Day 28 - Tickets, Visa and Walkies

So today was the big day to finalise some travel arrangements. First up was to ring the DB Rail booking office just after 9:00am where I was almost straight through to an operator and was able to successfully book our sleeper from Prague to Krakow. So far so good.


The next step was to travel to the Russian Visa Application Centre just off Old Street in the NE corner of the city. There I was told that there was no actual “Visa Transfer Form”, but that I could just use one of their computers to key in the details necessary to generate a Visa Application Form. I was worried that this would mean incurring their £26.40 agency fee, but was assure this was not so. I had to wait a while for one of the computers to become free but once it did it was a relatively simple process to key in the details and print off the form.

By the time I was finished there it seemed unlikely that I was going to make it to the Russian Embassy (in the West corner of the city) before they shut for lunch at noon, so I treated myself to an early lunch in a food hall and then sat there to type up yesterday’s blog. I still had time to fill after doing that so I caught the tube only to Marble Arch, three stops before Queensway which is the closest to the embassy, and had a pleasant walk through Hyde Park.

Thus I arrived at the embassy just at 2:00pm as the security guy was opening up the gate for the afternoon. He actually recognized me from yesterday and I was one of four people ushered in through a separate entrance to a separate room from those with regular visa applications. Shortly a lady came to the little teller’s window and after eyeballing the details of my old and new passport to check that they matched, she just required me to pay the adjacent teller £26 and off she went to get the new visa installed. In about 25 minutes (or one and a half Sudokus) she was back with a nice new visa in my new passport and big cancelled stamps all over the visa in my old passport.

Gardens at Kensington Palace

So with all outstanding travel issues resolved I decided to start making like a tourist. And since it happened to be nearby I decided to start with a tour of Kensington Palace. The palace is currently setup with an innovative display about the lives of seven princesses who have lived there, from Mary (about 300 years ago) through to Diana.



Mayfair street scene

 From there I started an impromptu walking tour through Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park (including the Serpentine Gallery), Mayfair, Grosvenor Square, Berkeley Square, Hanover Square, Oxford Circus, Carnaby Street, Soho, Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square. (Yes, it does look like they stole their street names off the Monopoly board doesn’t it!). If you have a map of London handy it will be easy to see how this leisurely stroll took something like four and a half hours. It was well after 7pm by the time I reached Carnaby Street but it was still quite busy with people and bars even if most of the actual shops were shut. Piccadilly Circus to Leicester Square was positively crowded with a lot of people out and about enjoying this happening part of London.

So it was that it was close to 9pm by the time I made it back to base. The remainder of the evening was uneventful, other than watching an interesting documentary about the NYC firemen killed on 9/11.

Day 27 - Nuisances and Nostalgia

I slept in just late enough to miss the morning walk with Bob, but I am sure there will be other opportunities. After breakfast I set off on today’s big mission – to find out the status of the Russian Visa in my old clean but cancelled passport.


When I reached the Russian Embassy, which incidentally is not quite where their web site says it is, the gentleman manning the security gate listened to my situation and went off to check on what – if anything – needed to be done about it. Alas he came back and advised that the visa needed to be transferred to my new passport. This requires that I complete a “Visa Transfer Form”, downloadable from a given website, add a passport photo and bring all that back prepared to part with another £29, in cash only. At least the advice was that the transfer would be effected while I waited, so it is not a drop-off-the-passport-and-wait-and-hope-for-a-few-days process. However I did not feel inclined to use the nearby internet café and passport photo services, as I was pretty sure I had some spare mug shots in my kit.

Therefore since everything seemed doable tomorrow I decided to use the day for my nostalgia trip out to Osterley and Heston, where I used to live in 1981/82. I walked through the lovely Kensington Gardens down to Gloucester Road station where I was able to catch my old Piccadilly Line tube out to Osterley Station. I couldn’t quite remember where to start the shortcut across the Common to the Heston shops but I made it OK following the road, though it is a fairly decent walk.

First up I decided to look for the grave of Sir Joseph Banks who I had read once was buried at the St Leonards Church at Heston and had never found the time to look for when I lived here. (Sorry, non-Australian readers might have to google Sir Joseph Banks to find out why I would be interested in him). I didn’t have any luck with a general look around – it is actually a pretty sizable cemetery. As I was writing down the details posted on the church gate about contacts for enquiries, a lady from the nearby Parish Office came by on her way back from lunch. In relation to Sir Joseph Banks the lady explained that he was an intensely private man and had explicitly specified that there be no memorial for him. It is believed that he was buried anonymously in the crypt under the church so I am obviously not going to find any grave stone to photograph!

41 Eton Avenue

For my next trick I went to try and find the unit in the nearby Wheatlands estate where I was based for the first few months of Gullible’s Travels The First. I have to admit that not much looked familiar there, and I am certain that it was not then fenced off from the Common as it is now. However I did find what I believe was the unit, though even there the surroundings didn’t really ring any bells. I continued on a few hundred yards away on the other side of the main road to where I was based for the last 10 months of that faraway time. This was far more familiar, and the house, or at least the semi, didn’t seem to have changed too much at all. Except that I am pretty sure we still had grass in the front yard in my time here.

I continued up the lane way to the Heston Shop back near the church. I noticed that the Laundromat which I used so often was still where I remembered. I also remember the Fox and Hounds pub that I only visited on a very few occasions (honestly!). Meanwhile I had found near the church the other end of the pathway through the Common, so I opted to return that way to Osterley station rather than back the way I had come. There were a number of horses agisted on the Common but otherwise it looked pretty much unused. And so ended my nostalgia trip, which was interesting even if nostalgia isn’t what it used to be.

After a bit of a look around the Oxford Circus and Regent Street areas I started back for base at Balham Manor. Some of the tube lines where again all stuffed up, the Victoria Line for the second time today due to signal failures, so I ended up catching a bus to Victoria Station. There I was able to sample my first Yorkie Bar in over three years. (Non-chocaholics, this need not concern you!). Then it was just an Overground Train to Clapham Junction where I planned to see if the local STA travel office could assist with booking the sleeper train we plan to take from Prague to Krakow. Unfortunately they could not, but directed me to a website that should be able to help.

Boarded up windows with messages

From there I decided to walk the couple of kilometres back to Chris and Janelle’s house. Near the start of this walk I saw the shop front which has been boarded up after looters smashed them during the recent riots. The boards had now been covered in messages of support for the community by local residents, condemning the actions of the looters.

After diner I learnt firstly that the Visa website I had been directed to use had no such “Visa Transfer” form as far as I could see, so I was going to have to visit the Visa Application Centre (separate to and quite distant from the embassy) tomorrow to sort things out. I also found that the rail website STA suggested I try only seemed to deal in total rail packages and was not helpful in booking a single leg. The Deutsche Bahn web site suggested by Janelle allowed me to find the train I wanted to book but indicated that it had to be booked over the phone. Thus I spent about 15 minutes as “number 2 in the queue” until the phone booking office closed at 8pm.

