Thursday, Flight to Berlin

We got up at 4am, Siggi met us at the hotel at 4:50am and drove us to the airport.

The airport was more confusing than most, but we managed to get checked in and all the routine stuff. Paula and I abandoned Isaac and went to the lounge for first-class customers, where we had adequate breakfasts and coffee.

We flew to Berlin.

Customs was easy (basically absent) because Iceland is part of the Shengen area.

We took a taxi to the Adina hotel at Hackscher Markt. The taxi driver didn't speak much English or German.

It turned out that Thursday was a holiday and all the stores were closed (not the restaurants, fortunately!) so there was little to do but try to catch up on sleep, so that's what we did.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Friday and Saturday in Berlin

Image
Berlin. First order of business: Replace Paula's phone, buy Berlin Welcome six-day public transit passes, and buy coffee. We walked to Alexander Platz and accomplished all three. We also hit a Saturn store and bought some extra wall adapters (type F to type A). And had some currywurst. The guy at the Deutsches Telekom (T-Mobile) store was very helpful. Paula said the important consideration was that the new phone not be larger than her current phone (which died in Iceland). We looked at a Pixel 9, and said yes. He went back to get one and came back with that and also an 8a, which was cheaper and slightly smaller. So Paula got the 8a, in blue.   Our hotel   Entrance and kitchen area I like taking pictures of our hotel rooms. It helps me remember the place.   Living area   View from the balcony Our hotel (Adina) is half a block from Hakescher Markt, which is full of interesting restaurants. There is also an ATM there (more on that later). There are a co...
Read more

Monday, with Geysers, Guldfoss, and Perlan

Image
Monday was the Golden Circle tour, including Thingvellir National Park, the geyser named Strokkur (Geysir has become inactive), and Guldfoss, "Golden Falls." The initial "th" in Thingvellir is actually the letter thorn, which is not on my keyboard. Paula and Siggi   Landscape, with steam vent Our guide was Siggi--Icelanders always go by first names. There are numerous steam vents, along with bubbling mud pools. Iceland is extremely geothermally active. They get superheated water out of the ground, pipe it to all the houses for heating, and use it to generate electrical power. They also have abundant supplies of clean cold fresh water. Steam vent   The same steam vent Strokkur geyser erupts about every five minutes, spouting boiling water about 100 meter into the air. Strokkur geyser It's autumn, and the fall colors are beginning to show--mostly on shrubs. Thingvallavatn (Thingvalla lake)   Fall colors Iceland has its own breed of horses. Siggi says they ar...
Read more

Tuesday with Waterfalls

Image
Tuesday we toured the south coast.   Seljalandfoss, a 60m drop waterfall. You can walk behind the waterfall. It looks like some time in the distant past the water came down further to the right, then carved out the area behind the waterfall. But that's just my guess.   Us in front of the Seljalandfoss   How people used to live Paula did not try to get up close to the waterfall; she hung out with Siggi.   Skogafoss is another waterfall   Isaac climbed up to see it from the top Iceland has a number of black sand beaches. These are by the Reynisdrangar rock formations, which are basaltic columns. I've long wanted to see a black sand beach--and yes, it really is sand. Further back from the sea is about the same-sized area of gray stones, all very rounded and clearly smoothed by the sea, not fallen from the cliffs. The water's edge is dangerous; large waves can appear suddenly.    Black sand beach   Basaltic columns   Basaltic column...
Read more