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Friday, June 22, 2007
ICELAND
ICELAND WAS FANTASTIC!
We found it to be a wild, pristine and isolated land... yet with all the modern comforts of home. Bonus! It is truly the Land of Fire and Ice... the island is covered with lava, volcanoes, glaciers and ice caps and waterfalls. Our vacation was quite the experience. We traveled with Sharon, our "fellow traveler" previously of New Zealand and Africa fame. So here goes...
For those of you not familiar with Blogland... this blog is like all others... newer posts are at the top, not bottom of the page. SO... you can follow this link to my first post and then once you read it hit "newer posts" at the bottom, or you can use the Blog Archive on the left.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Good-bye Iceland
This morning was fantatically beautiful. Sunny, not so cold. A perfect send off for our Iceland trip. Sharon and I went on a shopping spree of sorts... souvenirs, etc. I got a great pumpkin colored thermal jacket (hmph.... I should have bought it at the BEGINNING of the trip!), christmas tree ornaments (Matt and I try to collect them wherever we go...), and a few other knick-knacks.
As we had even more time to kill after checking out of our hotel (*ahem* we had concerns as to whether or not our car would start and drive today. Long story... but lets just say off-roading in Iceland in a H.onda J.azz the day before was not the best of choices. A bit of a rattle in the right front...). Once we knew the car was functional... we drove up to Hallgrimskirkja, the main church in Reykjavik.
The interior is beautifully simple. While there, we scraped together our last Krona to take the elevator up for what is touted to be "the best view of Reykjavik". I'd say it lived up to the reviews!
Colorful city, no?
We reluctantly headed out of town and towards Keflavik International Airport. After a quick stop for lunch, it was Good-Bye Iceland time. We did, though, take a minute to record for posterity a picture of Matt's two "favorite things" about Iceland. No, not waterfalls, glaciers, boiling mud pits. FOOD, yes, food. On the left is a sparkly pear water drink-- I've gotta admit-- it is good! On the right is an EMPTY bag of cinnamon rolls. I cannot count how many of these we went through this trip. So here they are... Matt's favorite things about Iceland...
So there you have it... a chronicle of our adventure in Iceland. Ummmm yep, that's about it!
Monday, June 11, 2007
Lobster in Iceland
I can’t believe I am writing this (especially after our first few days here)… but I got sunburned in Iceland. And not just a “little color” kind of pink. No, it is more like a red-lobster-dipped-in-hot-sauce kind of sunburn. A tomorrow-it-will-be-a-painful-day-of-flying kind of a sunburn. Who would’ve thunk it? I have to say, suntan lotion was quite a ways down on my packing list for this trip. But more about that later…
This morning we headed out to explore the Reykjanes Peninsula, which is the strip of land south and west of Reykjavik. It was cloudy and VERY windy so most of the morning we drove without getting out of the car. With one exception… we had to brave the wind for a peek at this place… where the European and American plates meet, and are drifting apart (apparently 2 cm per year).
By the time we made our way along the gravel roads to Grindivik on the southern side of the peninsula, the sun was out.
Grindivik is a fishing village of about 2,000 people. We wandered around a bit. I think these white piles are some sort of salt. Why they are sitting out in the middle of nowhere… I have no idea, but I thought they looked cool.
There were typical corrugated metal houses in the village…
And a cool harbor
But who were we kidding? We really came out to the peninsula to do one thing (besides hiking, which we never really got around to…), and that is to visit the Blue Lagoon. They have drilled thousands of feed underground to tap the geothermal energy so abundant here in Iceland. They use the steam to produce energy, and they also heat fresh water. The silica and other minerals not needed in the process are then spilled into a pond… which became the Blue Lagoon. 
Over the years, it has become popular as there are reports of health and skin benefits from soaking in the water and using the silica as a mud mask. No visit to Iceland would be complete without a soak in the Blue Lagoon!
This is the new “expanded” lagoon. Notice it isn’t quite as blue… actually it is very green! Probably due to the hundreds of people who soak here daily. The steam vent in the background is where the water is piped in. The closer you get to the vent, the hotter the water. 
And, as you may imagine… it is here that my skin was burned to a crisp. It was like one big enormous spa where you could get the water as warm as you want, just by moving around. Very relaxing. And then there was the silica mud that they have in pots around the lagoon. Most people walk/swim around with mud masks on their face, arms, shoulders, etc. Judging by my sunburn… I should have kept the mud on my shoulders a bit longer! Oh well… we had a great time!
On our drive back to Reykjavik (we took a detour, of course!), we found this little church. And the sheep were nice enough to get in the picture for me…
These are fish drying racks just outside of Hafnarfjordur.
I got up close to take some pictures, and it was very eerie. The fish are all dried and they make this tinking sound in the wind. Very Twilight Zonish.
Back in Reykjavik, we had a fantastic “Last Supper in Iceland” at a small, cozy restaurant that serves Icelandic specialties i.e., cod and lamb. We wandered around the city a bit, and as you can see, the sun was out.
