The Paris underground is like the TARDIS, bigger on the inside than the outside.
To walk 100m above ground requires walking at least 2km in the underground.
French coffee (unlike Italian coffee) varies in quality, in France there is no death penalty for making average coffee.
The death penalty is on the table for making a bad pastry.
The best baklava you have ever had in your life can be better, when you add hazelnuts to the mix, however the conversation just goes downhill from there mmnyumm.
We are in Marais district, the Jewish/Gay part of town.
Nice middle eastern food (Israeli), great vibe.
The Hotel we are staying at is (we realised on arrival) the same hotel we stayed at some 10 years ago (note there are only 7000 hotels in Paris so this is to be expected).
Yesterdays blog seems to have gone somewhere.
note to self don't do blog at 10pm after 1/2 litre of wine for lunch, a bottle with dinner & a few more to "tidy-up" the night.
We did a few obscure museums yesterday and took a LONG walk around Paris. Kirk got a haircut (exciting or what - 13 euros).
Today Alison got her hair done with a Doris Day blow dry (cut and colour about half the price of Sydney)while Kirk went to buy some electronic gear (that made him happy), then we walked up some old metal building with a lot of others (the elevator queue was about 1 hour long .....)

Bonjour from Paris.  Arrived at our hotel at about 1015pm and have been out for a couple of glasses of chablis.  Weather warm and wine is cheap.  Need to brush up on our French.

Raining in Bergen - no surprises.  Off to Paris in a few hours - weather forecast sunny and 24.

Bergen is famous for averaging 260 rainy days a year.
It failed to deliver, bright, sunny & warm today. We took the funicular railway to the top of Floyen and then walked back to the town, then wandered through Bryggen and the market area. Lots of salmon to be had.
However Bergen sways a lot (after spending 5 days on a boat).
Norway Booze report.
- Wine shops are almost never open
- Wine shops are never anywhere near you
- The cheapest white wine is $15 (will let you know what it tastes like :-)
We leave for Paris tomorrow so tonight is our last night in Scandinavia.

Back on dry land in bergen for the next couple of days and communicado again.

Captain's log Stardate 20120825.1820
Greetings from 62,02.647N 07,14.404E (woops that keeps changing)
Our internet access is gone we are stranded like 20th Century barbarians, unable to Facebook, access to music limited to 5 Days of music, only 30 or so hours of unwatched videos, and much less than 3,000 books on our e-readers ... not to mention the scenery...what to do
. I think we are approaching the limit of time on a boat, this is day 5, we are still talking, Alison still thinks the theme from The Love Boat is funny, and the sea conditions have been calm.
Entertainment is limited, but that's fine, and we deliberately picked a smaller/older boat .
As the boat is more like a commuter vehicle than a cruise ship it stops at 34 stops along the way. It means you can get off and walk around the town for half an hour. The boat stops longer in the larger ports. At the Lofoten Islands we took a side trip on a zodiac boat out to a smaller island and a fishing village. We looked very attractive in our survival fat suits. We had a couple of hours in Trondheim this morning (third largest city in Norway but smaller than Wollongong in population) to see the sights.
Lots of different types of smoked fish for lunch each day....yum.

18:48 7Degrees East
18:50 63Degrees North
Very Exciting !

Greetings from the middle of the fjords.
They didn't tell us they had the interweb, it's not very fast, or reliable but it sometimes works.
First lesson from Norway
- People really live in towns that require ski gear in mid-summer.

The MS Lofoten is a small 1960's ship, that can (apparently) take up to 400 passengers but currently has 130. Lots of wood panelling. The cabin is larger than some of the hotel rooms we have stayed in - certainly more functional. Kirk is like a small child when he is on a boat or sleeper car on a train - he is fascinated by the functionality of small spaces.
I keep singing the song from "The Love Boat". We may not be married much longer. The "Julie" character aka the "Entertainment director" is a chubby bloke that looks nothing like her.
The MS Lofoten is the smallest in the line, but is very elegant.
Small boat means a rough ride .. all good so far.
We've been onboard for 4 meals, the Germans have disappointed us by not eating themsleves sick at the buffet !
Went to Hammerfest, "The Worlds most North Town", very pretty & not as cold as some other places.
Have discovered that Tonic & wine can be cooled to just cold enough by putting them on the window & opening it a little.
A more sophisticated system is beyond current capabilities, but could provide better cooling.
Tonight we go to Tromso at 23.45 (n69,38,8 E 18,57,7).
Haven't decided if we will try & find a bar, or sleep through it, tomorrow is a busy day, with a speedboat trip at 18:30 ... IT JUST DOESN'T STOP.

