Home again

     It was a relatively easy plane ride home.  The plane had many empty seats so there were only two folks in each row of three, giving us a lot more room.  But it was hot on the plane and I was happy to get off.  Going through Customs was quick and easy for Americans.  Much more thorough than I remember for foreigners including fingerprints and palm prints.  We didn't buy much and weren't carrying any produce, rocks, or valuables so there was no search of our luggage, just a check of our passports.  We found our suitcases undamaged and were very happy to see Arik and Kellen waiting for us.

     We had a great time and this style of vacation was perfect for us. The Nordic Visitor travel agent made it easy.  She set up the route so we had plenty time to drive and to sight see.  We stayed in places that were both interesting and comfortable.  Our little SUV worked out perfectly and we spent about $200 for diesel gas.  

    We saw a couple cruise ships in the harbor.  The Iceland line takes you around the island in ten days.  You don't have to drive and you get to stay in the same room every night so you don't have to move luggage around.  Lots of other folks took tours on big buses and stopped at all the interesting sites.  I'm sure the bus travelers heard a lot of interesting details about the sites and didn't have to spend each evening looking stuff up on the Internet.  We also talked to folks who made all the reservations on their own.  Different methods for different types of travelers.

    We didn't do all the usual Iceland stuff.  We didn't walk on the glacier (my knees can hardly manage the rocky trails).  We didn't swim in the Blue Lagoon or any of the thermal baths.  It was in the 40's and windy much of the time and the sulphur smell really was overwhelming to me.  We didn't try the national liquor which is called the Black Death, nor eat pickled shark, dried cod, or whale meat. 

     We saw some amazing scenery and lots of tall waterfalls.  I added quite a few new birds to my birdwatching list.  We learned a lot about the Vikings and their travels.  We gained a huge respect for the Icelandic people and their history.  

    We didn't get sick or have bad days.  We slept well in most of the many beds.  We saw light in the sky at 11:30 pm and 1 am.  Our cheapest dinner was a 12" pizza, eaten off paper plates, with water in paper cups.  It cost $21.  Our most expensive dinner was soup, cod and vegetables, with brownies and whipped cream for dessert.  It cost $150.  We must say that we just about had a personal chef as there were only two couples at dinner that night.
     It felt wonderful to have a whirlpool bath and climb in my own bed.  I miss the fresh tasting Icelandic water, strong coffee, and a full buffet for breakfast.  I look forward to seeing my other three grandchildren today.  We carried them in our hearts all through Iceland.  If you think you want to go to Iceland we have lots of materials and advice.  Give us a call!

Heading Home

    We are checked out of our hotel waiting in a very nice lounge facing the harbor.  So many folks get here before check-in or won't be picked up until after check-out, so the hotel has large, comfortable sofas for us to spread out on until our pre-paid airport shuttle picks us up in an hour.  It seems like just a few days ago that we sat here dazed and tired waiting to check in and nap.

    We will get home at 11:00 pm Iceland time and try to readjust to the time zone change once again.  It was never easy, but gets harder as I get older.  We made a point to go outdoors and walk for a bit this morning.  The fresh air is great when we knowwe will be breathing airplane air later.  We walked around inside the Harpa Convention and Concert building just across the streetfrom us.  Its a beautiful glass building that reflects the sun, sky and ocean surrounding it.  Very Icelandic.

    As we had breakfast I thought about all the very friendly and helpful wait staff who have served us these couple weeks.  There's no tipping in Iceland.  Food and drink is expensive here in restaurants and bars, but not bad in the grocery stores.  I think that service staff are paid better and don't rely on tips.  It didn't seem to affect good service at all.  I don't know how the U.S. Got into the tipped thing, but I could be happy without it.  Everywhere we went our bill came to the table with a card reader.  We just stuck in our credit card and paid.  Chipped credit cards are used for everything but access to the toilets and rides on the bus.

    Rick and I talked a lot about our early travels.  He served in Germany and traveled around Europe on his leave time.  I did my student teaching at an American school in Mexico City, and then traveled in Europe for three months with my friend JoEllen on $10 a day.  We both think that we learned a lot on how to deal with unfamiliar food, currency, transportation, language, lodging and bathrooms.  We learned to be flexible, polite, interested, and how to figure stuff out.  Smartphones are a great tool with all the maps, language apps, currency converters, and online schedules.

    I look forward to downloading my photos and looking back at this trip.  In my younger years I always thought about what I would do when I returned.  At almost 70 I don't think about returning here, I just think about all the amazing places I haven't been yet.

Reykjavik Second Tour

     We returned our car yesterday.  Parking is almost nonexistent in the downtown streets and limited to two hours at a time.  Our hotel is located very conveniently to the harbor and a lot of restaurants, but fairly far from most museums.  I spent last night trying to work out the city bus system and the maps and finally gave it up.  We looked at taking a taxi, but they are really expensive and we don't see many.  Rick suggested that we just get another hop on/hop off bus ticket and ride places on that, so we did!

