A Rough First Day For The Detroit Crew / 10 Minutes in Iceland

We decided to make what is perhaps one of the most ambitious European trips out there.  We hit seven countries in fifteen days, going in the reverse direction of what you see on the map here.

Our group of 24 Fairview folks was split up into three groups.  19 flew to London via Reykjavik, Iceland. 5 of us flew through Detroit, and one of us flew through Toronto.

Due to the rough weather in Denver, our inbound aircraft couldn't land, causing us to miss our connection in Detroit.  The four guys wanted to travel to Detroit, even though it was extremely unlikely that we'd be able to make it any further than there. Detroit's no fun, but it is better than just turning around and going back home.

Although you can't really tell from the picture, the weather was quite awful at the airport.

The kids were good sports about it though, and we wound up spending the evening at an airport hotel in Detroit. Not what we had hoped for, but oh well. It's the best we could do under the circumstances.

We had a classy dinner at the "cafe" at the gas station next door.

A spectular view from my suite. The inaccurately labeled "Red Roof Inn" in background.

Meanwhile, the main group fared much better, and made it to Iceland on time. Later, they all arrived at London Heathrow safe and sound. 

The Iceland group during their 54-second layover in Iceland.

London

We stayed at the Umi Hotel in London.  This one proved to be one of the more "dormy" hotels that we stayed at, and I think it might have been the only one with bunk beds. On a more positive note, though, it was in Notting Hill, one of the nicest neighborhoods in London. Of all the hotels we stayed at, it was probably the best located.  I guess you're always going to have that sort of trade-off. 

First night's dinner in London.  Sadly, the group in Detroit missed out. 

Meanwhile, this is what Mr. Lewis had for dinner in Detroit.

Second night's dinner in London- Fish and chips dinner 

St Paul's Cathedral

Our tour guide Alessandro shows us around London.

Tower Bridge

Buckingham Palace



Guards 



Some students went to the London Eye in their free time.  It's pricey, but it's got awesome views of the city. 


Many museums are free in London, so we went to check out the Tate Modern.





Seems modern. 



Tate Modern from the inside.



We had fantastic luck with the weather overall throughout the entire trip.  I had warned the students over and over again that it would pour down at some point in London, but we had spectacular weather the entire time!

The Journey To Paris

The trip to Paris involves a Eurostar train from London's St. Pancras Station to Paris's Gare du Nord.  The trip only takes a couple hours and the train was pretty nice as far as trains go.

Tube

Tube

Tube

St. Pancras Station

Waiting Lounge at St. Pancras Station.  You have to go through a metal detector and passport control like at an airport.

Train to Paris

Train to Paris

A slight mixup left us waiting outside the Gare du Nord for a bit.




Waiting wasn't fun, but I thought this photo was sort of artsy, so I threw it in.



When we finally arrived at our hotel, the Adagio Port de Versailles, we realized that the hotels were actually small apartments.  This place wound up being many students' favorite hotel.

Second view of room

Paris

Ah Paris......

We started off our morning with a bus tour of the city, ending at the Arc D'Triomphe.

We stopped at the Eiffel Tower for some photos

And stopped by the Notre Dame Cathedral as well....

The food was very good in Paris, as we found out when we stopped at a bakery for lunch. 

And don't worry, folks.  We totally saw the Mona Lisa as well. Hahahaha

My favorite part was the fact that the signs warning you of pickpockets were about as big as the Mona Lisa itself. 

Rural France and Colmar

After Paris, we met up with our wonderful Dutch driver Gerard, and traveled from Paris to our next hotel, the Perle des Vosges.  Located in the middle of nowhere (but in a good way), we had some interesting unplanned interactions with the locals, which is one of the many unexpected benefits of traveling.

View from the hotel

To give you an idea of how rural this place was, here's a short video: 

Dinner at the hotel

While we were eating, one of the other guests randomly pulled out an alphorn and gave us an impromptu performance. 

The group loved the alp horn.  In the background, you can see Gerard, our driver. 

The guy let us test it out as well.

Jesse gave it his best, but it's more difficult than it looks!

Seated at a table next to us was a group of Belgian mayors who were on one of their yearly bicycle tours through rural France. This slightly tipsy Belgian mayor came over to my table numerous times and thanked us for saving Europe from the Germans.

The next day we packed up and headed over to Colmar.  Colmar is a small French town near the German border.  There's not much to do here, but it's a great place to wander around in for a few hours.

Colmar is a small city near the German border.  There's not many tourist attractions here, but it's a beautiful city to wander around in for a few hours.