Greetings from Kirkenes,Norway
Kirk has been mispronouncing his name all these Years, should be more a CH sound
We will be mostly out of touch for the next 5 days, on-board the boat to Bergen

Lessons and observations from Iceland
Iceland is on "Island time", things get done, nothing is a problem, not lots of rules
- Scandinavia without the IKEA - a wild and woolly version
- OH&S .. not required

Plan Booze in advance, otherwise you could have a dry Sunday night in the middle of nowhere
Thai Food
- we ate this 3 times in 2 weeks
- is a good middle ground between over-cheesy hamburger & $60 lamb chop
Tucking pants into socks is trendy
PJ's are OK before 1pm on a Sunday at Subway
Main highways should not have more than 200km of graven (at one stretch)
1 lane road tunnels are exciting
In Iceland bakeries and cafe's in the country have to make their own everything, which means that it's usually fresh & yummy
Even if you are Nordic, having a dodgy nordic tattoo still makes you look like a bogan
Most o the tourists in Iceland are Spanish, Italian (what financial crisis?)or older Germans on bus trips. We did not encounter any Australians.

Greetings from Keflavik.
Have spent the last few days practicing saying stunning at Snaefellsnes National Park.
We stayed in the sleepy, quiet town of Arnarstapi. Internet not available, but we were brave & did not panic.
Instead we fortified ourselves with wine and salami.
The glacier there is stunning, and visible from pretty much the whole world.
Today we went to the Blue Lagoon which is near the airport. We fly out tomorrow morning for Norway. The Blue Lagoon is quite surreal. There are no photos of Kirk with silica mud on his face improving his complexion but I can tell you it did happen - silky smooth.

Spent Thursday night at a sheep farm in north west Iceland. Driving in fog, cool winds, seals. Off to the west country today - home of ufo sightings and auras.

We took a day trip to Siglufjorour today. It was the herring capital of the world until overfishing took over. We went to the herring museum which was not nearly as tacky as we were expecting. The drive was quite exciting a we had to go through several road tunnels of up to 7 km in length. One of the tunnels was only one lane wide but catered for traffic in both directions. The light at the end of the tunnel was actually an on coming truck. There was strategically placed bays to let on coming traffic pass. Not for the claustrophobic and only a mere 3 km long!!! More sweaty palms.

Back on the road today. Went to the godafoss waterfall and then walking at lake myvatn. Tonight we are staying in Akureyri . It is the second largest city in iceland population 20,000. We are really in the big smoke as there is even traffic lights here.

A Quiet Sunday in Iceland.
Early breakfast then off to church.
Went whale watching in Husavik North Iceland, turned out to be 3 hours on a boat.
No whales, just dolphins and nice scenery. That's the way it goes.
Iceland is suffering from too much tourist demand, and not enough places to stay (for the 3 months that people come here).
We are currently staying in a summer hotel which is actually a boys boarding school for the rest of the year. Spartan but clean and functional.
And they sell booze & you can get ice for the G&T .. all's good.

