Second day in London: I took the bus to Westminster, getting off right near the houses of Parliament.  I first walked around looking for breakfast, and ended up getting pastries (including a pecan roll) in a sandwich shop.  Then I took pictures of some oft-photographed stuff. Like this place: I took pictures of it from … Read more

I arrived in London by train from Didcot in the early evening of September 8, disembarking at Paddington Station.  I was feeling hungry, but wanted to get my luggage to the place I’d be staying before seeking food. It took a little bit of time to find the correct bus stop, but I did manage … Read more

On my second day in England, I returned to Oxford and took a boat tour of the Thames River (the waterway also known in that city as the Isis). I walked down to the tour place a bit early and bought my ticket, and then walked around until the departure time.  Here’s the river, seen … Read more

Another quick post.  A month or so back, I was out mowing the leaves (and a bit of grass), and I saw something moving quickly out of the way of the mower.  It was about the same color as the grass. On closer inspection, it was a large praying mantis: When I say “large,” I … Read more

Just a quick post tonight, as I’m pressed for time. When I was in the Keflavik airport, about to fly to England, I found this postcard in the duty-free shop: (Click the photo to see it at a larger size)   I thought it summed up the trip pretty nicely.    😉

My first morning in England I had porridge for breakfast at my friend’s place in Didcot, and then we headed off to Oxford by train. We first visited the Ashmolean museum, where we looked at a lot Greek and Roman items (large statues as well as tiny, intricate jewelry), as well as some South Asian … Read more

On my last morning in Iceland I got up somewhat early so I could return my rented bike (Óli Stef).  I headed for the Reykjavik waterfront along the city’s bike paths, and partway there, I noticed geese in the median strip of the road (click photo to embiggen): I also encountered this little bird at … Read more

On my fourth day in Iceland, I checked out of Héradsskolínn to head back to Reykjavik.  There was finally good sunlight shining on the town of Laugarvatn, so I took some last pictures of the hostel: and of the nearby mountain: and some other buildings in the town: This is the Laugarvatn Fontana, where I … Read more

On my third day in Iceland, I had a quick breakfast of yogurt and granola, or rather, of yogurt drink and granola.  It turned out that the stuff I thought was yogurt, Skyr, is more like a thin smoothie.  It still worked fine, as I even like having granola with plain milk. Outside, before getting … Read more

Having biked from Reykjavik to Laugarvatn, I checked in at Héradsskólinn, a hostel in a former school building.  After getting both rained on and sweaty through the day, it was nice to be someplace warm, and I took a nice shower after getting situated.  I got dinner in the cafe there, which was vegetable soup … Read more