Blue Lagoon, then Home!

Yesterday was my last day in Iceland. On the way to the airport, I stopped at the "Blue Lagoon", which is a large outdoor spa. They have naturally occurring silica mud which you can rub on your face (or other parts of your body) - notice the white faces in the foreground of the picture. It was a great way to relax my tired legs and body after a full, fun vacation.

The hot water and steam is naturally occurring

The black sand and rock is from the lava formations

After some duty free shopping at the airport, it was time to settle in for the five and a half hour flight home to Boston. Luckily, I had some entertainment in the seat in front of me:

I'm always amazed at how far north I was - look at what is SOUTH: Hudson Bay, Halifax, etc. Despite that, Boston was actually colder than Iceland that day!

I couldn't believe Arrested Development was one of the entertainment choices!!

I had such a wonderful time in Iceland. The things I saw and did, the people I met, it all blew me away. I most definitely intend on returning one day. If you like a sense of adventure and want to see something off the beaten path, then Iceland is for you.

Writing a blog in a foreign country was a fun experience. It was hard work - for one, I'm not a "blogger" so I had to come up the learning curve. Second, after a full day, it's hard to find the energy and motivation to post, especially when the internet in the hotel is misbehaving. However, I got so many positive comments and interest back from all of you that it was worth it - thanks for sharing my experience with me!

Day 3 - Waterfalls, Geysers, Hot Springs

Day 3 in Iceland! As planned, this was to be a busy, blinding whirlwind during my stay. And it sure has been! And today was no different - I joined up with a tour to head back out into the countryside. First stop, waterfalls...

But before we got to the waterfalls, we came across these two crazy guys going scuba diving in this stream. That splash in front of them is them throwing their scuba tank in!

Below is Gullfoss, part of Iceland's famous "Golden Circle". These falls are runoff from the glacier. These are absolutely spectacular. Everyone kept telling me how beautiful they are, and I was starting to wonder if too much build-up might not make it so beautiful to me. Well, no worries. They didn't disappoint - they simply took my breath away! If you scroll down to my original post, you'll see this same view, but in the summer. Quite a contrast. I love the ice and snow though!

For some perspective and size, those are people on the left!

A bit closer

Where these people are standing is where I eventually ended up. And I got soaked! The video below is taken from that spot

Video: "This is where my camera lens is going to get really wet..."

After drying off myself and my camera, and having some lamb soup (their lamb here is super delicious - it's all raised locally. If you don't really care for lamb it's because you haven't had it in Iceland), we headed off to the geysers. Iceland's naturally occurring volcanic activity produces spectacular geysers and hot springs.

This one goes off every 5-6 minutes

Closeup

Hot spring. It just bubbles and releases steam all day long. Real neat!

Video of one of the geysers, taken from a couple different vantage points:

The following are some photos of the countryside, taken from the tour bus. In the summer, the entire landscape is a deep green. I think it's still beautiful, even in winter/spring.

Notice the two places where steam is exiting the ground - sights like this are common

Lastly, we headed to Iceland's largest geothermal plant. As Iceland sits where two tectonic plates collide (North America and Eur-Asian), there is tremendous volcanic activity. Iceland takes advantage of this by extracting the hot energy from the earth, and using it to generate electricity, heat homes, and heat outdoor swimming pools during the winter.

Entrance to the Geothermal Plant

View from the lobby looking out

Well, I'm off to have some seafood tonight for dinner. Tomorrow, the spa, then home!

*UPDATE*

I had to edit this post to add my meal. Iceland is known for its seafood, and I found this great place called "Prir Frakkar". This meal was one of the best I've had in a long, long time. 

Starting at the bottom left of the plate, and going clockwise: raw whale meat, salmon (both the whale and salmon served sashimi style), reindeer pate. In the upper right hand corner is raw tuna, and below it is smoked puffin (a native bird). It's been two days since I had this meal and I can smell the smoked puffin like it's right in front of me!

They made this plate special for me - I wanted a variety so I chose three or four things from the appetizer list. Icelanders are very accommodating and friendly, and truly want you to enjoy your stay.

Great atmosphere - tables close together, cozy, everyone having a great time

Slide on my butt down a glacier. Check.

Greetings all once again from Iceland! Today I ventured out beyond Reykjavik, where I am staying for four days. I joined up with a Jeep excursion, with a most awesome tour guide and capable Jeep driver, Lulla (short for Ludwig). Joining me in the Jeep were Kiwi and his wife Becky from the UK, whom quickly became my friends.

First stop was Pingvellir National Park, which is home of the Viking's first parliament. I never though Vikings to be the parliamentary type, but apparently they were! Iceland has the longest standing continuing parliament in the world, going back some one thousand years. This is also the site of where the North American continent and European continent meet. I am standing on the NA side, and the mountains behind me are the European side. They're moving apart, which results in the valley behind me.

NA continent to your left - European in the background and to the right

Next we zoomed off to these glacial waterfalls. The water you see is glacial ice melting - next stop being the Atlantic Ocean. As is always the case, pictures don't do nearly enough justice. But below is a feeble attempt.

Now for the most amazing part of the day, a trek up to Langjokull glacier. It took a couple hours on "roads", going through streams, and through snow drifts. Our driver handled it like a pro, and only a couple times did I think I might die :)

Me mugging in front of our Jeep, which wasn't a Jeep at all, but some Nissan SUV that I'm not familiar with. It was pimped out, complete with a winch and "snow anchor" in case you get stuck.

As you can see, other than the three other Jeeps joining us (behind us), we were quite literally alone in the interior of Iceland.

Umm...I think the picture sums up what happened here. Not our Jeep, but we stayed to help them get out.

Finally, we reached the glacier. 750 meters of ice underneath, and ice all around. I can't begin to describe how cool this was. It changed between howling wind and whiteouts, to times when it was clear with blue sky. The weather changed several times in a matter of minutes. While riding in the Jeep, at times you literally couldn't tell if you were moving forwards or backwards. He was basically driving by GPS alone.

Umm, why did nobody tell me that glaciers are slippery?

View away from the glacier, back towards land.

Snowball fight!

Next, on to the lava cave. Lava flows underneath like a river, and leaves a hollowed out cave. No pictures from in the cave because 1) it's dark in caves and 2) I was trying to not slip on the icy rocks and crack my head open. This was no touristy cave with walkways, handrails, and gift shop. It was hard descending down the hole!

My cool friends Kiwi and Becky from the UK

Me. Doesn't get much dorkier than rain pants and a helmet.

You want me to do what?!

To finish up our super surreal, fun, and jam packed day, we stopped at the world's third largest hot spring. It produces 160 liters of hot boiling water from the earth every second. They divert the water into pipes, and use it to heat homes throughout the countryside. The video shows this better than photos...

I ran into Kiwi and Becky in town later that evening, and we shared a drink (remember, Reykjavik isn't very big - so running into people seems to be quite common).

Tomorrow I'm off to Gulfoss waterfall and a geyser. So, off to bed!

Getting Lost (on Purpose) in Reyjkavik

Greetings from Reykjavik! Today was an excellent, long, and busy day. Landing in Iceland was surreal - seeing the lights approach (it´s dark at 6am) stirred up strong emotions, like "I can´t believe that I´m landing in Iceland!!!"

Started the day with breakfast at the hotel, where I befriended Hans (from Denmark) who is visiting his girlfriend. Hans said that he used to live next to a furniture store in Denmark named "Vestergaard´s", which is the original spelling of my name. See, I knew I was famous somewhere... I would later run into Hans and his girlfriend downtown. Reykjavik is a small city (around 200,000 people), so that kind of thing is not uncommon.

After breakfast I hit the streets. It is cloudy today, however I was able to grab some decent shots of some of the colors of the city. They love to paint the building sidings with bright greens, blues, reds, etc.

From atop Hallgrim´s Church

After wandering around the city and deliberately getting lost, I stopped off for a couple hot dogs at this non descript joint which overlooks a parking lot. They supposedly have the best hot dogs in the world, to which my initial reaction was "yeah, right". However, after downing two of them with some special sauce, they just might be on to something...

Then I trekked off to the "871 +/- 2 Settlement Museum". In 2001, while undergoing construction, remains of a Viking settlement were found, which they date back to A.D. 871 +/- 2, hence the name. These are the oldest settled remains known in Iceland, which they made into a museum, complete with multimedia interactive exhibits. I enjoyed this a lot, as I think seeing old archeology like this is really cool...
Back to wandering through the city, where I came upon this place with all sorts of neat stuff. Nothing was in English, so I wasn´t sure if it was a museum, or a store, or what. But it had some neat and kind of scary looking marionettes...


And I stumbled across this tucked away little photography store. No, "Fotografti" is not "photography" in Icelandic, they´re just trying to be clever, I think.

Next stop was the National Museum of Iceland. It had lots of Viking history, but it also had a collection of photographs from the early turn of the 20th Cent. This photo below caught my eye. This was back when men were men.

On my way back from the museum, I walked past the City Hall (on the left). How many of us can say our City Halls look like this?

Stopped for an afternoon drink at "b5", a bank turned bar.

Below is the Reykjavik Watch Co. I had my heart set on one of these watches - they are hand made in Iceland. Unfortunately, labor here is very expensive and one of these beauty´s is about US$2,000. So, I think it will have to wait.

So I had a great first day here! I booked a couple excursions for the next two days. Tomorrow I´m off on a Jeep excursion of a glacier, where we will explore such things as lava caves. Can´t wait!!

"Why Iceland" and Many Other Questions Answered

Yes, I'm off to Iceland in a few days!! Why Iceland? Answers to that, and many more, below:

"Why Iceland?"

It's been on my list for a while. Reykjavik has become an international European city, and the countryside is full of waterfalls, geysers, and natural springs. Plus, it's really cheap to go 

there right now! Check out these pix:

"Which one is Iceland again?"

"Who are you going with?"

I'm going with me, myself, and I.

"Don't you have any friends?"

Yes, but I thought it would be fun to travel alone for once. This trip was booked kind of on a whim. I was on travelocity one day, and I saw this fare at a price I couldn't refuse. So I booked it!

"What are you going to do while you're there?"

I'm only there 4 days, so it will be jam packed. I'm going to spend a day or so in Reykjavik, checking out the museums, sights, food, etc. Then a couple days in the local countryside. My last day will probably be spent at the spa. I'm not a spa type of guy, but they are rated among the best in the world. I have a rough itinerary planned, but I will be making much of it up as I go. I leave from Boston Thursday night (March 19th) and depart Reykjavik Monday night (March 23rd).

Follow my blog and you'll get to see!

"What's the temperature like?"

Despite being just south of the arctic circle, the gulf stream keeps it quite mild. Temperatures are similar to New York City.

"How far is it and what's the time difference?"

It's exactly a five hour flight from Boston, and they are four hours ahead of East-Coast time.

"I heard on the news that their economy is in turmoil..."

Yes, their financial system is in much worse shape than here in the US. The krona is worth about half of what is was just a few months ago. However, this is good news for me as everything will cost half as much!