Old World/New Country - Croatia and Montenegro

First stop Pula, Croatia - the largest city on the Istrian Peninsula. We noticed the
clear deep blue water and stepped off the boat and right in front of us was the Roman Arena (not to be confused with the Colosseum) constructed between 27 BC and 68 AD. We couldn't decide what to look at first, the children playing at the playground with the deep Mediterranean water as a backdrop. Or the Colosseum, which is pretty much intact. Our guide gave us a quick history lesson: The Romans conquered this area in 177 BC and was ruled by Julius Caesar. When Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC, he appointed Augustus (renamed Octavias) as ruler. Marc Antony fought Brutus and Cassius (Julius Caesar's assassins) here and when Brutus and gang won the support of the locals, Augustus destroyed the town.  Augustus's daughter wanted the town rebuilt and it was, complete with the amphitheatre and it all belonged to the Roman empire. Whew.

Currently concerts are held in the Arena and Robert Plant is scheduled to play this July. Talk about a multi-purpose facility - starting with Gladiator fights 2100 years ago and now modern day concerts.  We walked under the Arena and stored there are olive oil pots used in the 1st century. A wheel and crushing stone used to press the oil were there as well. A rack to hold the pots for oil was in a wooden wagon. As relics are discovered in the area, they are brought here for this temporary museum of sorts. I wondered what it would be like to stand and look at this while listening to Robert Plant.

A walk around the city lead us to other ancient Roman structures - namely the Triumphal Arch, and Arch of Sergii and the temples of Roma and Augustus which are completely intact and side by side in the town square. The church of St. Francis was built in 1341 is still standing near one of the remaining parts of the old city wall. Interestingly, the Byzantine chapel of St. Mary Formosa was built in 546 in the form of a Greek cross. It was part of a Benedictine abbey that was demolished in the 16th century. When the Venetians raided Pula in 1605, they removed four columns of oriental alabaster that now stand behind the high altar in St. Mark's Basilica in Venice.

Pula was generally under Venetian rule until the 1800s when the Austrian-Hungary empire took over. It became the vacation home of the Austrian royal family. Then that empire collapsed, Mussolini took over the Istrian peninsula and made it difficult for the Austrian or Hungarian people who lived there. When fascist Italy was taken down, the Germans occupied this area and used the port for U-boats. It was heavily bombed in 1942 - 1944. Under the terms of the Paris peace treaties of 1947, Croatia became part of Yugoslavia. It has only

Photo credit - Deb O'Kelly

been a part of Croatia since 1991, when Yugoslavia was broken into six countries, Croatia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bosnia/Herzegovina, Serbia, and Slovenia. Since 1991, there have been several wars, most recently in Sarajevo and Kosovo.

The people who lived here keep to themselves, enjoying their Saturday with their families in the small square. I was surprised to think that this region was so old, and very much preserved with characters from the Bible and Shakespeare plays as its first leaders ("Friends, Romans, Countrymen, Lend me your Ears"). On the other hand, this country is only twenty-six years old. Even the young remember times of war and being under Communist rule. I held the thought of all the battles, ancient and recent that took place on the ground I stood on.

After a night on the Adriatic Sea, we arrived in Dubrovnik port - one of the most popular tourist destinations on the Dalmation Coast. We disembarked and walked through the city gates of the old town walled city. There is one flat main street through the old town and the Franciscan monastery we first encountered had scars near the outside door where shrapnel from recent bombs (1990s) had hit it. A little further down the way and we saw shutters opened with an old man sitting in the window watching the goings on of the town's people who were out for the day. We toured the Sponza palace and the WWII museum that was in the entry way. The Rector's Palace was at the end of the main street and shops and restaurants opened from the palace open door.  palace and had lunch in the square, watching an old man feed the pigeons
and the young children come to play with them as
they gathered. I was struck by the vibrant city center and the relaxed way of the people who lived there. We wiggled around a break in the wall and found the port, filled with all sorts of boats and water taxis. We went into the Cathedral and looked at the neglected pieces of art that were exhibited throughout the church mostly on the floor of the church leaning on the ancient walls.

