The Western Fjords, Wednesday, 15 July 2026

 The ship was rocking and rolling all night, so neither of us slept well, but we were not seasick, only unsettled. After learning how to navigate being in the bathroom together at the same time (it is small), we headed to the 8th deck for a light breakfast. We saw Jenny there, Barney had berry pancakes, and I had granola with fruit. I was not feeling great and definitely had something digestive going on, though the only thing I ate that Barney did not yesterday was a tiny cheese and vegetable sandwich during the welcome session. Definitely had to do something about that, and then went to the morning briefing, which included introductions to all the naturalists, and more about visiting Vigur Island where we will see Arctic Terns and possibly Puffins. Tried on my boots which were too small, and exchanged them downstairs; Barney’s were fine, as were both of our waterproof pants, so we are ready to go.

By lunch, I was definitely not well, so I had a bit of soup, some bread, and a banana, and hope this would clear things up. Then Barney did not feel well … shades of the Antarctica trip! We both took a nap as our Vigur Island trip was expected later in the day. The National Geographic expedition team always has a plan B and a plan C. So, plan B was a dry landing on Vigur Island to see the birds. But the storm moved and the water was very choppy, so it turned into a wet landing, meaning muck boots and waterproof pants, so plan C. The expedition team went to the site and apparently the dock etc., were underwater with the storm waves so it would have been a scuba landing, so plan D is now to go farther out the fjord and see if there is some better weather. I appreciate that they are so careful about safety, and flexible with options. 

Meanwhile, the expedition team went back to Vigur Island to bring the owners to the ship to talk to us. The couple met doing scientific work in Antarctica, came to Iceland for some additional research, fell in love, and decided to stay. They had a little boy, now 8 years old, and at some point, Vigur Island came up for sale. The island had been inhabited for centuries, mostly because the huge numbers of birds - tens of thousands of various species - deposit enough guano that the island is covered with lush green grass for grazing, very different than the surrounding rocky coast. The harvesting of down from Eider Ducks had also become a big project on the island, as well as some modest amount of tourism. Apparently, the island is incredibly well-known in Iceland, an iconic symbol of the rugged west. The previous owners, whose family had it for five generations, had offered it for $2.5M, but after having several offers, accepted  a lower offer from the couple because they wanted the scientific work and the agricultural work to continue, rather than have it be developed as a tourist location. The woman gave an incredible talk about their adventures and their life on the island, how the Eider ducks shed their down so they can warm the eggs, and then the down can later be gathered, cleaned, and sold as the finest kind of down available. After the talk, we went in for dinner, and expedition leader Lisle told us that the seas had calmed and we might in fact go ashore for a wet landing. After a quick dinner, we all suited up and headed out in the Zodiacs at about 9:30 p.m., still light because the sun goes down around midnight.

The island was lovely, green and slightly hilly, with some houses and other buildings clustered at the south end. We walked along the shoreline and saw our first Puffins, perched on the rocks, with fish grasped in their beaks just like in almost all the photos of puffins. We also saw hundreds of ducks in the water, somehow swimming in concert toward one area or another, probably alerted to the presence of food. There was a small windmill on the property, used for grinding grain, considered the oldest still in Iceland. Windmills get torn apart here by the wind, and next to the windmill, there was a children’s slide.  Farther on, we walked into the land of the Arctic Terns, who were nesting and thus very aggressive toward anyone walking nearby. We were told to take a three-foot-long stick with us and hold it above our heads to deter the birds from swooping down on us, but not to wave it around, only hold it. The hundreds of birds were indeed unhappy that we were there and did regularly dive bomb us, as well as each other. One did hit my head and Barney’s too, though not hard, still it was a bit of a shock and felt like being in Hitchcock’s movie “The Birds”. Afterwards, we went into a barn where the down was cleaned and stored, and the finished down was indeed incredibly soft. Eva, one of the naturalists, said that the Terns are by nature aggressive, even when she had been 50-60 feet away from a nest they would still dive bomb her. Another building has been set up for tourists to eat, and they had a lovely tart that folks could have a piece of, as well as water, and there was a tiny gift shop where I bought some Iceland flaked sea salt.

Back to the ship, still light out at 11 p.m., and so glad that we got to see this interesting and unusual place as our first landing. Tomorrow we backtrack a bit to near where we were going the first day, but this time to Dynjandi Falls, an immense waterfall about 300’ high which we will be able to hike to. 

Iceland, Reykjavik to the Sea, 14 July 2026

 Somehow we slept through the noise from the club below. We headed to Kaffi-O-Le for breakfast, it was in a hotel nearby, but it had only coffee and pastries, though the coffee was good. Back to the hotel to pack up and check out, and then we brought our bags to the Parliament Hotel where NatGeo had a hospitality desk. We learned that we did not need to be there at noon as we had thought, but by 3:30, which gave us a lot more time in Reykjavik. It was lightly raining on and off.

