Get on the bus

Viking hall rocks.

There is a self-guided walking tour of the main Reykjavik area I had been meaning to take just about each day. And just about each day the sked gets blown up or I don't feel well or I need sleep.

Same on Day 4. Was supposed to start w/the tour. It didn't. Was also supposed to possibly include a trip to a museum that, based on the picture in a guide, had a crazy 3D illusion-type exhibit. Also fell off the itinerary.

Really, the only solid stake in the ground was my 1 p.m. bus to the Blue Lagoon. So I'm wrapping up a blog entry, trying to add a photo. Then align it properly. Then undo the damage done by trying to align it properly. Then try to add/edit in other manners, using crap HTML. Then try to upload it a different way.

All this because newest OS for ipad doesn't like certain frames. Therefore, you can't (easily) scroll in them. Not in safari, anyway. Other browsers claim you can. Download a few. Lies, lies, lies (not even Chrome, coded by the same company that brings you Blogger, can handle it). One will trick the site into thinking you are a using a different browser. Maybe stupid sites. Not Blogger -- though I contest this also is a stupid site.

The Blogger app sucks. Too basic. The blogger desktop/tablet interface would be fine if not for the damn scrolling/repositioning issue. Or it'd be fine if two-fingered frame scroll still was supported. It's not.

I finally get the thing posted, though not w/o hiccups (there's still a floating photo in that entry) and I book it to the bus. The bus is skedded to roll out at 12:17. I get within striking distance at 12:18. No bus. Wait a few. Still no bus. It was on time. Damn German efficiency.

If I wait until next bus at 12:47, I may or may not make it to the tour bus by 1. Probably would, but unsure. But I am right near a main road with more busses on it, so surely there must be another I can take, yeah?

Yep. I roll around the corner, go a few hundred yards, hit a stop that has four different lines going through -- all of which go to the stop I need to reach. Bingo! Bus comes, I get set to hop on ... and I notice the destination doesn't match the one I usually see. Seems odd, but I figure this is a different line than I had been riding, so probably OK.  Or I'm on wrong side of street/about to go wrong direction.

Meow.

Now, am I a bigger idiot for getting on the bus the wrong way, having to get off two stops later, take the pedestrian overpass, barely miss two busses and therefore have to wait 10-15 minutes for another bus to take me back the other way and miss the tour bus by a good 13 minutes, or for having that "wait a sec" moment before getting on the bus but ignoring it? Or for this entire effort, as just waiting for the 12:47 at the normal stop would have got me there on time anyway -- probably?

I missed the buss. I blame Apple and Google. If they'd just get along, none of this would have happened. They should realize the commuting and tourist worlds rely on them. Actually, that's kind of horrifying. Incidentally, I can't imagine ever not having a PC. ipad and iphone are great, but need the PC to do the dirty work. Or something.

Anyway, I resked for a later tour bus. And ultimately make that bus.

The airport is in/is called Keflavik. I like saying it Jerry Lewis-style. Go ahead, do it now. Out loud. I'll wait. 

(if you need inspiration: http://m.youtube.com/index?&desktop_uri=%2F#/watch?v=wQnFGQXMDsg)

In the meantime, I went to some settlement exhibit, which some described as being like Vikings meets Star Trek! Make it so!

Fun fact: The Vikings ran Windows. It crashed then, too.

871 +-2. Fun name. Guess what it means...

Iceland needs more trees. (That's not what the name means -- I'm moving on.) The settlers tore that shite up. Probably can't plant in lava fields, but there are other areas that would benefit. Back in the day, the settlers had to use pretty much everything to live/survive. That included the trees. And, apparently, ram testicles. 

Exhibit was an excavated Viking hall, where they lived and ate and housed livestock and even slaves. History of settlements was included, some other cool lights/bells and whistles. But the best parts were the interactive elements. First there's a guide to the different routes Vikings took to eventually end up in Iceland -- including a section on the famous Boatmageddon era of 931, during which all shipping lanes within a narrow strait between two islands were closed. Then there's a genealogy guide, mainly focusing on Iceland's people, where they came from, DNA analysis of heritage -- pretty fascinating (the population primarily consisted of Norse and Celtic folk). It also includes looks at the animals -- cats, dogs, rats/mice, livestock -- and where they came from, how they are similar/different to various European breeds. 

