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at summer’s end
even before returning from iceland (heck, even before i went to iceland), i was hopehopehoping that the czech summer still would be in full swing to welcome me back with open (sunny and warm) arms and man, have i not been disappointed in the least! we have been having such a wonderful time since we’ve been back: rafting on the vltava, barbecues, warm summer night gatherings and pool parties, every meal al-fresco out on the balcony… it has really been the third chapter of summer i have been hoping for. however, i am feeling a bit like phil from wayne’s world today: partied out (again)! with the cool temperatures returning…
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tahiti or iceland? when hiking near skaftafell (part of vatnajökull national park in southeast iceland) on a dreamy, warm summer morning, you can’t really be sure sometimes! tropical-looking plants, mountains, waterfalls, colorful wild flowers and sun like nobody’s business. what really is the difference? the waterfall there surrounded by gorgeous, black basalt columns is svartifoss, about 3km from the trail-head at the campsite, where we stayed. there are so many marvelous hiking trails from this area that one could really stay for days and be satisfied here! not to mention the beautiful glacier always looming overhead. just had to pop in with some biiiig photos to share with you my “is it…
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hi, september
there is nothing more invigorating than being away on a long trip and then getting to come back to your lovely home and cook, clean, read books, garden, run out to the drugstore (like i was doing here, above) and do all of those boring household things that are suddenly anything but boring… in the beautiful warm weather which is most decidedly still summer. our adopted home of the czech republic always smiles upon us after we’ve been away every august; i have no idea why. maybe it’s trying to win us over again after we’ve cheated on it with some other country. but we always come back to you,…
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camping road trip, iceland style
hi all! did you have a wonderfully warm and sunny august? i’m back (home) in the czech republic and newly invigorated by this iceland trip, having unexpectedly experienced both sunny and warm weather on the trip. it was a fantastic month, but i wanted to share with you a little about our camping road trip! we spent four days crossing iceland’s south coast, from reykjavik to jökulsárlón and back, which including our interior driving near the southwest golden circle area put us at about 1,000km. why the south coast? well. i was not a newbie to iceland, but having never visited the south coast before, i felt as though it…
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little farm by the canyon
hi guys! how’s your august been? you may know that we are spending almost the entire month of august in iceland, to really do it right this time. the main thing i wanted to do this summer was work-stay (as i have missed it and travel so very much since our adventure began in scotland almost four years ago!) and really build the trip around that. we were so fortunate to be able to do our farm stay on a beautiful little farm in reykholtsdalur in western iceland. when our host picked us up, i was in awe of the landscape around us on the drive there. high, green mossy…
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don’t get lost on flatey
what trip to the north is complete without a visit to an island? (or a trip anywhere, for that matter?) we had a gorgeous first weekend of august out on flatey, an island out in the middle of the breidafjordur between the snaefellsnes peninsula and the west fjords. the island, which literally translates to “flat island”, is only oneof hundreds in this area but is the only one inhabited all year round! as soon as i got reading about it, i realized this is the island that was the setting for the first of my icelandic film series, white night wedding (2008), which is a really sweet film (but much darker than you’d…
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turning a new page on the iceland book
have you ever flown into keflavik airport? on the way into reykjavik city, there are miles and miles of nothing but volcanic rock, just like those on which i am “comfortably” perched in the photo above. it’s like a moonscape, otherworldly, like nothing you’ve ever seen anywhere else. i remember staring out at these rocks during much more uncertain days and under grayer, colder skies and started getting all of the same feelies. i wondered, will this time be different? will i learn to really like this country as i’ve always hoped i would? we were shuttled to the blue lagoon, which, say what you will, i think it is marvelous. geothermal water,…
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thirty by thirty: my oslo stopover
thirty countries by thirty. i suppose it’s a silly distinction, and not one that i actually achieved, having gone to my thirtieth country, norway, at about three months past my thirtieth birthday. so the term “thirty during thirty” is reallymore accurate. (prepositions are so pesky, aren’t they?) this is one of the things that brought me to norway, not to mention that i’ve been hoping to go there for awhile and it is the last of my ancestral homelands to be checked off the list. the other major reason is that it cost the same to obtain a ticket with a stop in norway (if not cheaper) as it did to fly directly…
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july: friday things
hi friends, have you been enjoying july? i look forward to this month every year, and although we’re not livin’ it up in santorini as we were this time last year, it’s been a great one with days that are not as typically hot as the usual central european summer and plenty of thunderstorms and rain. (times i’ve been caught out in a storm this summer without proper gear and soaked: 2) but what’s better than being cozy and inside while the windows are open listening to the rain on a warm summer’s night? besides being in a forest hunting for wild blueberries, that is? here are five things that…
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loket? i love it!
it only took seeing one photo of this beautiful little town in northwest czech republic to get me to add it onto my trip, and i’m so glad i made it up there!we spent our fourth of july this year in loket, a sort of “český krumlov of the north”, checking into our cozy little pension facing the long main street. to spend one night here is the perfect amount of time, even more if you are planning to go boating on the ohře river or mountain biking in the lush surrounding forests. as castles go, this one was both beautiful to look at and fun to visit, housing many…