Dubrovnik has the most preserved city wall and we were determined to hike it to take in the views of the sea and the colored rooftops. This was the most picturesque city for sure. The red rooftops set against the deep blue Sea, highlighted by the brilliant white buildings coaxed us to walk the entire circumference of the city.

I sat on some nearby steps while the rest of our group climbed a tower to view Dubrovnik with a higher perspective. I meditated with my eyes open on the beauty of the city and history it contained.  It has beautifully stood the test of time and it is easy to understand why George Bernard Shaw called Dubrovnik "heaven on earth". We decided to skip the cable ride to the top of the nearby mountain. We clearly were satisfied with all we had seen and returned to our ship to take a rest on our balcony.



The next morning our ship pulled into Kotor and we walked into the country of Montetenegro from the dock.
A view of fishermen casting in the bay was in one direction and the city and mountain settlement in another. We started with the walking tour provided by our ship but quickly decided to skip the tour and explore on our own. We saw St. Tryphon in the town center, rebuilt many times after succeeding earthquakes. Next to it was the clock tower. The maritime museum was in an old run-down palace. The town seemed like a poorer cousin of Dubrovnik. We went into St. Michael's church and the nun there graced us with a impromptu organ recital. The botafumieros were abundant near the altar.

The town wall beckoned, this time going up a hill past St. John's church half way up and to an old fortress of St. Ivan at the top 1200 meters up. These walls were built starting in the 9th centuries and were complete with holes for cannons to poke out. We meandered through the winding streets and found the stairs to the wall. We climbed half-way up the wall, step by step until we
reached the Church of the Healing Mother of God, built by survivor's of the plague. It was about 600 meters up.  The view of the region was fantastic, showing our ship in the bay and town down below. The wind whistled and the rain began as we found cover under the porch of the church. We took time to take it in, but quickly noticed some young tourists ascending the hill with adrone taking a selfie with the
bay in the background. They were seriously messing with the "I'm pretending I lived here in the 900s" vibe and the drone buzzed and sounded out the wind.  We left the hilltop to return to the town center. I couldn't help but marvel at what a fantastic photo they must have taken of themselves.

We parked the guys with a beer in the town cafe and took off to find shops filled with creations from the local artists and baked goods with a Turkey and Greece influence. We were the first cruise ship in port and we were met almost instantly with beggars in the street, usually persistent children who seemed hardened to this way of life. I'm always torn about whether to give and if the children indeed benefit from their day's work. I found a plate made by a local artist and then a local bakery with the best pistachio baklava I've ever eaten. The guys found the local beer refreshing. We gave our unused Euro coins to the gypsy kids in the street and returned to the ship to get our afternoon relaxation on our room's balcony overlooking the bay.

We motored out of the bay and watched the sun set through the clouds. We could see families returning home from school and work, taking the ferry to get from one side of the bay to the other. Maybe our ship was as annoying as the drone we encountered earlier in the day. Travel always give one so much to think about. It changes you, having seen the moon shine on the other side of the world.

3 days in Venice: Romance Capital of the World

We stepped out of the airport and negotiated our way to one of three ways to get into Venice. We easily bought tickets and found our bus to the train station. We decided against a water taxi due to cost and the amount of luggage we had and the private car ride to the train station was long and expensive. In all cases, we had a 10 minute walk after getting to the edge of the city to walk to our hotel located on the Grand Canal. We crossed the bridge from the train station and were visually struck by the true essence of Venice: the only ways to get around this beautiful city is by foot or by boat. The late day sun created sparkling reflections on the water. We stood there for a few moments to take it in.

Our hotel was in an old apartment attached to the hotel on the Grand Canal. We arrived on trash day that presented see-through plastic sacks hanging from the windows -  almost like little gift presentations with trash inside. We scheduled dinner the first night near our hotel at Antica Trattoria Alla Ferrata. We were the only tourists there. We listened to the spirited conversations at the bar and enjoyed our fresh pasta, with a nightcap of homemade limoncello. The next day we would join my sister and her husband in San Marco and pick up our friends Deb and Dan from the airport to begin the great adventure.

We ate breakfast on the Grand Canal, mesmerized by the different sorts of
cargo in the passing boats. Literally everything moves about on the water. We walked the forty minutes to San Marco Piazza. San Marco was empty when we arrived but quickly filled in with tourists. The church is between the clock tower and the Doge's Palace. We proceeded to San Marco Basilica, met my sister and her husband and we were those tourists with headsets. The explanation of the history of the church satisfied us and we quickly forgot our headset-shame. It seems that the Turks in Constantinople and the Venetians were always in battle to steal gold mosaics and columns from each other. The facade of the church held many vibrant gold mosaics stolen from the Turks during the 11th century Crusades. The reflection of the sun off the gold was spellbinding, stolen or not.

We ate lunch in San Marco square, visited the views from near Doge Palace and then left to head to the airport to collect our friends Deb and Dan. It was fun to repeat the entrance into the city to see their reaction. My favorite people were in my new favorite city. It was to be a great trip.

We dined at Trattoria Antica Besseta that evening, also near our hotel. The
food was really creative and tasty. I had a fish sandwich with radish mayo and catsup on black bread (not your ordinary fish sandwich). Dan had a seafood feast. Paul opted for pasta. Our desserts were the best part. We were among the last to leave that night and we
got our coats to walk back to the hotel. After we arrived at our hotel room, Paul discovered a strange pair of gloves in his pockets. He quickly realized that he had the wrong coat, though it was very similar to his own. He ran back to the restaurant and his coat was not there. Surprisingly, it was Paul's size, though was cut shorter, and the same color and brand. We never did find Paul's coat after going back to the restaurant several times. There is a children's novel in there about the traveling coat we think.

The next day was packed with activities, starting with an anniversary toast to

Paul, my husband of 37 years. We had a full agenda in the most romantic city in the world. I had an idea to end the day and to celebrate our anniversary with a gondola ride. We started with a tour of the Doge's Palace - a secret tour that took us to the
prison cells and hidden offices. Casanova was once a prisoner here and we saw where he escaped (according to legend). We visited the torture room and then the secret offices of the rulers of Venice at the time. We had lunch and then got on a boat to visit the island of Murano to see the glass factory. We watched the artists form the glass and we noticed many people in suits closing in around us as the "tour" ended. We were lead to the glass museum and shop and we were assigned a personal guide. We were aware that this was the opening of tourist season. Paul decided to surprise me by buying a piece of Murano glass for our anniversary. The shopping process was full of pressure, but we found a piece that would fit in our home and also fit our wallets. We left on the boat we came on and checked our pockets to make sure we still all in tact.

Ever since we decided to go to Venice, I was looking forward to spending our 37th anniversary on a gondola. I imagined a singer singing "When the Moon hits the sky like a big pizza pie, that's amore" and a ride at dusk. However, there were six of us and no room for a singer. I tried to talk Paul into singing for me (he is a great singer) - even offering to download a song on my phone so he could sing along. Cheesy and touristy, but what a memorable way to celebrate in Venice, huh. In reality, Paul didn't want to sing and held back to pay our gondolier a few extra Euros in tips if he would sing something. While he was hanging back, I crawled into the gondola seat and my sister crawled in next. They assigned her a seat next to me. We asked to trade seats so I could sit with Paul, but between the language difficulties and the unsteadiness of the boat, the gondolier refused to let us change. So my anniversary gondola ride with the "singing" gondolier next to my sweetheart was not turning out like I envisioned. Sometimes though it is the embracing the unexpected that memories are made. I hugged my sister and kissed her on the cheek while the gondolier kept singing "Volare, ah-ah-ah-ahhhh" (very off-key). We all laughed til we cried on the forty minute ride through the minor canals in Venice. Paul told me later that he enjoyed seeing me laugh with my sister and that made his day. Romantic? No. But endearing? Yes! To the end of my days, I will remember our 37th anniversary. I also have my piece of Murano glass to commemorate it.

