Cut to the Ending - Already Back Home

So, I'm back home in Boston.

I realize that there's an entire city that I never quite mentioned here.

That would be London.

Internet access was a bit choppy at my friend's flat. But more importantly...I was in London, and didn't have time to blog. Iceland was different - free reliable WiFi in the hotel, and time to post before bed.

For the sake of continuity, I'm going to treat this like a Quentin Tarantino film and disregard temporal logic. Cue Chuck Berry. More about London throughout the week.

Here's how the trip ends - I arrived home in one piece, albeit rather tired. Two full flights on Icelandair yesterday. Me carting a bagful of six Starbucks city mugs, 500 ml each of Brennivin and Apple Schnapps from Duty Free in Iceland, and assorted sweets, teas, and candies to be given as gifts.

I watched an amazing film on the flight back called Heima about the Icelandic band Sigur Rós.

I fully admit that I never understood why people liked Sigur Rós until now. To me, they simply sounded odd.

But this film documented their tour of free shows throughout Iceland held after a world tour - concerts performed to tens of thousands in Reykjavik, or shows to a few folks who trekked to the abandoned fishing village of Djúpavík.

Their music is moody, and the perfect audio soundtrack for the visuals of Iceland. While the film's cinematography was exquisite, having seen much of this landscape in person, it merely made me nostalgic for the prior week in Iceland.

I will throw it out here - to fully get Sigur Rós, one must adventure around Iceland.

Their sounds match the extremes of the Icelandic environment - the snow-capped glaciers and the arid valleys below...the months of darkness and the months of endless light...the jagged rocks...the geothermal energy...the rugged people.

I might try downloading a few Sigur Rós songs, but I think I'm going to need visuals of Iceland to fully enjoy listening to them. Good thing I have tons of photos and my memories.

Eating and Drinking in Iceland

With the currency exchange between the US Dollar and the Icelandic Kronur about $1 to 110 ISK, figuring out conversion was pretty simple and prices are competitive with what I expected to pay in the US. Dividing by 110, or, moving the decimal point over to the left by two and subtracting a little, usually gave me a close approximation to what I would be paying in USD. Most of the time, I viewed the price (i.e. 2,990 ISK) as simply missing the decimal point (I saw it as $29.90 minus a bit).

Eating out wasn’t as terrible as I had anticipated, price-wise. In early 2008, $1 was worth about 65 ISK, so a 2,990 entrée was almost $45 instead of the $27 I paid. It made me less concerned about eating on the cheap, and instead became a bit adventurous with what I tasted and how much it cost.

In most places, a 500 mL beer was about 650-750 ISK, or about $6-$7 for a 16 ounce beer. As tipping is not expected in Iceland, my $5-$6 price plus $1 tip for a 12 ounce pint in Boston suddenly became more expensive per ounce than that same beer in Reykjavik. Unfortunately, the beer selection wasn’t too extensive anywhere, with most places having just a few on tap (often just the local lager Viking), and a few more available in bottles.

Wine and spirits, however, were far pricier in Iceland. Most bottles of wine started at 4,500 ISK, and most cocktails were 1,200-1,400 ISK. We skipped wine and spirits and stuck with beer, often applying the savings to appetizers or additional rounds of beer.

Twice for lunch I had soups – one was a hearty soup with vegetables and reindeer meat. Rudolph…or perhaps it was Dasher or Dancer…tasted quite good. Another soup was a clear broth with potatoes, carrots, and lamb. I had fish a number of times – including halibut, a cod mash au gratin, and whale.

Yes, whale. As in Moby Dick. As in Fudgie the Whale. As in the Vineyard Vines mascot.

Whale.

The endangered off-the-menu-besides-in-places-like-Iceland-Japan-Norway-and The Faroe Islands-whale. I must say, it was delicious. We sampled whale sashimi and grilled whale, which tasted and looked like a thin, tender beef steak. I know there is a lot of controversy over commercial whaling and eating whale, so I’ll simply chalk it up to an experience.

I also tried a bird called puffin. Our guide book said that puffin are one of Iceland’s most beloved birds. Naturally, the Icelandic manner of showing such affection to a winged creature is by eating it. Puffin are black and white like penguins, but feature bright orange on their beaks and in their eyes. Apparently, they are known for clumsy, crash-landings and goofy in-air antics (we did not actually see any puffin that weren’t served to us on a plate with mustard sauce). Puffin taste tender and succulent, but not quite like duck and certainly not like chicken.

I managed to skip the hakarl (the putrid shark meat that smells of ammonia after decaying underground for months and being hung to dry for months longer). I did see some packages of it at the flea market, and we drove past Bjarnarhofn, the farm on the Snaefellsnes Peninsula where hakarl is proudly produced. But I did not sample it.

I did, however, try the apertif served with hakarl - Brennivin. It’s an Icelandic alcohol, which translates into “Black Death.” It sounds far worse than it is – actually, I kind of liked it. Brennivin reminded me of Greek Ouzo, much less sweet (and far less sweet than the Italian Sambuca). Brennivin is flavored with caraway seed, and it was fiery enough to have warmed my esophagus for a minute after having sipped it. I saw tons of brennivin at the Duty-Free shop in Keflavik airport, and plan to pick up a small bottle on my way back home from London (I have a two-hour layover in Reykjavik).

Perhaps I’ll host a Sunday Funday with my friends in Boston and feature Brennivin as the signature cocktail.

Photos from Reykjavik, Iceland

I haven't had the chance to post many pictures from the city of Reykjavik, probably because I hadn't taken many! Tuesday morning, we spent a few hours walking around the city. It was the perfect morning for pictures - no rain, overcast skies, and little traffic (well...there's always little traffic in Iceland!)

A few of these pics are with my 70mm-300mm zoom lens from atop Hallgrímskirkja, the tallest building in Reykjavik. The building is undergoing a major restoration and there's ugly scaffolding surrounding it. Fortunately, the pictures from the tower were unaffected. I love the brightly colored homes and rooftops, and the amazing panoramic views of the city amid the cold, Atlantic water, snow-capped mountains, and blue sky.

I have seen many photo journals of cities and countries around the Arctic Circle - everything from northern Canada, Greenland, Scandinavia to Iceland. The brightly colored homes and rooftops appear to be a constant among all of those places. It was great to finally see them up close and in person!

Volcanic Rock and Mountains Everywhere!

It's simply amazing how much undeveloped land exists in Iceland. Granted much of the country is either volcanic rock or mountainous, and the wind gusts of the Northern Atlantic probably make all of this oceanfront property a bit less desirable, but it's still truly stunning.



Even in the suburbs of Reykjavik, there is a ton of space. It's strange being able to see entire cities from end to end while driving past them on the highway.



We spent much of the past two days driving. Monday was a trip 187 kilometers south of Reykjavik to a town called Vik, then a drive along gravel roads in the southwestern corner of Iceland through an uninhabited part of the Reykjanes Peninsula (a drive that admittedly, made me a bit nervous that we wouldn't find our way out). Today, we headed northwest to the Snæfellsnes Peninsula, driving an approximately 175 kilometer loop through small coastal harbor towns separated by a whole lot of...nothing.



I swear much of today's scenery looked like the surface of Mars dotted with random horses and huge snow-covered mountains. Volcanic rock fields everywhere. It was totally surreal.

Grrrrl on the Icelandic 5000 Krona Note

The conversion rate for US Dollars-to-Icelandic Krona is far more simple now that the Icelandic economy has crashed and the US Dollar is worth more than it was just a few months ago. Today, $1 buys me about 110-115 ISK (Icelandic Krona). About a year ago, $1 would have bought be 65-70 ISK. The value of my currency is almost double what it would have been at this time last year.

As a result, I'm staying in a good hotel for about $100 per night total for the two of us. A beer, considered "very expensive" for Icelanders, is about $6-$7 for me including tip (as tipping is not customary here), so no big change to what I'm used to paying. That same beer last year was about $11.

Dinners are a bit on the high side, but were once incredibly expensive. It's the perfect time to have come to Iceland, and given the state of their economy, Iceland can use as much tourism as possible.
I am highly amused at the image on the largest denomination Icelandic bill - a lady named Ragnheiður Jónsdóttir. According to Wikipedia, Ragnheiður Jónsdóttir "was considered one of the finest marriagable women of her time and was an active seamstress." In the U.S., we have esteemed American Presidents and noteworthy statesmen on our currency. In Iceland, they have a kinda chunky lady with a huge hat on theirs.

The Golden Circle - Tourist Sites and Desolate Roads

Today started out a bit late after the short redeye, full day of sightseeing, and then attempt to stay out as late as the Reykjavikians do on Saturday nights (we made it until about 2am, far short of the 5 or 6 am last call for locals).

