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Bjork suddenly makes so much sense!
Feb. 6th, 2009 04:29 pmRight, time for a mammoth update on my trip to Iceland which, oddly, started nearly a week ago. It all seems a bit surreal now I'm back. It's like it never happened at all. Still, it was utterly amazing and I have to say that as holidays go it was so very easy to do. It has something to do with it being a small country but all the flights are synced up with the coaches which take you directly to your hotel. All the trips we went on could be booked at the hotel and the coaches all picked you up from your hotel. It was just all so seamless. That doesn't seem like a big deal but neither me and James have travelled much before so it was a weight off our minds. Oh, and everyone spoke English which was great as there was no way in hell I'd try pronouncing some of those Icelandic words!
Friday 30th January
I did half a day at work on Friday and so left at 4 o'clock. A joy and no mistake. I met James and we headed straight to Manchester with no problems bar the packed trains (it says a lot that I no longer consider this a 'problem') and we ate out in the Giraffe cafe there. I have made a mental note to eat at airports because it eats up a great amount of time. I also have to mention the brilliant giraffe shaped stirrers we got in our drinks. You bet I stole a couple of those bad boys. The flight went without a hitch really and the whole trip was a bit weird, just because it was all in the dark. The next day we woke up in a new place not really knowing what to expect. It was a pretty special way to travel. The airport in Iceland is in Keflavik, which for you indie folk is notable because that's where Bellatrix are from! The only stupid thing was we didn't get to sleep until 2am which was just awful, plus James kept waking up because the man next door was snoring stupidly loud. Thankfully he shut up later in the holiday. I just feel sorry for his wife.
The trip in general has to be noted as being wonderfully quiet. When we were waiting for our flight it occurred to us that everyone there was in a couple, there were no kids. In fact, in my whole time in Iceland I could easily count the number of kids I saw on one hand. Amazing. What was also interesting was that, because of the nature of the tourism, there were plenty of British people in our hotel so we got to know the people who were there. We knew Mary and Caroline who seemed to be sat behind us on every jounney and whittered the biggest load of shit known to man. However, they did provide us with much amusement. There was also red man and green lady whose brightly coloured coats meant that we always knew which coach we were on. They were also kind enough to take a photo of us on Gullfoss.
Saturday 31st January
Like much of the hotel we were up late for breakfast, which turned out to be quite nice. The usual was supplied along with cold eggs, ham and cheese which I found quite odd. After that we headed out inot the snow. Whoever told me it doesn't snow in Reykjavik was a liar! There was tonnes of the stuff! However, it was nice snow, in that it didn't get you wet and it wasn't slippery so it didn't bother us at all, it just looked incredibly lovely, especially the mountain we could see from outside the hotel. Yes, you read that right.
Considering that everyone in Iceland is forced to live on the edges of the country I was quite surprised to find that all the buildings are all incredibly spread out. It was very American in that way (one of the only valid things that Caroline and Mary said all weekend). Our hotel was a half hour's walk from the centre of Reykjavik and we barely saw a person while we were out. Icelandic people really do drive everywhere.
Temperatures over the weekend weren't too bad. In the UK you always get a freezing wind which makes things worse. In Iceland there wasn't really a wind and so the temperatures, which ranged from 2 to -4, weren't all that bad. In the town centre we had a wander around the harbour and then around some of the shops in the city centre. We went to Tjorn, the city lake, which was mostly frozen apart a bit around the shore. I don't think I've seen so many water birds! They had Whopper swans and geese like we do here, but there was also tufted ducks which dove beautifully. One poor child had some bread and was cornered against the wall while his Dad took photos! Poor boy!
After walking around the lake we went to the Icelandic National Museum. I'm not used to paying to get into Museums but it wasn't very much.
It was interesting to find out the history of the country, which goes back the 900s and the museum as a whole was very nicely laid out. We ate in the cafe there and then went to the library which was, again, very nice. We then went for a shopping trip up the main high street. There wasn't that much to buy souvenir-wise I have to say so I only brought back bits with me. We ended the little trip by going in the huge cathedral, Hallgrimskirkja. Sadly it was covered in scaffolding (now I know how those York tourists feel when they see the Minster!) but it's impressive nonetheless. Outside is a statue of Eriksson, the proper discoverer of America. I cant believe that that was never made clear at school. Colombus be damned!
On the way back we got some food from the supermarket. This is always fun and we got all kinds of bits. We got the local delicacy which is called Hardfisskur, dried fish. I can't say I was that impressed really. Much nicer was the 'Boiled Bread' which sounds foul but is actually lovely. Think a less sweet doughnut. There was also flat bread which could have done with some butter but that was tasty too. Their skyr (yogurt) is gorgeous and the chocolate we tried (Nizza) was equally good. So it was mostly a thumbs up affair.
Then it was on to the Northern Lights tour which was great. We drove out to one of the national parks for it. We were lucky too as we had perfect conditions. The days either side were cloudy. I have to say though, that it wasn't quite what I expected. There was no green flashes through the sky, for the proper experience I think that you have to go to Norway, but what we saw was an arch of a bright white/yellow cloud quite low in the sky. The way it moved was weird, it was slow but you could tell it was moving. Sometimes it got brighter, sometimes not. It was a wonderful spot for stargazing too. I only really know The Plough as a constellation but you see that really clearly. There was also Pliodes and Venus which was stunningly bright and I saw my first ever shooting star. I saw a few actually but it was amazing beautiful.
Sunday 1st February
After breakfast, which was early, we headed out on the Golden Circle tour. Due to the amazing exchange rate I'm glad that we didn't pre-book our tours as it turned out to be much cheaper to get them while we were there. Our first stop on the trip was Nesjavellir which is one of their geothermal power stations. It's pretty amazing and I which we had them. It makes the energy there really cheap, plus it allows them to grow their own tropical fruit including bananas and oranges. Odd. Of course, if you went outside you got a face full of sulphur which stank.
Then it was on to Gullfoss, or the Golden Falls, a two tier waterfall which was amazing. It was the only time that I felt utterly cold though.
The wind was awful in places and I swear my head has never been so cold. Oh, firstly we stopped for dinner at the cafe and had a lovely smoked salmon bagel and a hot chocolate. It was needed! The waterfall itself is amazing and beautiful. We both agreed that seeing Iceland in the summer wouldn't be half as good. It would be like seeing the Dales! It's so much more beautiful covered in snow and ice. At one point James was taking a photo of me while I stifled giggles as someone went down like a sack of shit behind him. Amazing. Funnily enough, this was the place that James' Mum tore the ligaments in her leg 18 months previously, you know, when it wasn't even icy...
I have to say that on the whole day we had a wonderful guide called Ragna who spoke amazing French and said English words even we didn't know the meaning of. Shameful! She went along the coach at one point and asked everyone where they were from and there was a good mix. Japan, Sweden, France and the UK were all represented.
After that we went to the geysers. The original geyser (or Geysir) no longer erupts unless supplied with soap but there is now Litl Geysir which bubbles away permanently and Strokkur which erupts every 5 minutes. It's a sight to behold and there's little warning before it goes off. Good fun! There are others too but you must avoid the sulphur clouds again.
Next was Pingvellir, the site of their original parliament. We found out that the Icelandic government is the oldest in the world and that because all business (social, trade, and governmental) took place in this one place several times a year there are no Icelandic dialects. Weird. There was beautiful scenery there as it's Iceland's biggest lake.