So as far as finalizing travel arrangement goes the day has not been a great success, I can only hope that tomorrow is better. On a more positive note, during evening I arranged via Facebook messages to have a sleepover on Thursday evening at the house of another friend in Brighton.

Day 26 - Notting Hill Carnival

I was up in time this morning to accompany Janelle and Bob on their morning walk around Wandsworth Common. After breakfast it was time to plan the day’s activities. Once I learned that today, a public holiday here, happened to be the day of the annual Notting Hill Carnival it seemed to good an opportunity to miss. (For those who don’t know, the Notting Hill Carnival a celebration of West Indian culture, with a big street parade, colourful costumes and loud reggae music). True, there was due to be a heavy police presence due to the recent riots, but there seemed to no real reason to expect any trouble.

I walked to Clapham South and caught the tube to Embankment where I transferred to the Circle Line for Notting Hill Gate. Except that at High Street Kensington, one stop early, they announced the termination of the service due to an unspecified “engineering emergency” at Notting Hill Gate. Which just meant that I was able to get a bit more exercise before reaching the area of the carnival. Entering the carnival area there were people handing our little maps of the area where the carnival events were to be staged. By following the loud music I found one group of parade participants finalising their elaborate costumes. Many of them involved wearing enormous head pieces or wing like extensions of one type or another.

I gathered that some street procession was supposed to be happening, but as I followed the first group to make a start it soon became a long list of procession participants more or less stationary as the crowd filed passed to look at them. Thus I worked my way along the “procession” (well, I and a few thousand other people) taking probably far too many photos of the people dressed up in various costumes. Somewhere in the process I also sampled some of the West Indian fare on offer, namely the Jerk Chicken. Which actually tasted better than its name might otherwise lead you to believe. The fried dumplings and banana fritters sounded far more conventional but still tasted nice.

So about three hours and over 350 photos later, with weary legs and darkening clouds having replaced the blue sky, and with Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts nowhere to be seen, I decided to call it a day and head back to base. With all of the nearby tube stations now closed until 6:00pm as part of the crowd control measures, I opted to walk to Shepherds Bush where I was able to catch an Overground train (formally known as British Rail) five stops to Wandsworth Common – which is even closer to Janelle & Chris’s house than the tube station I walked to this morning – so I able to put my feet up by 4:00pm.

A quiet late afternoon and evening ensued, chatting to Chris and Janelle, and seeing their daughter Katie briefly when she dropped by on her way home from a long weekend away.

Day 25 - Reykjavik to London

The Catholic Church

My last day in an all too brief stay in Iceland. After a hostel breakfast I went for a walk that first took me past the old Catholic Church up on the hill in West Reykjavik. I continued west, passing many more examples of Reykjavik’s driftwood and corrugated iron architecture, until I reached the waterfront and then followed that right around to and through the old harbor area and back to the hostel. There were views right across to Akranes, though the mountain tops where obscured by cloud.


After completing my hostel checkout I walked up to the Reykjavik Indoor Thermal Swimming Pool near the cathedral. The spa pool was flagged as being 37 degrees and the still pool a few degrees warmer at 42 degrees. Sitting in each was very relaxing. I tried the swimming pool briefly but it was quickly evident that my shoulder was still not quite ready for any serious sort of swimming strokes.

I stopped for lunch and a coffee (did I ever mention that bananas are only about 50 cents each even in Iceland) on the way back to the hostel for my 1:00pm appointment with an airport bus. I was starting to get a little concerned when the pickup didn’t arrive until 1:20pm, but nevertheless I made it to Keflavik International Airport with about 1:45h before my flight. For the first time during my stay in Iceland we started to get some consistent rain falling as we left the city – good timing.

It seems to be a curious thing about flight scheduling from Keflavik. Last Tuesday my flight seemed to be one of a number that arrived in the early morning. Today when I arrived a bit after 2:00pm, my 4:10pm flight was due to be one of the next two departures, with about another 10 departures to then follow by 5:00pm. I think the airport must be like a ghost town between about 10:30am and 1:30pm. After check-in, which took a while because of all the flights schedule to leave so close together, I treated myself to another coffee to use up exactly my remaining Icelandic Krona. Not often it works out that well!

Icelandair spruiks their services

The boarding processed seemed to take an unusually long time so we were nearly 10 minutes late pulling away from the terminal. Not that it mattered because we still had to fly a couple of loops in a holding pattern just north of London anyway because of congestion at Heathrow. As a result we arrived at 8:01pm, when it looked like we’d be in as early as 7:45pm at one stage. At least we made right hand turns, so from my right side window seat I was able to take in some pleasant views of the irregular field pattern of the English countryside in the late afternoon light. It was also kind on interesting to follow our convoluted progress on the real-time flight map on the screen in front of me.

You know that Heathrow is a big airport when you are disembarking at gate #101. And it’s a brisk 10 minute walk to the Arrival’s Hall. And yet despite having to wait nearly 10 minutes for my luggage to appear on the carousel, it was still only 40 minutes from the time the plane pulled up until I was standing on the Heathrow tube platform waiting for the Piccadilly line train into the city. So for me at least it all seemed to work pretty smoothly. However there was a slight hiccup on the tube when I failed to grasp the significance of an announcement about partial closure of the Northern line, to which I needed to transfer to make it to my cousin Janelle’s house. However, it only meant backtracking four stops and I was still in familiar territory at 12 Morella Road shortly after 10:00pm. It was good to see Janelle and Chris again, and Bob the dog soon remembered me and wanted to play fetch the ball. There was just time for a cuppa and a chat before retiring for the night.

Day 24 - Exploring Reykjavik

I was up early, like 6:00am, to drive into Reykjavik to return the hire car first thing. This meant taking the tunnel under the bay again because the scenic route would have added at least 40 minutes to the drive. Once in Reykjavik I wanted to drop my bags at the hostel where I would be staying tonight since the car hire place was way on the other side of town and I didn’t want to have to lug it from there.


I had time to scoff a hostel breakfast before dropping off the car. Just as I reached the drop I remembered that I had to fill the fuel tank first and so ensued a scenic tour through half of Reykjavik to find a service station that was open at 8:00am on a Saturday morning. I never realised it would be so hard, but maybe I was just looking in the wrong part of town. The AVIS women very kindly cancelled the extra days hire their computer tried to charge me for being two minutes late returning the car! I also had to prompt her to delete the cost of the insurance extras that I had declined. At least it turned out that they offered a shuttle service to my accommodation, so I needn’t really have worried about dropping my bags first. Incidentally, I racked up 1,495 kilometres in four days.

