The tip of the iceberg

The Vatnajökull glacier is in the southeast corner of Iceland, and it covers nearly 8% of the country.  Today, we headed out on a path where, most of the time, we had some portion of the glacier in view when we were moving down the road.  The mission for the day was to head to the glacial lagoon for an amphibious boat tour.  There were a few hikes along the way to the lagoon, as well as a quick visit to something called “diamond beach,” which is a black sand beach covered in bits of glacier chunks.  They’re icy and shiny and look a bit like diamonds.  Guess we didn’t miss the black sand beach after all- we just managed to hit a different one than we had originally thought.  

Cas and I have a silly thing we do when we visit beaches where we take a very touristy toes-in-the-sand photo.  When it’s really cold and the beach is to a glacial lagoon, that photo looks a bit different.  

We hiked a bit today, in fact.  I think we were both happy to see that the nature was unspoiled in our path.  The Icelanders had made little gravel walkways to the things you want to see, but the walkways were clean.  There were no garbage cans or recycling bins, but there was also no trash.  If people had garbage, they carried it back out with them.  It was kind of remarkable.  If this attraction was in the US, the whole path would be littered with the Cheeto bags and Granola bar wrappers that didn’t fit in the overflowing trash cans, because those would be full of Gatorade bottles and Monster cans.  I love America, but sometimes, we’re so predictable.  

Next came the amphibious boat tour of the glacial lagoon.  That was a blast.  It was a drivable-on-land boat.  It was pretty similar to a Duck Boat, if you have ever been in a city that had those, but these were not branded that way.  When you go on these boats, you walk in and are handed a bright orange life vest.  I did land the best joke of the day when I donned my vest.  I looked at Cas and said, “Be honest, does this make me look fat?”  That got a rise out of total strangers.  It’s even funnier if you know me and Cas.  I would never in a million years ask that question in earnest- it’s a husband-trapping question for which there is only one right answer. Also, I totally looked as slender and svelte as anyone else on that boat.  

In our sail around the glacial lagoon, we saw a harbor seal, some sea birds, a few ducks and a whole lot of floating glacial chunks.  Big and small icebergs.  We each had an opportunity to hold a chunk of the ice that one of the guides fished out of the water.  800 year old ice, we’re told.  This part of this particular glacier was around that age.  Pretty cool, if you ask me.  Literally and figuratively.  

I did find myself wanting more vocabulary today.  I needed more words.  I have already worn out awesome, beautiful, spectacular, majestic, magnificent and wow.  Maybe that will be my mission during our travels to the next destination tomorrow.  More words for HolyCowLookAtThisAmazingThing.  

I think this was my most unusual thing today.  I have seen waterfalls before, and I have done a lot of the activities we’ve done here, but floating past little chunk-lets of glacier in a lagoon populated with seabirds and seals was a first- I didn’t even really have a thing to compare that to.  

More stuff from the need-more-info files- the glaciers we saw today were sometimes blue.  They’re sometimes blue because that’s the light color they reflect, and when smaller chunks of these larger, blue-seeming things are removed, they look clear.  The more you know, right?  And the ones that look striped- unsurprisingly, that’s volcanic ash in there.  Turns out, there are volcanoes in this country.  Yeah, that would have been everyone’s guess if the guide hadn’t mentioned it.  But still, how cool was floating around amid blue glacier chunks and stripey ones?  

We’re at our hotel for the evening.  We stopped for ice cream on the way back, and Cas joined me in trying a dandelion flavor.  It’s interesting.  A little honey-ish.  Someone else said it tasted like caramel.  More like honeycomb if you ask me.  

We arrived at the hotel in time for happy hour, had a nice dinner and retired to a sunny night in the room for a little blogging.  It’s nearing 10 pm and bright as day out.  Of course.  

Tomorrow, we head to the East Fjords.  Should be a great time.  I need a synonym for great. 

Anyhow, here are our photos: tinyurl.com/DunlapIceland Good (sunny) night.  