In the evening we went to Perlan (the Pearl) which by day is a museum but by night is a restaurant. It's on a huge hill and it turns out that the restaurant revolves! James didn't believe me when I said that the road outside had moved but it did! You can see the whole of Reykjavik from up there and it's a beautiful restaurant. Again the exchange rate meant that the meal would have been rather expensive, however it was no more than a posh meal inthe UK and it was worth every penny. It's funny, the Icelanders there were all dressed up so you could tell that when they go out for a meal it's a big thing for them. It's likely to get bigger too. Unemployment is currently 7% and it's likely to hit 10% by the end of the year. And for a population of 300,000 that's a big thing. It's bizarre in a way but you could tell it was happening. Nearly every shop had 'Útsala' in the window which means 'sale'. The tour guide earlier in the day asked if we'd seen the story that concerned Icelanders had sent woollen goods to 'suffering' UK pensioners. They've gone to Grimsby so maybe they were deserving of them after all.
For an appitiser we had salmon squares and then for main I had arctic char on a bed of mashed potato with baby corn and asparagus. I have to say that it one of the nicest pieces of fish I've ever had. Like salmon but slightly salty. And for dessert I had blueberry skyr and meringue with blueberry sorbet and fresh blueberries. Beautiful and worth every penny. Turns out that Bill Clinton had visited the restaurant so we knew it was good. On the way out the cloakroom man told us that until two weeks ago there had been no snow, so I say we were lucky.
Monday 2nd February
Our last day. Before going the airport we tagged on a trip to the Blue Lagoon which is a spa/pool type place near Keflavik. I have to say that I was a little apprehensive at first. I'm not a water person so add to this the vast nudity (I've never seen so many naked men! I'm just glad that outside the changing rooms people wore swimming gear!) and my inability to swim it wasn't looking good. However, it was wonderful. My skin still feels like 'The Blue Lagoon' now, it's odd. The water is a cloudy blue with all of the minerals in it and they supply mud so you can cover yourself in it. The only unpleasant bit is the walk around the pool before you get in. Being bare foot and walking on bits of ice in -4 temperatures are not good! I desperately want to be back there though. I felt so good all day.
Afer buying a Blue Lagoon teaspoon we headed out where a pretty Icelandic student asked if she could take a picture of us for a school project. We agreed on the condition that she take one of both of us on our camera so we were photographed by a semi-professional! Some woman on the coach said that she must only be going for the photogenic people. Of course she was!
The flight back was fine as this time we had touch screen to play with. I tried to get James to watch Lazytown but we stuck with Arrested Development instead! I have to say that coming back to snow chaos was very bizarre considering we'd been ina country that isn't affected by it all! All in all though we had a wonderful holiday. It was much needed and it reminded me how much more to life there was than crappy work and other boring life stuff.
So yeah, if you made it to the end of that then congrats! And in summary, here is a film that James made of our trip which you'll have seen if you're on his Facebook friends list. It's a bonus for you people who've never met us as you get to hear James and even see me! You lucky people you.
Friday 30th January
I did half a day at work on Friday and so left at 4 o'clock. A joy and no mistake. I met James and we headed straight to Manchester with no problems bar the packed trains (it says a lot that I no longer consider this a 'problem') and we ate out in the Giraffe cafe there. I have made a mental note to eat at airports because it eats up a great amount of time. I also have to mention the brilliant giraffe shaped stirrers we got in our drinks. You bet I stole a couple of those bad boys. The flight went without a hitch really and the whole trip was a bit weird, just because it was all in the dark. The next day we woke up in a new place not really knowing what to expect. It was a pretty special way to travel. The airport in Iceland is in Keflavik, which for you indie folk is notable because that's where Bellatrix are from! The only stupid thing was we didn't get to sleep until 2am which was just awful, plus James kept waking up because the man next door was snoring stupidly loud. Thankfully he shut up later in the holiday. I just feel sorry for his wife.
The trip in general has to be noted as being wonderfully quiet. When we were waiting for our flight it occurred to us that everyone there was in a couple, there were no kids. In fact, in my whole time in Iceland I could easily count the number of kids I saw on one hand. Amazing. What was also interesting was that, because of the nature of the tourism, there were plenty of British people in our hotel so we got to know the people who were there. We knew Mary and Caroline who seemed to be sat behind us on every jounney and whittered the biggest load of shit known to man. However, they did provide us with much amusement. There was also red man and green lady whose brightly coloured coats meant that we always knew which coach we were on. They were also kind enough to take a photo of us on Gullfoss.