Hallgrimskirja Cathedral

Back at the hostel I got my bearings and then set off to explore what Reykjavik had to offer. Not many places were open yet, so I headed up to the famous Hallgrimskirja Cathedral for a look around. The exterior is certainly distinctive though the interior is correspondingly spartan. Except for the pipe organ which is huge, with over 5,000 pipes. I can also vouch for the fact that the church bells sound quite loud when you are up the top of the tower taking in the views of the city. Watch out for the lift doors when boarding though – they close quickly and painfully if you are not careful!

I strolled back to the centre of town, via the park that runs along Lake Tjornin, and checked out the local flea markets. No lizards, but I was able to buy a new spare pair of glasses, and a case for same, for a pretty good price. At the adjacent waterfront I read through the displays about Iceland’s three “Cod Wars” with the British fishing fleets in 1958, 1972 and 1975. There occurred as they extended their territorial waters to first 12, then 50 and finally 200 miles to control over fishing. No casualties but there were a few ship ramming incidents after Iceland coast guard ships cut the nets of British trawlers.

Next I started exploring Reykjavik’s new equivalent to the Sydney Opera House, an interesting glass panelled structure. While there I received an SMS from Laura about the Wallabies great win over the All Blacks to claim their first Tri Nations trophy in 10 years, so naturally I had to ring home to find out more about it. After lunch I took in the Reykjavik Museum of Photography, which is really more a Museum of (old) Photographs, but interesting none the less.

Corrugated iron anyone?

I had a coffee break before going for a walk to check out some examples of Reykjavik’s classic architecture – buildings made from driftwood and coated with corrugated iron. They can still look pretty ornate just the same. Though they’d surely want good insulation to stop the iron sucking all the heat out! Next stop was the Volcano Show, a documentary about some of Iceland’s volcanic eruptions in the last 60 years. It is amazing to see melted glacial waters rolling along boulders about the size of a small house. Unfortunately the following stroll along the main shopping drag failed to turn up any lizards.

And that was pretty much the end of the day’s activities, apart from treating myself to pan fried salmon for dinner.

Some people I told about my plans to come to Iceland responded “Why Iceland?”. Well I was talking to the Canadian chap on the AVIS shuttle with me this morning and he said he had come to Iceland with high expectation and they had been exceeded, so I am not the only one to be impressed by the natural wonders on offer here. I have seen maybe a quarter of the island and I think that I could have done with twice as much time just to do the travelling around and sightseeing. That is without getting involved in any of the bewildering array of activities on offer; which include horse riding, cycling, quad biking, caving, kayaking, white water rafting (hypothermia anyone?), surfing (I kid you not!), whale watching (not at the processing plants fortunately), ice climbing, hiking (glacier and regular) and snow mobiles. True, it is not the cheapest country to visit and car hire isn’t cheap either, but if any of you ever make the effort to come this far, do yourself a favour and given yourself at least 10 days. You won’t regret it.

Day 23 - Akureyri to Akranes

Some locals in Akureyri

I had time this morning to do a bit of exploring of the town early – the city centre on foot then a bit further afield by car. Not much open of course, but it is a nice looking place. Plenty of activities here and around if I had time to hang around and do them.


Back at the hostel I showered and packed and hit the road at about 10:15am. The plan was to be back in Akranes tonight, which is where I stayed on my first night here. This necessarily meant that I would be going over some of the same roads as yesterday for a while, but at least I was able to see them from a perspective that I missed in the rear view mirror. Plus I made a couple of detours down side roads to keep things interesting.

No tunnels or rainbows today, but instead there were views of a glacier, windswept highlands of moss covered rocks interspersed with scattered small shallow lakes (lakettes?), an old volcano cone, a troll garden, and an encounter with a cute dog.

The dog's party trick!

The latter occurred when I stopped to look at a small church that was right next door to a farm house. Actually it seemed to be between the farm house and the farm sheds, not that I saw any people about. But as I approached the church fence this dog, barely more than a pup really, snuck under the house fence and came racing over for a pat. Or three, or four. I was careful not to let him into the churchyard in case he wasn’t meant to be there but he just hared off and came around the gap between the end of the church fence and the house fence. He was obviously not to be dismissed so easily! His party trick was doing somersaults to try and catch his own tail, which he was eventually successful in doing. As I walked back to my car he just trotted back to and under the house fence – I guess he is used to seeing strangers come and go. (Though I wouldn’t have thought there would be too many travellers on the narrow gravel road I was on at the time).

And were you hoping for more on the troll garden? It was a small walk with some troll statues and some nicely done story boards containing excerpts from local legends about trolls. The adjacent waterfalls (which were very nice) are supposed to contain rocks that are in fact trolls who turned to stone.

Old vocano cone

Otherwise the scenery was more beautiful variations on the same spectacular themes. The day’s drive, including rest stops, took about 9 hours and 134 photos (including a few of the dog!).

Day 22 - Snaefellsnes to Akureyri

I was much better organized this morning and was on the road at 8:00am. Which was necessary really because I had a lot of territory to cover if I was to make Akureyri (about half way across the north coast) tonight.


To summarise, the day’s route went from Grundarfjordur via Stykkisholmur, Buoardalur, Staoarskali, Laugarbakki, Blonduos, Varmahio, Saudarkrokur, Hofsos, Siglufjordur, Olafsfjordur and Dalvik to Akureyri – which I believe is Iceland’s second largest city. Now some of those place names have umlauts and stuff, and some are little more than road houses, but near enough is good enough, you get the picture!

All up this was about 500 kms, with some of it on gravel. With a couple of rest stops and too many photo stops to mention (or even remember) as I tried to capture some of the picturesque scenery, the total travel time was a bit over 11 hours and 130 photos. Near the end I passed through four tunnels, the 1st (a few hundred metres long) and 4th (3.4 kms) were single lane with passing bays for north bound traffic to pull into and allow south bound traffic (which was me) an unhindered passage. The 2nd and 3rd tunnels where dual lane and 3.9 and 7.1 kms long respectively, with only a few hundred yards between them.

And what did I see during this 11 hour odyssey I hear you ask? Old moss covered lava flows, fishing and ferry ports, broad steep sided glacial valleys, volcanic mountains, gurgling mountain streams, broad river deltas, glacial moraines, lakes, rainbows, tunnels, old bridges, low cloud (early and late) with lots of sunshine in between, white walled farms buildings aplenty with bright red or green or (occasionally) blue roofs, and farmers cutting, raking or bailing whatever-that-green-crop-is-they-grow-for-winter-feed. Did I mention that the scenery was picturesque?

I also saw a couple of open air pools with those curly tubular water slides. Now I don’t know what day Iceland have their summer but I can’t imagine there would be too many days here where I would be wanting to jump out of an outdoor poor dripping wet, and walk (or sprint!) up an exposed metal stairway to jump into a water slide. Even if the water is heated. OK, so we are still in August now (technically summer) and it was sunny today, but that blustery north wind was nippy enough to remind you where it was coming from. (It starts with “Arc” people!)

