London

Last two days in London squeezing in activities we haven't done before!

Went to the Portrait Gallery in Trafalgar Square, then thought we might go back to Westminster Abbey but the queue was too long, so went up the Shard instead.  In the evening we went to see The Committments at the Palace Theartre - it was great!

 

 On our last day we went to Harrods and Selfridges.  Quite a few Arabs shopping at Selfridges which makes me think it's the more popular venue for the rich!! Had a delicious ice cream sundae at the Ice Cream Parlour in Harrods! Yum!!

Then did a bit of walking through Hyde Park to Baker Street to Hertford House to see the Wallace Collection, an amazing English manor with a great collection of art work and armory.  Our last activity was dinner wing Lisa and RebeccaAnd Alex Oakes at Inamo, a Japanese restaurant where you can order on the computerized table and the picture of your food is projected onto your plate so you can see before ordering!! Cool! Great to catch up with Bec, ex HVS school teacher.  Off home today, so that's all folks!! Having a long layover in Abu Dhabi for one night and then Brisbane for day.  Arrive home midnight on Saturday! Hope you haven't found the blog too boring... Thanks for checking it out! See ya!

Commonwealth Games Rugby 7s

Spent all day at Ibrox Stadium. Had great seats for the morning session.  Enjoyed the atmosphere as we cheered for the Kiwis!  The Glaswegians cheered for the under dog! And booed for the Aussies and Kiwis!! As well as the English and Welsh. We tried not to be too offended!

Between 3 and 6pm, went back into the centre of Glasgow on the free shuttle bus. Noseyed around the shops and had an early dinner before heading back to the evening session.  Unfortunately had the worse seats ever... Back row of the tallest stand with limited vision and as hot as a sauna.  Errol very assertively, approached the steward who was ok about us grabbing some seats further down.  Luckily the ticket holders never turned up so saw most of the games with good view!  Sadly heard that we only achieved a silver medal in the final, losing to South Africa :-( 

Today we did the hop on hop off bus tour! Visited the National Museum and Grayfriers Bobby along with lots of walking.  Went to a stand up comedy evening after dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe!

Edinburgh

Arrived late and had a spot of bother finding accommodation!! Looking for apartment on Torphichan Street not Place.  Finally sorted with Lisa's help, Errol's niece who is enjoying Edinburgh and the Games with us. Great to see her!  Friday in Edinburgh, we spent the day wandering around the castle area. Did the Scotch Whiskey tour and the Camera Obscura experience, where we saw amazing optical illusions. 

Last Day in Iceland

Left Vik and headed back to Reykjavik! Lots of rain on the way, so not great to see the last two waterfalls. Got a bit wet! One waterfall - Seljalandsfoss - you could walk behind the falls which was pretty cool!

Weather cleared when we arrived in Reykjavik. Did a puffin tour in the Reykjavik harbour for about an hour, walked around the town for a few hours and then headed to the airport via the Blue Lagoon. Unfortunately only allowed an hour or so and there was a big queue with a wait of up to 40 mins, so gave up the swimming experience! Took a while to find the place to drop off the rental car... Always a few dramas!! Left Iceland to flew to Edinburgh on a 2 hour flight.

South Iceland - Tuesday and Wednesday

Drove all day to Hofn, in SE Iceland.  Had an awesome dinner at Hofn by the wharf at the Pakkhus Cafe... Errol had horse and I had cod, then we both enjoyed a scrumptious dessert of skyr (yoghurt with volcano meringue) and chocolate coated ice cream with caramel sauce.  Errol said best dinner he had ever had! That's good cos it was blimmen expensive.  Most mains at restaurants and farmhouse accommodation cost $40 to $50.  Roadside cafés mostly have burgers and fries which cost about $12 to $15 or buffet meat and salads about $20. 

Next day headed west to Vik. Stopped at the Glacier lagoon and had tour of the lagoon in an amphibian craft to see the icebergs.  Beautiful!!

After a short drive I dropped Errol at Lake Heidarvatn and drove to the guesthouse.  On the way back to pick him up, stopped at Dyholacy (hole in the rock) and saw the little puffins sitting on the cliff! Cute little birds, very awkward on land but apparently fabulous swimmers and can hold up to 60 fish in their mouth in one go!

Errol caught 2 brown trout on his last fishing session!

North Iceland

Errol had some success fishing the river Svarta. He caught 16 brown trout. Even I managed to hook a tiny fish. Beautiful countryside with easy access to the rivers.  Can only fish a river if you have bought a stretch of the river called a rod. Most rivers are privately owned and money goes to land owner.

Finally came out sunny and warm for our drive to Laugar.  Stopped at lovely village called Akureyri. About 18 000 people... Had coffee here!

Then headed off to guesthouse for the night. Stopped at amazing waterfall called Godafoss.

Largest waterfall by volume in Europe. Errol fished Lake Ljosavatn and caught an Arctic Char, so he was very happy!  Drove around Lake Myvatn in the evening (though it is still light). Area very volcanic and popular with campers. Seems everyone has a pop-up caravan (their word means pop down!) 

Iceland countryside

Pretty amazing and diverse scenery in Iceland. On our 2nd day we drove east to the Highlands, where Errol had been told to fish at Lake Tindavatn! Drove across volcanic plateau for miles... Looked like the moon! Not trees or plants, just many gradered tracks over many hills and mounds to who knows where!!  No luck with the fishing. :-( Yesterday we drove north to the top of Iceland, another big day driving. Or should I say Errol drove (I haven't braved the right hand side driving thing yet!!)  Scenery changed a lot but the middle mostly consisted of the roughest 4 WD road ever, full of pot holes and puddles!! Now staying in a guest house beside the famous river Svarta. Errol has gone off for his days fishing - I will chill out and go for a walk! Finally clear, and cloudy today - no drizzle!