Don’t go chasin’ waterfalls

This was the day that we we began chasing waterfalls in earnest.  Sure, there were some water falling off of a steep spot at Gulfoss yesterday, but today was one for the books.  We went deliberately to a waterfall, only to find several small waterfalls near it, then we passed one or two on the way to the other waterfall on our agenda.  Heck, we sort of stopped for a moment to see one that was situated in some dude’s back yard.  Our guide today asked if we knew how many waterfalls are in Iceland.  There were several guesses.  I answered, “I don’t know, most of them?”  I think my answer was closest to the truth.  

The day began with the group assembling outside of the hotel and hopping into the van.  It’s a 12 or 15 passenger van, so rows of seats feature two chairs paired on the left and one row of singletons on the right.  It’s quite a comfortable ride.  And in another country, I am happy to let a native do the driving.  I have no interest in trying to understand local laws and customs in a new place.  Too much stress.  I mean, when a tourist steps out in front of traffic, do you instantly stop because that is the way, or do you get all mad and honk because they’re irresponsible?  Not my problem.  I asked our guide if he, as a native Icelander, ever got super frustrated with a million tourists from different parts of the world driving according to the rules they learned in their home countries, and he was too polite to answer.  So yeah, I expect he hates that crap.  

Cas and I settled in and we all made our way to the Lava Centre.  There, we learned about all of the active volcanoes in Iceland.  We learned about each of their most recent eruptions and what tectonic shifting was causing all the hubbub.  It was really a very cool museum.  Next, we went to two different waterfalls with names that you may see in a travel guide, though there are dozens of foss-es between all of the big-ticket foss-es.  Our first stop was Seljalandsfoss.  That was especially cool because you can walk along a trail that takes you behind the waterfall.  It’s a little slippery and precarious at times, but you end up walking 360° around the thing.  It becomes something you see from every angle.  Very cool.  That was super neat.  And today, our expectations of Icelandic weather were finally met.  We were told by our guide that today is Icelandic National Day, or their Independence Day, and he was fully expecting that the weather be more typically Icelandic.  Today did the trick, apparently.  He kind of laughed at us yesterday for our desire to wear sunscreen.  He didn’t think that behavior was appropriately Icelandic, somehow, but I assured him that, as a very fair skinned person in Texas, I have to wear sunscreen to look out the window, so this is just an abundance of caution.  Today, there were no such concerns.  Today, we walked around in cloudsville to the waterfall, then hopped back in the mega-van to another cloudy falls moment.  Cloudy falls #2: Skógafoss.  

Skógafoss is kind of cool because you can walk right up to the front of the thing.  The water pounds into a lake below, but is is super shallow and there is a rocky path leading up to it where you can walk nearby.  So we did.  We were all up in front of that waterfall.  It was a day that made us both happy we had packed rain pants and rain jackets.  I marveled at the efficiency of these garments.  Good job, rain clothes.  Really.  

After that, there was a visit to the Skógar Museum, which was interesting all on its own.  It had indoor exhibits as well as outdoor ones, and the outdoor ones featured homes and other buildings in the traditional Icelandic style.  Very interesting.  

After that, we hopped into the van and headed for what we thought was a trip to a black sand beach.  That didn’t work out like you may have hoped.  As we were driving to the black sand beach at Reynisfjara, the winds arrived.  They notched up near gusts of 78 miles per hour, meaning that our priority became to get to the hotel, not to stop on the way.  Our guide says that winds like that will happen often and when they do, the pass gets closed off for safety.  No traffic in or out.  I get it, too.  We had a storm in Dallas where there were 90-mile-per-hour straight line winds.  That sucker knocked over trees, threw down power lines and sent the whole city into a multiple-day panic.  I didn’t want to play van versus nature.  I’ll trust a guy who lives here and has had to make that call before.  

So to keep us on schedule, he carefully navigated the road and got us to where we are sleeping tonight.  We did stop at a scenic outlook for a moment to look down on where the black sand beach was, but it was not a long stop, and honestly, I am happy for that.  You seen one black sand beach, you’ve seen them all. And safe passage is pretty cool, right?  

