Final Leg - Iceland

We're on our final leg of this journey with 2 1/2 days to spend in Iceland before flying back home.  Our flight landed at a good time in the afternoon on Monday so we picked up our rental car and headed to the Grabrok Guest House where we worked for one month last Septemeber.

 The Grabrok Guest House is 90 miles from the airport and the photo above is just a sample of the scenery we passed by.

 This is Matheau - The manager of the guest house.  It was great seeing him again AND he made us dinner!

 More great scenes on our drive back to Reykjavik

 We took the long way around the fjord and got to see a lot of iced covered waterfalls

On Tuesday we decided to drive Iceland's "Golden Circle".  It's about a 180 mile loop that hits a lot of really great spots.

It also goes right through a town we remembered well from last year that had a wonderful bakery serving Illy coffee and these awesome Chocolate Coconut Rum Balls. - Kokoskulur in Icelandic.  We've got to learn how to make these things!

 This is the Kerid Crater.  We missed this little spot last year but glad we were able to see it this time around.

Our next stop was at "The Great Geysir".  This area is a large geothermal hot spring with several hot pools in the area (too hot to go in at 212 degrees F!)  The "Great Geysir" only spouts off every couple of years, but this one, called the "Strokkur Geysir" (Icelandic for churn)  goes off about every 6 minutes.  It's pretty amazing to watch!

 This is the area around the geysirs; steam coming out of the ground nearly everywhere you look.

 Gullfoss Waterfall - It was great seeing this waterfall again in another season.  Snow and Ice crystals all around the falls that we didn't see in September.

 Great view of the river going through the rock crevice after the falls

 Now that's a bus!  This would be a great way to see parts of Iceland only accessible with a 4 wheel drive!

 Iceland is full of horses (Icelandic Ponies).  We came across several up against a fence close to the road so we decided to pull in to see if we could pet them.  Then we saw a small box with a sign that read, "You are welcome to feed the horses their horse candy."  You open the box and they had small cups with a few chunks of feed.  They asked you to pay 200 kn (about $2) and it was all on the honor system.  You put the money in a tub and get your horse feed.

 We saw another tourist sign we hadn't seen before to an old cave.  It was only 3 km off the main road so we decided to check it out.  This photo shows some of the open land Iceland has.

 This cave was actually a home to a few families in the early 1900's.  One young couple made it their home, built a house-front on the opening of the cave, and had 3 children here.  You can see it started to snow while we were here.

 This is the rock area on top of the cave.  This cave area is made (formed) from a sand and gravel mix; really soft material.

 Our next stop was Thingvellir National Park.  This area lies in a rift valley that marks the boundry of the Mid-Atlantic crest.  It's also known as the first Norwegian settlement area from 874 AD.

 We read there was a natural hot springs pool up the coast, on the edge of the ocean, about 45 minutes from where we stayed in Reykjavik.  So we put on our bathing suits (32 degrees outside) and headed out.  We got there and no sign of hot water anywhere; nothing but pure, cold ocean water.  Beautiful, but no thanks!

On Wednesday, our flight didn't depart until 5:30 p.m. so we spent the morning and afternoon touring the city of Reykjavik.

 This is one of the oldest junior colleges in Iceland dating back to 1056

This is the largest church in Iceland with the tower at 240 feet tall.  

The church had this massive pipe organ inside and actually had an organist playing and a lady singing when we visited.

 Colorful harbor type buildings

 This statue was outside the tourist information center and called "The Unknown Bureaucrat". We thought it was pretty comical.

 We heard this hotdog stand has the best hotdogs in Iceland so we had to try it out.  They were pretty good!

 Checking out the harbor area

 That's all for Iceland.....

We flew from Reykjavik to Montreal, Canada and had to spend the night.  We just got a hotel inside the airport.  This was our view from the 9th floor.

On our way to Oklahoma in the morning and another journey completed!  It's been a great ride!

Driving Through Germany

On Thursday, April 20th, we left Switzerland and entered Germany near the Black Forest.  We saw a tourist sign for the town of Villingen and decided to check it out.  

17th Century Cathedral

Cobblestone streets lined with shops and pubs

We stopped in the village of Calw where we did a Workaway a year and 1/2 ago to see Josef and Irene.  We let them know we would be driving through to see if we could meet for coffee and they invited us for dinner.  Josef made blood sausages, fresh liverwurst sausage, sauerkraut and mashed potatoes!  Wow!  That was awesome!  After our meal Josef served us his "aprikot medicine."

We couldn't drive through Germany without stopping in Etschberg to see our German neighbors.  This is Inge.  She is 86 years old now.  We also got to see a few others but didn't take photos.  While visiting we realized we first got to Germany 20 years ago (in 1997).  Erica was 11 years old and Lindsey was 8.  Now we have 4 grandchildren and our oldest grandson is 11 and our next granddaugher is 8.  How is that possible?

We got to see some more friends who we knew in Italy but now live in Germany.  This is the Shiptons.  Sandra played softball with Lindsey in 2001 when we lived in Germany and then met up with her again when we lived in Italy where they played volleyball and soccer together.  It was great seeing them again too.

We toured a few old villages on Saturday.  This is the "Saturday" market in Mainz.

Had to stop for a coffee and Germany's famous "apfelstrudel"

Our next stop was the town of Limburg.  This cathedral dates back to the 11th century.

Over-looking the village from the cathedral

The village was lined with crooked, old, timber-style buildings

Limburg was having a small saturday market as well.  Lots of fresh sausages, dried meats, cheeses and fruits and vegetables.

Our next stop was the village of Braunfels where a huge schloss overlooks the town

Climbing up to see the castle

Great scenic views everywhere we go!

We spent the night in the "Schloss Hotel" in Braunfels

Wetzler Square

This is Wetzler's Saint Mary's Cathedral dating back to the 12th century

The Lahn River in Wetzler

 Our next stop was Bad Homburg.  This is an Evangelical church built in 1908 called the "Church of the Redeemer."

 Schlosspark

 Beautiful tulips lining the walls in the park

 Schlosspark gardens - this is the view of the white tower from across the pond in the garden

 Our next and final stop was Frankfurt.  We lived in Germany for 4 years and never toured the city of Frankfurt until today.  What a great city to spend the afternoon!  The photo above is in the Romerberg square.

 We stopped in the square for lunch where we had fresh white asparagus soup along with brautwurst and pommes!

 Above is St Bartholomew's Cathedral in Frankfurt's Alt Stadt

 On Frankfurt's Old Bridge looking toward the new city

 Saint Paul's Cathedral

 Castle Tower in Frankfurt's Alt Stadt

 Opera House

 This is Germany's Stock Exchange - The DAX

 We are on the Eiserner Steg Pedestrian Bridge, also known as "The Frankfurt Love Lock Bridge".

 All the locks on the bridge - thousands!

 Frankfurt's Main Train Station

This was our view from our hotel in Frankfurt - Overlooking the train station.

We fly back to Iceland tomorrow for 2 nights before flying back home to OK!