For the cat example, they showed a picture of, well, a cat. Some kid looking at it said to his mother, "Do you think he looks cute or terrified?" The mom says, "cute!"

Later I read that Icelanders used to use and trade in cat skins! Bastards.

Terrified, kid. That tabby's terrified.

I sooo wanted to play Tetris on this thing.

FINALLY... the other interactive thing. There's this big table with a map/guide of the hall remnants we are standing next to, but as it would have looked back in the day. And there are -- or should be -- words/buttons you can press on the actual table to bring about more info, whether it be text, pics, some vid. All projected from above the table, all controlled by hand swipes. Awesome.

Except for when it crashed. And showed Windows home screen. And had to reboot. Hilarious. I think a BSOD actually explains what happened to the Picts (wikipedia them).

Several of us waiting a while as they tried -- and struggled -- to reboot the thing. Some left. I was about to, then the intercom shouted "file's done!" and we were back in business with the interactive viking table. I swiped and X'd out like a madman.

Maybe it would have been more stable on IOS. Assuming one didn't have to scroll.

And I read more about viking cats. But the Blue Lagoon beckoned ...

BLOGGER EDIT: Don't know how I forgot to add this...

Wild like Steve Trout

You're a malt extrakt.

How could I forget one other gem from our driver? Upon approaching an establishment at which we could consume food and beverage, he says:

"The speciality of this restaurant is the meat soup. It is lamb, vegetables -- and something else I don't know."

The hard sell. He wasn't as excited about the soup as he was about MEGA EARTHQUAKE SIMULATOR 2012 RUN FOR YOUR LIFE MACHINE!

So the original plan was to get back after the tour, chill for an hour or so and then get back on a bus to the Blue Lagoon geothermal hot spring spa place thingy. But I was spent (I'm strong against the Euro), so I reskedded that for the next day. 

Instead I headed back to a tourist office and asked where I could sample the local cuisine. The rep asked if I wanted "normal" Icelandic fare or the weird stuff.

Yes.

Icelandic Bar has shark, puffin, whale ...

Loki has more traditional (mainly) seafood dishes.

Seafood. Foreign food. (it's an old mock of my prior food preferences -- which apparently still come out now and then.)

I go to Icelandic Bar, bartender says I can sit anywhere. I do.  I wait a few minutes before he brings me a menu, but he says I can't eat. 

Eh?

"OK, so yes to drinks, but no food."

"Yes, no food."

Maybe I'm not strong against the Icelandic Krona.

So I leave and head up to Loki, which is across from the church with the tower and the statue and the view. Loki -- as in Norse god. Hulk don't like Loki.

It's a nice, inviting space. The menu has some safe choices and some more interesting ones (was even more interesting before I swapped the Icelandic menu for an English one). I try to split the difference and order a platter that consists of some traditionally prepared trout, their homemade rye ice cream, and salad. Yes, shark is on the menu. I'm tempted, even though everyone says it's awful. Sharks don't have livers, apparently, so thar be poison in that meat. It's cured out, partly, but ammonia is released with each bite. Yum.

Anyway, the food comes. The salad is, well, a salad. Just fine. The trout... well, I need to forgive the driver for not knowing how to explain the meat soup (which this place also had), as I really had no idea what the hell I was eating.

Imagine a large/tall slice of cheesecake. But instead of cheesecake, it's minced/ground up trout with some grains and veggies mixed in -- along with some other stuff I couldn't identify.

Awful.

Once here stood a house. Dadgum geyser done gone blow'd it up.

But I kept trying it, trying to appreciate each bite and enjoy the experience.

Still awful.

So it probably tastes great to people who, well, think it tastes great. Just so happens I am not one of them. I manage my way through about two-thirds of it. Solid effort.

I probably would have finished it if they weren't out of Diet Coke. Instead they suggested a malt cola. Brewed like a beer, but it ain't beer. Sort of caramel-y and thick -- interesting taste. But way too malty. And not ideal for washing down disgusting trout cake. 

