Holiday planning continued

Too many hours of research later and almost everything is sorted. The tent is packed and the itinerary is somewhat set. On July 1 I will be on a plane to Iceland, to relax and wander the coastline for 13 days. Yes, Iceland. Specifically, I will be camping at small towns and out of the way places near lava fields, geysers, and at one point on a small island that is accessable via ferry. (There is also a small airfield and a five minute flight, but potentially a person needs to run out and clear the field of sheep before the turbo prop lands, so instead the ferry of 2.25 hours will be just fine.)

For an American who does not get much vacation usually, to have to plan a two week vacation, and then to still have to figure out what to do with another 20 vacation days, it's been a learning experience.

At the same time, with the local contract I decided to move closer to the office as I'm tired of the drive in. I found a very bright place with a balcony close enough to the office to ride Mr. Dutch Bike in whenever I want. The move started tonight and will be completed gradually over the next week.

Photos and such after I come back from Iceland and unpack fully. In the meantime, here is where I will spend my first few days:
http://www.iww.is/landshlutare.asp?lysing=swt&hluti=swt&menu=sw
Or check out the main tourism site: http://www.icelandtouristboard.com/

holidays

Many of you like to point out the proliferation of holidays in Europe. It's not that there are so many of them, it's just that they are all squashed together on the calendar. For example, where I work in Germany, these are the holidays this year:

Jan 1 - New Year's
Apr 14 and 17 - Easter
May 1 - May day
May 25, June 5, June 15 - Ascension, Whit Monday, Corpus Christi
Oct 3 - Re-unification of Germany
Nov 1 - All Saint's day
Dec 25 and 26 - Christmas
Dec 31 - New Year's Eve

So as you can see, it's an absolute holiday drought after this week, Thursday.

However, World Cup is currently going on in Germany, so the entire country is in play mode from June 9 to July 9. There are people from all over the world visiting Germany wearing their country gear, in particular flags worn around the shoulders or the waist.

Wearing my US flag I was walking home on Sunday and over the bridge when an old man on a bicycle, at least 80 years old, slowed down, pointed at me and yelled something. In the office the next day my colleagues said that he is still angry about losing the war. I am not sure they were joking, actually.