First we headed to the Cathedral, up a hill which started with the iconic rainbow-painted. It was lined with souvenir shops, sweaters everywhere, puffins, sheep, vaguely Scandinavian trolls, and more. The Cathedral plaza was occupied by a number of tour groups, and dominated a huge statue of Leif Eriksson. We went into the Cathedral, which like all Lutheran churches, was quite austere, no stained glass, no statues, no decoration, no side chapels, rather different than the Catholic cathedrals that dominate most of Europe. We walked around a bit, in awe at the huge organ (more than 5,000 pipes), and then took an elevator up 8 floors to the tower. Up four more lights of stairs, and we had a 360° view of the city underneath the 31 bells. Of course we waited for the 11:00am bells to ring which was wonderful, we felt the vibration in our bodies. It was windy and chilly in the tower, so after lots of photos, we wound our way back down.

We headed to Harpa, the big concert hall in the waterfront which is sheathed in glass that appears to be iridescent like fish scales, echoing Iceland’s longtime dominant industry. It was huge inside, and we found that there was a noontime concert we could get tickets to. The main concert hall is dark and had red lighting, to give the impression of being inside a volcano, and we sat in regular chairs on the stage instead of in the seats of the hall. What a delight! It was a father-daughter duo, he on soprano and alto so, she on piano and voice. They did a short program of some jazz, traditional Icelandic pieces, and some pieces that each of them wrote. Afterwards, we walked along the waterfront to a small restaurant called Slippbarinn (one of the places that the NatGeo folks gave us a lunch voucher for), and we had a burger. Then we walked to the City Hall and saw the giant topographical map of Iceland, which was very cool. We could spot Vik and Höfn where we’ll go at the end of the trip, and it really gave a sense of the immensity of the island, how mountainous it was, and how little flat arable land there was. It made it clear how rugged and difficult life must have been here for the first 1,100 years and even into the early 20th century.

It was time to get back to the Parliament Hotel, so we walked there and it was quite full with folks waiting. We asked if we could go on board n9w, and the hosts said we were welcome to walk there, but we could not board until 4:00. Since it had stopped raining, we connected with John, Reuben, and Jenny, and decided to walk to the ship, which was across from where their hotel was. En route, we did stop to see  lovely green sweater with puffins that Reuben liked, and we bought some puffin boot socks for Barney and some regular puffin socks for both of us.

We arrived where the ship was docked, and stood outside the gate chatting and enjoying the fresh air and final views of the waterfront. A staff member came out a bit before 4:00pm and said we could board, so we did. We knew that Eva and Ani, naturalists from the Antarctica trip, would be on board, and we saw them, they gave all of us big hugs. We also saw Boris, who we had not seen on the list, and so more hugs.  We went to our room and unpacked, it was so nice to put things into drawers and out the suitcases away.

Time to gather in the Ice Lounge for a briefing and welcome. Staff and crew were introduced, and we sat with Reuben, John, and Jenny, and happened to meet Jules, who had been on the Antarctica trip with us … we were the loud, troublemakers table in the far back. The expedition leader, Lisle, told us that the rough seas were going to make Flatey Island impossible to land on, so we would go up to the western fjords first, and then spend an extra day in Greenland, which sounds good to us. We went up to dinner and since I was feeling a bit unsettled (though the boat had not moved yet) I only had some cheese and bread and a bit of a gratin. Since it was a still Day, we sang a verse of La Marseillaise, and another guests came by to chat about France, he was from Pleasanton. Reuben is keeping a list of interesting folks to invite to another dinner at the big long table. Afterward, we went down to the bar and hung out with the group and met some new folks. Everyone is long forward to an exciting trip. We got ready for bed, closed the blackout curtains (sunset is around midnight this far north), and settled in.

Monday, 13 July 2026, Reykjavik

 We arrived in Iceland only about 15 minutes late, but the wait for passport control was quite long. Fortunately our taxi waited, and we arrived at the Hotel Borg after a nice drive. It is raining here, which we expected. We were able to check in early, and then went to The Laundromat Cafe (suggested by Madeleine) for a nice breakfast/lunch. Our hotel is across from the historic Parliament building from 1881, facing a lovely park that has become an historic gathering place for people here. 

Then, off to the. National Museum, where we enjoyed the exhibits spanning the history of Iceland from the earliest arrivals in 793 - Vikings from Norway, as the island was uninhabited until then, the collection of artifacts was really interesting, from Iron Age tools and silver hoards, to wooden carvings and vestments from the many churches once the island converted to Christianity around 1,000 CE,, through the introduction of the Lutheran faith. There was a 22’ long fishing boat with oars and sail from the 19th century which showed how exposed they were at sea, a tiny wooden house that was lived in until 1950, steel and ceramics artifacts and the first printed books here. The island was ruled by Norway for centuries, harassed by England and Germany for the rich fishing grounds, and then Denmark until independence in 1944. 

