KEN BRUNER'S TRAVEL PAGE

Date	From	To	Time lv.	Time Ar.	accom'tns.
11/13	Chicago	Balt/Wash.	12:30pm	3:15pm	SW airlines
11/13	Balt/Wash.	Keflavik	8:00pm	6:30pm	Icelandair
11/15	Keflavik	Luxemb'g	7:20pm	12:30pm	Icelandair
11/15	Luxemb'g	Paris-Est	5:24pm	9:04pm	2d cl. tr. EC
11/16	Paris	Rennes	8:20pm	10:35am	2d cl. TGV
11/16	Rennes	Pontorson	12:59pm	1:50pm	2d cl. train
11/18	Pontorson	Rennes/Par.	7:01pm	10:50pm	2d cl. TGV
11/19	Paris	Luxemb'g	6:50pm	10:41pm	2d cl EC exp
11/19	Luxemb'g	Balt./Wash.	1:30pm	6:30pm	Icelandair
11/19	Balt/Wash	Chicago	7:15pm	8:45pm	SW airlines

Went to work today. Left work at 11:00 am. One hour earlier than I had planned. Had lunch in the "Loop" because I didn't want to have a lousy airport lunch. Instead I had crappy Chinese on Wabash Ave. I arrived at the airport early. Caught an earlier flight to Baltimore. I had a very long layover in Baltimore. Very boring, but it beats working. I read and sit in the Smithsonian Lounge. It's nice and relaxing. I have a beer.

The flight is jam packed. There is one seat between me and a very nice talkative girl from Michigan. She's in highschool and she is going on a tour of Iceland for the weekend. I think it is going to be a nice flight. I think too soon. The last person on the plane is the size of both of us put together. He gets up to go to the bathroom 4 times in 5 hours. He bulges over his seat just enough to make it uncomfortable. The meal is huge and good. So much meat. The potato salad in not potato salad, it is chicken. I eat everything. I also, have wine and Cognac. The coffee is the best coffee I've ever had on a plane before. I try to relax, but I can never sleep in a plane or car. I am so excited to visit Iceland, I can't even imagine what it's going to look like. I think it's going to be weird walking around in such a remote country. It's the 2nd largest island in Europe. It's bigger than Ireland and only 270,000 people live there.

Nice smooth landing in Reykyavik<=sp? I go to the Flybus to transfer to downtown. The bus is much cheaper than a taxi, which costs $82 to $92 USD. Everyone takes the bus which is $9. I change money at the hotel where the bus lets me off then take a cab to my guesthouse. I arrive shortly after 8:00am. Reception is friendly, the room is clean, which makes me happy. The toilet and shower are down the hall, they are also spotless. I change clothes and freshen up. My tour bus picks me up at 8:45am. I am the second person to be picked up. Allen from Indianapolis is already on board. He is also travelling by himself. He's my age. We take the 2 best seats on the bus - the two front seats. It's 9:00am. It has been twilight for a while now. The full moon is setting on the harbour the sky is clear. We are going to have great weather today. Not too cold. Reykjavik is surrounded by snow covered mountains. The scenery already looks cool and we haven't even left the city. We drive to the south shore of Iceland to a town that grows the veggies for Iceland. It's a town full of greenhouses. They grow everything they can. Even bananas. Sun rises at 9:50am over the ocean. We see islands in the Atlantic that are part of Iceland and the snow covered mountains are all pink from the sunrise. They are bare of any vegetation. It's looking very exotic. We visit a bishopric that is 1000 yrs. old. That's how long christianity has been here. the country is Lutheran. The countryside is farmland and is dotted with small cabins and A-frame houses which are summer homes. Steam fumes from the ground from hot springs that are all over the country. Icelandic horses are everywhere. they are a smaller and stouter breed than regular horses and they are adorable. We visit a huge waterfall called Gullfoss. It is so cold and wintry here. I am pissed that I left my hat and gloves at the hotel. The weather was so mild on the coast. We visit the "Great Geysir" where all geysers got their name. It has been dormant for about 50 years. The only way to make it go off is to pour 100lbs. of soap in it. That was banned because of the environment. There's another near by that goes off every 7min. It's really cool. I now have the urge to go to Yellowstone. We lunch at the hotel here. It's family style dinner of poached Icelandic salmon. Nice lunch - great coffee. After lunch our tour guide has a surprise for us. They are going to pour 100lbs. of soap in the geyser. They are experimenting with it and also an important tourism delegation from abroad is visiting. They have not done this in ten years. The news is here. They pour the soap(it lowers thw water temp. on the surface and it creates pressure and makes the water boil). The ground is rumbling like an earthquake. VERY COOL. We visit the plains where the worlds oldest parlaiment was founded in 930 a.d. It is at a fissure in the earth where the two continental plates are moving apart. Very beautiful and there is a church here that is so cute and charming it looks like it is out of Santaland. Back to the city - great coach tour. 9 ½ hrs. have dinner of burger and fries, coke with Allen. Very expensive. I go to my hotel for a shower and regrouping. I meet Allen at his hotel at 10pm and we go on a pub crawl that all of Reykjaviks young people do on Friday nights. Out 'til 3:30am. All the bars close at the same time. The streets are full of people. By the way, Reykjavik has a warm, cozy feeling in the downtown area. It also looks very prosperous. Great shopping district too. I sleep one hour until 4:30am when I get up. My airport bus picks me up at 5:00am. I am going to sleep on the plane. I'm glad I didn't drink a lot. The stewardess had better not wake me up for breakfast. The flight is half empty, I am able to lay down for the 3hr. flight to Luxembourg.