This past weekend Andy and I visited our friend Birgit in Copenhagen. On our way to Christiania we caught the subway. This is the first time I have been able to sit in the very front of a subway train and look out the window when going through the tunnels. I was fascinated and this quickly became my favourite subway. Until now the Beijing subway topped my list where they have very long cars with poles down the middle which enhances the movement of the train. They also have these cool displays in the tunnels. But this was so much more fun. Like it!
Iceland – just the way it sounds
For Easter this year I went with Andy and his company to Iceland. I guess we were 20-30 people and the schedule was full. We spent in total 6 days on the island. We drove from Reykjavik to Akureyri on the north coast and spent most of the time in the area around Akureyri. The landscape around Reykjavik was not too impressive but as we came further north the views were simply spectacular.
Reykjavik.
The view from the house we stayed at in outside Akureyri. This is a very beautiful area which I would like to visit during the summer sometime. Unfortunately there was still a lot of snow in the north which made it difficult to go hiking and horse back riding. But of course perfect for the ones who wanted to rent snow mobiles.
Naturally we had time to visit a few of the many hot springs. This is the famous Blue Lagoon close to Reykjavik.
We also passed a number of water falls, this is Godafoss.
In Reykholt we learnt more about Snorre Sturlasson, the famous writer, who lived and was murdered here in 1241. You would think that such an important historic place would also look impressive but this was a tiny village with about 10 houses, 2 churches and a what looked like an oversized hotel.
I would like to return to Iceland but then in the summer and spend more time hiking or horse back riding. The best thing about this country is the beautiful and vast landscape. The worst thing is the stinky hot water…
Unexpected view of Manhattan
A few weeks ago I got stuck over night in New York on my way to Phoenix. I was not in a very good mood because it was a stupid mistake from the airline that made us come in a few hours late to JFK and I just missed my connection to Phoenix. They set me up at one of the crap hotels close to the airport and I basically just checked in, had dinner and went to bed (in smoking room which was all they had, yuck).
However I did get a beautiful view of the sunset over Manhattan as I came into the room which saved the day and improved my spirit some.
Nice
At the end of April I went to Nice with my friend Helena. The plan was to get away for a weekend, hopefully sit in the sun, eat good food and drink some wine. We managed with all of it, no problem. The weather was perfect, between 20 and 25 degrees and sunny the entire weekend.
We stayed at a hotel at the water front in the old town. It was the perfect location, very close to everything. Just a few minutes away was a square where they had a market during the day and outdoor restaurants at night.
We walked all over town, here we are on our way up the Chateau Hill which has a stunning view of the city and the coast line.
From the top of Chateau Hill you could also see the snow covered mountains in the north. Beautiful!
The old town had lots of winding streets with small shops and restaurants. The colours in Nice are amazing, the houses have the warm yellow and red tones, the blue water and all the flowers with many different colours. I remember thinking the same the first time I was at the French Riviera a number of years ago and it was as striking as back then. I still love the colours.
The small boats in the harbour were also colourful where they were squeezed in between the huge yachts.
A champagne picnic on the beach was an absolute must. Lovely! Could have stayed there for a long time.
Thanks for a great weekend, Helena!
Maldives again
Well, we were not planning to go back so soon but we got an offer we couldn’t refuse and we felt like going diving again. 🙂 This time we did not spend any time on an island but only on the dive boat, the Sachika.
Once again we saw a whale shark but not during a dive but while snorkeling so it was not really the same. Still nice however, this one was a bit larger than the last one we saw, maybe 6-8 meters. What we did see this time was one poor hammerhead shark which quickly disappeared when it saw us and lots of mantas! We had a great manta dive with many rather small mantas, maybe 3 meters at most.They came very close and were more than I could count.
Manta.
There were also lots of reefs and thilas to be discovered. Some of the dives we had done before but they were all nice dives so it was not a problem for us. And this time we knew what to look for.
And sometimes the current was quite strong.
When the other guests tried to catch some fish from the dhoni (the smaller boat that we dove from) we decided to bring a bottle of wine and enjoy the sunset and later the stars. A perfect end of a perfect little holiday.
Can’t wait to go diving again…
My Swiss “office”
Occasionally I work from Lucerne, Switzerland. This is the view from my “office”. Today is a lovely day, I think I will go for a walk in the lunch break.