KatelynJune 30, 2023- July 11, 2023
Where We Stayed:
- Hyatt Place London City East
- Hilton Reykjavik Nordica
- Hyatt Place Zurich Airport The Circle
- Hotel D Geneva
- Hyatt Regency Hesperia Madrid
Trip Highlights:
- Our first Hidden London tour
- Crystal Garden Dinosaurs
- Waterfalls & Puffins in Iceland
- Experiencing earthquakes in Iceland due to an erupting volcano
- Swiss Chocolate and treats
Favorite Restaurants:
- Nando’s
- Flat Iron
- Hlemmur Mathöll
Our big trip of the summer had us hopping from country to country across Europe. We started our trip with two days on our own in London.
Hidden London Tour – Euston Station
We began our time in London with a Hidden London Tour of Euston Station. Hidden London tours allow you to visit old, unused London Underground stations and learn about their history. The old portion of Euston Station that we toured closed in the 1960s. Highlights:
- Seeing the old West End and movie advertisements from when these tunnels closed in the 1960s
- Learning about how the old ticket counters worked (and standing behind one)
- Watching current trains run from the ventilation shafts and learning how the underground “breathes”
We Stopped by the London Transport Museum, the Group Who Runs the Tour 
Original Psycho Poster From When This Tunnel Was Last Open 
The Old Ticket Window 
Original West Side Story Poster 
Before the Tour
Transit Fun
London was packed this weekend, and most of the big sites were very busy. We were in a public transit mood, so we spent the rest of the day seeing the city via different modes of public transit. Highlights:
- Riding a double-decker bus from the front row of the top level (fun city watching)
- Riding the DLR for the first time and seeing Canary Wharf
- Riding the cable car over the Thames river for the first time
- Ending the day with dinner at Flat Iron
Crystal Gardens
As the city was very busy, we took the Overground out to the suburbs and visited Crystal Gardens, a park I had been meaning to get to. We had lunch at Nando’s (our favorite), wandered the hedge maze and saw the famous Crystal Garden dinosaurs.
These dinosaur statues were built in the 1800s and meant to depict the current understanding of what newly discovered dinosaurs looked like. However, as we’ve learned more over the past 100 years, we’ve discovered that what they thought these dinosaurs looked like in the 1800s is actually very incorrect. The statues today now all have signs next to them showing what this dinosaur was thought to look like in the 1800s compared to what we currently believe those dinosaurs looked like today.
British Library
After the Crystal Gardens we stopped by the British Library, which is home to many famous documents. This includes many original musical compositions by artists such as Mozart and Beethoven, original Da Vinci sketches, and the original Magna Carta.
Reykjavik, Iceland
We flew to Reykjavik, Iceland and joined Sam’s family who had arrived the day before. Our first day was spent exploring the town of Reykjavik. Highlights:
- Tasting whale along with local cheeses and fish
- Shopping for fun trinkets
- Finding some of our favorite Danish sweets
- Our first glimpse of the midnight sun (the sun just never set)
Dyrhólaey
Our first full day in Iceland was spent driving along the southern coast to the town of Vik. Along the way, we stopped at Dyrhólaey, an overlook with cliffs and a black sand beach that is home to puffins.
Vik, Iceland
We stopped and explored the town of Vik, about 2.5 hours from Reykjavik. Here we walked on the black sand beach and explored the cute town. The town of Vik sits beneath the Katla Volcano and Mýrdalsjökull glacier. The glacier sits at the mouth of the volcano, and the small museum in town explains that if the volcano has a major eruption, it will likely melt the glacier and flood everything in town.
Skógafoss and Seljalandsfoss
On our way back to Reykjavik, we stopped at two waterfalls as well as the Skogan open air museum. Highlights:
- Beautiful waterfalls accompanied by rainbows
- Walking a full loop behind a waterfall and getting soaked
- Learning about early Iceland at the open air museum
The Golden Circle
We spent our last full day in Iceland driving the Golden Circle, a loop that hits many of the major natural sites near Reykjavik. This includes:
- Kerid Crater (not an actual stop on the circle, but an easy addition to a lake that has formed in a former volcano)
- Gulfoss Waterfall (multi-level waterfall)
- Geysir Geothermal Area (where the word “geyser” comes from)
- Thingvellir National Park (Where the North American and Eurasian Techtonic Plates meet)
Zurich, Switzerland
We flew via London to Zurich, Switzerland. We had one full day in Zurich, which happened to coincide with Zurich’s national day, which brought many Swiss to the town to celebrate. The city was packed, but we enjoyed lots of local chocolate and other treats and explored.
Geneva, Switzerland
We took a train to Geneva, Switzerland. It was incredibly hot, so we just wandered around or a while, seeing the famous fountain, taking ferries across the water, and exploring.
Madrid, Spain
We re-located to Madrid, primarily because our flight home was from Madrid the following day. We had a very hot afternoon in Madrid, where we went on a walk to a major park and people watched.