Barney’s boots were not comfortable, so we stopped at the hotel to get some moleskin. Then off to meet John and Reuben and meet John’s sister Alice, who will be on this trip. It was so nice to see them again. We had drinks at the rooftop bar of their hotel overlooking the harbor, then a nice dinner at a small restaurant also on the water. A large ship left as we watched, and an enormous coast Buard ship took up much of the harbor along with fishing boats. 

We had managed to stay up until 9;00pm, and so despite what sounded like a noisy yet fairly lame comedy show going on in the bar next door, we got to sleep and had a good night’s rest.

Leaving for Iceland and Greenland, 12 July 2026

Barney and I are headed to Iceland and Greenland! 

I have been working like crazy to finish a number of major work deadlines the last week weeks, capped by a 5-hour board retreat for a client yesterday. Whew. I finally started packing in the afternoon and doing the many things that were on my list. I finally finished shortly before midnight - a new record for me, as I am usually up until 3:00am the night before we go on vacation. When Madeleine was young, we used to joke that our family motto was, “you can always sleep on the plane,” and sure enough, we did.

We took BART to SFO which went smoothly - we are so lucky to not have to drive to the airport. We had purchased a sandwich at Market Hall en route to BART which we shared at the gate, so things have been relatively relaxed. So far I have only remembered one thing I forgot to do (water the indoor plants, I did everything outdoors), luckily Madeleine will stop by and do that after work. We have a first-class flight to Portland (not our choice, the last available) and then business class to Reykjavik. We’ll have most of a day there before we leave on the ship to go up the coast. We are looking forward to seeing a wonderful couple we met on our Antarctica trip, John and Reuben from Sydney, Australia, who will also be on this trip, with John’s sister. We’ll see them for dinner tomorrow evening. For now, we’re waiting to board, and watching a few videos of Marley at the dog sitter’s where he enjoys his buddies there and lots of walks. I miss him already.

Paris, 11 December 2025

We got up at 6:00am, had breakfast, and got ready to leave. Catherine went down with us, and we found the taxi waiting. Then a 10-minute argument ensued between Catherine and the taxi driver, as the taxi company had not mentioned the extra charge for luggage (a few Euros). She felt it was a point of principle and after talking to three people on the phone at the taxi company, they finally agreed to the original price and off we went. Catherine is a brilliant and persistent person, and she was not going to give up with that taxi driver! 

It was seriously foggy and traffic was slow, but we had left extra early, so once we arrived we checked in and went to the gate. There we saw a cute little robot that had recycling and trash containers and moved around the seating area.

I got some chocolates for colleagues at the office, and we boarded our flight. Even though the fog delayed our departure, everything went smoothly and we arrived on time in Chicago. We went quickly through customs (thank you Global Access card!), and while waiting for our bags, some beagles came by to sniff our carryons for food and other items. They were cute but also very serious. We had a long trek to the domestic terminal and we arrived just as our flight to SFO was boarding. This was an older plane, with only first-class and economy, so we were feeling pretty squeezed after flying business class to Paris and premium economy from Paris to Chicago. Luckily we had slept on the earlier flight, and we watched a movie together.

We got our bags and headed to BART, feeling pretty tired, and got on the train. As we settled in and turned on our phones again, there was a message from Madeleine asking where we were. Slightly alarmed, we texted back, "on BART headed home." She said she was on her way to the airport to pick us up - a lovely surprise - so we got off at the next station, turned around and went back on another train, and met her in the parking lot. So nice to have a ride home with her and get to share updates. She had been staying at our home and taking care of Marley these past two weeks, and after all the travel, we were indeed glad to get home.

Paris, 10 December 2025

Our last day in Paris, sigh. A quiet morning, we started to put together our suitcases and packing gifts for the return trip tomorrow morning.

We took the 21 bus to the Tuileries and walked through the Marche de Noel again, this time getting a large raclette sandwich that we split, with some fries (why are the fries so good in France?). We got some macarons to bring home, and enjoyed the holiday spirit there. Since the weather was nice (in the 50s) we ate in the garden, and some inquisitive little birds came right up to us looking for food. I gave one bird a tiny french fry and from then on he thought he owned the bench. As we finished, some other birds approached, we put a few crumbs on the bench which he gobbled up, and when the other birds approached for theirs, he fought them off quite vociferously. We walked further in the gardens until the Place de la Concorde.

We decided to go to the Musée de l'Orangerie where Monet's huge water lilies paintings are, we had not been there since our 1997 trip with Barney’s parents. Unfortunately we had not gotten tickets ahead of time so we had about a half hour wait to get in, but it was worth it. Seeing these magnificent paintings again with no time constraint was wonderful. While most people walked by or took videos of the paintings, we sat and contemplated them, enjoying the subtle variations of the colors and brushstrokes. These painting are truly a national treasure, and nothing can replace seeing them in person. What a treat this was.