We wandered the narrow streets of Venice that night and window shopped before dinner,
finding the custom-designed masks, trinkets, leather bags, and pastries (food porn) in the windows.

The next morning, we took Deb and Dan to visit San Marco Basilica and they went out on the balcony above San Marcos piazza.  I lingered in the Piazza and resisted the numerous gypsy beggars that were extremely persistent.We grabbed lunch and headed on the People mover to make our way to the cruise port. We were about to leave the romantic city of Venice and embark on a Mediterranean cruise. One parting thought was this: I haven't seen one set of Venetian blinds. The lasting thought was how the city of Venice grabs hold and make you feel part of it. It was much better than we could have imagined, "Volare" and all that.

It's All Right and Good Cheap Beer: Czech-Style

Our trip to Prague was cancelled last summer - we were supposed to cycle from Munich to Prague along the river when our cycling friend's mother died unexpectedly. The city never fell off our adventure list and we decided to squeeze in a quick trip before our move back to the States, this time without the bikes. We arrived with only a few preparations and no expectations - the best way to travel.

Saturday offered us the bluest skies and we used  the 
opportunity to cross the St. Charles Bridge to go see the Prague Castle. First off, the St. Charles bridge was almost a section of the city itself. It is a pedestrian bridge with religious statues along the way spanning the Vltava River. People weren't using it as a means to get from one side of the river to the other, but instead were just hanging out along the bridge, looking at the artist booths, the street performers and enjoying the nice day. We wandered along with them. Eventually we reached the other side and climbed the hill to see the Castle (Prazsky hrad -where the President of the Czech Republic lives) and St. Vitus Cathedral. The inside of the cathedral was mostly closed off, but not before we could appreciate the stained glass windows with the intense sun reflection on the inside. The guards with trumpet and drum patrol changed shifts with much pomp and circumstance. The ceremony to change guards was fun to see, not merely a handing off of the weapons used to guard the Castle.

As we left, we smelled the roasting sausages and decided to pick up some street food while watching the street performers. The brat sausages were to Paul's liking and I noticed that sauerkraut and potatoes were available for vegetarians. Yum! There were many outdoor markets and street musicians also in this vibrant area of town.


We left Castle hill and returned to our hotel on the right bank of the Vltava River, near Old Town Square. It was too glorious to be inside, so we hiked to the Old Town Square to people watch. We came across more food trailers and bought some Trdelnik - a roasted bread pastry that is either covered in sugar and cinnamon or slathered on the inside with Nutella. The smell from the rods of Trdelnik was very satisfying. We realized that we had not eaten at all in a typical restaurant, but had munched on street food all day - very tasty street food.

Sunday we got up early to be on the St. Charles bridge before it was busy to get some photos of the saints on the bridge. We thought we had an appointment for a bicycle tour of the city that morning, but there was a miscommunication with the tour company. We rebooked for the next morning and took the cycling guide's advice on finding some good breweries in the city to take in some inexpensive beer since we had some open time. We also wanted some traditional Czech food so we went to Novomestsky Pivovar for a beer and some Czech food - potato rolls, sausages, pork chops, sauerkraut, and boiled potatoes (for my husband, the meat eater). I had a pretzel with mustard and salad. We left there and considered going to some of the historic breweries on the west side of the river, but decided to halt on the day-drinking to see more of the market square and to be outside. There is a beer called X33 that has an alcohol content of nearly 12%. We also considered going to get some original Budweiser beer (we've had it before - it is truly tasty). We passed on it. The cobblestone streets are very uneven when walking sober, it's seemed dangerous to drink more.

Sunday evening, we bought tickets to a classical music concert with a soprano and string quartet. It was to be held in an old monastery, now converted to concert hall and office building. While we were waiting for the concert to start, a violin player was playing outside the open windows, courting the restaurant patrons outside. The bass player went to the window five minutes prior to start time to call the violinist upstairs so the concert could start. It was a fantastic venue and very nice music, complete with a mix of traditional Czech folk songs.