We skipped breakfast and simply headed out to the Golden Circle - Þingvellir, Geysir, and Gullfoss. Little did we know that we should have eaten.

Driving eastward from Reykjavik, we left the city behind and quickly saw the road conditions change from dry and A-OK to a slushy mess. Kudos to Ken for driving (we rented a manual transmission rear-wheel drive car, and I can't drive a stick and am, therefore, the navigator). We learned that not only were the roads unplowed and that our vehicle was entirely unsuitable for such conditions, but also there would be no service areas for a long time.

In fact, after we left Þingvellir National Park and tried to make it onward to Geyser, we encountered this "Impassable" sign.

Lovely, we thought.


So we turned around, headed South to another intersection with Rte. 35, which would then take us back toward the remaining sights. Reading further in the guidebook, it appears that the impassable road is always that way throughout the winter.


The driving was quite desolate. A car passed us from the opposite direction perhaps once every 5 minutes. There were few signs of life for miles, as the weather conditions on this side of the mountains were harsh - snow and jagged rock or empty fields everywhere. No power, no irrigation, no buildings. Nothing.

Once we made it to Geysir, a geothermally active valley, we found a number of tour buses and visitors speaking many different languages. Finally - people! There are two geysers there - Strokkur and Geysir. Strokkur spouts off once every six minutes, and Geysir hits about twice each day.

There were a few other gurgling holes and spouts, but these two were the main attraction. The authors of the travel guide said not to stand downwind, as the sulfur gas that's emitted from the ground is quite stinky. They were right.

A bit northeast of Geysir is Gullfoss, which translates to "golden falls." Gullfoss is an amazing double-waterfall, well worth the trip. We hiked down to a plateau right downriver from the first falls and about where the second falls dropped into the river below. Ken commented about the lack of park rangers and warning signs at Gullfoss, and for the slippery and icy conditions, I'm a bit surprised as well. Icelanders might be a hearty bunch, but we tourists aren't necessarily!

Also on the Golden Circle was Kerið, a 3,000 foot deep volcano crater with an amazingly beautiful caldera. It appears that Björk once played a concert on a platform in the middle of the lake below. Unfortunately, she was not there today. In fact, nobody else was.

The lack of snow at Kerið and during the final couple of hours of the drive made it far more bearable. It's remarkable how mountains create weather patterns, but just as I witnessed at Mount Rainier in Washington State, it is most certainly true. The dry conditions in the valley communities east of the mountains, (such as in this photo of Hveragerði) were far more pleasant for driving.

The plan was to complete the Golden Circle and then head onward to the Blue Lagoon. Unfortunately, we ran out of time (the Blue Lagoon closes at 8pm), so we decided to move the Blue Lagoon to the end of tomorrow's sightseeing along the southwestern coast of Iceland.

Thar She Blows! Strokkur Explosion.

This is Strokkur, one of the geysers in Geysir, Iceland. It goes off about every six minutes. My timing was off a little on this one, but she finally blows at 1:20.

First Visit to the Geothermal Pools

We made it through a pretty packed first full day here in Iceland, and overslept a bit. The time difference finally caught up.

The weather here seems to change by the minute. Throughout the day, we witnessed rain on multiple occasions, sunshowers, and snow featuring the biggest snowflakes I have ever seen - literally the size of U.S. half dollars. Through all of that, it hovered somewhere in the 30's. Perfect temperature to go swimming.

After hitting up a flea market that featured a selection of fish and meat products (including, apparently, Flicka), we drove to the Laugardalslaug geothermal pool just to see where it was an if anybody was there.

The parking lot was packed and the place was huge.

Without our swimsuits, we decided to head back to the hotel for more information and grab our trunks (the hotel was a short 10 minute drive). While speaking with the front desk attendant, he gave us two passes for a gym/spa called World Class, which shared the pool facilities but maintained a totally separate private-membership area.

Back to the pools we went. Upon registering at World Class, a woman took RETINAL SCANS of our eyes (?!) which were used for admission into the private areas. Very Minority Report of her. She showed us to the locker rooms and explained what was available to us - full gym with more cardio machines than I have ever seen in one room, aromatic steam baths, hot pots - their word for jacuzzis, saunas, showers, and paid massage.

We opted for the outdoor hot pots. I can't say I've ever walked barefoot across wet concrete in ambient temperatures of 2 and 3 degrees celcius before, but yesterday I did. We scrambled over to the hot pot, and enjoyed about an hour of simmering with the locals and some random tourists. While people are quite chatty in these hot pots, we kept to ourselves and took it all in.

