I used to be so organised with these
but October and November seem to have been very busy, not just with
travels! However here are a few photos from my trip in October to
see my stepson Chris and his family in Belfast, Northern Lights
hunting in Iceland just prior to the safe arrival of the newest
Davies, young Phoebe on 27th November.
Somewhat to my shame I hadn't visited
Belfast other than to drive round the edge on the occasion of the
marriage of Chris to Eleanor some few years ago! Originally living in
London they soon moved back to a pleasant part of Belfast near the
university and closer to Eleanor's parents.
Their next door neighbours are retired
and clearly enjoy their garden!
Eleanor's work at a Women's centre
means she has quite a high profile not always a good thing but they
have fortunately survived a few threats and whilst there are still
some fanatics around it is generally calmer. The city has benefited
from being a city of culture and there has been much new building.
So after an evening meal in the centre
of town where the scene was very vibrant, the next morning I went, in the rain, to
the new Titanic museum. This is an impressive waterside building with
not only the history of Harland and Wolfe the ship's builders but
lots of interesting information about the growth of Belfast and the
various trades and items moved through the ports. At one stage it was
the largest exporter of linen in the world. There were lots of
interactive parts for kids small and big(!) to enjoy as well as a
ride showing the ship being built which moved through 3 floors. This
kid certainly enjoyed it!
The main museum has not surprisingly a
section on 'The Troubles' reading the bare statistics is quite
chilling and it is to be hoped that whatever happens they don't
resort to that level of violence ever again. It has produced of
course some amazing murals and Chris drove me down the Falls Road and
up the Shankill Road (or vice versa) they are so close within 400
yards rather than one side of the city to the other it makes the
potential for trouble to flare up so easy. What follows is a
selection of shots(!) in this area.
Two are memorial walls from bombings and as it was a Sunday the Sinn Fein office all shuttered and barred. The feel of the place is however nowhere near as threatening as when Chris got married at the height of the hunger strikes and much of the continuing violence is down to crime rather than sectarian disagreement. It was good to see where they live after all this time in relative peace. So thank-you Chris and Eleanor for entertaining me so well.
Four weeks later and I'm on my way to
Rekjavik, Iceland with Gail my sometime travelling companion. The
forecast had not been very good for Northern Lights viewing which was
the main reason for the trip but the steam from hot springs was
visible from the air as we came into land.
We had booked to go on a Northern
Lights trip on our second night but were encouraged by the hotel
owner to go on our first evening which we did, and since they weren't
visible in the south of the island for the rest of the time we were
there, it's just as well we accepted! It is fortunate that they
explain that the pictures one sees are generally doctored with time
lapse photography and film and so our own experience of pale
flickering lights in the sky although not the best they could have
been is apparently more usual. My camera not up to pictures so 'you
tube ' is the place!!
We were not back until after 1am so it
was a long travelling day. Breakfast served until 9.30am so not too
desperate and since the sun doesn't rise until around 10.30am there
was no great rush to go out sight-seeing. Sun rise from the hotel.
This amazing church
could
be seen from our hotel room with a statue of Leifur Eriksson outside,
he is credited with settling North America over 500 years before
Christopher Columbus after he heard about another explorer blown off course on their travels to Greenland and coming across land and so he
set about finding it himself.
The church is very pure and simple
inside
with this lovely water and light
feature.
Once the sun was up, it takes a while as Rekjavik is quite hilly,
we went to the
National museum which covers the period from discovery by the
Vikings, primarily those from Norway initially sometime around 870AD,
right up to the present day. The walk took us past this frozen lake with views of the town and hills in the distance.
The history is intertwined with that
particularly of Denmark, it is interesting that there has never been
a war. Even their struggle for independence from Denmark was largely
non-violent and it was a Christian country from very early on with
many followers pre 1000AD. We enjoyed a walk around the city in the
cold clear conditions including to a sculpture museum of Asmundur
Sveinsson which he had originally built as his home.
We walked back via the shoreline for some lovely views
or not so lovely as the case may be.
What a difference a day makes! This is
a photo of the Blue Lagoon one of the geothermal pools where you can
go to swim in the allegedly health giving waters. I can attest to the
fact that one's skin certainly feels very soft afterwards. The dash
from inside to the steps was a little interesting, the water is warm
but as you can see that is not all steam but mist along with a cold
wind so getting behind a rocky outcrop was definitely the way to go.
We followed this with a trip to view
Pingvellir which is where the initial self government assemblies were
held in the summer. It is accessible from all areas of the island and
most people at this stage were farmers. We stopped to over look the
area which is now a National Park and what follows are colour prints
but the grey of the sky and snow on the ground give a different
impression. Geologically it is interesting as a rift valley between
the American and European tectonic plates which are separating at the
rate of 3cm per year with the valley floor subsiding to compensate.
In gathering gloom we continued to the
Gulfloss waterfall where getting close to take any photos was
hampered by the low mist freezing on the wooden paths, fortunately
had shoes that could walk on the snow at the side.
Lastly with the sun almost down we
visited a geyser, more treacherous paths but a photo of it doing it's
thing, not very impressive but apparently they are being effected by
the land movement and of course volcanic eruptions.
Our last day continued cloudy though
not so cold with much of the lying snow and ice starting to thaw. We
visited the Aurora Museum where the science was clearly explained and
saw a short film of the lights taken from various viewpoints, so got
the view I had been expecting even if 'photoshopped'!
After lunch discovered it was another country
with Monday closing on museums, including The National Gallery, so
ambled gently back to the hotel for tea and cake. We passed this mossaic on the wall of the Art Museum
and this viking ship sculpture
At least with such
short daylight hours it doesn't feel like one's being lazy, with a lovely sunset too
On our final morning we found that
museums don't open until 11am which was too late for us, perhaps fortunately, Rekjavik
is the home to a unique museum with apparently over 400 exhibits from
different species!
The rain finished off the ice and snow,
it was quite a different landscape that we left.
Slight delay on way home but airport
quiet and clean so not unpleasant and the sunset from the plane just stunning.
I arrived home about 10.30pm just
ahead of Kyria and Kevin who had driven up from Portugal.
All of us in time to welcome Phoebe
Elizabeth Davies-Molloy into the world on the following morning.
Nathaniel and Jess now coming to grips with the joys of parenthood
and lack of sleep!
Me a grandmother who'd have thought!
Happy Christmas everyone.