A drive along the coast brought us into the gorgeous city of Trieste, whose architecture is a mixed salad of Italian and Austro-Hungarian Imperial seaside styles. We admired the sea and the city while eating pizza after Charla checked in at the Trieste Joyce School. In true Italian fashion, our night ended with a walk around Piazza dell’Unità d’Italia and some gelato.
The coach dropped us off around 12:30 AM at Heathrow at terminals 1-3, where it is also possible to take a train to terminals 4 and 5. Unfortunately, the train doesn’t run late at night/early in the morning, so we were stuck in that part of the airport for a few hours. Many folks had already found their places among lines of chairs. Clearly, none of these people had explored the terminal before setting up, as a short walk led us to the plush British Airways first class check-in waiting area, where we spent the night The hours passed quickly, and soon we were boarding our Alitalia flight to Roma in the mass of a most confusing queue/herd of people. The British attempted to queue neatly, but the Italian passengers made sure that didn’t happen. After a short flight to Roma that took us on a scenic journey over the Alps, we boarded an even shorter flight to Trieste that took us over the Adriatic Sea. Landing in Trieste, we discovered a herd of interestingly dressed people, who we later heard were en route to a music festival in Croatia. [Again, note to selves: Research festivals nearby.]
A drive along the coast brought us into the gorgeous city of Trieste, whose architecture is a mixed salad of Italian and Austro-Hungarian Imperial seaside styles. We admired the sea and the city while eating pizza after Charla checked in at the Trieste Joyce School. In true Italian fashion, our night ended with a walk around Piazza dell’Unità d’Italia and some gelato.
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We finally fulfilled Charla’s wish of a full English breakfast when we woke up the next morning and discovered the feast that Samantha had prepared for us. After devouring a mountain of delicious food (including black pudding), it was time to explore the city of Bristol! Bristol seemed like the Portland, Oregon, of England. There was street art everywhere, including some of Banksy’s original works from back in the day. Additionally, 70% of Bristol’s retail shops are independent and local, which creates an environment of unique and interesting shopping. (As a matter of fact, when the first Tesco opened in Bristol, they rioted and burned it down! That spirit continues with anti-Tesco graffiti still visible around town.) Our exploration took us through Saint Nicholas Market downtown, an open-air market consisting of Bristol’s largest collection of independent traders. The environment was very hectic, so instead of hanging around we decided to go from there down to the harbor. The harbor was beautiful on the sunny day, with boats galore enjoying the calm water. After a snack at the harbor, it was unfortunately time to head back to London and get ourselves to Heathrow airport and prepare for our flight to Italy.
Still trying figure out what time of day it was, though sufficiently helped by the first darkness we had experienced in weeks, we slept in rather later than normal. After a slow start and some personal admin, we made our way to Victoria Coach Station, where we caught the bus to Bristol to see a friend of Charla’s that she met on a crazy night on Lonely Beach on Koh Chang a few years ago. After sitting in London traffic for ages, we crawled out of the city, and the journey took us through some beautiful farm country. While Charla was counting sheep in her dreams, Chase was admiring the landscape filled with them. [We later learned this traffic was not just a Friday night occurrence but that many of the buses were headed in our direction to reach the Glastonbury festival not too far from our destination. Note to selves: Investigate festivals nearby our travels and go to them!] Upon arriving in Bristol over an hour late, we walked around the station to see what we thought might be Samantha’s vehicle just drive off. Since we missed her, we popped into the White Hart, contacted her, and waited to see her again. In true Koh Chang spirit, as soon as we met up with Samantha, we went straight to another pub for some amazing food and drink. Though not the Ting Tong Bar, we loved the Kensington Arms for its cozy atmosphere and wonderful local, organic food. Charla went for the classic fish and chips while Chase ordered the bacon-wrapped monkfish. Delighted with our meals, we went on a bit of a walk around town, ending up on Whiteladies Street at the W.G. Grace Pub, where Chase practiced his skills at balancing a 50p piece on a lemon floating in a bowl of water. The game may sound silly, but it’s quite a challenge (and the proceeds went to charity). Our night ended with a stroll back to Samantha’s flat.
One of Iceland’s dirty little secrets is that the Reykjavík airport is located an hour and a half out of the city. They don’t tell you this when you book your 7:30AM international flight, which requires checking in at 5:30AM, which requires leaving the city at 4:00AM. Suffice to say, there wasn’t much time for sleep last night. Iceland was a spectacular starting point for our grand adventure because it was such an easy transition from Alaska. Rather than flying to Europe, we felt like we had just kept driving and discovered someplace we hadn’t visited before in Alaska. Iceland is a more expensive, European version of the Alaska we were used to. The climate, the topography, the 24-hour daylight; it all seemed very familiar. But, at the same time, it was slightly foreign to us. Europe was hanging in the air, and yet the ruggedness of the country made us feel at home. When we arrived in London, we were happy to get to visit with John, Chase’s friend from high school, for the evening. We had explored John’s neighborhood in the afternoon, but in the evening John’s very comfortable flat (combined with the early wake-up this morning) led to us falling asleep early watching Wimbledon. Editor’s note: Due to an unfortunate incident involving Chase’s cell phone and one of his cameras being left behind in one of London’s quintessential black taxis, we have no photos from today. We do have a Lost Property Enquiry filed with Transport for London, and are eagerly awaiting their response.
Editor's note from July 10th: We found ourselves back in London and back at John's flat, at which point we noticed a handwritten note on a pegboard in John's entryway that said, "If you left two mobile phones in a taxi, please call XXXXX-XXXXXX." Well, we said to ourselves that a cell phone and a camera could be interpreted as two mobile phones, so John called the number and lo and behold the electronics were being held by a very strange man in John's building! Apparently the driver found them and came back to the apartment building to drop them off. Success! And now we have photos to upload from the 27th for you! [Don't get too excited though, we just have transit photos as we lost the camera just after our arrival in London.] For breakfast today we went to one of last night’s last stops, and we started our day at Eldur & Is with some delicious breakfast crêpes with our Alaskan friends. As they were figuring out their plans for the day, we went off to the National Museum of Iceland. To our delight, the museum was hosting an exhibit by famous Icelandic photographer Sigfús Eymundsson, who neither of us had ever heard of before. His photographs of Iceland in the late 1800s and early 1900s were quite similar to photographs of Alaska of the same time period, and elicited the same feelings of cold and isolation at northern latitudes; needless to say, Chase loved them. In addition to that exhibit, it was a really well-organized museum: it told the entire story of the history of Iceland starting from The Settlement in 871 AD and coming to Y2K. We definitely enjoyed the museum, and now know a lot more Iceland’s history. After the museum, we stopped by 1011 (an Icelandic convenience store) to purchase our supplies for a picnic lunch. The Hljómskálagarðurinn neighborhood of Reykjavík was beautiful in the sunshine, and we ate after strolling around Tjörnin Lake. Later that evening, we finally were able to take part in a signature Icelandic tradition: geothermal hot spring pools! But instead of going out to a beautiful, remote location, we went for the true Reykjavíkian experience of taking a dip in the Laugardalslaug Public Pool in the city. The public pool consisted of a collection of hot tubs of varying water temperatures, a children’s area, and a lap pool. We packed into the hot tubs with all the rest of Reykjavík who were relaxing after a day’s work. With an air temperature of 8oC and water temperature of 40oC, it was a very refreshing experience.
From there we took a scenic walk along the water back to the hostel, where we made a late dinner before going out to Ölsmiðjan Café-Bar (a.k.a. Polar Bar and Home Bar) for a last Polar Beer. With the sun out all the time, like in Alaska, we didn’t even realize we were well into the night by dinner time. The early morning hours approached, and so we called it a night just a little too late to sample the pylsur hot dogs or kleina donuts on the walk back to the hostel. I guess we’ll just have to go back to Iceland one day… At the bright and early hour of 6AM local time, we got our first glimpses of Iceland as our flight descended into Keflavik. An hour later our bus was dropping us off on Laugavegur, a nice area of Reykavik, where we found our hostel. After getting set up for the night at Reykjavik Backpackers, we started wandering around town. The first thing we found was the biggest landmark in the city, Hallgrímskirkja Church. The church is the tallest building in the city with a gigantic interior space, as well as a giant organ with over 5,000 pipes! We also wandered down to the harbor where we found the new Harpa performing arts center. Saving the best for last of our morning wander, we explored the Iceland Phallological Museum. Yes, you read that right: we found possibly the world's only penis museum! All our wandering made us hungry, and at that point eating Iceland's signature hot dog wasn't a great idea! One of the only affordable dining options in Rejkavik is the ever-present noodle house, and we found a great option at Noodle Station near our hostel. Maybe it was the noodle soup, the grey skies, or we thought it might be the jetlag, but after lunch we passed out and slept the afternoon away.
Luckily, we awoke in time for Alaskan adventures! We met up with our friend Laura and her friend Caleb, both from Anchorage, in the bar below our hostel for our first taste of Icelandic beer! Unfortunately, Viking beer really doesn't live up to its name. Always the frugal travelers, we soon moved to Micro Bar in time for happy hour and found a tasty beverage: Gæðingur! Now that is a beer worthy of the Vikings! Laura and Caleb had been in Iceland for a couple weeks, so after a dinner of noodles, their local knowledge brought us to Ölsmiðjan Café-Bar for one last Polar Beer to end the night. Between the recent half-marathon, a late night in Alaska, and the time zones, we slept like babies on our first night in Iceland! We began our journey early in the morning and surprisingly running on the schedule we had set for ourselves. After a stop on Main Street for a bag of baked goods from the Talkeetna Roadhouse (including a few Rudies-in-a-Parka for Chase, a cheesy onion pasty, and a frosty), we made the familiar drive to Anchorage. We didn't have much time in the city, but we made the most of it with a stop at McGinley's Pub for lunch with Chase's father and his friend Bob, who were also preparing for an adventure, as they are driving the Honda Pilot south. After lunch, we headed to the airport, where Nikki and Geoff from the Alyeska Resort sent us off. It was our first time flying on Icelandair, and we loved the Icelandic sayings on the blankets, pillows, and headrests on board. Our plane was named Snæfell, after the famous volcano. Taking off over Point Woronzof, where we had just run the Anchorage Mayor's Midnight Sun Half Marathon days before, was beautiful. From there, we headed north towards Talkeetna and Denali. Our last glimpses of Alaska were of the Wickersham Wall on the north side of the mountain.
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