Haukadalur,
Southwest Iceland
September 11, 2015
“Fire and Ice”
“Fire” refers to hot geothermal streams and the Geysir (Geyser) that erupts frequently sending boiling water up to about 70 meters into the cool air. (230ft)
“Ice” refers to glacial remains and an ice-clogged river at Hjallanes.
Iceland is a country of extremes – boiling rivers to frozen rivers ….
Snaefells Peninsula
Western Iceland
September 8, 2015
Hello,
I choose the road less travelled.
Before driving the popular route that heads east along the south coast of Iceland, I decide to drive north from Reykjavik to the Snaefells Peninsula – a road less traveled.
Snaefells is a long, narrow peninsula that pokes out into the Atlantic Ocean. I encounter misty rain, ubiquitous fog, incessant, overpowering wind, and a raucous surf that seems determined to smash (and has already smashed) the jagged, black volcanic cliffs that disappear below the waves. What can I expect out in the middle of the ocean?
On the Road
Into the Mountains
Iceland
September 3, 2015
My group tour in Iceland was a short extension of a much longer tour in Greenland.
The goal of this brief Iceland tour was to avoid the well-traveled coastal route and to visit the mountainous areas with few visitors.
The sites are so remote that we rode in a large, four-wheel drive vehicle along bumpy unpaved roads and across fast rushing streams.
On the Road
Iceland
September 2, 2015
For my first travel letter written on my first day in iceland, I have posted photographs as an Introduction to this very special country.
The photos are of the unique Icelandic horses as well as typical scenery of mountains, lava fields. lakes and waterfalls.
One series of lakes is called Fishing Lakes.
Jaipur to Bikaner
Rajasthan, India
February 24, 2007
Dear Family and Friends,
The phrase "Horn Please" is emblazoned in huge, colorful and artistic boldfaced letters on the rear end of every powerful, solid, steel-framed intercity truck. Or "Sound Horn" appears. Or "Blow Horn." My favorite is "Blow Horn." India is a nation of one billion horn blowers.
It is good form. Everyone is encouraged to sound his horn to alert the truck driver ahead that his rig is about to be overtaken. And, (and this is a big "and") every driver of every type of vehicle alerts everyone else of his presence and his insistence to proceed unimpeded according to some preordained universal master transport plan known only to himself.
Bangkok, Thailand
May 15th, 2009
Dear Family and Friends,
Have you ever wanted to go to a place just because you liked the sound of its name?
Lake Titicaca? How about The Transvaal? Timbuktu?
Timbuktu. Say it quietly, "Tim....buk....tooo." Doesn't that sound enchanting? Lake Titicaca? The Transvaal? Do we even know where these places are? Do we care? Don't the names themselves make you want to buy a ticket?
What about Sevastopol? Sounds so exotic.
Patagonia? Sounds so spacious.
I do have a long "To See" list.
Many years ago I did indulge my sonant fantasy. For no other reason than its sound, I wanted to see Sicily. I flew to Rome, rented a car, drove down the Amalfi Coast, and took the ferry across the Strait of Messina.
What a surprise! I had no idea that I would find Greek temples in Agrigento, and medieval churches in Cefalù. The homes of Archimedes, Pindar and Aeschylus are in Siracusa. There really is a town called Corleone. On the Aeolian Island of Vulcano, I took a bubbling-hot volcanic mud-bath followed by a boiling-salt-water-rinse in the Tyrrhenian Sea.
In Agrigento, the grilled swordfish on my luncheon plate swam that very morning in the Mediterranean Sea. At least that's what the waiter told me as he gazed beyond the window of the hilltop Ristorante Caprice. He nodded to the sea and proclaimed, "Pesce spada, la mattina, la!"
A few years ago, my acoustic-self flew south to "Mah Choo Pee Choo." Now admit it, doesn't that sound positively seductive? My friends in America, especially you Floridians, indulge yourselves and you will be seduced. Machu Picchu is a dream trip and Peru is closer than you think. ***
Tashkent was another place I always wanted to see. Tashkent? Where was it anyway? I didn't know and I didn't care. Tashkent sounds so ancient! So distant! So daring!