Saturday 31st January
Like much of the hotel we were up late for breakfast, which turned out to be quite nice. The usual was supplied along with cold eggs, ham and cheese which I found quite odd. After that we headed out inot the snow. Whoever told me it doesn't snow in Reykjavik was a liar! There was tonnes of the stuff! However, it was nice snow, in that it didn't get you wet and it wasn't slippery so it didn't bother us at all, it just looked incredibly lovely, especially the mountain we could see from outside the hotel. Yes, you read that right.
Considering that everyone in Iceland is forced to live on the edges of the country I was quite surprised to find that all the buildings are all incredibly spread out. It was very American in that way (one of the only valid things that Caroline and Mary said all weekend). Our hotel was a half hour's walk from the centre of Reykjavik and we barely saw a person while we were out. Icelandic people really do drive everywhere.
Temperatures over the weekend weren't too bad. In the UK you always get a freezing wind which makes things worse. In Iceland there wasn't really a wind and so the temperatures, which ranged from 2 to -4, weren't all that bad. In the town centre we had a wander around the harbour and then around some of the shops in the city centre. We went to Tjorn, the city lake, which was mostly frozen apart a bit around the shore. I don't think I've seen so many water birds! They had Whopper swans and geese like we do here, but there was also tufted ducks which dove beautifully. One poor child had some bread and was cornered against the wall while his Dad took photos! Poor boy!
After walking around the lake we went to the Icelandic National Museum. I'm not used to paying to get into Museums but it wasn't very much.
It was interesting to find out the history of the country, which goes back the 900s and the museum as a whole was very nicely laid out. We ate in the cafe there and then went to the library which was, again, very nice. We then went for a shopping trip up the main high street. There wasn't that much to buy souvenir-wise I have to say so I only brought back bits with me. We ended the little trip by going in the huge cathedral, Hallgrimskirkja. Sadly it was covered in scaffolding (now I know how those York tourists feel when they see the Minster!) but it's impressive nonetheless. Outside is a statue of Eriksson, the proper discoverer of America. I cant believe that that was never made clear at school. Colombus be damned!On the way back we got some food from the supermarket. This is always fun and we got all kinds of bits. We got the local delicacy which is called Hardfisskur, dried fish. I can't say I was that impressed really. Much nicer was the 'Boiled Bread' which sounds foul but is actually lovely. Think a less sweet doughnut. There was also flat bread which could have done with some butter but that was tasty too. Their skyr (yogurt) is gorgeous and the chocolate we tried (Nizza) was equally good. So it was mostly a thumbs up affair.
Then it was on to the Northern Lights tour which was great. We drove out to one of the national parks for it. We were lucky too as we had perfect conditions. The days either side were cloudy. I have to say though, that it wasn't quite what I expected. There was no green flashes through the sky, for the proper experience I think that you have to go to Norway, but what we saw was an arch of a bright white/yellow cloud quite low in the sky. The way it moved was weird, it was slow but you could tell it was moving. Sometimes it got brighter, sometimes not. It was a wonderful spot for stargazing too. I only really know The Plough as a constellation but you see that really clearly. There was also Pliodes and Venus which was stunningly bright and I saw my first ever shooting star. I saw a few actually but it was amazing beautiful.
Sunday 1st February
After breakfast, which was early, we headed out on the Golden Circle tour. Due to the amazing exchange rate I'm glad that we didn't pre-book our tours as it turned out to be much cheaper to get them while we were there. Our first stop on the trip was Nesjavellir which is one of their geothermal power stations. It's pretty amazing and I which we had them. It makes the energy there really cheap, plus it allows them to grow their own tropical fruit including bananas and oranges. Odd. Of course, if you went outside you got a face full of sulphur which stank.
