Europe Days 2-3: Vancouver to Iceland and Paris

Posted On June 25 , 2025

Monday and Tuesday, June 23rd and 24th, were our big travel days – 7 hours from Vancouver to Iceland, where we had a tight connection to a 3-hour flight to Paris. Both flights were with Icelandair, in a 2021 Boeing 737-8 MAX, registration TF-ICR.

Some people find spreadsheets useful in making sense of a trip – I need a photo-itinerary webpage, so created one a few days ago. You can see it here. While it was useful before leaving home, I used it already this morning to keep track of the days.

Monday started off chilly and dark in Vancouver, so we weren’t in a big hurry to get out and wander, though with a 7:00 pm flight we had lots of time to kill. I took a final shot of the Sinclair Centre from our room at the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel, then checking out at noon, leaving our bags with the Fairmont Gold concierge.

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Then it was time for a walk, along the waterfront. The Disney Wonder was docked at the west side on Canada Place, the side we can’t see from our room.

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The float lane base was quite busy, so we spent quite a wile there.

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C-FHRT is a 1958 de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver operated by Gulf Island Seaplanes. This particular aircraft has an interesting history. I have other photos of C-FHRT but this is the first with this new paint job.

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There were planes coming and going pretty much constantly.

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We were offered continued access to the 9th-floor lounge to relax until it was time to leave about 3 pm, and were happy to be able to return there.

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A special table of wonderful desserts was laid out 🙂

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Then it was time to go. At the Canada Line, we got seats right at the end of the train, another good photography location.

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It’s a very long walk from the Canada Line to the International terminal. We hadn’t thought about that, and it might be a consideration in deciding between the train and a taxi on future trips.

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But, we were soon checked in at the quiet Icelandair desks.

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We had a look and went into the Atrium, “a re-creation of a West Coast open ocean island.” It’s intended to be “an open-air focal point of reflection and connection to the coast.” Perhaps it works for people who have never experienced one.

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The International terminal is a great place to get a close look at planes I usually only see at great distances, like this blue bubble bee from Condor. Well, it’s unique!

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At 19:17 as we climbed out from Vancouver I shot one of the very few photos from a flight that had great potential. Clouds were the main problem, but we also stayed hundreds of kilometers south of what I had expected from the great circle mapper.

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An hour and a half later, the sun dropped into the clouds as we were southwest of Saskatoon.

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Crossing over Greenland with a solid cloud layer was a big disappointment. Dropping into the clouds as we approached Keflavik (KEF), the airport for Reykjavik, Iceland, we kept getting lower and lower, still in cloud. We finally broke out at about 3,000 feet above the ground. We landed at 02:13 Vancouver time, 09:13 local.

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I was surprised by how large KEF is. There were a lot of aircraft, almost all Icelandair.

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The terminal is quite small. Most passengers get there via bus, as we did. (we would find out a month later that the terminal is both large and modern)

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We were guided around the terminal for a while, had a Customs officer glance at our passports, then boarded another bus that took us back to the same aircraft, TF-ICR, a Boeing 737 MAX 8.

A couple of minutes after taking off, we passed over a lava flow and steam vents to the southeast of the airport – the famous Blue Lagoon is only about 4 km further southeast of this area.

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The 3 hour flight to CDG, Charles de Gaulle airport near Paris, was almost all over a solid cloud layer, though I did get a glimpse of the coast of Ireland from 37,000 feet.

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A couple of photos of the French countryside as we wound our way to CDG. I was surprised to see most of the land taken up by farming, though logically I knew that was the case.

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CDG at 15:34 local, 06:34 Vancouver time.

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We taxiied for a very long time, passing over highways twice.

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CDG has some very cool people-movers!

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Welcome to Paris Airport. Voted the best airport in Europe 4 years in a row.

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We soon had our bags and headed out to meet our shuttle driver. Cathy had done an amazing job of arranging every detail.

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It’s 33 km from the airport to the Hotel de Seine in the historic Saint Germain Des Prés part of central Paris. Traffic was heavy, and it took a long time, but once we got into Paris we were constantly passing sites I’d only read about.

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The Hôtel de Seine is small, historic, and utterly charming! We got room 15 on the second floor.

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We used the tiny elevator when we arrived, but have used the stairs since. I think those stairs climb 5 floors.

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Our only outing that evening was a special dinner, one of two Cathy had planned for Paris. La Jacobine was a short walk. They only take reservations in person, but we got incredibly lucky and a tiny table was avalable. Within minutes people were being told the wait was an hour and a half. The meal – the experience – was wonderful, a perfect introduction to Paris.

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Although the hotel is on a quiet street, the area is very busy in the evenings – it’s apparently a very trendy area.

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Getting back to the hotel, the light was perfect for a portrait of the building, being lit by reflected light from the building across the street.

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And there Tuesday, June 24th, ends. As I finish writing this it’s 06:45 on Thursday and we’re about to go downstairs for breakfast – a petit dejeuner. Yesterday was our major Paris exploration day, and I’m rather overwhelmed even trying to think about how to tell you about it. But, I’ll pull a small percentage of the 182 photos I shot and figure it out 🙂