March 7th - heading home!

The lobby of the building the hostel is located in

Although people lead me to believe things in Iceland were extraordinarily expensive, in the hostel lounge beer was 750 Icelandic Krona during happy hour (7 to 9) that’s only about $8.00

The view from the window in my room

The hostel lounge

The 8 bunk mixed dorm. My bed is the only one open. The other 3 are all guys still sleeping at 9:30 this morning!Around the corner are four more “pod” beds but only two are occupied, two more guys but at least one of them is up.

Considering there were it was a fairly quiet night. I woke up twice but fell back to sleep pretty quickly

As there had been a slight mix up when I booked my dorm they gave me a towel free of charge and a free breakfast. I don’t know the towel fee but breakfast is 1200 krona or about $13.50 and it was delicious! Waffles, toast with cheese and salami or peanut butter and jam or jelly, hard boiled eggs 🥚, fruit, cereal and really good coffee!!

I am very full and happy and leave for the airport and my 8 hour flight home in about an hour. I wonder if I’ll be the last pick up before heading for the bus terminal and the “big” bus to the airport 😜

Mar 6 - London to Iceland

Took a picture of the map on the airplane tv as we approached Iceland.

An Australian couple beside me gasped when they saw the snow by the airport

No snow in town and I really like the neat little houses

The port of Reykjavík

After a fairly hot a noisy night at St Christopher’s Village hostel in London I had a nice 2 1/2 hour flight from Heathrow to Reykjavík landing at 3:30then about 30 minutes to clear customs.

The bus ride from the airport to the bus terminal was another hour and then we switched to several smaller buses and dropped everybody at their hotels, and yes I was 2nd last, after yet another hour. So . . . by the time I checked into the hostel it was 6:00 o’clock and there was only about 45 minutes left until sunset.

I went for a short walk and then had a good supper of fish and chips! (Cod) and then back to the hostel to a quiet evening in the lounge and the best sleep in a hostel ever.
Super comfy bed! (Also still tired from last night 😜)

Farewell Venice - Hello London

Leaving Venice early yesterday morning

On the bus to the airport!

Marco Polo Airport Venice

The Theatre district London

I made it to the Phoenix Theatre and am waiting for Come from Away to begin! I am very very excited!

Last full day in Venice

I’m sorry to leave this beautiful city, there is so much to see and do here!
We spent the day on a ride on the Vaporetto waterbus along the Grand Canal and a stroll through the huge plaza of San Marco Square then after lunch in an outdoor cafe and more wandering in the narrow streets, we went on a wonderful gondola ride through some of the smaller and quieter canals and a bit of the Grand Canal too. It was something I’ve wanted to do but found too expensive before  however it helps to have friends go share the cost with!

San Marco Square

One of the many narrow and labyrinth streets of Venice! Thank goodness for Kathy and google!

The view of the front of our gondola is

Fred, Joan and Kathy enjoying the ride

Me and Mario our gondolier!

Mar 3rd - Day 3 Venice

Where Murano is famous for glass making the nearby island of Burano is famous for hand made lace.So on our third day in Venice we went to visit Burano. It was a really neat place and the colourful houses reminded me of St. John’s Nfld

Then we returned to the main island, Venice where our Air BnB is and spent the afternoon and evening wandering in the the labyrinth of little narrow streets and bridges that make up this city. It’s quite amazing!

We went to the island of Murano where they are famous for the Venetian glass and watched a display of the art of glass blowing They wandered through their incredible shops where you can buy things as small as earrings and as big as elaborate chandeliers!
(They ship those at no added charge)
They tried to interest Kathy in a beautiful piece of art, a beautiful ball on glass square for only €2,600.00 or $3,923.00 Canadian
She said she’d think 🤔 about it.

We also went to the island of Lido and caught a parade and oh yeah. . . .  We celebrated Kathy’s 50th Birthday!!!!

Venice - Day 2 - Saturday

As mentioned yesterday we arrived in Venice for “Carnevale di Venezia.” We had no idea when we planned this trip but we are certainly enjoying the festivities and all the amazing costumes! The folks here definitely go all out!The City of Venice is a never ending supply of photo ops that make it very hard to pick out just a few for the blog.

It’s great to be spending time with my friends Kathy, Joan and Fred and exploring this amazing city.

First day in Venice!

And it turns out that it’s also the last day of the week long Carnival celebrations

The costumes are elaborate and quite amazing! We had a great day wandering around the city and just taking in all the sights.

We put a lot of steps in today if our iPhones were counting accurately then over 23000 steps today so I’m tired and I’m going to bed!

More tomorrow . . .

Last day in Barcelona

Barcelona has some strange art displays. This one on the beach is a completely enclosed cage with five unearthly characters trapped inside

A pretty good little band playing on the beach today

Well I spent my last day here enjoying a great breakfast and then heading off to the laundromat and getting all my clothes nice and clean for Venice!

Then I went home and packed my backpack ready for tomorrow and headed to the beach for a lazy last afternoon!

I’ve really enjoyed my month in Spain but I am also really looking forward to seeing Kathy, Joan and Fred in Venice tomorrow!