Did I mention I enjoyed the salad?

I finished maybe two-thirds of the drink, if that. Mediocre effort.

The rye ice cream? Odd/interesting -- and deeeeeeelish. I finished roughly three-thirds of it. Tough meal, strong finish, glad I tried it.

Bummed around city center after that, hit a cafe -- that's about it. Feeling much better, save for the recurring cough. 

Oh, earlier I said the city wasn't very urban. It's not. Just reinforcing the point.

Actually, there are some areas that are a bit more congested, that have more of a crammed/lots of buildings and businesses/tons of apartments feel. But still not overwhelming -- though city center still nicer and more quaint, but fun.

Losing track of time a little -- which is nice. Forgot to set fantasy lineups (oh well -- still might win one matchup), paid no attention to World Series (maybe that would have been different if Yanks had made it -- and good for Giants, I guess) or to sports world in general, will miss fantasy basketball draft today (it's Monday -- the stuff in this blog entry happened Friday), which I don't really care about anyway. Will also miss MEGA NORTHEAST STORM 2012 RUN FOR YOUR LIFE meteorological event. Seriously, hope everyone will be OK up there.

Chomp.

Trying to pay attention to presidential and congressional races, but otherwise I've been pretty disconnected. Well, OK, except for being on my iPad and iPhone all the time, taking advantage of free wifi. But even most of those efforts are put toward trip/sightseeing/activity planning -- and writing this blog.

And Plants vs. Zombies. One can't be lax in the war against the undead. 

Point is, sometimes my brain is filled with all the purple nonsense, but sometimes it's not filled with anything! I enjoy the latter. This trip very much is helping with that.

Plus, maybe an empty brain will mean the zombies leave me alone. Or perhaps try to recruit me.

The Golden Shower tour

Wait, that's also Amsterdam.

Day 3: The Golden Circle tour. Scenic stuff. Like I said/wrote, I had to catch an early bus. Got myself moving at 7 after about 3.5 hours of sleep, inhaled the sweet sulfur scents and made it to the tour bus by 8:15.

Take a few million steps, turn and shoot.

Full bus. Some Yanks, some Canadians, some Brits, some Far Easters, some Irish, lots of Scandinavians. We had a bit of a drive before reaching the first of our destinations, so our tour guide took the opportunity to (relatively unenthusiastically) fill us in on the history of the country -- but not before properly preparing us for our journey.

 * "First we go somewhere. Then I guess ... we take a walk." 

 * "It is always a good idea to use the seat belts. And it is required ... by some regulations."

The latter reminded me of White Meadow Lake, where membership is both a right and an obligation. 

The island was settled in the ninth century. There was war, unity, religious stuff, adoption of Christianity, so on and so forth, up until around 1200. Then, according to our guide, during the following centuries "there was not much happening. It was cold some centuries."

Yep. Then he repeated everything he said in another language (later told it was Norwegian). A couple of times he had a pretty good one-liner, soliciting some laughter. But when he repeated it in Norwegian, the punchline had no punch, as everyone who understood Norwegian spoke English anyway. Not as funny the second time. 

Then we lost someone at some stop. Left 'em behind, went to get a snack. Bus eventually went back and tracked 'em down. Group of tourists kept almost missing the bus. Not me. Had to wrangle a window seat each and every time.

So we pass some schools, which are among the oldest in the country. There's elementary, primary, secondary, etc. -- and there used to be one for preparing women for their careers as housewives.

"For some reason that school no longer is operating"

Laughter. But only the first time.

Non-stinky water.

Incidentally, it was kind of interesting listening to repeat himself in another language. Only a few words sounded familiar, but the intonations were similar at various points. I could tell where he was in the story or joke.

More fun facts from our guide:

Iceland has cows. They are good for milk but not all that great for beef. So Scottish cows are imported. Scotland provides beefy cows.

Iceland has sheep. They are good for both food and wool -- mostly the former.