While browsing the tourist brochures at one of my stops today I was also interested to note the inclusions in the White Water Rafting adventure tours. Among them where 5mm neoprene wetsuits (i.e. what Sam had to wear to go surfing in Cornwall, in April), waterproof jackets and a free hot tub afterwards. Do these suggest something about the temperature of the water? Did I mention that the company running these was called “Arctic Adventures”? I think I know someone who wouldn’t be signing on for this one, no matter how much they paid her!

Seen near Akureyri

When I arrived in Akureyri I found that the dorm I had booked a bed in was actually full, so I had to take a single room for the price of a dorm bed. Such hardship! After a quick dinner there was still time to have a quick drive around the city in the fading light. It certainly looks like a nice place with some beautiful old buildings.

Day 21 - The Snaefellsnes Peninsula

I actually slept in until after 7:30, and between that and delay getting my blog up to date meant that it was after 10:00am before I was packed up and on the road.


The first stop (apart from a few scenic photo opportunities) was in Borgarnes where I visited the very good Settlers Museum. This gives a very good account of the settlement of Iceland as well as an account of the major Sagas, or historical legends, about some of the early settlers. I can also vouch for the thoroughly yummy comestibles available from the restaurant upstairs!

Thereafter the plan was to do a clockwise circuit of the Snaefellsnes Peninsula to the north west, so I continued in that direction. My progress was hampered by the need for frequent stops to take photos of the beautiful vistas that continued to appear in front of me. Stopping was not always easy given the apparent preference of Iceland’s road builders for creating built up carriageways with steep narrow shoulders. I should also mention that the general speed limit is 90kms/hr and with the narrow and usually winding roads, that is often about all you can do anyway. I was interested to find when walking on volcanic outcrops in some places that the moss is a couple of inches thick, which gives you the feeling that you are walking on an old mattress.

Rock formations at Arnarstapi

I continued in this stop-start fashion until I reached Arnarstapi a little before 4:00pm. There I did a short walk from the small harbour along the coast line to the large statue of a troll. (This is actually part of a longer 2.5 km walk that goes all the way to Hellinar). The coast here is particularly dramatic with steep cliffs, rock towers, blow holes, and hexagonal rock formations. And a refreshing lack of barricades to stop you getting as close as you dare! The walk was probably no more than one kilometre but still took a good 45 minutes because of all the views on offer.

By the time I had completed the walk and taken in the next photo opportunity up the road it was already 5:15pm and although there was still plenty of daylight remaining (sunset is at about 8:35pm here now), it was clear that I was not going to complete my circuit of the Snaefellsnes Peninsula today. Therefore I rang ahead to book a bed at the hostel in Grundarfjorour, which is not even half way back on the northern shore of the peninsula.

The Snaefellsnes Volcano

I continued on with a couple of stops to climb small volcanic outcrops or cones. These were no doubt the handy work of the huge Snaefellsjokull volcano (currently inactive), which together with the Snaefells Glacier dominates the western end of the peninsula. (This is actually a pretty famous volcano as it featured in Jules Verne's "Journey to the Centre of the Earth", as the point where they started their journey). And so via Hellissandur, Rif and Olafsvik I reached the hostel in Grundarfjorour about 7:20pm.

So not a lot of happenings to report for today; most of it was a visual experience, or more accurately, a visual treat.

Day 20 - Thermal Pools, Geysers and Waterfalls in Iceland

Today was off to a kind of early start when our flight touched down at Reykjavik’s International Airport at 6:10am, being 2:10am Boston time. “Hello jet lag my old friend, Time to walk with you again” (apologies to Simon & Garfunkel). Despite actually having an empty seat beside me I wasn’t able to garner a whole lot of sleep during the four and a half hour flight.


For some reason after walking from the plane across the tarmac to the Arrival Gate (and getting the first stamp in my new passport) we had to walk back outside to be bussed to the main terminal for baggage collection even though the various arrival gates seemed to be connected via covered walkways. Once through Customs the first task was to get some of local Icelandic Kroner and try and work out exactly what it was worth, which always a bit harder when you are dealing with a currency where the smallest note is a 500.

Collecting my pre-booked and paid rental car turned out to be a much greater ordeal that I had imaged. Firstly because the group in front of me took forever (were they really only renting one?) and secondly because my booking had been messed up a bit. Well, a fair bit as it turned out. For a start it had been booked for collection from Reykjavik’s Domestic Airport (yeh, who knew Reykjavik was big enough to have separate airports, miles apart?). Plus, as they eventually realized, because it had been booked for 23rd to 27th September instead of August.

Once all that was sorted out I then went to the Information Counter to confirm directions to the nearby Blue Lagoon thermal pools only to have to wait while the only attendant had to ring around and book three separate night’s accommodation for a French family. Seriously, who in this age of the internet doesn’t at least have their first night’s accommodation arranged before they arrive in a new country? But the time wasn’t completely wasted. As I browsed the postcard stand I worked out where I was going to drive today between leaving the Blue Lagoon and arriving at my (pre-booked) first night’s accommodation in Akranes.

I made it to the Blue Lagoon with a minimum of fuss, in my first right-hand drive in three years. However unlike the last few right-hand drive car’s I have driven, this one has a manual transmission - which found me occasionally trying to change gears with the door handle (give me a break, I was jet lagged remember!). Anyway the Blue Lagoon was quiet nice. The silica content of the thermal pools is what gives them their distinctive colour and the mineral content is supposed to be good for ones skin. I was in the waters for about an hour – not as long as Lee spends in the surf but enough time to turn into a prune! One finds patches of warmer water as one moves around the large pool; at one point I found one significantly warmer that had me moving on quite quickly. I sampled the sauna and massaging waters of the waterfall, however I did resist the practice of smearing some of the white mud on my face despite the supposed health benefits of so doing.

Leaving the Blue Lagoon the plan was to drive to see the geyser at Geysir (pretty clever with the place names these Icelanders!) and the waterfall at Gullfoss. I took the coast road via Krysuvik which soon turned into a gravel path for about 20-30 kms that had me wondering if I had missed a turn somewhere. When I reached the picturesque little church at the village of Strandarkirkja I had to put the seat back and have a snooze for an hour or so or I was in serious danger of falling asleep at the wheel and missing more than just a turn. I had a (late) lunch stop in Selfoss, by which time the road had improved markedly, and made it to Geysir with numerous photo stops to capture some of the beautiful scenery that just seemed to keep on coming.

The old geyser at Geysir

The geyser was quite active, going off usually every three to six minutes. At one point it went off three times in about a minute. The height of each “eruption” varied, so some were more spectacular than others, but you can get quite close and you can see the water rushing back into the deep pipe like hole after each blast. From there it was only about a 10 minute drive to the Gullfoss waterfall which is pretty spectacular. The waterfall is in two steps at 90 degrees to each other, with the second step dropping into a deep ravine much like the Victoria Falls. From above the falls there were distant views of a big glacier on Langjőkull.



