Chilling In the Land of Ice (Oct/Nov'14)

One of the things I want to see before I die is the aurora.  Borealis or Australis, but I want to see them.  With this in mind, I headed north, to Iceland to go hunting.

Now I know that you need a bit of luck to see them, and it needs the solar activity to play ball.  Thankfully, there are plenty of other things I wanted to see there.  The location of Iceland makes it unique, and gives it some very cool geology.  You can stand with one foot on the Eurasian plate, and the other on the North American.  You can see Geysirs and swim in natural hot springs.  So of course I did.

There's a tour that I went on that goes round something called the Golden Circle.  You see three of the countries most visited tourist spots, and they are worth it.  It is a land of natural beauty, and these are some of the highlights of places within a drive from the capital.  And that didn't seem enough, so I added a snowmobiling trip on top of a glacier to it!  That was ridiculously fun.  Got some good speed, about 50mph, and if you've ever been quadbiking, imagine that but better!

I spent a few days wandering around the city, looking at some museums, churches and the opera house.  There was a very odd exhibit at an art gallery that I just didn't get, and the inside of the cathedral felt a bit too empty, almost like a sports hall.  The view from the top of it was great though.  The houses are coated in corrugated iron which is then painted, so you get great colours.  And when the sunset lit up the opera house, it was just beautiful.  In fact everything I saw there was.

Unfortunately, the one down side was I didn't see the Aurora.  I went out searching for them three nights in a row, but there was no solar activity.  I got some great pictures of stars, but no green lights in the sky.  Think this calls for another trip towards the poles!

Belle Paris

Been a while since I had time to write, but I think its time to add in my next travel.  Last July I was in Paris.  Not only was I in Paris, I was also there for Bastille Day.

I was away with work, and then stayed on for a few days to enjoy the city.  Not too much to talk of about the first week, but there are a couple of things to highlight.  Bastille Day was something pretty special.  I went for a long run in the afternoon, saw a lot of the sites - Place du Bastille, Louvre, Musee D'Orsay, the banks of the Seine, the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triumphe, and I ran down the Champs Elysee all decked out with the Tricolor.  It was pretty incredible, and one of the most beautiful runs I've ever done.

Then the evening came, and with it the fireworks. I think they might have been the first actually launching off Eiffel for several years, and the atmosphere was pretty special.  Afterwards we went for a few drinks and maybe the most expensive three drink round I've seen.  About 70Euros for three beers...  Only other thing I need to share is the social.  Dinner cruise on the Seine.  Thank you, I will do that.  Beautiful food, and great sights.

I didn't have much time afterwards to enjoy myself, but I did get a few cool things done.  I met some very cool people in my hostel; Elizabeth, Dasha, and the American guys.  The Louvre is possibly bigger than they say, and I was impressed I managed to get through about 2/3rds of it in half a day.  However I much preferred the Musee D'Orsay.  The art they have there is much more of the style I like; Renoir, Monet, Manet and Van Gogh.  I hate to imagine the insurance costs for that.  Versaille is just lovely, and the fountains were incredible.  Notre Dame, Sacre Couer and Saint Chapelle are beautiful.  The view from the top of the Arc, with the spidersweb of roads emerging from it is pretty impressive, but it all scales compared to the view from the Eiffel Tower.  It is about as recognisable a landmark as anywhere in the world, and there's a reason people flock to it.  Same as the Colisseum in Rome, people flock to it and you can't help it. 

You try, but you can't.