Monday 15 January 2018

Samantha and Andrews wedding

Samantha and Andrew got married on the beach at coopers know Roshven near Malaig
I will offer you a short random selection of photographs 














Iceland December 2017

On the 14th of December Daisy and I set off for a short holiday to Iceland to celebrate my birthday and daisys promotion to Reader, a long overdue promotion!
Fortunately we were able to fly direct from Glasgow.
We had booked a package through travelzoo which included bus transfer from the airport to our hotel, plus excursions to the golden circle and chasing the northern lights. Very exited 😀

In December sunrise is around 11.30 am and sets at around 3.30pm😳

It was a great flight taking about 2 hours, I was lucky and got the window seat so watching us approach Icland from the south west landing at Keflavik airport was amazing. I think when we landed it was 6 degrees below zero Brrrrr! You’d think that being from Scotland we would be used to the cold😂

Off the plane and ont the bus, an hours drive to  Reykjavík. Our hotel was also good Hotel Natura situated next to Reykjavík domestic airport, also only a short 15 to 20 minuet walk to Reykjavík city centre.
The town centre is an amazing place at this time of year, there’s so much going on all lite up for Christmas. There are some really good bars and restaurants and the shops are open very late. I believe the night life starts at 2am 😳 I’m not sure I could handle that these days😂





This Was our first night in Reykjavik and the vibe was good, we just wandered around aimlessly heading towards the tower Hallgrimskirkja. 
this place is an amazing land mark sitting on top of the hill beconning you to come towards it, you can pay to get the elevation to the top, we didn't do that.

Hallgrimskirkja


As you can imagine  it was spectacular and freezing but we were having a great time.

The following morning was our first full day in Reykjavik to explore , as our first excursion to see the northern lights didn't leave until 8pm that evening, we headed up the hill to the Perlan centre to see what it was all about, the Perlan is a 5 minuet walk from our hotel. what a Fab place.

From the hotel in the dark the Perlan looks like a space ship that has landed on top of the hill.



On approach to the entrance are some sculptures, we liked them but you can make up your own mind what they represent.






The Perlan is an exhibition centre , theres a good photographic exhibition about the volcanoes and ice caps, icelands geo history.
theresan ice cave in the basement and a cafe and gift shop on the top floor in the dome which used to revolve 360degrs. the dome has an observation deck outside which is a great place to watch the early morning sun rise. Ok so it rises at 11am thats still early !!

Perlan done its in to the centre of town for lunch and more exploring. we found a great little place to eat  near to Hallgrimskirkja, I can't remember the name of the cafe but they  have a good vegetarian menu.

on way up to perlan

john & daisy


daisy catching the sun rise


breakfast in the dome


Still exploring the town

view point

sun voyager





The sun voyager is down near to the harbour and the HARPA concert hall.



Harpa

that was our first full day (Amazing)


Next day the Golden circle

The coach picked us up at 8am in the dark and we head off down to the golden circle, I have to say this was well worth it.
Top tip arrange some picnic food to take with you! although there are visitor centres at most of the stops these are VERY expensive.


The Golden circle takes in the historical pingvellier National park, Gullfoss waterfall, Geysergeothermal area and North American and eurasian tectonic plates above ground.
tectonic plate






Next the Gullfoss waterfalls, I must warn you it gets so cold, you can only take your gloves off for 30 seconds for taking photos!










two very cold but happy people

Next to the hot springs and Geyser
So cool






Then off to the bakery where the bury the loaf and bake it for 24 hours


delicious loaf
This was the end of our tour of Iceland we hope you enjoyed it and that it inspires you to do the trip.
unfortunately we didn't see the northern lights, wether conditions were not in our favour, so we will just need to go back because we only seen a very small part of Iceland and there is still so much more to see.

Its still my birthday week and we are back in Scotland so what to do on the 19th my birthday! as luck would have it , Maggie/ Daisy checked her facebook and discovered the Batmobile was on loan the the museum of transport in Glasgow and was due to leave 2 days later , so guess where Daisy took me.
what a way to end my birthday treat. i am one very happy man.

what a treat

so happy





yip its the bat mobile