A peek into last weekend in Reykjavik, Iceland.

We got off the plane and went straight to the Blue Lagoon - a geothermal spa.

It was heavenly, even though the air temperature art only a few degrees the water is kept at around 40 C. There are boxes of silica mud around the edge to use as face and body masks and a bar in the centre where you can get drinks and ice creams without getting out the water.


Dinner - reindeer burger for me and goose, reindeer and puffin for mike!


It was delicious!


The next day we went out to see the hot springs and a volcano.





Mike and I trying on the Viking hats!


Then we got on the plane and flew to England for a few hours before hopping on the Eurostar to Paris :)

After Vancouver we headed up to Whistler Village for a couple of days skiing on Whistler Blackcomb!
Day 1 on the slopes started with this yummy breakfast.

Riding up the slope in the Whistler Village Gondola. The juniors Whistler Cup competition was going on - this was one steep slope they were skiing down!


We got off at Olympic Station (the beginners area) to test out our skiing. Third time on the chair lift we managed to get off it without falling over! Haha.
Ready to try out our first run of the day on Upper Fantastic ....


.....and we fell down! Yes they are my ski poles discarded in the snow. I was trying to help mike take a ski off so he could get back up.


At Roundhouse Lodge


A very busy area where all the skiers stop for lunch. It's like a car park for skis!


After lunch we decided we were doing pretty well on our first slope so we would try skiing down from Roundhouse Lodge. We went down Upper Whiskey Jack and then Lower Whiskey Jack. This is a small part of where we skied. It was hard and scary. We fell a lot! Unfortunately once you start going down a hill there's no way out, you have to keep going.


Beautiful views from the gondola.


We rode the Peak to Peak gondola from Whistler to Blackcomb. Great views but it was so high up. 1400ft high and something like 2 miles long.
Mike was feeling pretty nervous about the ride as we set off!





We made it there and then had to ride it back, there's no easy way down Blackcomb!

Yesterday was Vancouver's 125th birthday. It's hard to imagine a city being so young but in honor of this they relit the Olympic cauldron and we were there to see it!

Pretty impressive!

Just after you go into the park there is a suspension bridge you have to cross. It's very high up (50m) and it moves around a lot! It's also part of the Baden-Powell Trail which covers the north shore line of the Greater Vancouver area.





Views from the bridge.


We followed a small part of one of the hiking trails through the park which is pretty wet and muddy this time of year. Apparently cliff jumping is very popular here in the summer!

Our tour guide from Sunday told us the number one food in Vancouver is the Japadog - apparently people here love hotdogs and this is the Japanese take on it!

I looked it up on good old Google and this Japadog stand is the best place to get a hotdog in the city so yesterday lunchtime we decided to try it out and it was very good. This one was a beef sausage with onions, a special mayonnaise and seaweed. Yum!






Centre picture on the top row - Jin from Lost eats Japadogs so they must be good! Ha!



After lunch we went down to the harbour again as the weather was much better today. The view from here is amazing with the snow topped mountains in the background. There's also a water airport here and it's actually a real commercial airport and the boats take off and land on the water. I think our tour guide said they fly to Seattle.







Super pretty view before we headed over to catch the seaboat to the other side to go to Lynn Canyon Park.

On Monday night Mike and I went out for Indian food to Salam Bombay with our friend Gina, and she brought along one of her friends. This place does good Indian food!

On Tuesday, while Mike was busy taking pictures of the city across the water, I went to the Vancouver Aquarium. All the animals that end up here are ones that have been saved from the wild and which otherwise would have died if they had not been brought here.






There's also an Amazonian Rainforest section...





I got to see a dolphin show whilst I was there too, they were so good! I took lots of video of it too and once I get home I'll try and upload some clips of it!








Later on mike and I went to Granville Island to check out the market there. I think we went too late in the day really as lots of the shops were shut already and it was pretty quiet. I think this would be really nice in the summer on a warm, clear day as there was a good view of the city from here.





Oh and this is me with my new bag and jacket! Looking a bit cold!

Happy Wednesday!

We are having a great time in Vancouver! It's so rainy and cold here though. It started raining Sunday evening and then on Monday it just rained all day. We're not used to this much rain anymore! Oh well.

On Sunday we decided to take a walking tour of Stanley Park (before the rain came!)

Waiting to start the tour outside the Vancouver art gallery. We were the only people on the tour!










Cherry blossom in the park.


The water here is salt water which goes all the way to the Pacific Ocean. It felt like a long time since we had smelt the sea!


The old bear house from when there used to be a zoo in the park.


A miniature train actually powered by a real steam engine.





Totem poles from when the area was originally inhabited by First Nations.


Oh yes and we found a Nando's! We have now been to Nando's in 4 different time zones!

Today I'm off to the aquarium.