To Iceland and Back – Part 1

The Red Rainstorm warning had been issued, and we had just watched the FIFA match between Turkey and USA, which though won by Turkey in the last seconds, but couldn’t get the winner into the next round. Such is how life presents itself. Su and I were in Shenzhen for one day plus, primarily to look at the returned Yuan Ming Yuen exhibits at the SIMOA, Shenzhen International Museum of Arts. Su had booked us one night at a Hilton hotel around Guangming to allow more flexibilities and possibilities; details on which she had posted online last night, so I won’t repeat them here.

Likewise, Su had been posting blogs on our last trip from which we were back for nearly three weeks by now. We were away, first in Stockholm, followed by Iceland, including staying on a ship for eight nights cruising round the island. Every part of the trip down to the minute details had been planned by Su months in advance so that my presence there was primarily to keep her company and to witness what transpired. Su had invited her good friend Mei from Nottingham to join us on the trip, and the two girls had had a great time.

I was never good at keeping travelogs since my Antarctica sojourn in 2008. On that trip which I thoroughly enjoyed for a number of reasons, I took numerous photos on my Nikon and made notes during the various lectures I attended, but I had no time to document them meaningfully or systematically, partly because I was rushed into another trip to Tasmania with my great and late friend Ko Ying shortly afterwards, and mainly because I was preoccupied with my study programme on Education with Durham University. Somehow, I uncovered or found those notes and photos shortly before I went on the Iceland trip, which brought back so many memories, which never got caught, recorded or mentioned in my first memoir published in 2021. There must be some lessons to be learnt from all these, but I would leave them for now.

I was determined to be a passive traveler on this last trip, looking forward to good food and quiet moments in no man’s land and visiting places I had never been to or never thought of going. I had decided to leave the chores of documentation to the younger, more energetic and abler Su, who did not fail me. She had already posted several blogs accompanied by photos during our trip, which had attracted some followings. Again, I don’t thaink I would repeat them here. Let me focus on the unseen parts, my feelings and thoughts.

On the logistics side, we got up at 0430hrs on Day One. The taxi driver called Su at 0515hrs as planned and we set off at 0530hrs uneventfully for Terminal One, where we queued up at the China Airline counters amongst a contingent of over 50 ISF students and staff. It took us about an hour to go through the check-in and securities rigmarole, and we boarded a bus to the plane side from Gate 520 in good time for our flight scheduled for 0800hrs. The ISF contingent was on the same flight. They were also going to Beijing. It was a smooth flight, and we arrived in Beijing on time for the flight to Stockholm. During the flight, Su chatted with the traveler sitting next to her and learnt that he had children in Stockholm, which was why he was a regular visitor. After getting off at the airport, we boarded a train to town centre before taking a taxi to the Profil Hotel where we met up with Su’s friend Mei, who said she didn’t need to eat a lot. We looked around and ended up at a posh looking eatery nearby and had champagne with pizza. Nothing is cheap in Stockholm anyway.

Su had it all worked out. She bought us a package at the Tourist Information kiosk which offered free access to most museums, a harbour cruise and unlimited hop on and off bus trips. We began by taking the two-hour ferry cruise after a walkabout along the coast taking pictures of the iconic “Cage”, the Grand Hotel where our friend Alexander Wong used very often, mainly on scouting activities and other tourist sites. We had lunch at the Market Place before going back to our Profil Hotel for some rest before having dinner in the room with food from the Market Place.

We spent the next two days touring museums and had ample food and wine in between, mainly in-room. On Day Five, which was Thursday, we checked out for Raddison after leaving most of the luggage at Profil. We then walked to the National Museum and walked ourselves till check-in time around 3pm. The logistics were predicated by circumstances, Profil being unable to offer us accommodation on Thursday night. We were pleased with the spacious room at Raddison. We then walked to King’s Opera House where Su had booked dinner for 4pm, in time for the concert at 7pm. We took the obligatory photos at the Golden Foyer and did other tourist stuff, sat through the two-hour concert, which was uneventful, before walking back to Raddison. The next day, which was Friday, we had a leisurely morning before making our way for fine dining at noon at the Grand Hotel. The restaurant was named after Chef Mathias, and we were surprised that he was at the entrance to receive us. We had a great and expensive meal which Mei had said more than a few times and had insisted on paying for the meal to celebrate Su’s birthday. We were immensely grateful to Mei and thankful for the beautiful weather, for which purpose we basked under the sun for desserts and coffee before making our way back to Profil, where we were offered an outrageous spacious suite, complete with a balcony, a bathtub and plenty of shelving space. Su went out for a bottle of sparkling wine and a dozen oysters for our dinner on the balcony. On our last day in Stockholm, the girls went for the Modern Museum while I stayed indoor for the checkout at noon, after which we walked across for a good Italian meal, complete with wine and desserts, before making our way to the airport for Iceland.

I didn’t make any notes, or maybe I misplaced them. I will pause here and come back in the next blog. Suffice it to record here that we managed to download quite a bit of images taken on my other camera which I acquired around 2013, but which I had forgotten until the eve of our departure for this trip.