The Gullfoss waterfall

 By now it was well after 6:00pm, though it was still quite light despite the overcast conditions, as I headed back westwards to my accommodation in Akranes, just north of Reykjavik. It was a very pretty drive, but I resisted a number of photo-worthy stops including those around the Pingvalavatn lake. I opted to part with 1000K to drive the tunnel under Hvalfjordur rather than take the slower scenic route around as by then it was nearly 8:00pm and I was feeling quite hungry as well. After checking into the quaint little hostel I walked up to the nearby bistro for a delicious dinner – while I also made good use of a free Wi-Fi network that was evidently somewhere nearby.

And so ended my first day in Iceland. Already I am wondering what dolt thought that five and a half days would ever be enough to do it justice. There is so much beautiful scenery and quite a few nice walks available as well as the scenic drives. I guess I’ll just have to do the best I can in the time available.

Day 19 - Sightseeing in Boston

We were all up early this morning, like about 6:00am, for the drive back to Boston. I must confess that I dozed for a good portion of the drive which was apparently accomplished in near record time because of a great run with the traffic.

A Cheers Ale

The plan eventually arranged was that Lee would see if she could get most of the day off work and take me sightseeing around Boston for the day and then on to the airport for my 9:30pm flight to Reykjavik. So at 8:40am I was installed in the cafeteria in Lee's work building for a very nice breakfast, and access to free Wi-Fi, while Lee took care of a couple of issues. By 10:30am we were on our way into town, where we started by exploring the historic Beacon Hill area and it many find old buildings. After looking at the park along The Esplanade we fortuitously arrived at the Cheers Bar at the perfect time for lunch. (If any of you young whipper-snappers don't know about Cheers - where everyone knows your name - then your education is sadly lacking!).

After a very tasty lunch washed down by a blueberry ale, Lee and I continued our perambulations through the Public Garden and then along the beautiful tree lined Commonwealth Avenue. Deciding to get a bird's eye view of the situation we detoured to the Skywalk Observatory in the Prudential Building. I have to say that I could not imagine a more perfect viewing day - the air was crystal clear to the horizon in every direction. It was particularly interesting to see the layout of the many islands in Boston Harbour. While we were there Lee also ran into an old school friend she had not seen in nearly 20 years.



The Boston Library

 Once downstairs we adjourned for a coffee break and to continue discussion of old friends. Once refreshed we moved on to the City Library. I would guess that there were at least as many people there to see the magnificent building itself and its beautiful courtyard as there were to use the books it contained. By now we were back at the Public Garden so we sat a while as I had Lee tell me about her experience cycling across the USA (from Seattle to New Jersey) just after she had finished High School. It might have been a wee bit easier if Lee had chosen a more direct - or less hilly - route to ride.

With the day winding down we reclaimed the car and drove to the airport, in a rather indirect way. We had to drive via Nina's house so that Lee could pick up her not-so-smart phone (see Friday's Blog!) which had been left there on Saturday morning. For those of you not familiar with Boston, this was a little bit like driving from Parramatta to Sydney via Penrith! Still we had plenty of time until my 9:30pm flight, and in fact when we made it to the check-in queue - there wasn't one. Queue that is. Which had me a little suspicious for a moment, but I guess most Bostonians don't bother getting to the airport with a bit over three hours to spare. Not that Lee and I minded, this left plenty of time for me to shout Lee to dinner as thanks for her day's tour guiding efforts and her promise to mail "Bluey" home to Laura. It was a lovely meal to finish a terrific catch-up-with-friends tour of the USA. The waitress even endorsed the "check" so that I could use the priority queue for the security and passport checks (which is normally reserved for flight crew and 1st class passengers).

After saying goodbye to Lee (some poor suckers have to go to work tomorrow!) I breezed through the formalities and made use of the airport's free Wi-Fi while I awaited my boarding call. Full marks to Iceland Air, we were away right on time at 9:30pm.

Day 18 - "Surfing" and Sightseeing in Cape Cod

Lee and Nina slept in this morning which gave me the chance to do a bit of blogging before we started on the day’s activities. The first chore was for me to sneak into the campground nearby to use their laundromat while Lee and Nina procured some breakfast for us all. Lee arrived back with our breakfast before too long, which we consumed in the salubrious surroundings of the laundromat. Lee then walked down to the beach we had been at yesterday to help Nina get our tent setup.


After my clothes had been washed and dried I too strolled in that direction in time to join them both for some more boogie board action in the pounding surf, which had waves that could easily have been an inch of two higher than yesterday. There must at least have been a bit more power in them because even I was able to catch a few waves.

 Nina, some dude, Lee

However not being as well covered against the sun I was the first to retire to the shade of the beach umbrella while Nina, a recent convert to what counts as surfing in this part of the world, started elbowing Lee off waves!

Once Lee was sufficiently prune like to decide it was time to dry off we abandoned the beach for the day and after de-salting headed into Provencetown to get a rather late lunch. The chosen establishment was a café that sold lobster rolls of which Nina was particularly fond. Thereafter – in my honour – we did the touristy thing and headed on to the Race Point Beach. We also called at the Visitor’s Centre, which neither Lee or Nina had even been to, and which proved to be quite good. It included a lookout that afforded a wonderful vista of the shoreline.

The climb up Pilgrim Monument

Next stop was the 252 foot tall Pilgrim’s Monument, built to commemorate the fact the Pilgrims on the Mayflower first landed here when they came to settle in the “New World”. However they clearly didn’t think that much of the place because after a few days looking around they moved on to establish their settlement at what became Plymouth. The associated museum was also quite interesting and exploring it gave us time to steal ourselves for the climb which awaited us. In fact it wasn’t too bad because the ascent is via a series of steps and ramps which makes the climb easier. From the highest point on Cape Cod there is a good view across Provencetown harbour to the Long Point Lighthouse.

By now it was time to think about food and we had a most agreeable repast of appetisers on a balcony overlooking the harbour. Then there was time for more photo opportunities as dusk set over the fishing fleet in the harbour and as the light faded on the remains of the old wharf. The appetisers had us feeling surprisingly full but Lee and I still had a further snack before a round of gelatos for all to finish off the evening as we sat and watched the passing parade that seemed every bit as frenetic as it was the previous evening. On the way back to the car Lee sought my semi-literate advice in a surf shop on the range of surf boards available.

Everyone was tired by the time we got back to Braemar, and with an early start tomorrow for the drive back to Boston, it was time to turn in – for my last night in the USA before departing for Iceland!

Day 17 - Boston to Cape Cod

I was up a little after 6:00am and we were on the road shortly after 7:00am. The logistics involved dropping Lee’s car at her work (ready for Monday) then we all continued on to Cape Cod in Nina’s car. We managed to reach and cross the bridge over the man made canal that separates Cape Cod from the “mainland” before the weekend traffic built up enough to make it the bottleneck that it eventually becomes.