     Our initial destination was the Maritime Museum.  It is located in a building that used to be a fish processing plant down on the fishing wharf.  The focus of the museum is on cod fishing and how Iceland's early economy was built by the export of dried and salted cod.  Volcanic eruptions and subsequent years of extremely cold weather killed much of the vegetation and livestock on Iceland.  The seas surrounding the island were full of cod, however, and the Icelandic fishermen were skilled at catching cod.  The cod became a reliable source of food and income.  The picture below is a cod fishing boat.

    A very good film reinacted a day in the life of 19th century cod fishermen as they went out in a wooden boat to catch cod, bring it to shore to the fishing hut where they cleaned and salted the fish.  The film and the artifacts at the museum gave us a good look at the history.  A section of the museum told the story of the "cod wars" between Britain and Iceland as the nations disagreed on how close to Iceland the British are allowed to fish.  There have been four sets of "cod wars" since around 1400.  Each time Britain has lost and each time Iceland has extended the boundaries further out until currently only Icelandic fishermen can fish within 200 miles of Iceland.

     We hopped back on the bus and jumped off near the long main street of Reykjavik, Laugavegur.  This is a very active area with lots of shops and cafes.  Some blocks are closed to traffic during the day and folks ride bikes, push baby strollers, sit outside the cafes, and wander from shop to shop.  The sun was out for a while and we really enjoyed just watching the action.  I found a sandwich shop that was NOT a Subway, so we stopped for lunch.  We are totally spoiled by the delicious bread served everywhere.  Some is very dark and dense, some is light and crusty, but all delicious!

    As we ate we remembered a few other interesting items:  we can get good, fast WiFi everywhere - hotels, restaurants, in our car, but we never see utility poles except for the main power lines going cross country.  While crowd watching we must note that everyone wears really skinny black pants - men and women.  Finally, we have noticed that American jazz and Country/western music is played everywhere. We were eating breakfast at an Icelandair hotel and enjoying the morning jazz.  We had to laugh when one of the waiters, thinking that everyone was gone from the breakfast room, turned off jazz and began to play a very old version of Volaré.

     We have one more buffet breakfast tomorrow, a walk along the harbor, a long ride to the airport, and and even longer flight home.  I will be happy to sleep in my own bed tomorrow.

    

Borgarnes

     We completed the full circle of Iceland today.  The "Ring" road or Highway 1, also named   Hringvegur, is just over 1300 miles.  We spent some time on adventures off this road when we drove the "Golden Circle" and our tour yesterday of the Snaefellsnes Peninsula.  We didn't keep track of the miles, but we covered a lot of territory.

    On our return to Reykjavik we stopped in the town of Borgarnes to visit the "Settlement Center."  This Museum tells the story of the arrival of the Vikings to Iceland.  The man who built a replica of a Viking ship estimated that it took about three days to sail from Norway to Iceland.  The ships held about a hundred settlers and some livestock.  The early settlers wrote "Sagas" which told the story of individual families and their descendants from the earliest days of coming to Iceland.  The sagas recorded the many disagreements between the Icelandic settlers and the Danes and Norwegians. The sagas were compiled and transcribed around 1400 and have become an amazing history of the people of Iceland.  Families can trace their roots back to individual farmsteads.  We really enjoyed learning this history.

    I researched a lot before we came on this trip and read that one good, cheap meal was gas station hot dogs.  I was skeptical and we didn't have one until today when our picnic supplies were gone.  In many areas the gas station is also the local grocery store, drug store and fast food cafe.  Hot dogs are available at many of these stations.  I enjoyed my iconic Icelandic hotdog with some sort of sweet mustard.  Rick had the somewhat tangy ketchup on his.  Now we can say we had one and they were good.

    We drove through another six km tunnel today to get to Reykjavik.  I'm not a fan of these really long tunnels.  I've learned that I won't ever move to an island for a permanent home.  Just like when we are in Hawaii, I don't like the idea that I can only drive in a big circle. 

    I read about all the earthquakes rumbling often in Iceland.  We both agree that we haven't noticed and quaking, but that may be because we are bouncing around in the wind.  So, no quakes, lava flows, or eruptions that we know of.  

     A couple more unrelated observations:  there are a fair number of golf courses in Iceland (surprised me); there's very little littering so the streets and roadsides are really clean (maybe it all just blows away in the horrendous wind); most showers have no doors or curtains;  Icelanders are as obsessed with their smartphones as Americans and aren't supposed to use them while driving,but cheat as much as Americans do.  We are staying in the same hotel as when we arrived in Iceland.  It feels like we are neighborhood regulars.  The streets are full of folks enjoying a nice Sunday evening.  We are going to join them and go back to a favorite cafe for dinner.