So, we are at the hotel.  We stopped in the hotel bar for happy hour.  That means wine is a few go-zillion Króna less than regular price.  It’s the Icelandic version of a good deal.  But we are in for the night, now.  Teeth brushed and pajamas on.  

Tomorrow is a day when we have an amphibian boat tour of a lagoon at the southern edge of the Vatnajökull glacier.  After that, apparently, we have some homemade ice cream.  Hey, I’m here for it.  Sounds pretty great to me.  See you on the other side of the glacial lagoon!  Until then, don’t go chasin’ waterfalls.  Just hang out in Iceland for a moment, and several dozen of them will simply appear.  

And here you go: tinyurl.com/DunlapIceland 

The Golden Circle- the tour begins

Great news.  I found the keyboard tricks that do this: þ ð

This is about to become important.  See, today, we went to þingvellir National Park.  It’s apparently a UNESCO world heritage site, making itself a member of the long list of these sites we’ve managed to visit in our adventures.  It was a spot where the Vikings used to have their parliamentary assemblies and marks the spot between the North American and Eurasian continental plates.  Apparently, this is a spot that scuba divers love to visit so they can swim in the waters that flow along this fault line.  Also, let me check with Cas- okay- it’s pronounced thing-fed-ler.  Yeah.  Obviously.  

That was pretty spectacular. But from there, we headed to Geysir.  Your American brain wants to say guy-zurr.  Sure.  But it’s their word, and they apparently pronounce it geezer.  I like to think of it as an old geezer.  They promise that the most active geyser erupts every ten minutes,  In our experience today, it was more like four.  And boy oh boy, does it ever shoot up into the sky.  Just.  Wow.  It was really something to behold.  We’ve had more breathtaking moments on this trip so far, and we’re nowhere near the halfway point.  

That takes us to Gulfoss.  Gul=Gold; Foss=Falls.  I didn’t see any gold, but I was adequately stunned by the pretty waterfall.  Also, the spray from the massive force of water hitting water produced plentiful rainbows.  Maybe the pot of gold was just out of sight. We did a fair amount of marching about near and around Gulfoss.  I had to stop and wipe my glasses, a problem compounded by the fact that my usual move (wiping them off with my shirt) was not useful, as my shirt was a little damp, too.  Regardless. Þingvellir, Geysir and Gulfoss were winners.  

And it was on to the tomato farm.  Cas was trying not to look as un-enthused as he was on this one.  It’s a whole farm where they have greenhouses that produce tomatoes.  They love tomatoes.  Oh, gosh, the tomatoes there are great.  One thing, though, Cas is no fan of tomatoes.  He likes salsa. Lots of love for marinara sauce.  But hand him a nice, ripe tomato and he will politely decline.  Today, he tried the tiniest of small bites and handed me the rest.  That was a spectacular display of politeness for him.  Seriously.  Until it becomes salsa or something, he is super not interested.  Regardless, we had a good time at the tomato farm, we learned a little more about Icelandic horses and their unique gaits, we ate some tomato soup (which apparently gets a pass form him since the tomatoes are all smushed) and we had another beautiful, uncharasteristally sunny day in Iceland.  We keep hearing from every person in the tourism industry here how unusual this weather is.  Maybe it is for folks who live here, but for us, it’s been gorgeous 100% of the time.  Oops.  I just got smug- I tempted fate.  Tomorrow will probably be really crappy.  It’s like saying no hitter in the middle of a baseball game.  Yeah, that one’s on me, folks.  Also, the forecast calls for rain, so there’s that.  

Anyhow, we got to our very nice hotel in the Golden Circle and checked in.  We stopped into our room and got ready for dinner.  We had a glass of wine beforehand and then had dinner with our new group.  There are nine people total, and Cas is one of two men- besides our tour guide, whose name I will attempt to write after I ask him again how to spell it.  It sounds a bit like the word kiddy, but with a little of an rrr sound in the middle of the word.  More on that later.  In the meantime, there are what I can only imagine are geothermally fed hot tubs at this hotel.  They’re outside, and the current temparetre in Farenheit is 53.  So, if you’re Heather and Cas, what do you do?  

I think you know that answer.  

