Why bonjour, tourist capital!

Well I made it to Paris.  Two missed flights, one missed shuttle and a missed hotel later.  Some time around 5:00am, my bear bud rolled me into a bag for our morning flight.  By the time we actually got to our hotel though it was more like 3:00pm.   I thought we were going to a nice hotel but instead we arrived at a tiny hotel that required hauling our suitcases one at a time up a tiny elevator fit for one and then into a the tiny room.  Whatever, I’m not carrying the luggage.

Time to see Paris!  Nicholas has a thing against taking the metro.  So we started by taking the metro.

First stop, Tour Eiffel.

sumiparis-1

I wanted to see if this was the type of monument I wanted built in my honour.  One look at the lineup and I decided my time was too valuable for lineups.  So I made my bud walk us to the Arc de Triomphe.

sumiparis-2

Ah better.  I could use an arc engraved with my name and all my victories.  From there, we walked past some future house ideas —

sumiparis-3

— and to the Louvre — because I must have blown up the Louvre in some game.

sumiparis-5

Before ending at the Notre Dame.  I wanted to see the hunchback.  We didn’t find him.

sumiparis-6

And that’s how you do a walking tour of Paris in 4 hours hours.  Good ideas for monuments for me.  Good ideas, mind is churning.  Nicholas I hope you took notes!

sumiparis-4

“Thai” dinner

To make up for the inconvenience of missing our flights and landing us in a completely different country than we were supposed to be at, Iceland Air graciously arranged dinner for us at a Thai restaurant.  I didn’t care for it but my bear bud and Pokin were hungry and they went.

They gave us a voucher.  It looked like this.

thaidinner-1

And our “thai” food looked like this.

thaidinner-2

Nick poked at it and we decided we’d be better off going for a walk instead.  At least we found a lighthouse.

thaidinner-3

This “GIANT” 10 footer of a lighthouse probably wasn’t the best representative of Viking engineering prowess.  But it’s what we’ve got.  Wait do I even care about lighthouses?  Or Vikings?

Icelandic for hospitality

So we’ve missed our flight and we’re stuck in Iceland overnight.  At least Iceland Air arranged for us to stay in a hotel.

And then we drove up to this.

icelandhotel-1

Thankfully this is the back side.  I was a little worried about how this trip is going.

Nicholas, why are we even here?  We should be gaming.

Oh right, you dismantled our computer.

See this was payback.  Let’s just turn around while we’re ahead.

In Iceland ahead of schedule

So my bear bud tells me we’re in Keflavík, Iceland. I thought we were supposed to be in London.

It seems like we missed our flight. And the one after that. So we’re stuck here in Iceland. For the rest of the day.  And night.

Well nothing better to do than kick back in this tiny town and enjoy an Icelandic specialty drink, “Erlu”.  I don’t know.  It looks like coke to me.

Keflavík-1
And an American hamburger in an American diner.

Keflavík-2

Well since we’re stuck here all day let’s see what else is in this town.  Looks like they have a big anchor.

Keflavík-3

Locals tell us to visit the troll cave down this way.

Keflavík-4

Keflavík-5

Oh there’s the troll.

Keflavík-6 Keflavík-7

These appear to be pacifiers hanging on a tree.  Is this an offering to the troll?  Or is this some kind of “kids-I’ve-eaten” count?

Keflavík-8

I’m speechless.  That was somewhat disturbing.

I think it’s time to walk back to our hotel and try to forget what I just saw here.

We’re travelling again

Except we’re not.  Nick tells me we’re going on an epic trip.  Then I woke up on the plane to hear about some sort of mechanical failure of the engine.

I decided that sort of inconvenience was something I wanted no part of.  So I got back in the bag and passed out.

Next thing I know we’re sitting at an airport in Iceland watching bags go around and around and around on the conveyer belt.  I thought we were going to London.

icelandairport-1-2

It’s been an hour.  I’ve given names to the luggage –I’ve seen them go around so much.  There’s one!  Hello luggage buddy.  That’s purple tag.  Next comes green checkers.

icelandairport-3-2

And there’s my bear bud.

icelandairport-2-2

He looks about as thrilled as I feel.