Dr. Bob in England, Scotland, and Iceland: April 2018

This is a repost

So the travel blog site this trip was originally posted on shutdown - nothing is permanent on the Web. The following is a repost of this trip. It is in reverse chronological order, so best to read from last post to first.

And yes, I know the videos don't work - not sure why.

Aaron

The Golden Circle

Friday, May 19, Reykjavik

The weather has completely changed - it is sunny and in the 50's. Locals are in tee shirts. We still have our coats.

We take a tour around what is called the Golden Circle. We see beautiful landscapes, snow covered mountains, waterfalls, geysers, and the rift between the North American and European tectonic plates. Lots and lots of 'Kodak' moments. I will let the photos speak for themselves.

Fabulous landscapes

An interesting water plant

Geyser - part 1

Geyser - part 2

Geyser - part 3

Geyser - part 4

Whole sequence about 20 seconds

Snow capped mountain

Spring water flowing out of cleft in the rocks

Beautiful mountain stream of spring water

Part of the tectonic rift wall

This area is way overdue for a volcanic eruption of massive scale

Just another snow capped mountain

One more with a lake

Video of waterfall

A walk and ride around Reykjavik

Thursday, May 18, Reykjavik

We go out to tour the city on the hop-on, hop-off bus and visit a few sites. The first challenge is getting to the bus stop through the high 30's temperatures and the 30+ mph winds. Seriously cold stuff.

We catch the bus next to the Harpa, the local theater and music center. The Harpa is an ultramodern glass edifice. It comes complete with a special guard dog.

The bus keeps us out of the frigid North Atlantic wind while we learn about the city. Our hop off is at the Hallgrimskirkja - a towering modern church. We then make our way down Skolavoroustigur, a street lined with boutique shops and restaurants. We stop into many shops as much to get out of the chill wind as to look at their wares. We do meet some friendly locals along the way.

Plokkfiskur for dinner, a real surprise.

The Harpa - rather modern

Another view of the Harpa

Tourist popsicle - let's go inside

Harpa guard dog

Hallgrimskirkja - do you see the 'church' hiding in the name? Its kirkja.

A helpful shopping guide - kind of interesting how English borrowed several of the words

Friendly local

Iceland Air to Iceland

Wednesday, May 17, Reykjavik

We have a lazy morning before a quick ride to the Glasgow airport. A two hour hop takes us to the Reykjavik airport. For some reason the airport is located 20+ miles from the city through land that looks like a lunar landscape. One expensive taxi ride.

Our room is like a mini-apartment including a small kitchenette. Good thing, as restaurants here are rather pricey - $12 for a beer and $20 hamburgers. The price of living on an island with minimal summers - most of the food is imported.

Lunar landscape

For miles and miles

Reykjavik we are here - I think it might be a dirty word

Our kitchenette

A walk around Glasgow

Tuesday, May 16, Glasgow

We hop in a taxi and ride to the Glasgow Botanic Gardens. There is both a large outdoor area and two major greenhouse structures. The Kibble Palace greenhouse is a huge glass dome building. Rhododendrons are in full bloom for our outdoor stroll along with other early perennials. The inside areas contain rooms from desert to tropical plants. We take dozens of pictures - a few samples below.

We walk from the gardens down towards the Kelvingroove Gallery and Museum. First we stop at the Brew Dog pub for some local brew an lunch.

The Kelvingroove is a grand old building with an eclectic mix of art displays and natural history and ancient artifacts. Kind of fun. Our sore feet say it is enough for one day so we taxi back to our hotel for a late afternoon nap.

Tourist enjoying Glasgow Botanic Gardens

Rhododendrons in bloom

All kinds of rhododendrons

Lots and lots of rhododendrons

An other early flowers

Plus curious local art objects

Multiple greenhouse rooms

Beautiful plants inside

More beautiful plants inside

Glass dome of Kibble Palace greenhouse

And some curious statues

A typical Glasgow street

A view of the river Kelvin

Interior of Brew Dog pub. Can you guess what kind of food they serve.

Kelvingroove building

Interior view of Kelvingroove

Sample art

Some natural history

Ancient artifacts

And other random objects

Train and rest

Monday, May 15, Glasgow

Today we take the train to Glasgow. The weather is rainy and we need some down time, so we mostly rest in our room. Dinner is at Two Fat Ladies - a good name and good food. No pictures today

Walk about in Edinburgh

Sunday, May 14, Edinburgh

We go on a major walking tour of Edinburgh today. The tour starts at the Scott monument, an overly ornate and very dirty ode to Sir Walter.

Next stop is the National Portrait Gallery. Portraits are not usually to my taste, but the building and several portraits turn out to be quite special.

Then we climb, climb, climb up to the top of Carton Hill. There are a couple of monuments up here, but the main reason to go up is the views.

We clamber back down and decide it is about time for lunch at a local pub. In addition to the mandatory beer and cider, I check out a local dish called Cullen Skink (goggle it) which is quite good.

Some more walking takes us to the palace and abbey of Holyroodhouse The queen stays here when she visits Edinburgh. No pictures allowed inside, but plenty of good shots on the outside.

Our feet are done in at this point, so we taxi back to our hotel.