Good night from Hotel Grimsborgir!

Also: tinyurl.com/DunlapIceland 

Horseys

Our time in Reykjavík is drawing to a close.  Today is our last full day here before the tour group assembles and we head to our next destination.  Starting tomorrow, we’re traveling what everyone around here calls “the ring road” with a journey to a spot that everyone seems to know as the “Golden Circle.”  From what I can glean of the Icelandic language, Foss is a suffix that means you’re talking about a waterfall.  All the waterfalls are something-foss.  This one is Gullfoss, the golden waterfall.  In that we’re headed to the Golden Circle, Gold Falls seems like an appropriate name for the falls.  More on that later when I get more information from whatever tour guide we meet.  

For now, let’s recap the amazing day we just had in and around the capital city of Iceland.  We began with a bit of a hustle out the door to meet our transport van that took us to the Icelandic Horse center.  It’s horsey day today, and we were all ready to go out and ride these amazing animals.  

Things I learned today: Icelandic horses are the most pure bred horses in the world because a some point in history, horses and livestock in the rest of Europe were swapping diseases back and forth, so Iceland decided to take advantage of being an island by forbidding other horses to come and go.  As a result, these guys are very specific to the location.  They’re smaller than what you’d think of with your American brain but they are great animals.  Also, we were told that they are so friendly because of evolution.  The ones who were rude or stand-offish to their fellow horses tended to go off on their own in the winter and suffer in isolation.  The friendly ones kept each other warm and tended to make more horses.  Friendliness wins the genetic lottery.  Hooray for kindness!  

We also rode across lava fields.  Lava fields are interesting.  Just a whole bunch of rocky looking space with mosses and some grass.  The guide had a joke: If you ever find yourself lost in an Icelandic forest, you should stand up.  See, the trees are pretty short around here.  No worries, though- the horses are pretty short, too.  Apparently, short horses have great personalities.  As a 5’4” woman, I can see the value in shortness.  

Icelandic horses have Icelandic names.  My horse was a very calm soul named Blesi.  It was pronounced Blessey.  He was pretty chill.  They have you stand and greet your horse- pet his head and chat him up a little before they help you hop on.  I talked to Blesi the whole time we rode.  Some conversational excerpts:

Me: Hey, buddy, why you pulling to the right? You see something cool over there?  I don’t want to complain that my horse has bad alignment.  Also, what this with following so close.  Hit the brakes, kid.  Heaven knows what may happen if the horse in front of you stops short!

Blesi: Hrrmmph! 

Me: Yep.  Makes sense.  You sure are a kind and patient horse, kiddo.  

Cas was privileged to ride a horse called Styrmir.  Steer-mehr for those of you trying to pronounce along at home.  His horse was a little more spazzy than mine.  Styrmir was often seen dropping out of the column of horses and trying to parallel park his way back into line in his preferred spot.  He was a bit of a pill, but Cas was very good at rolling with it.  We rode to a spot in the middle of the lava fields, and all of the horses seemed to know that we were in the place where they could take a potty break.  I now know the sound of a dozen horses peeing, but I will spare you the description.  

Yes, the horses were awesome.  Amazing.  I need new adjectives.  

And when we got back to the hotel, we were hungry.  We decided to find some food that was probably best in the city we’re currently in.  Our future travels will take us to small places where dinner at the hotel may be the only game in town, and I am sure those will be amazing meals, but I am guessing that this may be our last shot at fish and chips for a while.  So that’s what we went out and found.  There are really some excellent fish and chip options near our hotel, and we took full advantage.  We took advantage, ate way too much and had a nap.  Naps are awesome when you’re five hours off your regular time zone and confused by a sun that almost never sets.  

After our nap, we had a little energy to burn, and Cas found a spot on his Google map called Bullseye.  It is a bar where you can play darts.  Whelp, my skill at darts hasn’t improved.  It’s not that I am bad at darts, but I am certainly not good.  Cas won the first game hands down, and the second game was mine for the taking, but this place has electronic timers on things, so my need to hit one 17 was backed up against his need for the whole dang bullseye.  I think I would have had it.  Alas, the time ran out, and we decided to just enjoy the good company.  Also, he conceded, and I took the win.  I’m not a fool, folks.  