Snaefellsjökull National Park

     The Snaefellsjökull National Park encompasses a large portion of the Snaefellsnes Peninsula.  It's Iceland's oldest park.  Much of the center of the park is another huge volcano and glacier which is less active than some of the other Island volcanoes. It was the setting for Jules Verne's novel, Journey to the Center of the Earth.  Since we didn't go to the West Fjords we had the whole day to explore this beautiful area.  

     We have a Visitor Guide from Nordic Visitor tour company which highlights places worth visiting along the way.  There were a dozen sights to see along this three hour drive.  There were so many perfect photo opportunities!  Fortunately this area has a lot of places to pull off the road and grab a picture and MOST folks use the pulloffs rather than stopping right on the road.  

    There used to be lots of little fishing villages along the coast here and there are shipwrecks on the beaches and ruins of buildings where folks would stay when working for the fisheries.  A few towns have rebounded with the tourism and have small cafes and guesthouses in the old buildings.   My favorite spot was the oldest wooden chruch in Iceland - Búdakirkja.  Unlike the white churches with red roofs that are seen everywhere, this church is black like the lava fields surrounding it.

    The wind was quieter today and we had a lot of sun, but still ate our lunch sandwiches in the car rather then at a picnic table.  We stopped for lunch at a spot that had rocks of different sizes that were supposed to be lifted by prospective fishermen to see how strong they were and how well they would work on a boat.  It was a pretty spot with a set of outhouses - making it perfect for our lunch break.  Alas they were all locked.  I am so often impressed by Iceland's infrastructure, but I just don't get the lack of access to toilets when there are so many tourists everywhere.

     We had some rain for a while, and got blown about on some windy spots, but by the time we  returned to the fishing harbor by our hotel, the sun was shining and the wind was calm.  We had delicious lamb stew for dinner and then walked around this ancient town.  I love the many paned windows with lace curtains and the bright colors of the buildings.  I like the white picket fences and the way the street winds around some of the houses.  There were kids riding their bicycles around the harbor yelling hello to the tourists and folks out walking their dogs.  The chapel in our hotel had Saturday evening Mass and the neighborhood kids came for choir practice.  I love being part of this pretty little town.

Stykkisholmur

M     Iceland is a place of sweeping landscapes that can't really be captured in a photograph.  I've taken lots of pictures and they will help me remember places, but it's so far from actually standing on a cliff, swaying in the wind and looking out over a plain of volcanic rocks that drop down into a blue green sea.  On the other side of the water are glacier topped volcanoes.  Every day that we drive to a new spot on the island we see new beauty.

      Much of our drive today was on a narrow, gravel road.  Most folks drive near the middle of the road.  There are lots of hills where you can't see if anyone is coming from the other direction which is obviously a problem when you're both near the middle.   Iceland has stuck a pole with a warning sign at the top of the hills in the middle of the road.  You drive on your side and folks coming from the other direction have to drive on theirs.  This works great when there's a sign and is scary when there's not!  One lane bridges are everywhere and they are okay when you can see the other side and when folks are polite.  We saw someone backing off a bridge for about a block when two cars met.  Yikes!

     We've seen so many herds of horses, sheep and goats here and I was speculating on whether herding dogs were used.  Yes!  The Icelandic dog is a breed unique to Iceland and is a partner to the farmers helping them with their animals.  We saw a dog herd a bunch of horses into their corral in just a minute.  When I was looking up Icelandic dogs I noticed that the breed comes in a huge range of colors.  So do the horses, cows, sheep and goats.  One of the guidebooks says it is because the breeds are so pure and one color is not preferred over any others.  At any rate it's interesting to see so many variations of color in a single breed.

     Our stay tonight is in a hotel which overlooks the ferry harbor.  Ferries run between the West Fjords and Stykkisholmur, as well as between Iceland, Denmark, and the Faroe Islands.   We had planned to take the West Fjords ferry trip, but the ferry is not in service yet this year.  It would have been a harrowing ride today with the fierce winds.   We could hardly get our car door open at one stop and quickly learned to have only one open at a time or everything in the car started flying around and out the door.

     So back to the Fransiskus Hotel.  It's attached to the local hospital.  The hotel used to be residence for the nuns who run the hospital.  Now they have another place to live and we're staying in the remodeled nunnery.  It's nice.  The rooms are decent size, have views of the harbor and a comfortable bed.  Sort of chilly on this cold and windy day, though.  We have two nights here and then head back to Reykjavik.   Well I just got off the cozy bed where I've been blogging and found that the hot water heat in the room was turned off.  I turned it on and already the room is warming up.  Raining outside and the wind is finally quieter.  We will see what tomorrow brings.   My picture today is of a sod shack room at the Hoffell guest house.

