South Iceland

We left the Golden Circle region and headed generally east along Island's south shore. Our next destination, in Vik, was only an hour away so we had plenty of time to stop and see some sites. That and the fact that it never gets dark. Ever.

Our first stop was an interesting waterfall called Seljalandsfoss that has hollowed out the rock behind it, so there's a path you can take to walk behind the waterfall. In the picture you can see people walking the path on the far side. I actually wore my rainpants for this. Sally seemed to do fine with her leggings.

From there we went on to another waterfall called Skogafoss. Skogafoss is a serious curtain waterfall. After seeing it from the bottom, there are steps you can climb to look down at it. The waterfall itself is better seen from the bottom, but on a sunny day you can see a rainbow from the top. We had a brilliantly sunny day - our first one since we're here.

Big Skogafoss, June 2016

Despite only having an hour to travel, we didn't get to our hotel in Vik until mid-afternoon. We checked in, and then asked about someplace for lunch. The guy at the desk suggested the black sand beach, where's there's a lunch spot. We drove the few miles and found the spot. The food was okay; pretty much what you'd expect from a beach place. The black sand was more like black pebbles, and the wind was howling. How hard, you ask? So hard that my tripod almost blew over.

Basalt columns at the black pebble beach, June 2016

So the pictures were taken with one of my legs wrapped around one tripod leg. And with ice cold fingers. And with my hat, which actually has a chin strap for just such conditions, strangling me.

The real interesting part of the location was the basalt columns, both forming the cliff above the beach and rising out of the water. What you don't see is dozens of people climbing like monkeys onto the columns to pose for pictures and selfies. They've all been cropped out.

On our way down to the beach we had passed a little red and white church, and I couldn't resist it's picturesque charm.

Little church, Reynisdrangar, June 2016

The room at the Icelandair Vik was very small, very simple and very functional. Aside from the fact that we had nowhere to put all our stuff, we enjoyed being there and had a nice meal.

Cozy, June 2016

 

Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans

Going up the country

When I last wrote you all, I was recovering from an intense but fortunately brief illness. Saturday morning we packed up, took yet another shuttle to the car rental place, and left Reykjavik for the Golden Circle.

I'm not sure why they call it that; I think the name was created to give tourists the impression that it was a useful and compete day trip if they were just laying over in Reykjavik on their way between Europe and North America.

The first stop, Þingvellir (Thingvellir in our alphabet), is the rift point between the Eurasian and North American plates, so it is marked by giant cracks in the surface and the largest natural lake in Iceland. It's also of historical importance, as the first Icelandic national assembly (the Althingi) met here in 930. While I took some pictures, they are eminantly forgettable.

We then moved on to Geysir. Geysir is, no surprise, a geyser. It's why all the geysers in Yellowstone are called geysers. And, sadly, Geysir no longer erupts regularly.

Strokkur blows, June 2016

However, there's another geyser in the same field called Strokkur which erupts every five minutes or so, to everyone's delight. While this was definitely an enjoyable stop, it really doesn't measure up to Yellowstone.

The third major stop of the Circle is Gullfoss, which is an impressive waterfall (foss means waterfall). Unfortunately, the picture is very misty. But you can take my word for it - it's cool.

A misty Gullfoss, June 2016

From there we headed on the Ring Road (Iceland's main artery) to the Hotel Ranga, where I was seriously looking forward to a hot shower now that I was feeling better. This is what I found.

Have a good soak, June 2016 (credit: Sally)

Not exactly what I had in mind. But I did enjoy getting clean.

 

Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans

The Blue Lagoon

This post is picture-free.

The late afternoon was a trip to the Blue Lagoon. If you don't know what what this is, it's probably Iceland's most promoted tourist trap attraction. It's a gigantic geothermal pool filled with naturally heated salt water from deep underground located about 45 minutes from Reykjavik and 15 minutes from the airport. Many visitors go there either on their way into town from the airport or on their way to the airport to head home. We elected to make a special trip there. First a shuttle picked us up at our hotel and took us (and others) to the bus terminal. Then we rode the bus to the Blue Lagoon. Then we walked a couple of hundred yards in the cold wind to the entrance pavilion.

Once in the pavilion, there were three lines: regular tickets, group sales and premium tickets. We had purchased the premium tickets, which included a towel, robe, flip flops, two different mud masks and a free drink at the in-pool bar. It also had the shortest line, by far. We collected our color-coded wrist bands and split up into the men's and women's locker & shower room. They insist you shower thoroughly before entering the lagoon, and you really want to shower afterwards because of all the minerals on your body and in your hair.

You then proceed to the pool entrance area, where 500 people hang their identical towels and robes on 200 hooks, and put their identical flip flops in a special spot on the floor that they'll remember an hour or two later when they get out of the lagoon.

The water in the lagoon is salt water, heavy with silica, and about 100 degrees. And there's a fair degree of variability, with hot and cold spots. Your head, however, is in a gusty breeze with an air temperature around 50F. So your head, and arms or upper body if you expose them, get chilled quickly. Everyone is floating around, laughing and generally having a good time. With our premium tickets, we each got a free drink. I was feeling a little queasy, so Sally had two - a glass of the finest red wine, and some kind of smoothie.

I was amazed by the number of people who brought their phones into the lagoon to take pictures. I understand wanting to memorialize this unique event, but the chance of having your phone working afterwards seems slim. This is part of the reason we have no pictures - I wasn't going to risk a camera or phone.

