So I guess I survived the first day back at work after our awesome, two-week vacation in Iceland and Germany. We are still processing the sights, sounds and cultural impressions. Iceland struck us as a very cool and quietly very powerful place. Huge geological forces are at work here, glaciers and volcanoes shape this island. Everywhere you see hissing steam vents, boiling mud holes, groaning icebergs, vast lava deserts and massive waterfalls in lush valleys. The Icelanders are a quiet, self-reliant people whose culture was shaped by toughing it out on this remote, inhospitable rock in the Atlantic.

For five days we explored Reykjavik (the capital) and the southern coast of Iceland. We had great weather – lots of sunshine and temperatures in the upper 50s (15 degrees C). Even the most popular tourist attractions outside Reykjavik were not particularly crowded, maybe a dozen cars and a couple of tour buses at the most. And at some of the waterfalls and famous black sand beaches we saw hardly more than a handful other tourists. And this was the peak of the season!

After five days in Iceland, we continued to Frankfurt and spent 9 days cruising south-west Germany to visit friends and family. It was quite hot in Germany, and after Iceland, Germany seemed twice as crowded and hectic. We did a bit of sightseeing, too. and visited the Freiburg cathedral, the ducal palace and gardens in Ludwigsburg and the Heidelberg castle. Pretty standard tourist fare, but pretty interesting, nevertheless. And after the $10-beers and hot dogs in Iceland we did enjoy relatively inexpensive and tasty food in Germany.

The children certainly deserve mention as seasoned travellers who weathered jet lag, long drives, unusual foods and a rather exhausting pace with bravado and style. They seemed to enjoy every new little adventure, and they brought fresh curiosity to every new place we explored.

Now it’s back to the grindstone and work, work, work …. as soon as I have the time, I’ll set up a nice photo album for the trip.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 27th, 2005 at 9:22 pm and is filed under Mother Earth, Our gang. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.