After a stop for a late breakfast about 9:00am we reached our lodgings, the Braemar Lodge in North Truro, where we dumped our stuff before heading on to Highlands Beach and staking out our jungle camouflaged shade umbrella. Lee was hopeful of catching some waves on the boogie boards but the sea had that almost dead flat look about it that would have had Sam pulling out the skim board! Nevertheless I joined a heavily zinc covered Lee in the rather nippy late summer waters for a bit of a float and a couple of futile attempts to get one of the small waves to shift my carcass in a shoreward direction, not helped by having to be careful how much weight I put on my right shoulder in the process. Nina joined us in the “surf” after a while but in the end I had to concede that Lee’s tolerance of (acclimatisation to?) numb feet was greater than mine. I retired to one of the beach chairs and managed to get a couple of photos of Lee and Nina catching some waves – I put it down to their weight advantage rather than my poor technique! Despite the head start, Lee still outlasted Nina, so Nina and I chatted as Lee continued to defy the chilly waters.

By now it was time to give some serious consideration to lunch, so leaving our umbrella set up we hot footed it (literally) across the midday sand to the car and drove to a nearby eatery for some tasty comestibles. Sustenance completed we drove back to our lodgings where I was now able to check into my separate room. After a bit of a rest and a Coors we drove back to the beach where Lee explored new ground in the beach fashion stakes by going boogie boarding with a hat and snorkel mask. Actually the boogie board was superfluous to requirements as it was now high tide and the sea was even flatter than it had been earlier.

After we had packed up, returned to our lodgings, and washed away the salt and sunscreen we headed into sample the nightlife of Provencetown. The “World’s Coolest Dad” t-shirt Sam gave me in Philadelphia was pressed into service for the occasion– because it was the only clean t-shirt I had left. Lee apparently has a long standing weakness for browsing gift shops and so didn’t need any encouraging to go along with my desire to go shopping for a lizard. And so it came to pass that in the shell shop Lee had suggested I found the perfect specimen, which also happened to be the only one in the shop. He will no doubt earn the moniker of “Bluey”!

Sunset over Provencetown

We did consider climbing the Pilgrim Memorial Tower but discovered that is closed at 7:00pm. So I took a few sunset photos from the pier before enjoying a very nice dinner at the Art House Café. We also enjoyed the passing parade in the busy main drag – with drag actually being the key theme! There were a number of drag queens parading up and down drumming up business for the burlesque shows at some of the night clubs. It seems that Cape Cod is no longer just the hang out of the rich and famous. An occasional car would crawl along the street crowded with pedestrians, the drivers no doubt noting that they must never again try and drive up this street in the evenings!

Back at Braemar Lodge Lee enjoyed a bit of reminiscence and a few chuckles looking through my images of the South East Asia trip on which we had met in 1987. However it had been a long day after an early start and we had to call it quits before we had finished the slide show.

Day 16 - NYC to Boston

I had the morning to fill in before catching my afternoon train to Boston and, since it was nearby, I decided to use the time to explore more of Central Park. I started once again at the 103 St entrance (as I had on Wednesday) and this time headed south. The plan was to walk down to Strawberry Fields at, 72nd St, and back again.



The Swiss Cottage

 It really is a magnificent park, and well used by a host of local walkers, exercisers, cyclists, joggers, tourists, families and child care groups. There was always activity in view somewhere, but due to the scale of the park I never had the feeling that it was crowded. I continued south around the Reservoir and came to the Swiss Cottage now used as a marionette theatre. I climbed up via the Shakespeare Garden to the high point of the park - Belvedere Castle - which offered views back over the Turtle Pond and Great Lawn to the north and The Ramble to the south.

One of many...

I continued on through The Bramble, which is the name suggests is a jumbled collection of paths through a heavily wooded section of the park. This brought me to The Lake near Bow Bridge. Following the waters edge I came to The Boathouse which was the subject of a noisy picket line by a collection of aggrieved former employees, so I suspect the proprietor was not in the running for Employer of the Month. Next came Bethesda Terrace, which I recognised from scenes in many movies, and was equally popular with tour groups at the time. This brought me finally to Strawberry Fields, a memorial to John Lennon who was shot and killed at the entrance to his apartment block on nearby Central Park West Avenue in December 1980. The only part of the memorial garden actually alluding to him is a mosaic containing the word "Imagine", a reference to his famous song of that name.

By now it was getting close to the time I had planned to be back at the hostel, so there was clearly not time to walk the return leg. Catching the subway instead simply involved a short walk to Amsterdam Avenue and a trip of just four stops back to 103rd Street. I bought some lunch from the local supermarket to eat at the hostel before collecting my gear and catching the subway back down to Penn Station on 34th Street.

Amtrak trains seem to have some sort of talent for making up time. Although my 2:00pm train departed almost 10 minutes late, and was reported to be running nearly 25 minute late at one point, we reached my designated stop ("Route 128" - what kind of name is that for a train station?) at 6:10pm which was only three minutes late.

Here I met Lee whom I had not seen in over 23 years, and the last "old friend" to be graced with my presence on this USA leg of the trip. Given that Lee has always been the world's least reliable correspondent there was plenty of news to catch up on. This we proceeded to do as we drove off (in a Mini Cooper, how nominatively apt!) towards her partner Nina's house while looking for a place to eat along the way. I can report that on this occasion it was Smart Phone 0, Ashley 1 as we ended up at a Thai Restaurant that I has spotted while the "Smart" phone was sending us in circles looking for something else. Of course some things hadn't changed and squid was one of the very nice dishes we ordered to sate our appetites. The desserts were nice too.

From there it was a short drive to Nina's house (on Ash Street, driving still in the little Mini Cooper). Introductions were done and plans made for the three of us to get an early start to Cape Cod in the morning. I was worried about who would be riding on the Mini's roofrack until is was explained that we would be taking Nina's car which afforded much more room. Part of the evening included introducing Lee to the John Clarke and Brian Dawe sketches, given her memory of the Fred Dagg routines I used to have memorised.

Day 15 - NYC On Foot (mostly)

I waited until just after 9:00am before beginning the day's outing, so as to miss the worst of rush hour.

New tower, over half done.

I started the day's walking tour from the Rector St subway station, down near the southern tip of Manhattan. From there I walked up to and around "Ground Zero", the World Trade Centre currently under reconstruction. In the course of this circumnavigation I had a look around both the Visitor's Centre and the 9/11 Memorial Preview Site. (The actual Memorial Site is due to open on the 10th anniversary next month). Many of the stories and tributes are still very moving this long after the event. One of the new towers has passed the 54th floor half way mark.