Day 1 - Reykjavik

After far too much time thinking and talking about this trip, we're finally here.

Iceland. Reykjavik. Small island in the Northern Atlantic, not too far from Greenland.

Just over 300,000 inhabitants, about 2/3 of them in the greater Reykjavik metro. 7.5 people per square mile. For perspective, I just looked up the population of the Greater Boston metro - 5.98 million inhabitants, about 12,300 per square mile.

This population density, or lack thereof, is evident while driving around. During the 45 minute ride from Keflavik International Airport to Reykjavik, we noticed an amazing lack of cars driving about. Granted, it was dawn on a Saturday morning, but I have a feeling rush hour here does not exist.

Since our vehicle is a standard transmission, Ken is this week's driver. I cannot drive a stick shift, and don't intend to learn right now. Therefore, it's my job to navigate.

Icelandic street names are rather difficult to remember. Every one appears to have 15 characters, the combination of which is unpronouncable for Americans like us. We are staying at Hotel Holt. Simple name. It's located on Bergstadastraeti, Yeah, not so much.

Somehow, we found the hotel rather smoothly (granted there's one way to Reykjavik from the airport, and signs are marked to the "Centrum," or city center...from there it was just a matter of matching street names with our map). We registered with a very nice front desk agent named Anne. She was deeply apologetic that they had our room as a single bed, even though our printed confirmation called for two beds. After a few minutes, she switched us into a two-room suite, complete with a bed and pull-out couch. Awesome!

She invited us to enjoy breakfast while the room was to be cleaned. European continental breakfasts are always interesting mixes of meats, cheeses, yogurt, granola, fruit, and a few other random items - far more intricate than the waffle bar at a Hilton Garden Inn. Somehow, my eye shot to a bottle of yellow liquid amidst shot glasses. I thought it might have been some hearty Icelandic morning cocktail, so I poured a small taste into the glass, and sipped it. Having just ingested some type of Icelandic fish oil (I think), I scrambled to find something sweeter to cancel the disgusting taste.

We left breakfast and drove around a bit before returning to the hotel for a well-needed nap. A 4 1/2 hour redeye does not leave much time for slumber. But now...it's time to grab the camera and tool around a bit.

(Lack of) Planning for Iceland

Geography fascinates me, as do unlikely vacation destinations and seeing to which locations I can get from various airports. For example, there's a direct flight from Boston to The Azores, so naturally I want to go there.

Whenever I find myself in major hubs - airports like Minneapolis-St. Paul and Houston - I love seeing what small communities have air service from those places. Knowing that cities like Del Rio, TX and Devil's Lake, ND are a short connection from where I'm presently sitting here in Boston is kinda cool.

I can't begin to count the amount of times I have been on Air Greenland's website, an airline which, at one point, had a direct flight to Baltimore.

I have booked mock itineraries from Anchorage to Vladivostok, Russia. There's a non-stop direct flight during the summer on Vladivostok Air.

Nunavut, Canada. I can get there on two flights. Why would I want to? Why not?

Habitually, I'm a planner. Yet at times when travel is involved, I am erratic - either notoriously diligent or terribly unready. It's bizarre, given the amount of trips I have taken for both work and pleasure, why I'm not buttoned-up 100% of the time.

Case in point - Iceland and London.

I have wanted to go to Iceland for years, probably ever since I realized that Icelandair had a direct flight from Boston. It seemed like such an exotic and random locale for a quick 5-hour flight. I booked fake itineraries on Icelandair.com many times until I actually pulled the trigger and did it for real.

So here I am, a few days from my departure, and I have finally decided to research things to do in Iceland. We're all set with hotel and rental car, and know that the Blue Lagoon will be part of our trip, but I know little else about what I'd like to do. As I'm an avid photographer, I know I'll be taking a ton of pictures. I hear the "Golden Circle" is good for sightseeing and that geothermal pools and a failed economy are part of present-day Iceland. But that's about all I know.

For my Great River Road trip a few years ago, I left the planned activities to Brian. He put together a detailed spreadsheet and sent it to me, estimating drive times and such. It was marvelous. I took care of hotels, which was simple.

But perhaps having a loosely planned itinerary isn't awful sometimes. I have been browsing some blogs and online travel guides about Iceland, and there appears to be many things to do at the spur of the moment.

Part of me, however, feels like I'll put together some frantic last-minute plans next week and have a rough sketch on my time abroad.