Iceland has corn. But this is a new development -- just over the last 10-15 years. Hell, Mike's Stand in Storrs was shucking ears since the early '70s! (Storrs peeps, is that place still open?)

Iceland has horses. Icelandic horses. There are competitions on the island. There are also competitions in the U.K. Iceland sends some of its best horses there to compete, but due to strict livestock importation rules, the horses never can return -- at least not until they've exhausted their usefulness and are sent back in time to be slaughtered by their younger selves.

Anyway, the first main stop was the Pingvellir National Park.

This actually was the site of the original Icelandic Parliament. Apparently Iceland now has the longest-running parliament in the world. Would be nice if they'd just end the damn session already.

Anyway, this lake and surrounding features apparently were created by the divergence of the North American and European continental, plates, which happens at a couple of centimeters per year. This reportedly is the only (or among the only) place(s) in the world were such a plate intersection exists at/near sea level.  Also on the premises is a church and the prime minister's summer home.

Sadly, the home and church are on the same side of the continental split, preventing me from espousing commentary about the planet itself doing what it can to separate church and state. Ha.

All in all, stunning scenery (there actually was an audible gasp from many of the tour-goers when the lake first came into view), and pretty wild to think about the geological significance of the place. Oh, on the way out we also could see a big freakin' glacier off in the distance.  They offer glacier hike tours. Heard they are cool (didn't mean that awful pun -- really), but I didn't have a chance to check it out.

Next main stop (I'm generally skipping over the food/snack breaks, though my first Bjork sighting happened in the gift shop at the waterfall. OK, it was just one of her CDs, but still ...) was the Gulfoss waterfall. It's kind of awesome. And they let people get absurdly close to it. 

Panoramadingdong.

Eons ago (long before the dawn of history) it was to be used as a hydropower source, but the daughter of the farmer who got swindled out of the rights wouldn't have it. She said that if anyone tried to industrialize the waterfall, she'd heave herself over the edge. That threat -- plus the general lack of strong market for electricity in the area -- helped quash those efforts. Then Iceland stepped in and made it a park, and the British energy company that tried to cash in finally understood TLC's warning.

So after the waterfall was the geyser at Geysir. The word geyser comes from this place, though the Geysir geyser isn't too active anymore; it just spouts a little steam. But another geyser (Strokkur) there rocks and rolls every five minutes or so. And sometimes there's a secondary eruption within 10 seconds of the first. I got geysered by a secondary eruption. It was wet.

The excitement around this thing is silly but fun, though I'm convinced it's a sociological experiment. There's a guy with a button deciding when to set the thing off; they just want to see how long people will wait, how annoyed they'll get, how long it take Mr. Bob Dobalina to answer his page, etc. 

But this geyser is pretty groovy. And the water flowing out, shockingly, is quite warm. And the various hot spots spewing steam are kinda cool. The bus driver asserts that Iceland likes to be the best at anything/everything. It has the oldest parliament, the strongest man (competition winner recently, i guess?), the most attractive woman (pageant winner recently, i guess?), and the best and brightest bankers.

Ha. Driver funny. But only in English.

Lots and lots of geothermal water activity going on in Iceland. Provides power/electricity and hot water, generally weighing in at 150-180 degrees Celsius. And it's stinky. I thought they smelt bad ... on the outside.  

I'm still awake for all this. No idea how. On a few hours sleep and cold meds. Crazy. 

So we're on our way back from the geyser, expecting to just head home. We're all tired. But we take a detour through some random town. Nice little suburb. Lots of geothermal pockets. One showed up in someone's living room -- totally f'd up that house. OK, fine, not a critical detour, but not awful.

Then our driver tells us we are stopping at a power plant. Seriously? Just take us back. But the driver says "the exhibition" at the plant is incredible and well worth the small cost. It's the most enthusiastic he's been about anything all day. So some people do the exhibition, some of us just go inside for a snack after failing to share the driver's enthusiasm for the power plant exhibition.

I have somewhat amusing video of this - not posted. So there.

Get back on the bus, someone asks me, "did you do the earthquake simulator?"

What?! If it's an earthquake simulator, say it's a damn earthquake simulator! Ray, if someone asks you if you are a god ...