From there I walked passed City Hall and across the Brooklyn Bridge, pausing for the odd photo here and there. Paused for some even photos too of course! :-) The walkway runs down the middle of the bridge, above the traffic. It is 1.8kms across and I was a bit worried by the badly corroded paint and signs of rust to begin with, but it became evident from about the half way mark that the bridge is actually undergoing an extensive restoration (starting from the Brooklyn side) that is not due to finish until 2014. At the moment it is only carrying traffic to Brooklyn, all traffic the other way has to use the nearby Manhattan Bridge.

Anyway, once in Brooklyn I explored along the waterfront and then wandered up into Brooklyn Heights and on to Brooklyn City Hall. Some lovely old brownstone houses in this part of town.

By now I decided it was time to head back to Manhattan. In order to explore some new areas I caught the subway back to Canal Street and started a walk through Soho and Greenwich Village. Lots of flash looking shops in Soho that I had no problem resisting the invitation to spend up in (never been one for fashion labels). Of course there were lots of little shops selling the usual range of NYC memorabilia, which does not include lizards however! I passed through Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village, which was crowded with people taking in the late afternoon sun, or trying to stay cool in the shade.

At Union Square on 14th Street, having just walked 20 blocks, I decided to skip the next 20 and catch the subway to 34th Street, which is near the Empire State Building. But been there, done that already - twice in fact. Instead I continued along Broadway up to Times Square. I guess Times Square is always busy, but it seemed even busier than I remembered. Perhaps because it is still the summer school holiday season here. I also don't remember half of Broadway being given over to a bicycle lane and a pedestrian refuge, complete with street scaping and seating (that would be the pedestian bit, not the cycleway!). From Times Square, on 42nd Street, I zigged and zagged a bit through the Diamond and Theatre districts (not tempted by either of them either) all the way up to the bottom of Central Park on 59th Street where I decided that enough was enough and caught the subway back to the hostel.

A ghostly image and the Manhattqan skyline

However, leg weary though I was, my day wasn't over yet. After about an hour an a half to rest up and have some dinner (and, fortuitously, allow a thunderstorm to pass over), I headed back to the Brooklyn waterfront to get some panoramas of the the famous Manhattan skyline and the Brooklyn Bridge by night. Quit a few others doing the same, so it is obviously a popular spot.

Finally back at the hostel again just after 10:00pm (the subway trip home took 27 minutes with one perfectly timed connection) I really enjoyed my shower to wash off the day's sweat and ease my weary legs. Don't know how many kilometres I walked today, but it would have been a few.

Day 14 - DC to NYC

I was up a bit earlier than usual this morning to get all packed up and ready to leave town. I caught a lift to work with Mark, and after I had popped into the embassy to collect my brand new (unwashed) passport Kate gave me a lift on to Union Station. I was actually catching a bus from the Greyhound station about five minutes walk away but I wanted to get some photos of the magnificent interior of Union Station before leaving town. (I had meant to do likewise of Philadelphia station yesterday but was caught up using the free Wi-Fi and forgot).

Union Station, Washington DC

So ended a very pleasant stay in Washington DC, passport fufu notwithstanding. It was great to catch up with Mark after all these years, and he and Kate were wonderful hosts. Plus I saw something other than The Mall and The Monuments that had been the focus of my previous two visits to this part of the world.

The bus trip to NYC was uneventful other than arriving about 15 minutes ahead of schedule, at 3:05pm. This at least allowed me, with all my baggage, to catch the #1 Metro line up to the hostel at W 103rd St before rush hour really kicked in. After check in I was able to use their free Wi-Fi to book passage for the final leg of my USA trip, NYC to Boston on Friday afternoon.

With these formalities out of the way I decided to make up for the forced four hours of inactivity aboard the bus by walking over to explore the top part of Central Park. I only really covered about the top seven blocks of the park, which is 51 blocks long, but it is amazing to see areas of woodland that could be hundreds of miles from anywhere - except that you still see and hear signs of the city. Even though it was by now late afternoon the hour or so of walking enabled me to work up a bit of a sweat before going out to buy dinner supplies from a supermarket.

I didn't really feel energised to go back downtown to explore NYC by night so I opted for a quiet night, since I anticipate doing plenty of walking tomorrow.

Day 13 - A Rendezvous in Philadelphia

Had time to check my emails before checking out of the hostel about 8:30am to start exploring Philadelphia. First stop was the nearby Penn’s Landing on the Delaware River where the city founders arrived. There was also a monument to the waves of Irish immigrants who arrived during and after the great famine of the late 1840s. Plaques described the contribution the Irish have made to American society since, despite being vilified when they first arrived in great numbers.


I moved on to check out the Carpenter’s Hall (site of the very first meeting of colonial delegates), the Liberty Bell, Washington Square, Jewelers’ Row and the Independence Visitors Centre. I then had a bit of a rest up before going to the designated rendezvous point – opposite Independence Hall - to meet Sam at 12:30pm.

The morning’s second downpour eased up just in time for me to meet Sam right on time, accompanied by two mates from camp, Lachy and Brett. It seemed slightly surreal to be meeting Sam – who I hadn’t seen since he left Australia on 9th June – in downtown Philadelphia. However it was certainly great to see him and hear some of his stories from his second season at summer camp and learn a bit more about this travel plans for the next couple of months. Not to imply of course that his emails on these subjects have been extremely limited (or in fact non-existent) in recent weeks!

I shouted the boys to lunch, since they had managed to sleep through the free continental breakfast at their lodgings. Sam presented me with a “World’s Coolest Dad” t-shirt, then happily announced that it only cost a dollar. So it truly is the thought that counts! :-)

Father and son meet in Philadelphia.

After lunch we all went through the obligatory security check point to have a look at Independence National Historical Park. We had no (free) tickets to join a tour of the actual Independence Hall though we were just in time for a tour of the original Congress Hall. Once that completed the lads decided to go to the Independence Visitors Centre to get some of the free tickets to Independence Hall. The next available tour time was 4:00pm, which was a bit late for me since I had to catch a 4:55pm train back to DC from the Amtrak Station 24 blocks away. With plenty of time to fill in we all had a look at the Liberty Bell (my second of the day) and then strolled around Washington Square before stopping for a café break. This was my last chance to chat with Sam about his travel plans before he and his mates went back to line up for their 4:00pm tour and I made my way to the Amtrak station. Again it seemed slightly surreal to be saying farewell to Sam when we were both so far from home.

The Amtrak Station was actually a pretty quick metro ride away and I had plenty of time to use the station’s free Wi-Fi to pass on to Laura news of Sam’s recent doings and future plans. Or possible plans, such as they are!

Back in DC I arrived at Darby Manor just as Kate was about to head out for a walk so I dumped my pack and went along as well. There really are many nice looking houses in this historic area of Georgetown, and though many are packed together like terraces most look very different to their neighbors. By the time we finished our walk Mark was home from his softball game (Australian Embassy v a US Govt Department) and it was a quiet night in thereafter.

