What a weird winter this season! It's already the second week of February and the snow and the cold are back again. One week ago, we were strolling in the sun, enjoying the first breeze of spring...
Went for a winter walk in the warming sun and headed for a place, we haven't been since 2010, when Sophia still was a toddler: The game preserve at Laichingen, not too far from our home here at the Swabian Alb.
Just to end the hexalogy of my trip to Iceland, here are some remnants of my short visit in Reykjavík: a collection of typical front doors of Icelandic houses. More or less beautiful wooden show pieces (my favourite pic is no. 7)!
What the Opera House is for Sydney and the Elbe Philharmonic Hall will be for Hamburg, is the Harpa in Reykjavík: A modern concert hall and conference centre. A visit there is mandatory. I had the chance to see the backstage areas of that stunning building and I found its architecture more than impressive! The main hall seats between 1600 and 1800 people and is fitted out like the dark red inward of a vulcano.
It's brandnew and size does matter: The newest exhibition in Reykjavík features 23 life-size mammals, that are (or once were) found around the North Atlantic island. "Whales of Iceland" opened with the beginning of March 2015 and the pure largeness of its exhibits - the biggest whale is 23 meters long - is worth the visit! All the animals on display are replicas, sculptured by a local artist. But have a look by yourself!
Colourful and cold: Round about 120.000 of Island's total population of 325.000 people live in or around Reykjavík, Island's capital. Downtown is packed with bars and cafes, where Islanders and tourists spend their time. No wonder; what else would YOU do during a winternight, that lasts two full month?
It's the classical tour for visitors of Iceland: The so-called Golden Circle, which allows you to visit three mayor places of interest within one day. It comprises Gullfoss Waterfall, Thingvellir National Park and hot spring area around Haukadalur with the famous natural phenomena: geysers.
Gulfoss Waterfall: a most impressive glacial runoff, noisy, deathly cold and in winter partly frozen.
Thingvellir National Park: a world heritage site of historical and geological importance: location of the ancient viking's annual parliament and also a place, where the Eurasian and the Norther American plates are visually drift apart - by means of 2 centimeters or 0,8 inch per year.
Geyser in Haukadalur: site of the Great Geysir, which actually is THE one geyser, that gave name to all other geysers and, furthermore, is the only Icelandic word, that was
adopted by other languages in the world.
To travel Iceland, the northernmost state of Europe, has always been on my bucket list of places to see before I die - as well as New Zealand (haven'n been there yet), South Africa (haven'n been there yet) or Tierra del Fuego (haven'n been there yet either). But when my office offered me to visit the land of the Vikings for a short business trip, I took my chance. I didn't regret it at all, despite the cold in February: geyser landscapes, vulcanoe beaches, frozen waterfalls... here are some impressions of what I saw (more to come soon!).
What a winter wonder world! New Year's Day we spent with family in Meßstetten, at the western side of the Swabian Alp. Here in the mountains, nearly 1000 meter (1800 feet) above sea level, we experienced an undreamt gorgious winter atmosphere on the first day of 2015.
Party, presents and snow: The day before christmas eve night we threw a little block party for the people in our street. Nothing big, just a few hours of drinking beer, winter-bbq and talking.This year we celebrated our pre-christmas-party with our neighbours the fifth year in a row! We went to church on the 24th, had tagliatelle with grilled king prawns for dinner and watched two happy girls unwrap their (roundabout) 1000 Christmas presents...While the nicest gift for all of us was still to come: snow on the morning after Christmas covered our community in white!