We then took the metro to another St. James store in the Marais to look for the sweater I was interested in. While I decided I did not want one after all, we did find the other one Madeleine wanted and got that for her for Christmas. It was nice walking through the narrow old streets of the Marais again, and as we strolled along, seeing many folks coming home from work, we got a few more chocolates at a small store, and we headed south to the Ile St Louis for old times’ sake. Walking along the north side of Notre Dame still mostly covered with scaffolding brought back more memories of that 1997 trip, including when Mary walked into an almost invisible glass door separating two souvenir shops, falling down and getting a black eye (luckily she was not hurt more badly). 

We decided to stop for an aperitif at the little restaurant we had gone to several times during that 1997 trip, which was just as charming as we remembered it. We walked up the main street, the rue de Ile St Louis, and found the building that we were staying in in 1997. We bought some pastries for breakfast at the little boulangerie across the street, where Madeleine went during that trip on our last day to buy a pain au chocolate all by herself, age 7! What a wonderful memory. 

It was time to head back and go to our last dinner, with Alexandra Choquet. We hurried to catch the 21 bus back to Catherine’s and who was on the bus but Martine, Catherine’s friend at whose place we have stayed a few times, and Isabel Catherine’s sister! We had a nice but brief chat, what a lucky coincidence. Back to Catherine’s to change and then a quick 15 minute hike to a restaurant called Le Verbelon to see Alexandra and her son Louis. It was great to see her again too, after five years, and Louis is now about to graduate from college with a degree in architecture. This was a very authentic bistro on rue Tolbiac, with only a chalkboard menu in French. We split a butternut squash tart to start, then Barney and I had a delicious hare stew with mashed parsnips, and split a profiterole. It was nice to catch up with Alexandra, she continues to enjoy her medical work at the senior home. Her older son Antoine is in marketing in Brussels, and the youngest, Benoit is training to become an actor. We had a fun time talking about travel and future plans. Again, another wonderful friend we made who had given us a look at another way of life. 

Walking back to the apartment we realized what a busy and socially fulfilling trip this has been. We packed our suitcases, realizing we had an amazing number of gifts and books etc. to take home, but luckily we had underpacked so we had plenty of space. After a final long chat with Catherine, during which she called to order am 8:00am taxi for us, we headed to bed to get up early for our departure. 

Paris, 9 December 2025

Another late morning, relaxing. 

Today we planned to go to CityPharma, the famous cosmetics and beauty pharmacy which sells all the top brands for low prices ... we have list from Madeleine of some things she would like so we have a purpose in going.  

But first we went into St Germain des Pres, the oldest church in Paris. I love its polychrome columns and ceiling. This was the first time we had been in a church during a sunny day, and the the light poured in through the stained glass windows, projecting rainbows of color across the columns, it was so beautiful. 

Then off to the pharmacy, which was packed in tiny aisles about one person wide, though Catherine said it was much worse in the summer as it is famous among tourists. Luckily there were many people to help us find what we were looking for, and it was so packed and warm I couldn’t wait to get out to the fresh air. On the sidewalk we saw an amazing piece of public art, which appeared to be an explosion from underneath with a fountain, that looked rather like a skateboard ramp. 

We headed to Montparnasse station, where there was a St. James store, to get a sweater for Madeleine  the one we had gotten her years ago at Mont St Michel had worn through. After some try-ons (trying on wool sweaters indoors when I was already warm was not fun but I persevered), we found one that was what she wanted, and we ended up getting a pullover shirt for Barney, too.

Catherine headed home, and we were off to the Rodin Museum, which we had been to many years ago. Located in a large old mansion, there are some penthouse apartments across the street ... I wondered at the beautiful view they must have of the extensive gardens. The gardens are filled with casts of many of Rodin's most famous sculptures, including "The Kiss", "The Thinker", and "The Burghers of Calais".

Next, back to Catherine's, to change for our big dinner at the restaurant Le Train Bleu at Gare de Lyon. We had made a reservation at this gilded, well-known restaurant, and luckily Anne (Catherine's daughter) was able to join us. We had a wonderful dinner, framed by the festive, theatrical presentation by the staff. While our reservation was at 7:00pm when they first open, by 8:00pm it was completely full and busy. The huge dining room was crowned by huge, beautiful paintings of the many locations that the trains from this station use to travel to, mostly in southern and central France. It was truly a feast, with all kinds of elaborate serving, like the crepes suzette for the table next door with a huge flame going up several feet. Our Baba au Rhum dessert was delicious, and when they poured the rum over it, Barney asked if they could give us a glass, and the waiter left the whole decanter! After desserts and coffee, we headed back to Catherine's. It had been a very full and wonderful day.