I did not do the earthquake simulator, though the power plant -- harnessing all that geothermal energy -- was moderately interesting. Meanwhile, the bus driver -- or his assistant tour/driver guy -- yelled at someone on the tour when she asked if he could take a photo of their group at the plant. "Don't you know who I am?!"

Well, considering we only see the back of your head while you drone on about things that are more interesting than you make them out to be ... no. No we don't. Never mind the furthermore, the plea is self defense.  

In all, the sites lived up to the must-see billing. Good stuff.

Thus endeth this tour, and this entry.

Sun!

More later on earlier days, but today was faboo weather-wise. Saved best for last.

Where was I? What am I doing here?

Admiral Stockdale moment over...

View from church tower on overcast day.

Day 2 in Iceland -- a bit more productive than Day 1. Felt moderately better but still mostly like crap, so slept in and took it easy.  Been told that "the pond" is a great/lively area to check out. So I hop on a bus and head over there.

It's lively. If you are a duck. Nothing against ducks. But they (and some other splashy bird-type things) account for almost all of the visible living creatures around this pond at this particular moment. So I stay on the bus, ride around, end up somewhere random. Take another bus back, finally manage to find city center-type area.

(And to think, I once owned a map store ... granted, this was 30 years ago -- and my region of expertise was New England -- but still ...)

Anyway, cool area. Shopping, cafes (which I keep typo-ing as "cages" -- that would be Amsterdam), bars and restaurants. Actually, no cages, but chained-up stuffed Polar Bears. Several. I read that Iceland once was overrun with polar bears (why did I cap polar bears the first time? Respect, yo!) and the citizens suffered repeated maulings, so these chainings were a symbolic representation of Icelanders' ability to overcome the polar persecution.

I read that. In my notes for this blog. Oh, and autocorrect kept changing "maulings" to "mailings" -- which I suppose might work if the populace here had been terrified by polar bear propaganda via post.

Incidentally, are the Icelanders moving to Brooklyn?

OK, touristy stuff. There's a big church atop a hill. I went there. The church has a tower. I climbed it (well, took the lift most of way up). It has a nice view of Reykjavik. I viewed it. Interesting how this city really isn't urban at all -- which isn't that uncommon for many European cities. I guess I had half-expected to see a bunch of old, ornate, stone-y buildings. Not so much. More neighborhood-y, with some cottage-like architecture and fun colors, and some very run-of-the-mill structures and schemes. But the streets and this hood are groovy and quaint.

Church. Leif. Me. Irrespectively.

Oh, the church. In front of it is a statue of Leif Ericson, given to the Icelandic folk by your very own United States of America mid last century. And don't you forget it! Señor Ericson is widely regarded as being the first European to "discover" North America (not including Greenland -- but really, who cares about Greenland? Incidentally, Iceland considers itself to be part of Europe, but it actually sits on the intersection -- well, divergence, really -- of the European and North American tectonic plates. More on that tomorrow ...), which begs the question, why do we celebrate Columbus Day? How damn fun would a Viking day be?! Way beyond Talk Like A Pirate Day, so says me.

So the statue. It's in front of the church. There's another one in St. Paul, Minn., apparently. A statue of Leif, not a church. Actually, I'm reasonably certain there also are churches in St. Paul. But that's neither here nor there. Unlike the statue, which is both here and there.

(Cold meds ...)

After church I wander the city center and grab a bite in the Laundromat. It's a cafe. It's kinda groovy. Some '50s era photos, wooden benches, lots of books around the bar for a hipster coffeehouse feel (but not nearly as pretentious), 13 different servers attending to your culinary needs on some sort of rotating basis.

They have wifi. I ask for password. Woman says, "I love you. I love you. I love you." See? The world hearts Americans! OK, she was telling me the password. But maybe there was double meaning.

Remind me to mention the howling horse in my room. Actually, I might just leave it at that.