Day 12 - DC to Philadelphia

Sorry dear readers (if there are any of you left) but there are always going to be some days in a trip of this length which are just not that interesting, and I am afraid that today was one of those days.

One passport - clean but wrinkled & frayed

The day started by travelling to work with Mark to see the passport officer about the outcome of yesterday's little fufu. Although all the important bits were still legible the recommendation, as I expected, was that it be replaced. I didn't really fancy the sort of scrutiny that the swollen pages and frayed edges might have elicited from various immigration officials to whom I will be obliged to present it in the coming weeks, especially in Eastern Europe. Would hate to get all the way to St Petersburg and have them say "Nyet!". So I had to troop out to get some new passport photos and part with the necessary fee for a priority replacement. The new passport - which will be looked after ever so carefully! - will be ready on Wednesday morning.

Once these formalities were completed I walked back to Darby Manor (which only took about 40 minutes) to prepare for departure to Philadelphia. I decided it would be easier to go DC-Philly-DC-NYC-Cape Cod than DC-Philly-NYC-DC-Cape Cod, so I booked an online Greyhound ticket (only $14), stuffed enough things in my day pack for an overnight stay in Philadelphia and set off for the Greyhound bus station. Since it is on the other side of the city from Georgetown I decided to catch the bus there, rather than hoof it! I had over an hour to wait for my bus so I used it catching up on yesterday's blog.

As a result of heavy traffic and driving rain we were running 25 minutes late at Baltimore but we had caught up a little bit by the time we arrived in Philadelphia. The bus was decidedly more comfortable than the one I took from Eugene to Portland, and included free Wi-Fi that enabled me to upload yesterday's blog entry. Once disembarked it was a pleasant early evening stroll the few blocks to the hostel, passing some of the historic landmarks I will explore more fully tomorrow.

The only highlight of an otherwise quiet evening was getting a phone call about 9pm from my "long lost" son to arrange meeting for lunch tomorrow.

Day 11 - Highs and Lows in Washington DC

No-one was up early today as both Mark and I had sleep to try and catch up on. The weather was looking distinctly damp which was not making the planned ride along the canal look good. However Kate was keen to be out and about and was able to convince us that the worst that could happen is that we could geT drenched in a downpour! As it turned out the only time it rained while we were out we were able to take shelter under a bridge. We rode down to the start of 33rd Street on the Potomac and passed the place from which Laura, Sam & I had hired kayaks when we were in town back in 2002. There is an excellent cycleway which follows the Potomac Canal, which actually goes as far as a

Mark and Kate

 waterfall about 25 kms upstream. However we had no ambitions of going that far today, going only to the second gate keeper’s cottage at about the 6 km mark. It was my first time on a bicycle since my run-in with a car back on 13th April, and the shoulder seemed to handle it OK, though I did avoid putting any strain on it.


Once we had finished the ride our clothes needed a wash, as did we, because of the mud and grit thrown up from riding the wet gravel paths. Later when getting my clothes out of the washing machine I realized that I had created a huge problem for myself – as out fell my now very clean but thoroughly soaked passport. A few thought sprang to mind, none of them really suitable for recording here. My biggest concern was what it meant for my Russian Visa that was in the passport. With Mark’s assistance I was able to separate all the pages and start the drying process. My Russian Visa looked intact, but the passport itself was looking decidedly frayed.

Some guy posing in front of the Capitol

Leaving the passport to dry Mark and I went to visit the Newseum, which covers the history of the press, and (incidentally) offers a great view of the Capitol Building from the top floor balcony. The big attractions for me were the exhibition of the Press Photos of the Year and the permanent exhibition of all the Pulitzer Prize winners for photography. The extensive exhibition of the press’s coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina was also very interesting.

Thereafter it was home for a bit of downtime during which I managed to re-connect to Facebook again. This time I deleted my mobile number from the account settings so it can’t send login codes to it back in Sydney when it decides to lock me out. Hopefully it will now just ask me security questions to start with if it really insists on trying to lock me out again. When I rang Laura a little before 6:00pm my time I could hear some beeps at one stage – which later turned out to be Sam (who has been virtually incommunicado for the last two and a half months) choosing that time to try and call me. What are the odds?

A little after 7:00pm Mark, Kate and I walked the few blocks to the Blues Alley jazz club for dinner and to listen to a jazz band. The band were very good and played a set that went for about an hour and a half. Though I still think the bass player looked like Scotty from Star Trek!

Later in the evening I was finally able to chat with Sam on Facebook and found out that he is going to Philadelphia tomorrow which is where I am due to be. We arranged to meet on Tuesday morning, at a time and place to be determined.

(NB: Edited and uploaded using Greyhounds onboard Wi-Fi while enroute from DC to Philly - ain't technology wonderful!)

Day 10 - "Australia Day" in Washington DC

Time to give myself a little refresher course in jet lag! I arrived in Chicago @ 2:45am Portland time (4:45am Chicago time) for my two hour layover before flying on to Washington DC. The terminal was too brightly lit and busy to contemplate adding to the hour or so of sleep I managed on the flight, and there was no free Wi-Fi to be had, so it wasn't a particularly interesting wait for my connection.

The flight to Washington DC actually took off a few minutes early and I gained another hour of time zone, but sadly no sleep, during the 80 minute flight. Mark Darby was waiting a the airport for me - having only arrived home at about 1:00am himself from a trip to an education conference in San Francisco - so we were both feeling a bit jet lagged. It was a short drive to their Georgetown lodgings, where I met Mark's wife Kate.

After breakfast, and a shower and change of clothes to try and feel vaguely human, Mark and I drove to an Irish pub to watch the Australian Wallabies play South Africa in the Rugby Tri-Nations - as you do when in DC! We were certainly not the only antipodeans there. It was pleasing to see the Wallabies get a win on South African soil for the second year in a row, even if they made hard work of it.

The good Aussie barbeque in full swing.

The afternoon's outing was a short walk to the home of Chris and Kate, Australian Embassy staffers, who were having a good old Aussie Bar-B-Q, with a supply of Aussie lamb chops that would have made Sam Kekovich proud. If you should see that Australia's trade figures for August have a spike in lamb exports it is because Chris and Kate's fridge was so full of racks of Aussie lamb they had had to leave the milk out - I kid you not! I think it was the third big round of chops going on the barbie as we left around 6:00pm. It was a nice afternoon, even if my eye lids were getting very heavy at one stage.

After a short rest back at Darby Manor, Mark and I went for a walk through and around the nearby Georgetown University which includes some beautiful old buildings. On the way home we picked up some nice Thai food from a nearby restaurant, after declining the waiter's offer to seat us with the party of three who entered right behind us. Despite that fact that both Mark and I were struggling to stay awake we all became caught up watching the docu-drama about Flight 93, so I made it to bed way later than I had intended.