I'm perplexed by the attractiveness of this thing. I get hot tubs, although they're not my thing. I get the cool factor of a geothermal-powered, giant hot tub. I even get free drinks. What I don't get is riding three hours on busses and shuttles, standing in line to get in, showering with a couple of dozen of your new found friends, eating over-priced and mediocre food (we didn't) and paying an exhorbitant amount of money for the privilege.

I also confess I don't get mud masks, but that could be me.

The other reason I have no pictures is that the queasiness escalated quite severely and rapidly. After about 45 minutes in the hot water, I was sitting on the floor in a WC in the locker room giving back lunch. And breakfast. The ride back on the bus was similarly eventful. Even Sally didn't want to sit near me on what was our 44th Anniversary. What kind of a wife is that?

Suffice it to say, the ride was horrible. By the time we reached the hotel, I was shaking from chills and went right into bed.

Fortunately, by morning I felt better enough - 70%? - that I could pull myself together and we headed out into the country to see the natural wonders of Iceland.

 

Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans

Street life in Reykjavik

As I posted, I was sick yesterday and so wasn't able to post more about our time in Reykjavik. Yesterday was our second and final full day there. Most of the day was spent wandering around the Old Harbor, and the center of town. As it turns out, there were all kinds of street performances going on in the afternoon and we got to enjoy them.

 

Girls just wanna have fun, June 2016

The bride sings, and they blow bubbles, June 2016

Street music, June 2016

Street art, June 2016

Lunch at The Laudromat, June, 2016

We also walked around the Old Harbor area, where I had taken a quick look the other day. It's a combination of gift shops, restaurants, and working boating industry.

Whale watching crew, June 2016

Seen better days, June 2016

 

Chain gang, June 2016

 

Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans

Quick note

There won't be any real post today. I fell ill yesterday afternoon and was in no condition to focus on anything. I'm still not 100%, but we're pushing on this morning to the Golden Triangle.

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Remember ... life is what happens when you're busy making other plans.
My photos: https://abbeyworks.smugmug.com
My music: http://www.soundclick.com/scottgabbey

Finally here

Thursday afternoon

I sat down in our hotel room here at the Black Pearl this afternoon to start to write and thought to myself "this hotel has the most uncomfortable seating I've ever experienced". But then I remembered a hotel in Cleveland that far surpassed this one. Which isn't to say these chairs aren't bad. They look like chairs, but they're not, really. I think they're really upholstered end tables with backs and arms.

Not a chair, June 2016

Aside from that, the room is great - it's actually a one bedroom apartment with a full galley kitchen. Very neat, very clean, Scandanavian modern.

The trip was long. I wrote about the car ride to the airport. We then sat on the taxiway for a while because Obama was in New York yesterday and screwed up ground traffic at JFK. We also sat on the taxiway after landing here because the plane parked at our gate left the gate way late. Then we had to wait about 45 minutes for our luggage. But it was smooth sailing after that - we got to the hotel about 9:30, and they let us right into our room.

After unpacking a bit (actually, we just opened our suitcases) we went out to look for breakfast and see some of the city. We had eggs and pancakes in The Laudromat, which is not a laundromat. Hit the spot!

The main drag here in the old city is restaurants, gift shops, outdoor clothing shops, and shops that sell those really cute Icelandic sweaters. They're cute, but the wool is as smooth as sandpaper. At the top of the hill is Hallgrimskirkja(1), which probably is the most photographed site in the city. I took the obligatory pictures, but they're nothing special.

Hallgrimskirkja, June 2016

Sally returned to the room to rest, and I went the other way from our hotel to the Old Harbor area. Which is a real working harbor, with boatyards doing repairs and restorations, whale-watching expeditions embarking, and lots of cute restaurants and gift shops for the tourists.

The elf thinks he's funny, June 2016

 

(Later that evening ... ) We just got back from dinner a few minutes ago, and it's still light outside. Its about as bright as it was at noon. It's 11:15pm.

(5:30am ...) The fancy, electronic, programmable lights in our bedroom just came on. Despite me getting up and turning them off about ten times, they reignite in about 30 seconds. Glad we didn't obsess about getting the blackout drapes sealed tight.

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(1) Icelandic, being a Germanic language, uses compound words that are hard for foreigners to interpret until you catch on. In this case "kirkja" means "church", and this one is named after a clergyman named Hallgrimmer Peturrson(2).

(2) "Peturrson", of course means he's Peter's son. But you'll note the honor of the church naming uses his first name. That's because Icelanders are known by their first names; the second name is not carried across generations but merely separates (a little) the many Hallgrimmers. The phone book (when there was one) was sorted by first name.

 

Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans

Travel time

The flight from JFK to Reykjavik is about 2,600 miles. It should take us just under six hours. That means we'll travel at over 430 mph.

Van Wyck Expwy, June 2016

The drive from our home to JFK is about 40 miles. It took us just over two hours. That means we traveled at less than 20 mph. And there's no food or beverage service, except the bottle of water Sally brought along.

Good thing we left more than four frickin' hours before our flight.

 

Anyway, we're at the gate now. Believe it or not, it took 15 minutes from when the Uber dude dropped us off at the curb (and dropped my camera bag on the pavement) until we were through security. Made up for the traffic a bit. Now we're fed and waiting for them to finish cleaning the plane so we can board.



 

Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans