We easily survived our last four train (three transfers) journey today from the sleepy mountain village of Grindelwald to lakeside luxury on Lac LeMan (Lake Geneva) in Vevey. We were startled by an announcement on our train between Interlaken and Bern announcing that the train we were on was being terminated in Bern "due to an accident with a person" (affecting a train on down the line). I don't know what that was but, thankfully, it did not affect our continued route to Lausanne since we were switching trains anyway in Bern. We even had twelve minutes at one transfer and looked around wondering why we were spending of all that time on the platform. The Grand Hotel du Lac welcomed us. The view from the balcony of our room overlooking Lac LeMan. Vevey has a very nice promenade directly behind the hotel along Lac LeMan. Vevey also has many sculptures. The hotel clerk told us about their famous "fort". We didn't know about a famous ...
I'm out for a walk around Reykjavik on this, my penultimate day in Iceland. Perhaps to make up for Iceland's long and dark winters, houses of Reykjavik are painted lively colors. It is not Nyhavn but it is very pretty. I pass a children's playground which I also find colorful and pretty. I have noticed that Icelandic houses usually have absolutely no landscaping. Not much grows in this latitude. This house in Reykjavik is an exception. Reykjavik has a park with a lake, also with landscaping. The park has sculptures I guessed that this one was called "blockhead". I was wrong. It is called "unknown bureaucrat". I'm thinking that this is either Lancelot or Elaine (you have to be from Iowa State). Reykjavik City Hall has been built out into the lake which was controversial at the time. After a break at Te & Kaffi, the Icelandic version of Starbucks, ... I am off to the National Museum of Iceland ... which has many exhibits on the history of Ic...
It is not necessarily easy traveling this close to the pandemic edge. I jumped at the chance to book this trip in mid-March when Iceland announced it was re-opening to vaccinated Americans without quarantine. I had a difficult time booking and keeping hotel reservations as hotels kept closing. I didn't understand why until yesterday when I discovered that after Iceland re-opened, they quickly closed again, then re-opened in April and the rules are still changing. It was like playing whack-a-mole to find an open hotel. But I am ecstatic about being able to be here. Today's blog is more about traveling and less about Icelandic photos. They will come. Be patient. Delta has one flight a day to Reykjavik and it is from JFK. Delta has only one flight a day from MSP to JFK to make the connection and that flight leaves MSP in mid-morning. So I am off early Tuesday morning when my driver arrives. I find myself elated as I walk into the ...
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