Vogur Country Hotel

     We are so in the middle of nowhere that I couldn't find a town nearby to use as a title.  We are on the edge of the West Fjords area of Iceland, looking across Breidafördur to the Snæfellsjökull glacier and volcano.  We drove 26 miles of "improved" gravel road to get here.  Most of the roads we've been on are relatively narrow, paved roads with fairly narrow shoulders.  They are in good condition and have bright yellow markers along the sides so you can find the road in a snowstorm - helpful while driving yesterday.  The road signs are in Icelandic and we have figured out some of them.  My favorites are the electronic ones that tell you your speed as you enter a town.  If you aren't speeding you get a smiley face, going too fast and you get frowns.  The gravel road was even narrower, but almost no traffic. 

    Several of the places we're spending the night are so far off the beaten path that dinner is offered as well as breakfast.  Last night we had Atlantic Char for dinner - it's similar to salmon and was delicious. However, horse tenderloin was another choice for dinner and was also served sliced with the cold breakfast meats this morning.  Rick tried it and said that it was sort of stringy.   When we returned to our room last night I saw a herd of Icelandic horses just ten steps from the little patio outside our room.  I really enjoyed watching them and was happy not to have eaten one for dinner.

    We have been driving through farm country today and had to stop for mama sheep and her lambs.  This was a day of interesting everyday things to see: lots of lambs, calves, and kids; hundreds of nesting swans and geese, small white churches with red roofs, rushing streams, green fields of new grass, little farms tucked into the hills.  The wind is ferocious today.  It feels like it can blow you off your feet.  My Nordic Visitor Travel Advisor called me on the phone they provide for our use in Iceland to tell me that some roads were closing due to winds and storms in the West Fjord peninsula.  She was worried that we might either not get to our hotel out there tomorrow or get there and be stuck for a few days.   She cancelled our reservations and changed them to an area more inland where roads won't be closed.  I consider this really excellent service!

    So tonight we're at the end of nowhere overlooking snowcapped mountains and a fjord.  We can lay on our King size bed and see the wind blowing the tops off the waves.  We had an excellent, but expensive dinner at the hotel.  (The nearest alternative is back over 26 miles of gravel at a luncheonette which serves hamburgers and hotdogs).  I really loved the cream of celery soup and homemade bread that was our starter.  The slab of butter was served on a flat rock!  (our pitcher of water yesterday had rocks in the bottom that were supposed to have healing powers so we should be real healthy when we get home).  We then had a baked cod type fish with squash puree, and finished with brownies and whipped cream.  It would be nice to walk it off, but even after a dinner like this we would be blown away.  

Skagafjördur

     Spring has left Iceland and today it is stormy and cold.  Iceland has a very good road conditions web site - road.is - which has solar powered stations all over the island to measure temperature, wind speed and direction, as well as cameras to show current road conditions.  Our travel company encouraged us to look at this each day to be sure that the roads we wanted to travel were open and safe.  This storm hit the east coast the hardest and two sections of the road that we traveled a couple days ago are closed today.  We had two choices of routes to take to our guesthouse for the night.  One was very scenic and went along the northern coast through several tunnels.  The other was along a broad valley and over a pass.  We had planned to take the scenic route, but road.is said that there were 50 mph gusts and some of the road was borderline travelable.  So we decided on the road over the pass.

     A short way into our trip we came to Godafoss (Waterfall of the Gods).  Once again it is beautiful and just thundering with spring melt.  This waterfall has a mythical story (a saga) that Porgeir Ljósvetningagodi threw his pagan statues into falls and proclaimed that Iceland would convert to  Christianity in the year 1000.

     We stopped in Akureyri which is the second largest town in Iceland.  We drove through the Old Town which has many buildings from the early 1800's.  I really like the older architecture, most of the newer houses are very rectangular with steel roofs.  We stopped to stock up on some more lunch supplies and saw our very first drive-through fast food restaurant.  A Canadian woman we talked with at breakfast was complaining about the lack of quick, cheap lunch food.  I am happy that we brought a little soft side cooler for roadside picnic lunches.   In fact today we found our first real wayside rest with trees, picnic tables, and restrooms.  Unfortunately the wind and rain kept us from eating outside and the toilets were locked, but it was a pretty place to stop.

     The drive over the pass was through a snowstorm with poor visibility and snow collecting on the road.  Luckily that section was only about ten miles long and then we were back down in the valley where it's just raining.  I am thankful for all the experience we have in driving in Minnesota storms, but also all the experience we have in navigating roads in unfamiliar places.  We have learned to make the best of whatever weather we get and whatever road conditions we find.  We are a good team in these out of the way travels.  

     We got to our guesthouse early and are tucked into a big, bright, warm room looking out to the fjord.  I am playing some music on my Ipad while we drink apple cinnamon tea and listen to the wind.  

     

Húsavík Whale Watching

     We are booked to stay two nights at Lake Myvatn so that we could relax a little and also do some fun activity.   We decided to go to Húsavík which is a fishing village an hour north of Lake Myvatn.  Húsavík has become a center of whale watching in Iceland due to whales of different species that frequently enter the bay.   We have gone on whale watching tours in Alaska and Hawaii and really enjoyed them so it seemed like fun activity for today.  However, after days of sunny weather we woke to an overcast and much cooler day.  We were not deterred and drove north.

     After getting tickets for the whale tour we visited the Húsavík Whale Museum.  It's a good museum for a small town and has skeletons of thirteen different types of whales.  This gave us a good idea of the variations in size.  There is evidence that as early as the 12 century Icelandic fishermen worked in teams to fish for whales which could provide food for a whole village.  Despite current international agreements regarding whale fishing, Iceland still does some whale fishing.

     We were just going to take pictures of whales so we had a quick bowl of soup and then headed to the car to pile on all our warm clothes.  We both have waterproof hiking boots and good raincoats and pants.  We added fleece jackets, stocking caps, and gloves.  Once on the boat we had the option of also wearing an insulated jumpsuit.  Rick added that layer, but I could hardly bend my arms already and passed.  The converted wooden fishing boat took us out of the harbor and into the arctic sea just a few miles south of the Arctic Circle.  As the waves rolled the boat and wind blew spray over the bow I channeled my inner Deadliest Catch crab fisherman spirit and thought warm thoughts.  

     We saw several Harbor Porpoises, lots of little Puffins, and a Minke whale while we bounced over the waves.  As we approached a bay near a small island, I was sure I saw a whale spout.  Sure  enough, there was a Humpback whale.  We slowed down and followed this whale and several others.  They seemed much smaller than the Humpbacks off Maui.  We were surprised that our tour boat and the two others that showed up when the whales did, followed the whales pretty closely.  In Hawaii and Alaska the rules about staying a fair distance from the whales are strictly enforced.  

     There was plenty of action and everyone got to see a whale.  We were all fairly wet and chilled so the cup of hot chocolate and cinnamon buns that were offered were very welcome.  I took off my wet gloves and wrapped my hands around the warm cup.  I enjoyed seeing the whales and really was happy to have made it so close to the Arctic Circle.  

     On the way back to the hotel we stopped for one of Iceland's favorite foods, pizza.  It's a less cheesy and less saucy pizza than what I'm used to, but was good and a cheap dinner.  We are tucked into our room early tonight watching BBC TV.  The wind, cold and waves have worn us out.  

North East Sky High

     Seyõisfjördur is a little town at the base of a fjord.  It's off the main road by 20 miles, but it was the center of the Norwegian fishing and hering processing plants.  When I read about the old Norwegian houses there I knew we had to go.  What we didn't expect was the beautiful drive over the mountains to get there.  The road took us straight up to where there was still lots of snow and rushing streams.  The view from the top down into the picturesque down was beautiful.  We also saw one of the ski areas in Iceland which was a fun sight for Rick.  it seems like the road would be closed fairly often.  We could see a lot of snowmobile tracks as well.   Down in the town a beautiful blue, old church and many colorful houses surrounded a small bay.  My Norwegian heart was thrilled.

    We had to backtrack over the pass again and head west to our next stop.  It was a drive with many interesting sites.  The first section was along a wide valley with big cliffs on each side.  Water spilled over the cliffs in dozens of waterfalls - some endlessly long and thin, some very wide and powerful.  So many that we didn't stop for pictures for most of them.   Some of the farms in this valley had huge greenhouses that are heated by geothermal energy.  Produce including tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and strawberries are grown in these greenhouses to provide the island with fresh food.   The geothermal heating is also used to heat the soill to start the growing season earlier for root vegetables.

     We left the farms and rivers and drove high up onto the escarpment.  This huge, barren, windswept area used to have trees and was farmed.  However, several volcanic eruptions and some long periods of cold weather killed off most of the vegetation and left it a rocky wasteland.  Driving through this area we could see what looked like clouds of smoke ahead.  However, when we got closer we discovered that it was puffs of steam escaping from thermal vents.  One area was a mini-Yellowstone with bubbling mud holes and whistling steam.  The sulphur smell was really overwhelming, though.  Whew!!!

     There had been no towns, gas stations, or restrooms for 132 km so I was relieved (literally) to stop at the edge of Lake Myvatn where there's a Visitor Center, gas station and small grocery store.  We loaded up on information about the area and had a picnic lunch.  Our hotel for the night, Hotel Laxa, sits high on a hill overlooking the lake and the lava fields.  The only sound here is the sweep of the wind across the open fields.

East Fjords

     Our drive today was a bit longer because we were winding along the edge of some very long fjords.     The landscape was different than I expected in that the cliffs are a long way from the ocean with wide, flat fields along the edge of the fjord.  This makes for much easier driving than clinging to the edge of a cliff.  The biggest stress factors were some super steep sections, including one 12% grade.  Fortunately the hills are short so, as Rick said, "You can just ride the brakes the whole way down and not burn them out." 

    As we drove along the coast I saw hundreds of water birds - Whooper swans, Greylag geese, Arctic terns, Icelandic Oyster catchers, and Great Northern Loons.  The loons looked very much like the Common Loons that live on Lake Waukenabo, so I looked them up to figure out the difference.  The answer is "nothing."  Two names for the same bird!  This is nesting season and birds were everywhere.  Dozens of swans swimming in little lagoons.  I spent lots of time looking up each new variety on the Internet because we have WiFi in the car.  We saw herds of goals and sheep, all with many babies.  After I saw reindeer on the way to dinner last night I was determined to have Rick see some and finally he did.  They are pretty shaggy this time of year. 

     Our first stop was a town founded by the Danes in the 1700's, Djupivogur.  We went there thinking we would see some great old houses.  However after two big cups of cafe au lait and two hours of driving we were very relieved to find free, clean public restrooms.  We saw lots of fishing boats, but no old houses. We have noticed that almost all the buildings here are well maintained and look reasonably prosperous.  The town is also know for "The Eggs of Merry Bay."  These are 32 large eggs carved out of granite representing local bird species.  Weird, but interesting.

     We drove around a huge fjord and saw fishing boats near some very large floating rings.  These are fish farms.  Salmon is the biggest fish farm product, although Arctic char and trout are farmed here too.  The fjords provide a perfect protected environment for the farms.  Faskruosfjorur is a fishing village on the fjord which was settled by the French and many of the streets have French names.  We struggled with Google maps to find a tiny museum which talked about the French fishermen, but gave it up when we realized it was Sunday and the town was mostly closed.  Instead we found a gas station and bought some soft ice cream cones!

     In World War II 3,000 Allied soldiers were stationed in Reydarfjordor, although the town had a population of only 300.  We drove to the WWII Museum only to find that it doesn't open until June.  There were rows of old barracks still standing on the hill overlooking the harbor.  

    The final leg of our journey today took us through a six kilometer tunnel and then up over a mountain pass to the town of Egilsstadir which didn't exist until 1944.  Now it is a thriving, modern town with a lovely Icelandair Hotel where we are spending the night.  

Eastern Coast

    Once again we had a delightful, sunny buffet breakfast.  Today's spread included two unusual choices:  baked beans - which actually seemed okay along with the bread, ham and cheese.  However, another choice was a shot glass of cod liver oil.  Uggggghhhhh.  My Great Aunt always tried to get me to drink some when I was home sick.  Nope!  I am in love with Iceland's yogurt called Skyr, though.  Breakfast, lunch or dessert, it's yummy.

     One of the biggest challenges in navigating here in Iceland is the place names.  They are long, unpronounceable by me, and take forever to type into the GPS.  Our first stop today was another national park: Skaftafell which is part of a larger park, Vatnajokull.  The park covers 13% of Iceland.  Much of which is covered with glaciers and there are lots of tours to go walking on them.  We have done this in Alaska and Banff in our younger years.  I read on the Internet that you could drive to the edge of the glacier without taking a tour and we found the very bumpy, rough road used by the tour company.  So we drove in, thanking our little 4 x 4 for being tough enough to get us right to the edge of one of the glaciers.  A fun little adventure for the old folks.

     Much of yesterday's drive was through horse country.  Green, rolling hills with hundreds of sturdy, little Icelandic horses.  They were brought over by the Vikings and have been such an isolated breed that no other horses can be imported.  Today's drive was past miles and miles of glacial river beds.  The road goes over lots of bridges here, many of which are one lane so we have to keep a good watch for cars coming the other way.  One road side sign talked about the problem of these bridges washing out during eruptions and all the traffic having to go all the way back around the island to get to towns on the other side of the bridge - many days of detour.   The roads are narrow, but there are pull-offs with picnic tables all along the way.  Many of these have mRkers which have information in English about the area.  If only they had a Porta-potty too.  Rest rooms are few and far between!

     Another part of Vatnajokull is a huge bay full of icebergs called Jokulsarlon.  Chunks of a glacier break off and get bunched up at the mouth of this bay.  It was amazing.  Lots of seals swimming between the icebergs.  There were warnings not to climb on the icebergs because they can flip and dump you in the water.  I didn't see anyone climbing on them, but lots of folks teetering on the rocks to get a picture.  I don't think you'd last long in that water!  The temperature had dropped 20 degrees and the clouds covered our spring sun so we had our picnic in the car again.

    The final portion of our drive was through reindeer country.  We saw lots of warning signs, but no Rudolf.  The Norwegians brought the reindeer here, but they aren't herded and managed like in northern Norway, they just roam free.  We did see a huge number of Whooper (Icelandic) swans out on the marshes.  