Anyhow, tomorrow, we learn what the Golden Circle looks like and head out to see the rest of this amazing island.  That’s all I have for now.  Have a lovely evening, and we’ll catch you on the other side of a waterfall!

Here’s Cas, Styrmir, me and Blessi. 

Photos: tinyurl.com/DunlapIceland

Modes of transportation

Sometimes, when Cas and I go somewhere, we use many modes of transportation in the destination we visit, and today was one of those times.  We flew and we floated.  Our official tour starts in a day and a half, but we came to town early to do all of the add-on activities we could add to the trip.  That’s where the food walk and the “Inside the Volcano” adventure came from.  Our tour company booked them for us in advance of the full-group travel.  And today, we had two things to do.  We began the day with a taxi ride to the small airport inside the city of Reykjavík.  It’s not the one where the international flights arrive, but instead, the one where the helicopter tours originate.  Our geothermal tour was just that.  It was a helicopter ride to a spot close to town where there is a lake and a series of bubbling, steaming hot springs.  The landscape was as strange and foreign as the inside of yesterday’s volcano.  Living in Dallas certainly provides contrast.  We landed and walked around the Hengill geothermal area.  It had bubbling mud pots, a sort of wafting sulfur smell and some of the prettiest (if strangest) landscape you could hope for.  All in all, pretty great.  And the helicopter ride was very smooth.  It was not nearly as loud as you may think, and the six passengers all appeared reasonably comfortable inside of the aircraft.  

Our pilot was named Thor.  I kind of love that his name was Thor.  It’s about the most Nordic name you could ask for.  He was calm, cool and inspired confidence.  He flew us in and out of that space, and I asked him, since he comes to this place several times each day, if he ever got tired of it or stopped saying wow.  He said it it’s different every time he goes there, so no, it never gets old to him.  

You really have to check out the photos in the album on this one. They’re pretty spectacular.  

When we left there, we had a cab ride back to our hotel.  We’re not really taxi people, but most folks we spoke with assured us that, in the absence of our own rental car, a cab ride to and from the airport was the best path.  The confidence we had in Thor and his helicopter was not matched by our confidence in the cab driver on our return to the hotel.  The cab driver talked with his hands a lot- both of them- and he turned to check that we were understanding what he had to say.  And while it’s good practice for polite conversation to establish eye contact and check for understanding, you automatically get a pass on that if you are driving a car.  This isn’t something you should have to explain to a cab driver, for heaven’s sake.  

So, after the helicopter ride and the somehow more harrowing cab ride, Cas and I opted for an afternoon nap.  Day and night are kind of wonky, here, and we’re adjusting as well as possible, but sometimes, the day calls for a nap.  It’s a good thing, too.  We had a few hours in mid day to flop on the pillows and rest before we started moving again.  The evening had us booked on a whale watching adventure.  We walked to the old harbor by way of the main downtown area- so we could stop for a late lunch/early dinner.  I was feeling the need for  cheeseburger, and Cas got a fish sandwich at a cute little spot with a few tables out on the sidewalk.  Today is another beautiful, sunny day in Reykjavík, which we’re told is unusual.  It rained a little bit on our way from the airport to the hotel when we first arrived, but it hasn’t rained since then.  The forecast calls for rain tomorrow, though, so maybe our luck will run out, there.  The sun and the crisp air were perfect, so we took advantage of the outdoor tables on the way to the whale watching excursion.  It was a pretty long walk to the old harbor, but we were happy to arrive.  It was a three hour adventure. The theme from Gilligan’s Island was very prominent in my mind as we embarked on that three hour tour, in fact.  Thankfully, the fates smiled on us and we got back to the same dry land we took off from.  

The whale watching was really, really amazing.  I feel like I am recycling adjectives, but I don’t know what else to tell you.  It’s prime time for humpbacks to be really close to the coast of Iceland.  The guide on the boat said they come in the summer to this part of the world to eat and fatten up, then they head south to mate.  They like to do this seasonally, and summer is the time to dine in Icelandic waters.  