So I finish my mozzarella sandwich (not quite ready for local fare) and my Pepsi Max (I felt guilty, but Coke Zero is well represented, so one can't hurt, right? Right?), chat with some English folk on holiday and hit the streets. Some Norwegian guy comes up to me and asks if I speak English. Yep! He then asks where the pools are. I say I have no idea. After discovering I'm from the States, he gets all fired up about Taco Bell. Why is there a Taco Bell here? He comes all the way here from Toronto (where he lives now) and there's Taco Bell? "Nothing is sacred," I say. Except maybe for some churches in St. Paul.

He backs away awkwardly and I continue on my merry way.

Still slowed by sickness, I call it a night, as an early wake-up call awaits for some nature crap tour thingy. And I get to bed by midnight. And wake up at 2:30. And don't get back to sleep until 6. Craaaaaaaap.

Oh, and that pic above is floating out there with no text wrapping because apple products apparently don't believe in scrolling.

I'm hungry.

Tired and lazy

Real post to come. Later. Perhaps.

Meantime, here's this... And another thing.

Vacation on ice

Day 1 in Iceland...

Get your duty on!

Land in Reykjavik around 7 a.m. local on Wednesday. Go though almost non-existent customs check after marveling at the natives' obsession with duty free shop. There are shopping carts at the ready as soon as one leaves the jetway, and apparently booze, among other things, is much more reasonably priced in there than in the outside world. They stock up.

So I find my way to airbus that heads to main bus terminal. "Paint it Black" is on the radio on the bus. The bus driver thinks he knows the tune. Based on his whistling, he does not. Or maybe he can only whistle one or two notes and no more, as crazy at that sounds.

From there, I'm told to cab it to my hosts' abode. I get a cab, point to the address on my phone, he nods. I ask him how far away it is? He shrugs, as he has no idea what I'm saying. I say "near or far?" (watch this: http://www.myspace.com/video/alan/eating-muppets/9120989).

He goes to speak, revealing he can't. Not only did I find a cabbie who doesn't understand English, I got one who can't speak it -- or anything else -- thanks to a tracheotomy.  Oye. So I say, "how much?" He goes to write the amount on his rear windshield with his finger, though the lack of dirt or fog makes it difficult to read. But I get it, get in and get there.

Incidentally, there are lots of roundabounds here. Round-a-bound.

Host is very nice. She and her man are expecting. Too bad they got me. Anyway, very nice/private room, separate bathroom, sink, mini-fridge, wifi password -- all in all, good start for airbnb.com. Seeing as how I still feel like crap and am working on only 2 hours of sleep from the plane -- and am hopped up on cold meds -- I decide to take a nap before hitting the town.

This is around 8:30 a.m. Fast forward about 10 hours ...

Oops. There goes Day 1.

Actually, I do get myself up and out, just to get a hang of the bus system and look around. Oh, and Al, the supermarket and bus station rocketed the count to 4. Actually 4 1/4 -- one lady had a little kid (was going to count as half, but couldn't pin down his full ethnicity, so went with a quarter).  Next day at different bus station the count would shoot up to 5 1/4 -- therefore, the over.

Oh, Lila -- sucks that I have a cold. But the Tigger tissues were key! Same for lip balm in this 2-4 degree weather (I've converted to Celsius).

Part of the "Al" count.

Anyway, I get on the bus, take it to one end of the line, then to the other, just looking for anything that seems downtown-ish. Not seeing it. Reaches other end, stops, shuts down. But only stranded for six minutes until bus starts up again and goes back and forth on the No. 13 route -- which I now know remarkably well. This actually prepared me for the following day, when I tried to do at least a little exploring. Of course, I still felt like hell and didn't get going until afternoon, but after hacking up a lung last night, I actually am starting to feel a bit better.

Part of it must be the readily available Coke Zero here. Yes, I've given in. Actually, my host -- seeing that I have bottled water -- tells me it's not necessary, as Iceland has very good tap water. Later, as I'm turning hot water on, I notice that it smells ... well ... horrid. I do some internet research. Seems the naturally heated hot water is full of sulfur (thanks, volcanoes?), hence the smell. Not harmful amounts -- and the smell goes away shortly after showering in it -- but still stinky. However, the hot and cold water are from different sources, so the cold water is sulfur (and ostensibly smell) free. So says the internet. But they come from the same pipe/faucet in same sink. I suppose letting it run a bit to wash out sulfur remnants before filling up on clean and cold agua is the way to go, but I swear I can still smell it.