    We are staying in another guesthouse tonight.  It overlooks the Hoffell glacier and is often used by hikers.  We have a beautiful view of the glacier and many fields and farms.  Very quiet and serene.  

Sunny South

     The day began with sunshine and a very Scandinavian buffet breakfast.  There were hard boiled duck eggs, home baked bread, sardines, cheese, and lots of dishes I didn't recognize.  Of course there was good, strong coffee too.  Something I read talked about delicious Iceland butter - yes, it is yummy!

     Restaurant food is so expensive so we went to the Bonus Supermarket and bought lunch and snack stuff.  I loved seeing all the different foods and was surprised at the large number of American brands.  You can get Oreos here, Kellen.  We can make our own picnic for three days for what one Subway lunch cost us!  It was fun to shop there and our picnic later was a treat.

     Our travel company marked many attractions on our big map, so we can pick and choose what to see.  After our fun stop at the grocery store, we got on Highway 1 which goes around the island.  We were looking for the Seljalandsfoss waterfall.  In the distance we could see something lighter against the huge cliffs and wondered if it was the waterfall.  Yes!  The water comes from the glaciers and drops 197 feet to the valley.  There are steps that take you up and behind the waterfall.  Rick climbed part of the way up and got soaked.  There are only minor attempts at safey here.  You're supposed to have the sense to be careful.  The steps were super slippery and steep, so I stayed at the bottom and was dry

    I remember the volcanic eruption in Iceland in 2010 that put so much ash in the air that planes all over Europe were grounded.  We stopped at the Volcano Eruption Visitor Center and watched a movie about a family who owned a huge farm just below a glacier which was on the edge of the volcano.  When it erupted huge portions of the glacier melted and rushed down the cliffs onto the farm and highway.  Extensive close up filming of the lava flow, the clouds of ash, and the flooding made this almost too real considering that there is an eruption here every 2 - 3 years.  

    The area along the south coast has many huge glaciers and lava fields.  It's a very stark landscape without trees or buildings.  One portion of the flow, though, was covered with a bright green moss that was a couple feet thick and made all the jagged volcanic rocks look like fuzzy green pillows.  We drove to the ocean in Vik where the beach is fine, black sand, similar to ones we saw in Hawaii.  There were  warnings everywhere to watch out for "rogue" waves which are a huge and common danger to tourists.  Vik is the most southern point of Iceland so tomorrow we are heading Northeast.

     Our stop tonight is at an Icelandair Hotel which is just beautiful.  It seems empty, but apparently it gets filled by bus tours.  I am just loving all the spare, clean and colorful Scandinavian design everywhere.  Bathroom fixtures, lights, door handles, chairs, textiles -  all just elegantly simple.  We have found the beds very comfortable and made up with a duvet for each of us.  We've been very cosy - even too warm at night.  We each bought along a small bag to bring into the hotel each night so we don't need to lug the big suitcases in.  The back of our SUV is our "closet."  We are pulling out our short sleeved t-shirts as we expect another warm and sunny day tomorrow.

    

     

 

The Golden Circle

      Do you hear the chickens and the rooster?  We left Reykjavik this morning, drove part of "the Golden Circle" and now are at the Sel Guesthouse which is a five unit motel-like structure built on a farm.  It is new and bright with heated floors and little red shutters to cover the inside of the window to shut out the almost midnight sun.  The only sounds are the roaming chickens and ducks.  Like almost all Iceland homes, the roof has a high peak.  There's a big, comfortable bed and a big bathroom with a shower with no walls.  The first of many interesting places we will be staying.  Breakfast will be served in the farm house.

     After picking up our Ford Kuga (Escape) this morning, we drove to the first of the big three attractions which make up the drive that the tour companies call the "Golden Circle."  Thingveller National Park is about 35 minutes outside Reykjavik.  The first thing I learned is that the park's name is spelled and pronounced in English starting with a "th", but the Icelandic word looks like it starts with a "p" when instead it is a letter that is called a "thorn" -- þ.  Well I found it interesting.  So þingvellir is a Unesco Heritage Site.  It is where the Icelandic chieftans gathered to govern and have the first legislative sessions.  It is also a Rift Valley where the North American and European tectonic plates meet.  A long, tall, rocky ledge and a big crack define the area between the shifting plates.  The main park road was rerouted when a hole opened under the road and when they dug it up they found that the fissure went down thirty feet! The largest lake in Iceland is in the park as well.  It is ringed with snowcapped mountains.  We really enjoyed walking around as it was a perfect warm and sunny day!

     Next we moved on to the geothermal area in Haukadalur, which contains the geysers Geysir and Strokkur. Strokkur erupts every 5–10 minutes, Geysir is dormant.  This was a huge tourist bus stop with several restaurants and a hotel. There was a busload of French speaking school kids who were really excited to see the eruption.  We found it interesting too, and a good place for us to have a sandwich and take a break.  The roads are fairly narrow, but not busy.  We both were tired, though from learning to coordinate the maps, GPS, Icelandic road names, and an unfamiliar car.  I've used a Garmin GPS before, though so except for needing the Icelandic alphabet loaded it all worked fine.

