Daily Grind Wonderings, wanderings and waffle

Heard them whilst staying with my German friends. I’ve now purchased three of their albums from iTunes…. Great music!

Just booked my round-the-world ticket with travelbag.co.uk. I’m really impressed with their service so far - very helpful and friendly.
Rough sketch, of places going to:

Vancouver: late Sept, do a month around there + Rockies + Alaska adventure trip (see if I can get eaten by bears at www.GrizzlyBearRanch.ca)
…. LA, Hawaii maybe?
Las Vegas : late November, only for two days
then off to some kind of combo of:

Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore …… Home, then to South America for three months. Then - ? Depends on how much money is left!!!

I read this book in Bremen, in about 2.5 hours. It’s the first time for ages that a book has captured my attention.

Anyway - try and read it if you can. It’s by Nick Hornby.

I also read a book by Peter Ustinov - God and the State Railways, it’s a collection of short stories. Ustinov is one of my heroes, despite him passing away; an absolute genius.

Parents’ ADSL was only running at 600k and was a tad frustrating to use, given that my laptop hasn’t had any Apple updates for ages. Did a bit of diagnosis and found one of the phones wasn’t using an ADSL filter…. hey presto - 2.9MB broadband.

I’ve been aware of their existence but never actually read any of the cartoons. Whilst in Bremen I read a couple of books of their cartoons - they are very funny and also philosophical.

Back in Wales, as I have no home anymore. Europe 2007 trip is at an end, for now, whilst I sort out Canada trip and beyond - starting next month.

Some kind of summary of what I encountered, thought and did:

- I’ve found that I’m far more at ease asking people for help and that’s given me some more confidence
- Going on a U-Boat in Bremerhaven (close to Bremen, Germany) was quite a strange experience. German sailors must have been midgets, as I’m not that tall and banged my head on bits of metalwork

- Watching the polar bears in Bremerhaven zoo being fed was ok. Zoos are depressing places (saw three pumas as well), as the animals aren’t happy; but it’s a necessary evil - to save them

and puma:

- Tramps and graffiti are a universal (well, on European-terms anyway) feature. Putting a recycle fee on plastic bottles gives the tramps something else to root through bins for, I guess
- I really like laughing till tears come. It’s great - You can’t put a price on genuine friends.
- I never ceased to be freaked out by hotel bedroom TV’s welcoming me, by name

- I always look out for the little triangle folded into loo paper, in hotel bathrooms
- Iceland is an awesome place, go there!

- Pack enough clothes for a week, you can wash everything in the shower pretty much (or drop in on friends!) - that way you don’t end up killing yourself, carrying 20kg on your back
- Dave Matthews Band make excellent music. Check them out.

That’ll do for now. Future blog entries may be forthcoming.

All quiet for a while, as I’m staying with a friend in Bremen for a few days. It’s nice not to have to be moving around all the time.

Flew back from Iceland into Copenhagen, stayed the night there (didn’t do anything, despite the hotel being in the red-light district).

You can tell when you’re tired - as you stand next to the baggage-reclaim belt for Helsinki, instead of for Reykjavic.

Then took the train back to Hamburg and have had a McD’s and about to have lots of beer, now that it is at a normal price (as opposed to the Scandanavian prices).

Is fascinating. Wish I’d spent four weeks here, instead of doing some of the other countries in Europe. The geology is amazing - the country is growing by 2cm every year, as it’s a centre of the American and European tectonic plates.

Been on the Golden Circle Tour - seen a geothermal power station; Gulfloss waterfall, a glacial river; the seat of the old Icelandic parliament; a church, that was something to do with an old Icelandic bishop; a crater from a volcano that blew 6000 years ago - Björk did a concert on the lake at the bottom of it a couple of years ago.

Ah yes, whilst on the subject of Björk (pronounced byerk, not byork) - I found out that my favourite track of hers - Venus as a Boy - is actually about cunnilingus. Fascinating what you can find out by visiting a bookshop. I bought a book by one of Iceland’s most famous writers and shall be devouring it soon.

It’s really amazing panoramic scenery here. Glaciers, volcanic flows, mountains, sea and lots more.
Going to see if I can go whale watching this afternoon, depending on the weather.

Later that day…. whale watching got cancelled, due to a strong north wind. I then decided it would be safe to eat something, so had sea-food pasta; very nice.

I also get to play with some new keyboard characters (if you have the right code page):

æ Ð ð þ

Some pics:

Salmon ladder:

Crater that Björk did a concert from (actually on the lake):