Shortly after we took off, a whale was swimming parallel to us.  The guide seemed surprised that he was that close to the shore, but it was a good start for us.  I was trying to get just one good picture of his tail- proof that I saw a real live, honest-to-goodness humpback whale- and I would be satisfied.  

Now I am of the belief that he was coming out to get us and encourage us to locate his friends.  We made our way out to the spot where the professionals on the boat knew that the whales were feeding.  We were told to look for the spray from the blowholes, then watch that location to see them dive down for food.  We kept our eyes on those sprays, and we were not disappointed.  I think there were at least six different whales the guide wound up talking about, but it was probably more.  I was all excited to take photos of them breathing up at the surface then flopping their tails into the water, when we saw something that I didn’t expect to ever see outside of the television.  One of them was practically leaping out of the water.  The guide over the intercom said he was breaching, which seems an appropriate term for the behavior.  I figured that it was a teenage boy whale trying to impress a girl whale- like he told his friend, “Hold my beer- I’m gonna jump around.”  I think I have worked with teenagers for too long, folks.  But seriously, I hope the girl whale was sufficiently impressed.  We all were.  I mean- just wow:

I see plenty of really cool stuff when Cas and I travel, but this one actually took my breath away.  I legitimately gasped.  Spectacular.  After that, it was definitely time to head back to the hotel.  It was another long walk.  I blame those two taxi rides for the fact that I am ending this day at a scant 15,650 steps.  Yesterday?  No cab rides, and 18,120 steps.  Tomorrow, we have a van coming to pick us up and take us to the place where we will ride Icelandic horses, so they will be doing the majority of the stepping for us.  I could use a little break, actually.  We did stop on the way back to have a light dinner.  Our cheeseburger and fish sandwich were late in the afternoon, so the tapas place was kind of perfect.  It was kind of an Icelandic and Spanish fusion spot, so we had tapas plates of Icelandic foods.  They offered some standard things- scallops (which we loved), lobster, prawns, chicken, etc.  They also had more exotic fare.  We could have selected foal, puffin or kangaroo.  Not what my local menus in Dallas ever say on them, I can promise you that.  We drank a glass each of Spanish wine and had some small portions for dinner.  And for the first time on this trip, we heard music that was sung in a non-English language.  It wasn’t Icelandic, though.  It was Spanish.  Of course.  I mean, it was a fusion restaurant, after all.  

But that’s all I have for now.  Go have a look at the photos, and please play back the video ones of the whales.  We both caught a few frames of that young fella trying to impress the girls.  

tinyurl.com/DunlapIceland 

Underground

So, the new part is only 4,000 years old.  We made our way the the 50,000 year old part.  Of course, I am talking about a volcano whose name is un-type able in an American keyboard format.  I can try to copy and paste it, but it makes my fonts all wonky.  So here it is: 

Yep.  Totally pronounceable to a native English speaker.  

We made our way to a bus stop that took us to another bus that took us to the little house on the side of the mountain that led to the path that led to base camp.  We walked three kilometers from the house to the base camp to then moved from there to the windiest part of the hike, the walk up to the top of the volcano.  It was a pretty difficult hike on the way there, but it was significantly harder on the way back.  Once you make your way from base camp to the tippy top of the mountain (and it’s not actually that tall, but boy howdy, is it ever windy), you use a harness to lock into a rope that runs along a metal foot bridge and takes you to a window washing elevator.  First time for everything, I suppose.  

That was our ride down into the lava chamber.  If you have never been inside a lava chamber before- and most people haven’t, I suspect- it’s worth a look.  You will be super tired and have sore legs at the end of the day, but you will not have regrets.  It had that quality that I truly love in a tourist attraction: other-worldliness.  One of our new companions from the window-washing elevator said it reminded her of an episode of Star Trek.  I get it, but I did feel a good deal cooler than Captain Kirk trodding around in my hiking boots in that lava chamber.  The colors were unreal.  The stones were interesting.  You could see where lava had been before it cooled into the rocks we were seeing.  And on the way there, there were no trees anywhere in sight.  In fact, there were no trees in the area we traveled into on the way.  We had to get about 30 minutes into our ride back to Reykjavík before we saw a single tree.  

I am usually pretty good at explaining things, but on this one, I am at a bit of a loss.  How do you describe a stone chamber in a volcano that was hollowed out when lava spewed out 4,000 years ago?  It was colorful, pretty, barren, strange, damp and strange again.  That’s a heckuva list of adjectives, isn’t it?  

When we got back to the hotel, we opted to sit still for a little bit.  We went to the patio behind the lobby and just enjoyed a little more of what I am told is uncharacteristically nice Icelandic weather.  We were really beat, but we also needed dinner at a certain point, which led us to go out walking.  There’s a piece of good news.  More walking.  I topped out over 15,000 steps yesterday- just sayin’.  Proximity to the hotel did figure into our restaurant choice, I can tell you that.  We found a spot that said they were all booked up with reservations, but we could sit at a pair of seats that faced the street and eat looking out the window.  That was actually what we were going to request, anyhow, so we took it.  A couple glasses of wine, a few lamb shanks and a pastry-topped fish stew were our menu picks, and we were not disappointed with the food or with the people watching.  It’s pretty neat to look out the window at a spot in downtown Reykjavík and watch the world go by.  We tried to guess who was local, who was American, who was from different spots- it’s kind of a fun game with no way of knowing if your guesses are correct.  There’s a ton of tourism in this city, though, so you know there’s a good chance you’re not looking at a native.  

After dinner, we had a pretty easy time falling asleep.  We’re just getting our things together now and heading out.  Something about the way the tour was booked and our insistence on being early meant that the preferred hotel for our tour operator was booked up for the first few nights we’re here.  So they put us up across the street.  We’re just going to eat the complementary breakfast here then roll our bags across the street to our new spot.  Oh, and we’re going to get into a helicopter in a bit, too, so there’s that.  We booked what they are calling a geothermal tour, and in order to do it, you need to be above ground looking down.  Interesting turnabout, as yesterday, we were below.  Then this evening, we’re in for a bit of whale watching.  We sincerely had to come a few days before the tour starts in earnest just to do all of these amazing add-on activities we couldn’t pass up.  

But it’s time to get moving, now.  Spent enough time under the surface, it’s a day for flying and sailing about.  Here’s one for the Christmas card, though- what an adventure:

And our photo album: tinyurl.com/DunlapIceland 

Icelandic cuisine

We started the adventure in Reykjavìk with a food walk.  That meant we were in a group of like-minded people who all wanted to eat the local fare.  We started out in front of the Harpa concert hall, which provided a good meeting spot, and we made our way to the first of five restaurants.  We walked around town, seeing the charm of the city streets and the architectural style while we ate different local specialties.  We learned that most meals in Iceland come from the ocean or from their abundant sheep population.  Lamb is excellent, here, and apparently, there are far more sheep than people in Iceland, prompting a warning from our guide, Kerìtas, that anyone in our little group who rented a car and was headed out on the road around the country ought to heed- the sheep are apparently as stupid as they are plentiful, and they are rarely constrained to a single space, so please exercise caution when driving.  Fortunately, Cas and I are letting someone else drive and be on sheep-watch while we travel Iceland.  

On our food walk, we tried a few country-specific specialties, too.  The Icelandic hot dog is very good.  It’s mostly lamb with a little beef mixed in, and it’s served with the Icelandic version of ketchup, some mustard, their house made remoulade sauce, grilled onions and raw onions.  We were told by a stranger on the Iceland Air flight and by our guide yesterday that we must try one with everything on it.  And so we did.  It was pretty spectacular.  There were a few other things of note in our food adventure.  There was an especially yummy fish stew paired with a grilled fish we both loved.  There was a pretty great ice cream with flecks of their locally made rye bread (which is sweeter than what we know in the US), and of course, there was the shark.  

Hoo, boy, that shark.  I had built it up in my mind pretty effectively.  It all started when I watched a Rick Steves special to familiarize myself with the country we were to visit.  Rick Steves gives a good overview of a place, infused with his own hunky-dory worldview.  He’s good, but kind of a square.  When I saw his reaction to Iceland’s fermented shark, I knew I was in trouble.  Rick didn’t balk at anything else in the whole country.  Then came advice about shark from friends and family who had also been here.  Avoid, avoid, avoid.  So what did Cas and I do?  We tried it.  Our guide assured us it smells worse than it tastes.  Which prompted me to smell it.  Big mistake.  It smelled like I had gone apple bobbing in a vat of Windex.  We were also instructed to chew 5-10 times, then swallow.  I got the little jar of shark-cubes presented to me first, then handed it down a long table.  I picked a small chunk.  I was willing to try, but if presented size options, you take the advantage, right?  Okay- we all held up a shark-cube on a toothpick and said Skál (cheers), then ate.  And it wasn’t terrible.  Not an experience I would want to repeat, but all in all, if it was the only source of protein on a faraway planet, I would survive.  Not a ringing endorsement, I know, bit better than I had been led to believe.  We followed it with a shot of “Black Death” which is a schnapps flavored with caraway seeds.  Not great, either, but somehow the perfect pairing for the situation.  

When we finished our food walk, we were right next to the Hallgrímskirkja Church, the very iconic Lutheran house of worship which is preceded by a statue of Leif Eriksson.  You can go in for free, sit in a pew, enjoy some music if someone is playing the enormous and beautiful pipe organ and have a peaceful moment in the beautiful space.  It’s the opposite of all the churches and cathedrals in Italy we have seen.  It’s plain and sparse, but that is its beauty and its strength.  The arches and design are center stage, leaving the person standing in the middle of it all to contemplate structure, beauty and faith.  It was not too pricey to take an elevator ride to the top of the bell tower, so we did that.  It afforded us a beautiful view of the surrounding city and the shoreline.  Really, that would have been a perfect way to cap off our first day in Reykjavík.  

Except that we managed to come on what our guide assured us was the prettiest day of the year.  She said all the locals were going to spend as much outdoor time as possible, so we joined them with a glass of wine in an outdoor space adjacent to a food court of sorts.  There was a playground with some active kids nearby and tables full of folks, sitting out and enjoying the weather.  But we were wiped out.  We had enjoyed a little nap in the afternoon, but with a five hour time difference and each of us in a body that had been on three airplanes in recent history, we were both ready for some serious sleep.  We made it back to the hotel, brushed our teeth and hit the pillows in our room that hid behind the very necessary blackout curtains.  For context, my weather app says sunrise this morning was at 2:29 am and it will set at 11:57 this evening.  Our guide yesterday assured us that it never really sets this time of year, but we were in bed sleeping (or trying to sleep) when it was prime time to see if she was right.  Aside from a strange bout of being awake at 3 am, we slept pretty well.  And it was a good thing, too.  We have an Inside the volcano adventure today.  We will be walking around inside an actual volcano, but we should be absolutely safe, as the last eruption of this particular one was 4,000 years ago.  Also, I suspect they have a pretty good way to predict eruptions in this part of the world.  

We’ve had a nice, Icelandic breakfast with skayr- the cheese based food that feels like yogurt along with the rye bread they make here- we’re told the recipe calls for geothermal cooking, and we’re totally into it.  Also, it’s a bit sweeter than what we’re used to for rye bread.  It’s quite good un-toasted with butter.  

We’ve got a little time right now to pack our day-pack with our layers we’ll certainly be needing for a trip inside a volcano.  I’ve pored over the travel guide on this one, as I have never been inside a volcano before.  I mean, what do you wear, pack or bring?  It turns out, you bring layers of clothes to wear.  When not gurgling up lava, these things can be cold.  Who knew?  So that’s the update.  We’ll get back here when we have compelted our volcanic adventure.  But for now, I can be maybe the first to tell you- go ahead and eat the shark.  It’s not great, but you have to try, don’t you?  

Here’s the photo album you’ve come to expect: https://tinyurl.com/DunlapIceland