2nd last day in Barcelona

Basilica of the Sagrada Família

The building of this Catholic Church was started in 1882 by the architect Antoni Gaudi and has been funded solely by donations. Most is those now come from tourists at a rate of around 3 million Euro a year! Not too surprising as the tickets to go into the church and wander around are €40.00 or $60.00! ( I didn’t go in 😜)

They are still working on it and expect to be finished by 2028 or so a mere 144 years after starting it.

Gaudi died in 1926 and is buried in the church crypt so even if he never saw the completion, he guaranteed himself a breathtaking gravesite

A nice way to view the city!

I like this! They turned the bull fighting arena into a Shopping Mall!

Beach day!

Adult playground! 

Barcelona - February 23

Spent the day touring on the bus again and really glad I bought the two day ticket! There’s so much to see.

I got off and explored the Olympic site. Barcelona hosted the 1929 and the 1992 games.  The designer of this telecommunications tower wanted it to remind people of the torch bearer

This was the main building where they held the opening and closing ceremonies as well as sporting events

It was a wonderful day and I really enjoyed it

Day 2- Barcelona

Well I had an absolutely beautiful sunny day for my first day of the Hop On Hop Off bus tour and learned a lot! The city is a lot bigger than I realized, with the surrounding communities, the greater Barcelona area has a population of nearly three million and there is tons to see!  I’m glad I bought the 2 day ticket.Also it’s really hard picking out just a few pictures to put on the blog!

It’s really hard to tell but there were a couple of beautiful green birds clinging near the top of this fountain (just below the statue) and the weren’t taking a bird bath they were thoroughly enjoying a shower!

That’s the port of Barcelona in the distance it’s a very busy one with both freight and cruise ships daily

February 21 - Barcelona

So my first day in Barcelona turned out to be a pretty interesting one! Not only did I find out that Tim Hortons is Canada’s favourite coffee ( I still refuse to believe it Terry) but when I went to buy a ticket for the Hop on Hop off bus I was told they were on strike for today, not just the bus tours but the whole city!It seems that the Catalonia, the province where Barcelona is located tried to separate from Spain in 2017 and 12 of the leaders of the movement (deemed unconstitutional by the government) were put in jail and were being tried in court in Madrid today.

Over 200,000 protesters flooded the streets of Barcelona today in support of those leaders, and I was there in the middle of much of the excitement. If there was any violence, I didn’t see it. I saw lots of marching and flags and heard shouted slogans (that I didn’t understand of course)

I didn’t stay long in the city centre but made my way back to my BnB and it was a good thing that I had already decided to walk because the crowds had stopped all traffic including the buses 😁

I’ll try again tomorrow for the tour bus and I’m sure I’ll have much better luck.
Talk about timing Eh?

Last day in Valencia

One of the two train stations in town, they don’t build public buildings small in Europe

The Bull ring

I really like this fountain on the beach. The first time I saw it the water was flowing from the top pipes making it look like sails and today it was the bottom and the hull of the boat!

Kathy gave me a heads up that today’s moon was going to be pretty amazing and so I went back to the beach at sunset and it was worth it!

Well, my 3 weeks in Valencia is ending and so I spent today doing laundry this morning and packing my backpack with all nice clean clothes and then the afternoon enjoying a last wander around town and of course along the beach!Tomorrow I head for Barcelona on the bus, leaving here at noon and arriving Barcelona just after 4:00 o’clock
I have a week there so I’ll be sending lots of pictures and comments for you
The last time I was in Barcelona I was in my early 20’s and with my sister and our friend Donna. I wonder if it’s changed much 😄

Saturday, February 16th

Damn but I love this beach! I don’t know how many hours I’ve spent on it so far but it’s not enough

Check this guy out! He carried a table, a chair, a radio and his breakfast all out to the middle of the empty beach this morning and then proceeded to enjoy his breakfast while listening to a sports broadcast. 

I had breakfast here! Huevos Y patatas Y bākén Y Cafe con lecheIt was very good!

A few more pictures of my African safari

There were so many amazing pictures to take and I just had to share a few more

This little guy is about the size of a large house cat and oh so cute! He is called a dik-dik which is apparently what his alarm cry sounds like when he detects predators in the area.

February 15th

As I wasn’t able to go to South Africa with Kathy and her parents this trip I decided to do my own Africa trip in Spain!

The Bioparc is a huge park where animals from Madagascar and Africa are shown in their own enclosures and endangered species are protected. 

I spent several hours here and really enjoyed myself. 

[Kathy Note: Ironically Joan has seen more animals in Valencia than I will in Africa!] 

More from the aquarium

February 13th

Another day of just wandering around, which I’ve done lots of and enjoyed immensely

I don’t know if you recall in an earlier blog that I’d met Juliana at the ice cream store that she works in and we we’re lamenting the lack of peanut butter in Spain! Juliana has been here a year and not found it and then I was in a large department store with s grocery store on its basement level and I found some! So I bought one for me and one for Juliana and she gave me an ice cream on the house!

It seems to be a food blog today! Cafe con Leche (coffee with milk) and a chocolate croissant! You can’t beat it!