Day to day

The days just gallop by, with speeding weekends and work filled weekdays. Diwali came & went. But this time it was more satisfying as I got to speak to a lot of family members. We had a really good potluck, and played poker. Then we went over to the Virgin megastore & bought some stuff to make us all happy.

I am watching a lot of F.R.I.E.N.D.S these days and Joey has me laughing out loud. It sometimes saddens me to think that my so far academic life is coming to a bend in the road. Maybe I will return (which I seriously hope to). Maybe I will not. A new career beckons, along with the delightful thought of making money & acting responsibly, yet I do not know If i want to accept them right away. Given a choice, backpacking around the world would be a fine option, but I guess I will have to put that on hold.

Boston is turning colder. Winter beckons. I took myself on a stroll alongside the Pru yesterday. The wind chilled my cheeks, and the hazel leaves danced around my feet. I felt happy and at home. It would be nice to feel that way always. Here's hoping.

Iceland day 2

We arrived at the lagoon. As the bus came to a halt, we could see bluish side waters, and steam in a distance. The sign looked very much like a spa sign.

The side waters were blue.. a chalky blue. Kind of like the water in a swimming pool, except that there were no tiles underneath.

We went into the dressing rooms, and ran shivering into the pool area. The water felt gorgeous. It was warm, hot in places. None of us wanted to get out. We reached under water to look at the sand. It was grainy and white. You could use it as an exfoliant. It is against the law to take it with you outside the pool, however.

Finally, reluctantly, we got out of the water and went to take a shower. My hair was ruined by the minerals, and I had to shower three times to defrizz it.

We were a bunch of sleepyheads, as we went back, but no, we did not go to sleep at once. We walked to the church instead.

Hallgrimskirkja church stands at the heart of Reykjavik. It is a classical example of Viking arhitecture. There is an imposing statue of Ericur the Red, who discovered Greenland at the front. Down there you feel nothing, but yourself, the spire and the skies.


Then we were all sleepy, and we went back to the room to catch a nap. We woke up and went to get an early dinner at a Icelandic restaurant in the city center.

The portions were small, yet extremely satisfying. I feasted on bean cake with a vegetable sauce. We engaged in quality conversation. It was intercultural and peaceful.

Then we took the walk back to the hotel, marking the end of a wonderful day at Iceland.

We would head to Keflavik airport the next day to go over to wonderful Kobenhavn.

The Scandinavian adventure continues..

Iceland day1

Reykjavik.is

As the plane glided into the barren airport, in the not so wee hours of morning, we gazed in ave at the scenery.. or rather the lack of it. Minutes later we were on the highway, speeding towards Reykjavik.

Miles and miles of land.. not a tree in sight.. the sky glimmering in a bluish grey.

We looked up to see if we could catch a glimpse of the promised famous aurora, but it disappointed us.







The speeding bus approached the city. We caught a glimpse of a few trees. Slowly, the bus made its way up the main city road, to hotels.
At every hotel, a couple of passengers would get off. The roads were paved with stones, making them fairy taleish.

The bus soon came to a halt outside our hotel, the hotel Scaljbreid. We checked in. Our breakfast package was for tomorrow. We decided to take a walk and get breakfast. Later we would head to the lagoon, as was advised by our hosts.















First view of Reykjavik city. So compact, yet so peaceful and pretty. European. You could feel the vikings. This was Nordurland, quite the heart of it. We went down the road, to the "downtown area". Downtown had like three people walking around.



We found a cafe. The coffee and pesto sandwich were delicious but pricey. We would soon figure out that everything in Reykjavik was.




We then found a tourism center. We gazed at the magazines, gathered some postcards and then decided to head to the harbour.

If you could picture an icy cold morning, with a dim light, motionless water and blue snow capped peaks in the horizon, that was the harbour. We stood on the volcanic rock, and looked at the water, had some interesting conversation, clicked some pictures. We were the "tourists".








Then back to the hotel, but not to rest. We took the bus to the lagoon. We had to transfer inbetween to another coach. The view was other-worldly.
Indeed the route to the lagoon is one of the most photographed.

Lagoon tales to follow..

Writing about travel

My travel diary...

It has been quite a long while since Ive blogged.. you could say that I was waiting for that spurt of creativity.. the origin of ideas .. but the truth is (As is usually) laziness, school work and the like.. But this is something that I have been wanting to put in place.. atlease for me to recollect on a later date, those amazing journeys and the scenic vistas once availed. It would be great, trust me to get a second opportunity to visit these pieces of paradise, and I hope for that. But atleast My experiences can live here, for me to revisit whenever I like.

So here goes..