walk about in loundon

Hi from London

This. Jen and Andrew waiting for the tour bus. So far we have seen bucking ham palace, Westminster Abby, big ben, house of parliament, the eye, saint pauls, Hyde park, green park.

Now e are off to the London bride and the tower of London. Then. Boat ride back to the. Eye and the bus to the hotel.

darn huricanes

The hurricane that hit the US, is causing storms here. According to the weather site we will have 22m/s winds and rain tonight, that is almost 80 km/h winds. it should drop down to the mid 50KM/h by tomorrow morning. but that is some serious wind, and winter feels like it is on the way.

Photos

Ok just a quick note the photos have been uploaded! Yea!
Atlanta Botanical gardens
Parents in Iceland
Sisters Montage

Bus Sore Butts!

Well the last two days we did bus tours to two distance parts of Iceland, the first was up to the glacier Snæfellsjökull north of Reykjavik. It was a long day, 10 hours on the bus, and it was cramped :( We stopped at several small attractions and took the tunnel under the ocean. and stopped at a small fishing village.






At lunch we stopped at this small harbor and had lunch in the red roofed house.


After lunch we continued around behind the mountain, the glacier was in the clouds :( We stopped at a black sand beach, i found it funny there was a life preserver station half way up the beach. But in the 1930's there was a ship that wreaked here and there was rusted scrap iron all over the beach.



We got back to the Nordica about 8:00 pm, and then wen't to bed. The next day we headed out to Landmannalaugar for the day. It is a area of the interior that is very colorfull.
But first stop was a waterfall and a old viking village.




Then we whent into the interior, Washboard is one thing, but 30km of it is a new definition of PAIN! and I don't think washboard quite describes the ordeal anymore. :(



We then did a nice two hour hike up to the steam vent over the lava fields. Dad managed without to much problem.


After the walk you could change (there was a wooden deck for changing, not walls ) and take a swim in a geo thermoly heated stream.


Then it was sore and tired travelers back on the buss for 3 hour drive back to reykjavik. we stoped for coffee and a photo op with Hekla, the volcano.

Parental Invasion of Ikea !?!?!?

Well today was a slow day, we started out late with breakfast, then we drove to Ikea and looked ad bedding stuff. I picked up a new kitchen knife and a anti skid pad for my bed, and a mat for in front of my bed.

Then we went to the Perlan, the big water tanks in the middle of town, and walked around the observation dome.


Then we headed out and went to the blue lagoon.


Spent 2 hours floating around and getting healthy in the therapeutic waters. I don't think I have ever seen mom enjoy a pool more, I think if heather and Mike came they would spend the whole day getting all the spa treatments. They do massages and facials in the pool.

well that was the day, tomorrow we start early, return the car, be at the bus terminal for 9:00 to take the bus tour to the north.

Night Night all.

Parental Invasion, Day Next...

Well today we hopped int he car and headed out on highway #1 AKA the ring road. We headed towards south Iceland with the goal of getting to Vek (Veek) and having lunch. Well lunch happened about 2:30 :)


The first stop was a waterfall that was about a hour driving, it was about 9:00 - 10:00 am at this point, and the falls where still in shadow.

The sun was highlighting the top of the falls and producing a nice effect.

Just down a small trail and around another bend was another falls tucked away in the rocks, you had to wade in to see it good. Mom took a picture with my camera.

BTW that water is only a few minuets removed from a glacier! it is COLD!!!

There said source of COLD water!

Next dad found another falls on the map that was close that I hadn't seen before, so we headed off on a secondary road, it was bumpy and pothole filled, we thought that was the worst road we had ever seen, little did we know.

This one I remember the name of it is Gullafoss, and from the top of the lower section.


Next waterfall, sry can't remeber the name.

To the right of this picture is a set of steps up to the top, mom counted 479. She and I climbed them all, it was a amazing view!

We stopped at Vek for lunch at a N1 (gas station) and then turned around, this is a small church on the hill, we saw several that look to be the exact same floor plan during the day.


First stop on the way back was a black sand beach. I thought it was black gravel beach, but mom liked it. You can see our next destination in the back ground.


To get to our next point of intrest you follow this nices paved road, it becomes gravel, then there is the sign saying warning rought road, drive with care and watch for nesting birds.
So I drive carefully over some of the worst washboard I can imagine, about 5KM of it. Then we get to a seond sign, warning offroad driving prohibited, rought road ahead. We start seeing large potholes and the road starts going up. Soon i am going up a switchback picking my way around smalle bolders in the a toyota. But we made it to the top of the bluff and had a amazong view.



Oh and a light house for sis :)


We had supper in Hella (Het-la). They had Very good fish and ships... They had a small typo in the English menu.

We stopped at a small museum that mom found, but they where closed for the day so we poked around outside at some of the restored houses. Dem Vikings where short!


Finally we got back to Reykjavik about 9:15 pm, so it had been a very long day of driving.