shopping.

i did my damage. and i have no regrets! april 77 and surface to air, i love you.

nightmare.

last night i was thinking about when i was going to see the catacombs. it gave me nightmares about a house which people had a mass suicide and their organs were cut up into pieces, all over the floor, and i was one of the people who had to clean it up. it was quite disturbing. then after the clean up, the space was turned into a cafe. wierd.

travel time

yesterday i arrived in london. to get on my train to paris. as i was waiting in londonthis man sat down right next to me. i didn't think anything of him at first, but then this girl came up to him and smiled. she must have known him. he kept saying you her, "what do you want? i don't know you. what are you doing?" then they walked away for a bit. he walked back and sat down and started to talk to himself. i still don't know what was up with that.

then i got on my train to paris. as i arrived in gare du nord, i see a fight break loose. a girl was beating up an old man. i couldn't understand what was going on there either.

then i did a little shopping, had some sushi, grabbed a drink and went to bed.

today i got up at about noon. went to do some shopping. i dunno how i ended up spending 2 hours inside colette. it pretty much is awesome. it's too bad i couldn't afford most of the things there. i ended up getting a dress and some music.
i went to chatelet/les halles and got a pair of boots, skincare products to last me a year, and a new sim card for my phone.

tommorow i will do more marathon shopping. april 77, surface to air, rue du charlot, and most likely st germain de pres. i will also try to fit in le catacombs as well as visiting the school of couture.

leaving reykjavik

this morning i left reykjavik. now on my way to paris. my eyes hurt. i didn't get to bed until 1am and woke up at 4:25 am. i didn't even party last night. i just went on a tour, went out for dinner, had a drink, and came home to pack up my stuff and to get ready for paris. my room is finally booked. my flight and train also booked. i shuold have gotten my tickets for paris ahead of time. at one point it would only cost me about $90 for reykjavik to paris. because i waited till last minute, it would cost about $600. i am not paying that much for a one way ticket. so i found ways around it. i flew into london. took a train to london city, and took the chunnel into paris. which i cheated the system by saying i was 25 to get a discounted ticket. total travel time from when i woke up. 12 hours. shitty.

yesterday i went to the post office to send some stuff home. hotel leifur erikson did it again. such great service. i asked if they had a box handy. they sure did. i also asked if they could mail out my postcards. they said yes. they also had breakfast ready for me this morning when i came downstairs at 4:45am. breakfast is normally served between 6:30-9:30.

on a tour to gullfoss and geysir. we drove from the european tectonic plates to the north american tectonic plates. that was strange. we also saw a beautiful water fall. then i went to a icelandic restaurant and had raw puffin, whale, and deer pate. i didn't like much of it. puffin was sort of mushroom texture. whale was like steak. and deer pate tasted like old dry pate.

waking up in reykjavik

it was tough for me to get up this morning at 11am. maybe it's because i was chatting till 3am. maybe it's because i've been used to waking up in the afternoon after staying out way too late. maybe it's because it's been dark until 11:30am. either way i had to get up. i missed breakfast, which ends at 9:30am. i got up, showered, left the hotel at about noon. today i tried my hardest to do some shopping. it's nice that all of the boutiques are on my street, as well an intersecting street. it makes it really hard for me to get lost. anyhow, i walked outside and somehow a swarm of asian tourists wearing their tourist uniforms surrounded me. you know, the puffy parkas, the hiking shoes, the wire rimmed glasses, and all in neutral colors(blue, khaki, white, and sometimes orange). i think to myself,"oh god, i hope no one thinks i'm with them.

first stop was 12 tonar, a local music store with a record label. the guy working was very nice. i asked him about icelandic music so he openned up some shrink wrapped cds for me to listen to and even made me some espresso. icelandic coffee isn't the best. but it was the thought that counts.
then i stopped at a place called fish and chips. you can imagine what i ate. and damn was it good. organic, freshly fished out of the ocean this morning, cod.
i proceeded to go shopping for clothing. some of the stores i tried to visit ended up being shut down. i walked through almost every single boutique in reykjavik. i ended up with a purse and a few scarves. no clothing. i was very suprised since all of the window displays look so cool. i think icelandic clothing is just not my style. a little too crafty looking for me, a bit too nineties, or some things looked like i can make it myself.
so i stopped in another music shop. this one belongs to the former sugar cubes. of course the guy managing had good taste although the store is known to be called "bad taste". i got a few records and the sugar cubes box set on vinyl. i can't wait to get home to listen to my new finds. the guy managing also tipped me off to different cafes with live music. thanks guy!

after shopping, i got hungry again and stopped at this little coffee shop on my street. i met my first gay in iceland. he was the owner of the coffee shop. he was not icelandic, but his husband is. he made me a crepe and a chai tea. both pretty damned good. wifi food and tea. what a perfect combo. and he was soo nice. i think i'll go there tommorow.

i also booked a tour to see aurora borealis. and here i am, stuck with like 20 asian tourists. i felt like such an outcast, even though we are all asian. then some tourists from other countries showed up. i felt normal again. these asian tourists keep blowing my cover. and the booking agents think i'm with them. can't they tell i don't have the tourist uniform on?
so i paid 49 euro to go on this tour. it was a bust. no aurora borealis. i think all the photos of it were photoshopped or maybe someone mad a mistake while developing film.

hotel leifur eriksson

is the shit!!! i needed strange things such as thread and a needle. they had it. i asked if they had a phone charger...they have many for my phone, and the front desk guy told me that i could have it! free wireless internet. i feel more connected to the world now. and my hotel costed me a whopping $143 for 4 nights in the center of the city. 2 blocks from downtown. wtf?!

relaxing

reykjavik has been soo chill. i sort of like that this city forces me to slow down. last night i went to see a janis joplin musical. the band was really good. the songs were performed well, but i couldn't understand the monologue. i had seats in the 3rd row, but i was falling asleep, so i left during intermission. i went back to the hotel for a nap. i woke up at about midnight..(havent used any alarm clocks here). got dressed and went out. i'd say i left at about 1:30am. people were just getting out at that time. i went to a place called nasa, which big acts in reykjavik usually play at, such as sigur ros, gus gus, mum. last night it was raver time. i wasn't feeling the music much, but i stayed for a bit anyway. i left at about 4am. people were still driving into town. i wanted to go to the place bjork sometimes shows up to, but it got shut down. oh well. today, i went to the blue lagoon. it was really quite strange. it's a geothermal pool in the middle of volcanic rock. it was a 45 minute drive out there. i wanted to get in for a massage, but they were all booked. so i just floated around in the milky blue water for a few hours. had some food, styled my hair and left. i took a nap, after i got back to the hotel. the northern lights tour was cancelled. it was too overcast and snowing. nothing is open. i'm in the hotel contemplating going out for a small bite.