Coke Zero, on the other hand, smells just fine.

Next up... rainy day, big church, a man named Lief, lamenting the Westernization of Reykjavik's fast food options,  and settling for MAX in a laundromat. Can't wait, eh?

Sharks on ice

Apparently the national dish of Iceland is cured shark.

I dunno... seems kinda shitty to cure the shark of whatever malady might have plagued it, only to cook and eat the damn thing shortly thereafter.

Like I said... Too much cold medicine. Loopy.

Bjork.

Also, more than half the nation believes in elves. I'm not kidding. Maybe they are.

Up, up and...

Currently on the tarmac. But pleased to have made it here conscious.

They gave us water. Which is to say they gave of themselves, albeit in another state of matter.

Jess K. had a last-minute show skedded for tonight about 2.5 hours before my flight. Was soooooo tempting to try to catch some of it before bolting to airport.

Alas, I had to play it safe and opt for Iceland over Kleinland. This time.

See ya in Reykjavik!

NyQuil. Kicking. In...

Sick as a dog

This dog.

Poor Lily's been having coughing fits. Poor Jon's been decked by a nasty cold. About 24 hours until trip to Iceland and I've got most of the NyQuil symptoms. This is going to be a great flight.

But some folks on a street corner happened to be giving out samples of Emergen-C today. I took some -- though I think I would have been more comfortable had I had to pay for it. What's up with that? Free street food/products -- suspicious.

Anyway, grabbed lunch with a friend of mine whose close friend is from Iceland. She got me a list of recos. At the top of the list? Get a hot dog. OK, a specific hot dog from some famous place. Actually, I don't think it has to be a specific hot dog. Unsure how I would specify one hot dog over another. Anyway, a hot dog from a specific place.

A hot dog.

I could have gone to Pink's. Instead I fly to Iceland. I'm a smarty every day.

(I don't even eat hot dogs, generally. Specifically, on the other hand ...)

Anyway, hitting the Emergen-C and Dayquil, limiting myself to two Cokes today (so far -- hey, that's a friggin' accomplishment for me), drinking tons of water, inhaling Coldeeze and Hall's, had chicken noodle soup for lunch (with green tea to drink) and matzoh ball soup for dinner -- though pops wasn't able to procure as much as we wanted. Apparently two of the cooks at the local diner decided to unionize and suddenly walked out tonight, causing huge wait times for soup, pancakes, sandwiches and gefilte fish. One should never wait for geflite fish. One should never attempt to procure gefilte fish. But I do sort of want more soup. Damn striking cooks. That ain't kosher.

Speaking of, another recommended cold remedy is to gargle vodka. So I am/did/have. It's kosher vodka. If you are going to hit the bottle, might as well have the thumbs-up from the big guy. Mr. Potato Head.

Think he drinks vodka? Would that be cannibalism?

I'm on too much cold medicine. Making even less sense than usual. Man, I feel like hell. Whine, whine, whine, vodka, vodka, vodka.

(Hello Jon, your wodka is ready. Come get it now. We are closed.)

Anyway, the trip:

•Five days in Iceland
•A day or two in Helsinki
•Five days or so in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania
•A bunch of days in Berlin
•A couple of side trips -- Prague, an AFB, some sort of waffle establishment
•Puerto Vallarta. Really.

I'm packed remarkable light for this trip, though the lovely Northeast weather hasn't prepared me for a few weeks at 40 degrees as I had originally hoped. That's OK -- my fever will keep me warm.

Me: "Do you want something from Iceland?"
Niece Katie (8 yrs old): "You are moving to Iceland?!"
Me: "No, I'm just visiting. Do you want me to bring you something?"
Katie: "I don't know."
Me: "Do you want some ice?"
Katie: "What?"
Me: "Do you want some land?"
Niece Abby (3.5 yrs old): "Uncle J, I want some land."
Me: "OK, Abby -- I'll see what I can do."