Monday we started our appointed bike tour, which included a history talk of various points around Prague. We started near the bike shop and saw the Powder Tower, one of the oldest structures that was part of the town wall. The gun powder was stored here to keep it away from the enemy. We pedaled to the Old Town Square at the Astronomical Clock. We waited until it dinged on the hour to see the twelve apostles at the top and the statues perform below as they have for several centuries. We looked around the Square to see the Church of our Lady before Tyn, as well as the original city hall that had been mostly destroyed by the Nazis on their way out of town. The National Gallery, a very unique building, holds a prominent place on the square.

We left the main square and rode down narrower streets to the Jewish Quarter, which for the most part was still in tact from WWII. Hitler decided to use this Jewish neighborhood as a Museum and therefore, most of it was not destroyed during the war. The oldest Jewish temple in Europe is located in this section of town. We crossed the bridge to see a few sites on the west side of the river, but mostly we found ourselves looking back at the view of the East side of the city. We found a couple unique pieces of art along our ride. We were within a block of the Lennon Wall, but our guide seemed to be pressed for time and didn't even mention it. We found Wenceslas Square and heard about the starts of revolutions by the people that have taken place over time, including the Velvet Revolution that started with 20,000 students protesting Communist rule in 1989. The next day there were 500,000 people in the square. Days later the Communist leaders resigned and it was the end of Communism in the Czech Republic after 41 years of control. We arrived back where we started at the bike shop after two hours of cycling. We ate lunch outside near the Municipal House at an active outdoor market to rest and people watch.

After lunch, we immediately went back to the west side of the river to find the Lennon Memorial wall and to figure out where to catch the funicula for our dinner at Nebozizek, on the peak of the Petrin Hill overlooking the city. We found the area where the wall was to be and at first was very disappointed. It was small and the graffiti to memorialize Lennon was not very artistic. There were over 500 locks on a bridge over a small waterway. We were not impressed. We were getting ready to leave, when I looked down an alley and caught a glimpse of the REAL Lennon wall. It would have been terrible to miss this tribute to John Lennon. A lone guitarist was playing "Imagine" as we walked up. I just wanted to be there. It occurred to me that though Lennon had never visited Communist Prague, his pacifism through music touched everyone. The Communist youth dared to paint this wall when Lennon died even though his music was banned by the communist regime.  The art on the wall has evolved over time, but it still seems like a coming together to celebrate not only Lennon, but a celebration of giving peace a chance. I was touched.

We traveled along the river and found out sadly that the funicula to Petrin hill was out of service, which would require a 30 minute uphill climb on our part to get to our dinner reservation for the night. As it started to rain and then became foggy, we decided that dinner back at our hotel sounded better and better. We would be missing the view at the top of Petrin hill anyhow. We dined on beetroot soup, and other Czech delights at our hotel and then returned to our room to log in to watch some of our favorite football teams in America as it rained outside. Yes in Prague as well as the rest of the world, Lennon taught us "whatever gets you through the night . . . it's all right, it's all right".

Iceland: No one place like this one

Iceland reminds me a bit of Alaska, a little bit of Colorado and a part of old Austin, Texas from twenty years ago. And so far, it's our favorite adventure of all of our recent travels. As Stephen Markley says “The problem with driving around Iceland is that you’re basically confronted by a new soul-enriching, breath-taking, life-affirming natural sight every five goddamn minutes. It’s totally exhausting.” We decided to pace ourselves and just take on part of the island. It was still beautifully exhausting.

We arrived in Reykjavik on a Saturday night. We shuttled into the city and checked into our rented house for the
week. It was formerly a rectory from the church next door - an old house with a bunch of character on a lazy street next to downtown Reykjavik. Our daughter Erin and her husband Seb had already arrived and unpacked after their 3 day hike in the middle of the country. They greeted us with hor d'oeuvres and drinks and photos of their hike. We relaxed that evening but couldn't wait to get started with the city the next day.

The weather was warm (for Iceland) as we hiked around Reykjavik. We walked to the harbour and easily found the Hofdi House - a historic place that is not open to the public. It was formerly a home of the French consul, then the British ambassador - until he moved out due to a ghost called "the white lady." Most importantly, this is the location when Reagan and Gorbachev met to try to dissolve the cold war in 1986. No agreement was made in 1986, but it was the start of talks between the two leaders which lead to the destruction of the Berlin wall. This house was ordered from a catalog in Norway. Iceland has very little timber therefore wood is not used in construction of buildings. We passed the many unique tourist shops and restaurants on our walk and the vibe of the city was vibrant, quirky, interesting, and friendly.

We came to the church that is a famous icon of Reykjavik - the Hallgrimskirkja. There was a wedding going on so visiting the inside of the church was not possible. We rode the elevator up to the tower to get a view of the city however. We also played with the mirrors outside
that resulted in some funny looking selfies. We walked back toward the harbour toward Harpa - the town's concert hall and convention center. We went crazy taking photos of this building, both inside and out. The angles of the glass gave us some fun photos. We
could find ourselves in the sections of glass the light reflection gave us some great photos. We noticed a large yacht off the coast near Harpa the music hall. Larry Ellison was parked out there and we saw his helicopter come and go. We bought tickets to Pearls of Iceland - a concert with original Icelandic songs and we relaxed for a bit while listening to the music. The language of Iceland sounded like Russian to me. Erin and Seb cooked dinner that evening in our house - Icelandic cod and a nice salad.

Monday we were to drive the famed Golden Circle, the 300km loop towards the center
of the island. We woke up to a call from the rental car company that "our car" had been involved in an accident the day before and we would be delayed by 3 - 4 hours to begin our drive. The sun doesn't set until 11:30 at night, so we were trying to be patient about our timing. Around 1pm we got our car and we drove to the  Thingvellir national park when the east and west continental plates meet. It's like a deep divide between the two sections of land. We hiked for a bit and then drove to Geysir. Geysir is the original geysor and is the namesake for all erupting hot springs. It was pretty reliable, spouting every five minutes or so. The action of the bubble before eruption was mesmorizing.
We continued to Gullfoss - the waterfall of all waterfalls. Since the sun was out, we experienced many rainbows there - we felt like we were wearing them in fact. We captured over 400 photos of our day's adventures.

We arrived back at 8pm and went to a restaurant that Erin and Seb had tried a few nights
earlier that is so hip it doesn't even have a name. It goes by it's address Hverfisgata 12 or "Pizza that has no name". There isn't a sign outside either exhibiting unique marketing. We entered and felt like we were in Austin, Texas. The staff was extremely helpful. I couldn't decide between the beet pizza or the Etruscan Elite with rocket and walnuts. The Etruscan pizza was amazing.

Tuesday was our day for a hike near Skogafoss - the tallest waterfall in Iceland. Erin and Seb decided on the 10 hour hike from Skogafoss across the glacier to Thorsmork. We opted for a shorter hike so we could take our time with photos and avoid the technical hike near the end. Our plan was a good one as we passed over 15 waterfalls in succession on the side of the volcano Eyjafjallajokull  that disrupted airplane travel five years ago. It's hard to describe the feeling that day as we hiked. It was "soul-enriching, breath-taking, life-affirming" for sure and made me emotional in appreciating
the opportunity to be there. We returned to the city to eat at Icelandic Bar, known for the fish and chips. The cod was the best I've had and the sweet potato fries substitute for the chips was a great choice. Erin and Seb arrived home around midnight from their hike and Paul walked downtown with Seb to grab a late night hot dog made of lamb at the stand near the harbour.

Wednesday was our day to indulge. As required, we bought our entrance
tickets to Blue Lagoon before we arrived. We showered naked before entering the hot mineral pool to adhere to the strict health requirements. I lathered up my hair in conditioner as well to keep the minerals from drying it out. Our entrance package gave us a drink, a mud pack and mask. The combination of warm mineral water, a glass of champagne, and our facial mask gave us an odd combination of giddiness, relaxation, and tranquility. What fun we had! We took a group photo of ourselves with our mud masks on. The minerals really do make your skin soft and the mud masks make you laugh at yourself. We had been afraid the experience might be too touristy at first, but later decided that it was one of our favorite days.