Another typical metal house…
Across the Tjorn to the Frikirkjan
The Hallgrimskirkja
And a typical street in the city
Now time to pack it up. A quick few hours of shopping in the morning, then off to the airport. It has been great!
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Thorsmork
Today was quite the adventure! We booked a “Super Jeep” tour of Thorsmork, which is an inaccessible (by car) wilderness area in southern Iceland. Only jeeps and trucks with large wheels can navigate through the park as there are very few permanent roads (the rivers change every season). There are no bridges, so you need a vehicle that can cross the rivers.
Our guide, Jon, picked us up early this morning and we were off. We drove back along the Ring Road along the southern coast (the same route we took when we first arrived a week ago) for about an hour. Matt and Sharon picked his brain with questions about growing up (on a farm in eastern Iceland), about going away for school at the age of 6 (Monday through Friday), and various other topics about Iceland in general. His family, like the the majority of farms at the time, used turf houses up until World War II. Once we entered the park, we first visited the “Tongue glacier” part of the Eyjafjallajokull glacier. The clouds hung low, giving it that “Lord of the Rings” feeling.
Next we hiked up this canyon
And kept going
Until we got to the very end and were rewarded with this waterfall
This is the view up the top of the canyon
Absolutely gorgeous!
We also did an “Icelandic Forest” hike where we went up through a small patch of native trees. The trees grow slowly and are quite short.
Jon asked “What do you do if you get lost in an Icelandic forest?
Answer: “Stand up!” (hahahaha)
Then to see if we are “true Vikings”… Jon took us hiking up a river in a cave. As you can see, the water got waist high and we were soaked… in GLACIAL water. Tres cold, but much fun! Most importantly, I managed to keep my camera dry the whole time. Bonus! Here are Jon and Matt
So I do believe we proved ourselves as Vikings... now Jon, I want one of those hats. You know, the ones with horns...
The entrance to the cave is on the far lower left.
Sopping wet and very happy, we headed back to Reykjavik.
Saturday, June 9, 2007
Reykjavik or Bust
Last night after dinner (which in addition to Icelandic lamb, consisted of delicious cream of cauliflower soup and hearty bread. Yum!), we walked around Akureyri. This city of 17,000 (second largest in Iceland) is one of the sunniest and warmest places on the island… despite being on the northern part of the island and very near the Arctic Circle. This is one of the brightly painted corrugated metal buildings along the pedestrian shopping street.
Here is the Akureyrikirkja (Akureyri church), which is a beloved landmark.
Inside, it contains a stained glass window which was rescued from Coventry, England just before the bombing during WWII. Somehow, it made its way here to Iceland. As is a tradition in Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands, model ships are hung in the churches to protect the parish’s fishermen.
Matt went out just after midnight and took a picture of the sun attempting to set…
The goal for today was to make it to Reykjavik. No small task as it is 385 km from Akureyri. The way we drive… making Matt pull over every several minutes to take pictures, and taking detours right and left… it would take us 36 hours. Sooo, after a few parting pictures of Akureyri, we were off.
We wound back down this beautiful valley
And decided to take a detour (what, us? A detour?). Oh, but this one was well worth it (when hasn’t it been?). We stopped at Glaumbaer where there is a turf house museum. We have seen them all over and wanted to know what they were like inside.
But first… on the outside, the sod was laid between the rooms and corridors at different angles to improve stability and insulation.
Parts of this turf house date back to the eighteenth century and it was in use until the 1900s. More than 30 people lived here at a time. There is one long corridor off which all 15 of the rooms connect.
With the exception of the two “guest rooms” and the master bedroom, all beds were in one room, lining the walls. They slept two per bed.
This is the “back” of the turf house
These flowers were sitting outside one of the 19th century timber houses
I add this picture because I loved this church next door
And… I am adding this one as we saw Icelandic flags flying everywhere today.
After this detour, we got serious and high-tailed it to Reykjavik. I gave our fearless driver (that would be Matt) a rest. Matt, who has driven in and out of fjords, who finds a way to pull over immediately and without question each time I yelled “STOP” because I want to take a picture, and has managed to get us around the island without hitting a single bird or sheep… although there were a few close calls… But I digress. ANYWAY… Matt needed a nap, so I became chauffeur. As a result, no pictures the rest of the way to Reykjavik.
But never fear… the day was not yet complete. We arrived in Reykjavik and checked into our hotel which is right downtown. We heard about a Viking restaurant in a neighboring town of Hafnarfjordur, the only one in the country, so we set off for some good, rousing Viking fun. When we arrived we discovered… it was the Viking Solstice Festival, held every two years in June. So we wandered around the market stalls. I KNEW I should have brought my Viking costume! See, next time I’m not packing so light! (hahahaha). It was like the Icelandic version of a Renaissance fair or Shakespearean Festival.
We attempted to eat at the Viking restaurant… but not surprisingly, it was all booked up. Too bad, it looked like it would have been a good time… long tables, big fires, etc. Maybe next time. We did, though, enjoy some live music. These people were not only passionate about what they were doing… they were also really good!
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