Everyone has been properly forewarned of the impending trip to the north countries, so no complaints. Bird and HP depart 13 June for six weeks distributed between six countries in and adjacent to Scandinavia. We fly into Stockholm, Sweden followed by Denmark, Norway (half the trip is spent here in fjord country and above the artic circle. Yep we will spend some days when the sun will not set), then down from the top of Sweden till returning to Stockholm and boarding an overnight ferry for Estonia, followed by Finland and St. Petersburg, Russia (yeah, we don't like Trump's buddy Putin either but, being this close, we must go), and finally returning via Helsinki, and two overnight ferries to Stockholm where we'll spend a couple of more days before the hop back across the pond. We ... read more

We believe we mentioned yesterday that there was snow on the ground in Scotland. Well this morning it's snowing cats and dogs! My god, what have we done. To digress a bit yesterday we were a bit sleepy (okay a lot) so after locating an electrical adaptor and having a very late lunch we returned to our wonderful apartment for the night. BTW for lunch HP had Bangers and Mash-very good, while Bird was equally complimentary of her Haggis, Neeps, and Totties. Of course everything is spelled correctly; how could you ask! As this is being written we are sitting, praying to the weather god to end the snow, while watching Good Morning Britain. At least it's above freezing so the snow isn't sticking. We are now reduced to one day in Edinburgh with determination not ... read more

Yesterday the waterfalls were very impressive, but today...beyond impressive. Gullfoss (foss in Icelandic means waterfall) was the most spectacular waterfall any of us has ever seen. The ice only increased it's majesty. Yet, the wind and cold were a profound deterrence. Reflecting the extreme wind, there were occasions where Baby Bird was pressed into service of bracing HP as he took pictures of Gullfoss. Okay, a bit out of sequence, but we couldn't delay reporting on Gullfoss. Before this we visited both an extinct volcanic crater and a geyser; the latter could have been skipped. The end of the day we visited...guess...yes, a waterfall. This one was quite unique in that an ice bridge had been formed in front of the waterfall. Cute and something we have not seen before. Now for the pain. I do ... read more

Greetings from the country of Iceland. Your lovable travelers departed Baby Bird's house at 12p on Tuesday arriving in Iceland at 6a local time (that would be 1a your time). Of course we were tired, especially poor HP who slept not. Both Birds slept with mama Bird sleeping on the flight from Atlanta to New Jersey's beautiful airport (yeah, we're lying about the beautiful part) as well as from NJ to Iceland. After clearing immigration and customs we sat on our collective hands for perhaps 45 minutes waiting for the shuttle to transport us to our car. The delay was really fine as sunrise (if one could label it thus) did not occur until 8:30. Well, our direction challenged pilot (HP) then attempted to proceed west looking for an ATM and breakfast. After several times surveying ... read more

Had a home made salad earlier where we picked up an avocado laying about where we are staying. Thanks Hawaii. In other news we took another chopper flight today and thought we would share a few pictures. Unless we see something surprising over the next few days the Guinea Pigs are off the hook in having to look at more pictures. Thanks for the assist. Bird & HP.... read more