We flew into Stockholm and it was snowing outside when we arrived, not something we were expecting for Spring.
We got a train from the airport into the city and checked into our AirBnB. We then went for a walk around the old town which was full of pretty buildings. We visited a free medieval museum which was on a little island next to the Royal Palace. Was a really cool area and the museum was pretty interesting.
For our last day in Iceland we went to the Blue Lagoon Geothermal Spa. It stinks of sulphur as you come in but you get used to it after a bit. I wasn’t expecting to like it that much as it’s more Rachael’s thing, but was pretty fun. They had a steam bath which was intense as you walk in as it’s dark and the steam is so thick you can hardly breathe.
Monday we had much nicer weather, and it was the day Rachael was most looking forward to. I showed her this Smarter Everyday Video when we were planning our trip and since then snorkeling at Silfra was what she was most looking forward to.
It’s actually part of the Þingvellir fields, so we got the bus back again. The drive and views were so much better with the sun out. We then put on our drysuits, which were pretty much like putting on a wetsuit.
We flew in to Iceland in the afternoon and the area just looked bleak, with no trees in sight. When we originally booked, we thought the airport was in Reykjavík itself (there is a domestic one), but Keflavik International Airport is actually about an hour bus trip from the city. The bus trip was pretty unreal, it was just a dead straight well-maintained highway with no trees and barely any other cars.
We went to Richmond Park in the morning, and the girls had breakfast at a cafe which was packed with cyclists. The park was huge, and it was great weather so we went for a walk. We’d heard there was deer but it’s a huge park and we couldn’t see any. So we went for a drive to look at the lake in the middle and the deer just happened to be there.
Lauren has a car so we thought we would take advantage of it and do a day trip somewhere she hadn’t been yet, so headed to see the White Cliffs of Dover and Dover Castle. I was surprised how quickly we got to more rural areas, as I was expecting heaps of urban sprawl like Brisbane, but London is actually pretty contained.
We decided to ignore the National Trust tourist part and headed further up towards the St Margaret’s Bay end where we hoped there would be less people.
After some sleep, we headed back out to explore some more of London. The beautiful weather from the previous day had ended and we got some of the London weather we were expecting in the form of cold miserable light rain.
First up we went to see Tower of London and Tower Bridge. We were planning to go inside but the tickets were about $50 AUD each, so we thought we’d find something a bit cheaper to do.
Our first stop in our Europe trip was to London to visit Rachael’s sister Lauren. So after a Uber to the bus station, a bus to Brisbane, a long flight to Bangkok, a long boring layover and then an even longer flight to London, we arrived at Heathrow.
Lauren met us at arrivals and then we got our first tube ride to Hammersmith and then a bus to her place. Her place was pretty cool and very stereotypical of what you would expect in London, with a very steep staircase and a cupboard under the stairs.
Our trip to Luzern marked Rachael’s first journey in a double-decker train, and we got to see some Swiss countryside on the way. I originally had planned for us to go the top of Mt. Pilatus, but when I checked the site in the morning it said the cable cars weren’t running, so we gave up on that idea. Also for some reason my bank card wasn’t working, so I couldn’t get out anymore money so we had to make do with the amount of cash I already had on me.
This final Euro Trip post (before we get back to Switzerland) is to sum up my impressions of each city. In particular it is dedicated to Tim and Kate who might be coming over next year, or anyone else that plans on travelling to Europe in the future. Hopefully these tips/comments will be able to make your trip even more enjoyable than ours.
Places Rome - Rome as a place to visit is a must.
