August 21, Already?

Hi All--

Well, we were major slackers for the last week or two of our trip, and very little news surfaced on the blog. Our apologies! And now I´ve got a little timer ticking away on the bottom of my screen, and only ten or so minutes to hit you with some relevant info, so here goes.

The Loire Valley:

Most importantly, we had a bed! It was in a lovely B&B run by a strange, little Frenchman who had no end of recommendations for restaurants. So we ate well, marveled at the chateaux, and were very happy to have a warm room, complete with four walls and a roof, when the rain rolled in.

Paris:

E will almost definitely post a longer update on this in the next day or two. For now: it rained, then it poured; sometimes it was just overcast, but that only lasted for an hour or so, after which it rained again. Thank goodness Paris has so many excellent museums -- between the Louvre, the Orangerie, the Musee d´Orsay, etc etc, we rode out the weather. And we also managed to tromp around the Champs Elysees and hike up the Eiffel Tower during the few dry bouts. As I said, more on all that later.

Iceland:

Note for future travelers to this country: Packing to sleep outdoors in Italy during August does not prepare you to camp in Iceland at any time of year. Yes, it is greener than Greenland, but no, that does not mean it is warm. When everybody around you is marvelling at the wondrous weather, and you´re busy counting the number of toes that you´ve lost to frostbite, it´s safe to conclude that you failed to prepare for the weather.

Despite the miserable sleeping conditions, however, we loved Iceland. It was one of the only outdoorsy destinations during our six weeks, and the other -- Cinque Terre -- easily ranked among our favorites. The landscape is bizarrely alien, devoid of trees and wildlife, with volcanic ridges rearing out of grassy plains and the occassional sheep wandering freely nearby. We hiked among geysers, straddled tectonic divides, and rafted down a glacial river. Excellent times all around.

The Future:

We fly home this evening, and the feeling is bittersweet. It´s quite sad that our adventure is coming to an end, but six weeks is a very long time, and frankly, we´re missing some of the comforts of home. We greatly look forward to kittens, normal coffee, predictable weather, a newspaper in the morning, and bathrooms available whenever we need them. We will also have much better internet access, and more on Paris, along with massive picture updates, will soon follow.

So stay tuned!!