     Our last stop was Gullfoss waterfall.  It is really two falls, with the lower one falling into a very deep chasm.  It's very wide and powerful.  We passed on the long steep walk down to get closer to the lower falls.  The sun was hot and we were worn out, so we drove another fifteen miles to our little farm cabin tucked into the hills and relaxed with our Ipads and WiFi - ah wilderness!

Touring Reykjavik

    I made it until almost 9 last night and slept well and long so I was ready to tour the town today.  We have breakfast included with all of our hotels, so we stopped at the very nice buffet on the top floor of the hotel to begin our day.  The food is good, but the strong European coffee with cream is the best!

     We took a doubledecker bus tour of the city.  It's a hop on / hop off tour that gave us info about the city and also got us to the National Museum of Iceland where we learned a lot about the history of this country.  My forefathers and mothers, the Vikings were the first to discover and settle here.  By 930 A.D. the Viking chieftans had gathered into a formal alliance and established a government making it the worlds oldest Parliament.  For a long time Iceland was independent, but times got hard and Norway took over.  Eventually Noway was taken over by Denmark and Iceland was ruled by the Danes until 1944.  

     Our bus tour answered some other questions.  There are very few trees and almost no wood buildings in Reykjavik.  I thought it was because of the volcanic nature of the island, but we were told that there were forests until some very cold periods in the early settlement days when most of the trees were cut for fuel and shelter.  There's a big plan to reforest the island now.

    There are great environmental efforts to reduce waste and use renewable energy.  The vast majority of homes and businesses are heated with geothermal energy.  The hot water smells a bit sulphury when you first turn it on.  The cold water, however is delicious- like our cabin well water.

    We did the full bus tour and finally got off at the tallest structure in Iceland, the Hallgrimskirkja, which is the also the largest church in Iceland.   It is set on a high point above the harbor so it was a beautiful walk down into the old downtown in the sunshine.  We like to eat at interesting places, but I must admit that we stopped for a cheap, quick lunch was at a Subway sandwich shop.  There are lots of American fast food places, except McDonalds and Burger King which are gone due to the high franchise costs.

     Our dinner, however was at a spot with many Icelandic speaking folks.  We ordered lamb soup which was served in huge bowls!  Jo and I had this when we visited relatives in Norway almost 50 years ago and we still talk about it.  This version was delicious too!  We topped dinner off with a shared dessert of three scoops of ice cream covered in strawberries and real whipped cream.  I am so full!

     Tomorrow we start our drive around the island.

Made it to Iceland

 Leaving from Terminal 2 is so easy.  We had a short check-in and security line.  Then about and hour and a half to wait for our flight.  I got called to the desk to see if we would sit in the exit row window seats.  More legroom sounded good until we got on the plane and found that the exit door by me showed that it wasn't closing properly.  Thirty minutes later it was decided that the indicator light was bad, but not the door.  Still, I figured if it opened in flight, I was going to experience sky diving.

     The winds were fierce when we skidded down the runway six hours later in Iceland. We breezed through customs and were met by our travel agency for the 45 minute drive to Reykjavik.  The landscape by the airport is desolate, volcanic rubble.  Driving rain and gusty winds made the driving treacherous.  There is a five hour time difference between Apple Valley and Iceland so we were also fighting rush hour at 8:30 am.  It was fun to talk with our driver.  He told us that he learned most of his English from American TV and movies although British English is taught in school to all children.  I told him about an article in the news about the Icelandic language dying out.  He said that the Danes who used to rule Iceland,  are also worried about their language being lost and are paying the Iceland government to teach Danish in the schools to kids 12- 16, but still no one speaks it.

     On the way to town we saw the old U.S. Air base used in WWII.  The barracks are now cheap housing for university students.  Lodging in Reykjavik is very expensive due to tourism with 6 new hotels being built to accommodate the tourist boom.

     Our hotel is just two blocks from the main shopping street downtown and right by the harbor.  We can look out our window and see the wind blowing off the tops of the waves.  We were able to check in early and have the buffet breakfast.  Then we crawled under our duvet for a good nap.  

     We walked around downtown for a bit despite the strong winds and rain.  Lots of shops and restaurants.  I found one with "moderate" prices, The Islenski Barinn.  Although whale, shark and reindeer were on the menu, we had fresh cod and a beer for an early dinner although it was 9 pm our time.  I took lots of pictures only to discover that once more I brought the wrong connection to my IPad and wont be able to upload until I get home.  Rats!

     We are watching some BBC news before an early bedtime.  Its been a tiring, but wonderful Day 1.