Day 1

Hello All,

And welcome to day one of Rick and Rebecca’s Iceland Adventure.  Our flight, direct from Minneapolis to Reykjavik was uneventful save for leaving an hour late due to an air traffic controller strike at Keflavik Airport in Iceland.  We both slept for 4 or 5 hours of our 6-hour flight.  Passport control and customs was quick and easy and we were met at baggage claim by our car guy.  He was a young kid and upon setting out told us that the discussion on the car radio was about their upcoming election.  It turns out Iceland has had the same president for 20 years and he’s up for re-election.  Apparently he’s going to win again.  What the kid really wanted to talk about was our election in the U.S.  He really hated Trump but said that at least only stupid people would vote for him.  He hated Hillary most of all because non stupid people were going to vote for her.  His candidate was Bernie but he understood that he would never be a candidate.  He got really passionate in our 3 minute encounter. 

Car rental couldn’t be easier.  We got a Kia Cee’d 4 wheel drive which looks a bit like a Subaru.  There are interesting warnings when you rent a car in Iceland. For instance, they go out of their way to tell you that the underside of the car isn’t covered by insurance; neither is the windshield nor the tires.  Our favorite though was when he told us to be careful when opening the doors as the wind gets so strong in Iceland, it will rip the doors off of the car.  He didn’t say whether or not that was covered.

The drive from the airport is strange.  It really is like a moonscape as the ground is all lava rocks.  It was overcast on the drive so we didn’t get a lot of vistas but the architecture is non-descript and almost nonexistent.  After only about 15 minutes Rebecca asked me if I tooted in the car.  It was our first “taste” of the sulpher smell which pervades so much of the island.  At least that’s my story!

We stopped at a bakery to have a cuppa and get some noshies.  The girl in the shop asked if we were American.  When we said that we were she immediately asked us who we were voting for.  She was a Bermie fan.  She said she’s asked every American who has come through the shop and has yet to meet a Trump supporter.  Coffee purchased along with a ham and cheese croissant, a loaf of seedy bread for our picnic lunch and some sort of pastry which looked like a croissant but was fried dough-like and had been half dipped in chocolate.  I wish we had bought 50 of them.  Meanwhile, I managed to spill coffee all over the rental car.

Once we got through Reykjavik we stopped at a grocery store to buy supplies.  Our plan is to eat picnic type lunches so we got meat and cheese (regular and fantastically stinky) and chips as well as several kinds of “Skyr” which is a type of yogurt (it’s really a soft cheese but you would say it was yogurt).  It’s thicker than Greek Yogurt but with a tang.  It’s very good!

Our first tourist stop was at Þingvellir National Park.  That symbol that looks like a “P” is pronounced “th.”  I won’t go into all of the significances of the place but the coolest thing about it is that the tectonic plates of North America and Europe meet there and they’re pulling about between 1 and 18 millimeters a year.  You can actually see this.

Next we saw what was described as a cascading waterfall called Öxarárfoss.  In Georgia we would call this a pretty spectacular waterfall. 

Meanwhile, what would you do with the pronunciation of that name?  Everyone in Iceland speaks beautiful English and so we haven’t bothered even learning how to say anything, including please or thank you.  However, it turns out that everyone sounds like a master criminal.  I guess have seen too many movies where the baddie is Scandinavian. 

After the park we found our hotel and checked in.  It’s a strange little bed and breakfast called Laugarvatn Galleri but the room is clean and we are in a king sized bed which won’t be the norm I don’t think.  After we had a lie down and some lunch we went to see Geysir.  Geysir is the geyser from which we get the word geyser.  Having said that, Geysir doesn’t really blow any more or it’s rare that it does.  But another geyser called Strokkur which is about 50 yards up the hill blows every few minutes.  The whole area is odd in that there is steam rising from the ground and little ponds around with bubbling hot water.  

Here is the original Geysir with the ground steaming

We noticed that people were climbing up the hill beyond the pools and geysers.  The climb seemed a bit daunting but the weather was nice (about 60 degrees and sunny) so we gave it a go.  I wasn’t expecting what we were presented with.  As with most things we’ve already seen, the pictures don’t really capture them but everything seems like a photograph.  I think Ansel Adams would have exploded had he ever come here.

Here is a picture of these beautiful flowers which are omnipresent right now. Lupins?  Anyone know?

Our last stop of the day was the waterfall called Gullfoss.  This is one of the most impressive things I’ve ever seen.  As you can see, it’s as if Niagara Falls just went into the earth.  Here are a few pictures I think do it justice.  At first we didn't think we would go all the way to it because people who were walking up from the falls were awfully wet but when in Iceland...  You can see the water rising from the bottom in sheets of mist.

After that we were officially spent.  We bought a couple of beers from our B&B host and ate everything we had bought earlier in the day and not our job is to try and stay up til 10:00.  It helps that it doesn’t get dark here this time of year.  

PS Here is something we didn't eat: