Reykjavik and the West Coast

The population of Reykjavik is in excess of 200,000 but it seems bigger, the city limits stretch out about 10km, there appear to be few private homes, everyone lives in an apartment block and there are many of them. The old central area is quaint and lively with many restaurants and bars and colorful buildings.

But it has been engulfed by modern hotels, offices and not particularly attractive apartments. The waterfront is dominated by the new conference center and concert hall HARPA, a steel structure clad with geometric glass panels of different colours recently voted best new building design in Europe. It was originally to be part of a major development including retail, luxury apartments, restaurants etc but due to the financial crisis the rest has never been built. The people are friendly, everyone speaks English well - their language is a non starter for me, and many of them are very tall.

Driving north up the west coast our intention was to see the Snaefellsjokull Glacier which covers a volcano which is said to be the entrance to the passage to the center of the earth as described in the  Jules Verne novel.
The primary formation is tertial basalt, with glacial varve, dolerite and palagonite and it must be a geologists dream but I have to confess I couldn't identify any of them. The population dwindles away to nothing in this bleak windswept landscape and eventually there are only the lava fields and the occasional dilapidated house and it does make you wonder why anyone would build there in the first place. Unfortunately the road to the glacier was blocked by a snowdrift so we couldn't get to it, we were then told it's only open in July and August.
The lava fields are extensive and there are many caves and interesting rock formations but it was probably a once in a lifetime experience.

Iceland

Our flight from Boston was delayed 2 hours but when we arrived at Keflavik Airport it was like early evening, then came the announcement " Welcome to Iceland where the local time is 1am!" A very expensive taxi took us to a local hotel where we crashed for the night.
28.05.15 We collected our rental and proceeded to tour the southwest tip of the island via the coast road with The Blue Lagoon as the ultimate stop. It was our 38th wedding anniversary so we had lunch in the gourmet restaurant (we had heard that food in Iceland was not great but this was excellent). By the time we finished, the queue had thinned out (at 50 euros per person the place must make a fortune) so we donned swim suits, painted our faces with volcanic mud and celebrated with some prosecco in the pool.
Civilised indeed:

After a short tour of Reykjavik we found our hotel, had a bowl of soup for supper and retired for the night.
Three quarters of the population live around the capital and the majority of attractions are within a 100 mile radius, the rest would require an internal flight or a minimum of 8 hours driving so we are staying within reach of Reykjavik. The main tourist route is the Golden Circle, nobody seems sure where the name originated but it takes in a variety of landscapes, mountain and volcano views and everything associated with geothermal activity.

 Advertised as more furious than Niagara the falls at Gullfoss are impressive.

The first Icelandic parliament (Alpingi) was formed in 930AD at Pingvellir which is now a National Park. It is a tranquil setting overlooking the lake and is also one of the sites where one can see evidence of the Eurasian Plate and the North Atlantic drifting apart (perhaps that's why they moved!). We are a little early for some of the grass to green up and the flowers to come out but it is beautiful nonetheless.

Spring across the Atlantic

The Swiss winter turned to spring seemingly overnight, no sooner had the snow melted and the valleys were turning green but we had planned a return to England where we spent 2 glorious weeks in West Sussex before 'crossing the pond'. It was with some regret that we finally sold our trusty Pajero. A strong and reliable car which has taken us many of the places mentioned in this blog, twice around Europe and all over Britain, through blizzards, rainstorms and intense heat.
A reliable transporter of wine as well!

It has been a while since we visited the Big Apple so we started our New England tour there taking in a Yankees game, a walk on the High Line and Ground Zero:

Then it was on to Connecticut to visit old college friends The Pearsons before driving to the mountains of Vermont and the lovely retreat of the Rands near Bridgewater. The pond and house.

The remainder of the trip took us to Rockport, Maine and back to Boston, the weather was a little dull so the photos are not worth sharing. It wasn't long before we were back in Bermuda, it's our favourite time of year here. I may have said it before and I still stand by it: for colour, for sand texture, for safety of access and shear beauty Bermuda has the best beaches in the world.

   

Morocco and Madrid

February 2015
In sympathy for our friends the Cooksons who live in England, where winter is not particularly pleasant  we booked a week of golf in Morocco. The first four days were on the outskirts of Marrakech and when we weren't on the course we went sightseeing: Pots for sale at a kasbah on the way to the Atlas Mountains.

Kasbah Tamadot

Leaving the red sands of Marrakech we drove through some fertile country to the coast to spend the last 3 nights in the Sofitel at Essaouira. The golf course was terrific and conditions ideal as it was not too hot. And of course the sunsets are sublime (it is Africa after all).

One of the great things about Europe is the proximity of so many different cultures and with low cost, one way flights it is easy to cherry pick cities, so we stopped in Madrid.
We love this city. It is compact, the architecture is superb with lovely parks, there are world class galleries like the Prado and Thyssen by day and the evening atmosphere, bars and restaurants are lively.
The Palacio Real: 

A new home

On December 15th we took possession of our new home Chateau Nomade, 6 weeks ahead of schedule!

Through the winter we enjoyed numerous excursions into the valleys and mountains of the Valais to snow shoe.

  
The Four Valleys ski area is massive, we live near Veysonnaz in the east and our daughter Ashley lives in Verbier at the other end. On some occasions she would ski over for lunch and a ski or we would drive to her for a meal.
Near the top at Veysonnaz:

Winter in the Alps is fabulous, lots of blue sky and not too cold. Snow this season was not plentiful (I think the northeast USA got it all!) but it was frequent enough to keep the slopes in a very respectable condition.
However, we still took a winter break.

Autumn

In mid September we flew to Pisa enroute to Radda in Chianti for a family wedding. Clare's niece Yolanda married Tom Stephenson from New Zealand in a civil ceremony. It was a small, intimate family occasion and we stayed at Villa Dievole, a classic vineyard/hotel estate in the Tuscan Hills just north of Siena.

We returned our rental car to Milan Malpensa and then took a bus to Stresa on Lake Maggiore for a night. It felt mandatory to take a water taxi over to Isola Bella before boarding the train back to Sion to check on progress on the chalet. The northern lakes of Italy can be very busy at times but we still like spending time there. Como is still the favourite.
Isola Bella

After returning to England it was time to head north to Scotland for the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles.

We took the opportunity to spend a day at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire before moving on to York for a visit to the Minster and the National Railway Museum. 

As Clare has family in Aberfeldy we always try to visit there and it was a perfect place to base ourselves for the drive down to Gleneagles. It was a great weekend to watch live golf and also the final day victory by Europe on television. Some of my walking friends had also made the trip up for the golf so we were able to revisit old times with a 9 hour walk to bag 2 Munroes on the Balmoral Estate.

 I have  wanted to take Clare to the Lake District ever since I passed through there in 1993 so we drove to Grasmere. It was about 4pm when we first set eyes on this lake, the light was beautiful and the next 2 hours around, up and over the hills was almost a religious experience it was so perfect. 

A gold star for the writer for romantic!

The builders were moving at pace on our new home so we took a short hop to the Alps to check progress and make some final selections. It was the first time we had been in the Valais in November and it is quite spectacular. The blend of colour on the changing leaves on the mountain trees with those of the vineyards along the valleys from the train was gorgeous. 

Chateau Nomade