Well it's been 1 month since leaving Sydney.
For those that forgot .. a few days in Malaysia, Singapore, San Fran, New York, Sweden, and now Iceland
Simple Really
Hotels getting smaller as we get further away from civilization.
No Refrigeration, or Lemon for the G&T.
Drinking cheap white wine with ice.
Driving in Iceland is quite dangerous, you keep looking at the stunning views.
About 100 K of Highway 1 is dirt - to avoid this we did 19K over a mountain dirt road, (OBVIOUSLY THIS WAS HIGHWAY 949) Alison enjoyed the driving.
Time for more iced wine :-)

I thought that it was unlikely that i would ever wear a pair of crampons but today Kirk and i took a guided walk on the Faljokull glacier which was amazing. After some sweaty palms it was much easier than what i thought. I didnt slip at all. We then went to Jokulsarlon to see icebergs floating in a lake. Quite a few movies have been shot here - james bond die another day. We are staying tonight in the town of Hofn.

Location : +63° 55' 23.859", -17° 42' 19.44"
"If you don't like the weather in Iceland, wait 5 minutes" is a common t-shirt.
I think it's more like 10 minutes but it's not worth arguing.
We got everything from 20C in the hot sun (OK we've acclimatized), settling mist, light drizzle, driving cold windy rain rain .. There was probably more.
Went to see Eyjafjallajokull (cut and pasted that in), but no visibility.
Saw some stunning scenery down through the south of Iceland, and lots of waterfalls (apparently glaciers + volcanoes == waterfall).
Oh well it's after 4 o'clock (4 is the new 5), so time to tidy up the Gin.

We are staying at quite an expensive hotel in the middle of nowhere. It is the most expensive hotel we are staying at in Iceland.
It is quite nice inside but from the outside it looks like a set of demountables..eric the sheep is just outside the door.
We are concerned that he will start the revolution tonite .. if you don't hear from us you'll know.
As requested Kirk has enabled comments on the blog (moderated), this has been done in the laziest way possible, please add your name otherwise we'll need to establish logins that sort of C..P, thanks K&A

Kirk and i left on our icelandic road trip today. We are driving a mighty hyundai i20. First stop was the national park and then onto Geysir to see geysers and then Gullfoss waterfall. We are staying in the mighty town of Hella (pop 800) in a circa 1960s hotel. Room size about same but more functional. Two dining options apparently the fish is good.

We have been seeing the sights of Reykjavik (National museum, lookout, shopping mall) today and preparing for our road trip starting tomorrow. Have been stocking up on wine from the state run bottle shop and emergency food supplies if we get stuck in the middle of nowhere. We had a traditional Icelandic Thai meal last night. We could have had whale meat and puffin (cute penguin like bird) but thought pad thai would be better.

Arrived Reykjavik 23:30, was not very dark.
Our hotel rooms appear to be getting smaller every week.
By 6 months we will be living in a shoe box.
Reykjavik weather report .. a balmy 15C .. hot in the sun, cold in the shade.
Reykjavik architecture report .. there are some really lovely buildings, there are many that have been inspired by the Australian Housing Commission.
5PM drinks have started at 3:45, all the time zone changes have confused us, but we are bravely soldiering on, life is hard.

We are sitting at Stockholm airport waiting for our flight to Iceland. Today we saw the sights of Uppsala (castle, cathedral etc) before heading to the airport. We have had our first Ikea sighting on the outskirts of Uppsala. I have eaten some delicious smoked salmon and I hope there will be more to come in Iceland and Norway. Apparently Iceland has delicious lamb as the sheep run wild eating thyme and self marinating. Farewell Sweden - at least they are behind us in the Olympics medal tally (just).

We are now staying in Uppsala a pretty town north of Stockholm.
Today we visited Sigtuna the oldest town in Sweden filled with churches and runic stones.
Kirk is pretending he knows Swedish and just makes up words. < br>He thinks it is because they are in his racial memory....

Today kirk channelled his inner Viking when we took a boat cruise to the island of Birka in the Swedish islands. It is a world heritage sight as it was a trading town in viking days. Beautiful scenery but required quite a bit of imagination as nothing left of the town but lots of burial sites and guides dressed as vikings.

A personal best today- we left the hotel by 10.45am
Seems to be getting later every day - aah holidays. Toured the royal palace today and checked out the crown jewels. Haven't taken the stieg larsson tour however we were in the area today of the fictional "millennium" office. I am re-reading the girl with the dragon tattoo to get in the groove.