That evening, we had reservations at the world-renowned Dill restaurant. We discovered that the owners of Dill also owned the pizza restaurant we had eaten at a few nights before. We were finding the restaurant scene in Reykjavik  fairly remarkable. We knew it would be an expensive night, but we opted for the 7 course dinner with wine pairings (how often do you get to go to a famous restaurant, right?).
The first course was a pickled carrot sandwich.  It had cream cheese and caraway sandwiched between the two pieces of carrot - about the size of a dime.  Another course was a beet flower. The vegetarian version of that had tarragon seeds in the center with roasted yeast. The meat version had liver. The next course was a potato chip with toasted peppers with seaweed. My favorite course was the beet quinoa dish with cheese and lava salt. The dessert of burnt bay leaf ice cream was remarkable as well. The wine pairings were also varied, combining fermented beers and white and red wines to our delight. My body was treated to tastes and mineral immersions that day to both excite and soothe.

Considering the advice of friends who had visited Iceland, we decided to
undertake the 5 hour one-way drive to go visit Glacier Lagoon, locally called Jökulsárlón near the Vatnajökull National Park. The drive there was long but scenic. We saw many horse farms for which Iceland is famous. The horse there has a particular stride that is different than any other horse in the world. We were close to the coast several times but resisted stopping as the day would be long just to reach the lagoon. We had to gas up whenever we saw a station because there were not cities on this part of the island. We saw bright green mountains along our way. Then the terrain changed to barren tundra fields covered with volcanic ash and lava. In the distance, we could see the

glacier. Unexpectedly, we crossed a one-way bridge and the glacier was right before us. On the other side of the bridge was the Atlantic Ocean with chunks of glacier floating in it and covering the beach. We spent several hours taking in both sides of the highway, near the glacier itself and then near the lagoon with the beach. We ate our packed lunch on top of lava rocks over looking the ocean with chunks of ice breaking off and floating away as we ate. After we exhausted the photographers in the group, we headed back home with a couple of stops along the way near beaches that had rock formations, caves and the exotic puffins flying along the rocks. We arrived back in the city and quickly grabbed a bit to eat to finish the day.

Friday was our last day in Reykjavik. We were definitely not interested in getting back in the car after our travels the day before. We indulged in a brunch at the Coocoo's nest near the harbour in an area that we not previously visited.  Interestingly, a sign along the way pointed us to a Texas restaurant offering "Texasborgarar", which we assume were burgers. The Coocoo's Nest also screamed hipster, but it was low-key, organic, quirky and fresh. The homemade bread itself looked worth the visit alone. The music playing was blues and soul.  I had a salad with walnuts and cranberries with a piece of the homemade bread. The open faced sandwiches looked hearty and tasty. We left to walk off lunch and got lost on the way back. We came across a park filled with locals, mothers with children and older people feeding birds and sat and people watched for a while. We meandered home and relaxed for the afternoon.

Around five, we met Erin and Seb at Slippbarinn - a trendy bar in the lobby of the Austin-esque Marina Hotel prior to our dinner reservation at the GrillMarket - a place to celebrate our last night in Iceland. The cocktails were very creative and it was difficult to choose. I chose a Pippi Gonzales - tequila, dill, cucumber, lemon, and dill-infused olive oil. Paul chose the Borderline -  a stout liquor, vodka, cream and roasted hazelnuts. His drink was like dessert. They had several interesting drinks, including ones with bacon-infused brandy, birch,  and mezcal. The Grillmarket was close by.  Most of their menu items were grilled meats and fishes, but the sides were tasty for the vegetarians. Before we left, we toasted the adventurous week with our daughter and son-in-law, celebrating Iceland and it's beauty. We each commented on our favorite days and it was noteworthy to see that we all chose a different day's adventure.

Iceland Air allows travelers between Europe and the US to stopover at no additional cost on airfare. It is definitely a place to which I would return.There is no one place like this one.