well past midnight! And it was light again around 3:00 am, basically never got dark! Folks hung out around the Solar Voyager ship sculpture on the harbor and most visitors were kind enough to move off the sculpture when eager photographers wanted a clean scene!

Center forward for Iceland soccer!

Could not resist my star role as center forward on the victorious Icelandic team that beat England in the recent Euro cup! Ooops this is not for publication in Great Britain....!

Lobster soup

Icelandic version of soupe de poisson is lighter and much more fruity than the Brittany version with several langoustines floating in the broth. Definitely a delicacy rather than the spicy rouille French recipe I grew up with. This was at the Fishmarket restaurant - another highlight of the Reykjavik culinary scene. Dining out in Reykjavik can be an expensive proposition, but we have no regrets tasting the best in town as we prepare to leave for Akureyri up North on the arctic circle!

Beautiful Harpa

The local theatre and opera house on the Reykjavik waterfront. The architect had fun with shape and light! We went there for a show called the Icelandic Sagas - a condensed form of Icelandic history from around 1000 ad till present. A man and woman in Nordic attire entertained us with stories of killings, more killings and even more killings - a very brutal and ferocious history!

The Reykjavik Pearl

Had a treat today with Stephan our guide who picked us up bright and early and took us around town in his bus while explaining the life of Icelanders and how the season only lasts for three months... the Pearl is a water tower with a glass dome which serves as cafe and restaurant, with an art gallery below. Here we are sitting on several million gallons of very hot water being fed throughout Reykjavik and keeping homes warm and toasty all year around - they need to - summer temperature highs are around high 40's to high 50's.

Local lamb

First evening in Reykjavik - what a delight! Resto - that's the name of the restaurant - serves up fresh local Icelandic products to delight any palate, rare lamb in a wine reduction and roast veggies... just what's needed to restore the soul after two long days and one very short night in the air getting here! Sun sets after 11 pm, but it never really gets dark!

Welcome to Iceland

After several thousand miles over the North Atlantic ocean, as we approach Keflavik airport, we fly over some artistic agricultural workings! This needs more research to understand the meaning! .... after much consultation we decided it was a whale, mouth and eye in the lower section and tail in the upper section with the middle being underwater...

London Pie Dreams!

London Borough Market and time to drool over the huge varieties of pies including regional delights from Yorkshire, Scotland, and Cornwall all filled with game and veggies! I could spend a month coming here for lunch!

Innovative espresso

Scooter based espresso in London Borough Market uses a tricycle Vespa configuration with an espresso bar on the cargo platform - amazing how innovative and creative folks can be when a business opportunity presents itself.

Whitebait

Waited many years for a chance to have a dish of whitebait and the opportunity presented itself at the "Fish" restaurant at Borough Market a skip and a jump from London Bridge! My whitebait dream is based on a real experience in the Greek Peloponnesus when I enjoyed a week of harborside restaurant serving crunchy whitebait. Helas this version turned out to lack as much batter as I would like and to be a bit limp! Still tasty but not quite the product I was looking to send me down memory lane!

Boar Rotisserie

The crackling looked perfect! Nicely presented boar had been roasted on a rotisserie and was being sliced off into sandwiches. Just mouth watering....

English pint!

Nothing quite like a pint of bitter at an English pub for lunch along with fish and chips! Beer is not cold, just cooler than room temperature, so you can really let the taste the ale and hops come through!

Sharon in the Sandbox

Perfecting horse control in the sandbox at Headley! Under the tight orders from the dressage trainer, Sharon guides 10 year old Merlyn around the sandbox circuit made up of sand mixed with cloth. Never knew you could train your steed to this level of perfection!

Boating in the Thames with swans

Nothing like pottering about in a boat on a hot summer day! Lunch and relaxation on the Thames near Shepperton, moored up to D'Oyley Carte island. Puttered down river to pick up an ice cream cone!  Glorious day - England doesn't get better than this! This is right after the men returned with ice cream cones! We'd had a picnic lunch earlier in the afternoon. Big boats, small boats, kayaks, sculls, Stand Up Paddleboard - we saw it all!

More old cruisers!

James (in the middle) took us for an evening walk to St James's (where else?) Park close to Victoria and Buckingham Palace, stopping off at Constitution Hill, Admiralty Arch, The Citadel, Horse Guards Parade, Cabinet War Rooms before making our way to Olivo Restaurant in Belgravia. Margaret left and Celia right. More stories of years spent in front of the mast, trials and tribulations of life and children now grown up leaving us with time to start our new adventures!

The Queen is having a Birthday!

Official birthday as opposed to real birthday! The day the Queen became Queen back in the early 50's. Troops will perform and bands will play and if you are really lucky you get an invite to the garden party! Constitution Hill leads to Buck House in the distance!

The Old Cruisers!

Many a day and night under sail going back to the early 70's back and forth across the English Channel in our Iroquois catamaran 30 ft Ellicat and Iroquois Mk II 32 ft Sitting Bull and Allan's 27 ft Leisure sloop Louis D'Or. What tales of adventure and narrow escapes! Peter and Nicky far back, Allan and Sharon front pair, us in the middle! Enjoying the real thing Turkish Cappadocia grill Doner Kebabs and Lamb Kofte in Kingston!

Schipol Airport Amsterdam

Waiting to board our BA flight to LGW I checked the aircraft registration online database and accident records to make sure she was clean aircraft and had not been banged up and fixed up! Apart from French air traffic controllers being on strike and causing huge ripple effect delays throughout Europe we arrive back to home territory!

Cat rescue canal boat

Yes... Amsterdam has a canal boat moored right in the middle of town for cat rescues! This is one of the longer term feline visitors who probably by the expression on his face has not endeared himself to any potential adopter! Clearly a grumpy cat!!

Amsterdam special

All over town many stores provide marijuana and supplies. Kitted out like coffee bars they offer different delights! Walking around town very frequently you get engulfed in a heavenly cloud by smokers enjoying their smoke treats!

Haarlem St Bove

Mozart played the organ here when he was 10 year old..... and what s magnificent organ it is with 100 ft pipes

Haarlem Canal Bridge

Classic Dutch counter weighted canal bridge over the waterway around Haarlem - adapted by Waterlogue.

Rembrandt - The Night Watch

Made it through the doors of the Rijksmuseum within the first minute of opening and directed by Rick Steve's excellent audio commentary on our iPhones we were first in the fabulous Rembrandt gallery and had perfect peace and self indulgence exclusivity for the first 30 minutes. The Militia Company of District II is a contract painting of a group of militiamen about to go on duty! So much added interest in the form of stories and anecdotes of the characters depicted. Rembrandt painted dozens of militia groups on huge canvases. Good contract work must have kept him happy!

Amsterdam sign

Early morning and first in line at the Krijsmuseum we pass the large block letters that say "I am Amsterdam" which are usually crawling with kids and folks standing on the letters. Opportunity to get a clean shot of the artwork and use it as a possible model for our RivahFest project.