Then it was on to Gullfoss, or the Golden Falls, a two tier waterfall which was amazing. It was the only time that I felt utterly cold though.
The wind was awful in places and I swear my head has never been so cold. Oh, firstly we stopped for dinner at the cafe and had a lovely smoked salmon bagel and a hot chocolate. It was needed! The waterfall itself is amazing and beautiful. We both agreed that seeing Iceland in the summer wouldn't be half as good. It would be like seeing the Dales! It's so much more beautiful covered in snow and ice. At one point James was taking a photo of me while I stifled giggles as someone went down like a sack of shit behind him. Amazing. Funnily enough, this was the place that James' Mum tore the ligaments in her leg 18 months previously, you know, when it wasn't even icy...I have to say that on the whole day we had a wonderful guide called Ragna who spoke amazing French and said English words even we didn't know the meaning of. Shameful! She went along the coach at one point and asked everyone where they were from and there was a good mix. Japan, Sweden, France and the UK were all represented.
After that we went to the geysers. The original geyser (or Geysir) no longer erupts unless supplied with soap but there is now Litl Geysir which bubbles away permanently and Strokkur which erupts every 5 minutes. It's a sight to behold and there's little warning before it goes off. Good fun! There are others too but you must avoid the sulphur clouds again.
Next was Pingvellir, the site of their original parliament. We found out that the Icelandic government is the oldest in the world and that because all business (social, trade, and governmental) took place in this one place several times a year there are no Icelandic dialects. Weird. There was beautiful scenery there as it's Iceland's biggest lake.
In the evening we went to Perlan (the Pearl) which by day is a museum but by night is a restaurant. It's on a huge hill and it turns out that the restaurant revolves! James didn't believe me when I said that the road outside had moved but it did! You can see the whole of Reykjavik from up there and it's a beautiful restaurant. Again the exchange rate meant that the meal would have been rather expensive, however it was no more than a posh meal inthe UK and it was worth every penny. It's funny, the Icelanders there were all dressed up so you could tell that when they go out for a meal it's a big thing for them. It's likely to get bigger too. Unemployment is currently 7% and it's likely to hit 10% by the end of the year. And for a population of 300,000 that's a big thing. It's bizarre in a way but you could tell it was happening. Nearly every shop had 'Útsala' in the window which means 'sale'. The tour guide earlier in the day asked if we'd seen the story that concerned Icelanders had sent woollen goods to 'suffering' UK pensioners. They've gone to Grimsby so maybe they were deserving of them after all.
For an appitiser we had salmon squares and then for main I had arctic char on a bed of mashed potato with baby corn and asparagus. I have to say that it one of the nicest pieces of fish I've ever had. Like salmon but slightly salty. And for dessert I had blueberry skyr and meringue with blueberry sorbet and fresh blueberries. Beautiful and worth every penny. Turns out that Bill Clinton had visited the restaurant so we knew it was good. On the way out the cloakroom man told us that until two weeks ago there had been no snow, so I say we were lucky.
Monday 2nd February
Our last day. Before going the airport we tagged on a trip to the Blue Lagoon which is a spa/pool type place near Keflavik. I have to say that I was a little apprehensive at first. I'm not a water person so add to this the vast nudity (I've never seen so many naked men! I'm just glad that outside the changing rooms people wore swimming gear!) and my inability to swim it wasn't looking good. However, it was wonderful. My skin still feels like 'The Blue Lagoon' now, it's odd. The water is a cloudy blue with all of the minerals in it and they supply mud so you can cover yourself in it. The only unpleasant bit is the walk around the pool before you get in. Being bare foot and walking on bits of ice in -4 temperatures are not good! I desperately want to be back there though. I felt so good all day.
Afer buying a Blue Lagoon teaspoon we headed out where a pretty Icelandic student asked if she could take a picture of us for a school project. We agreed on the condition that she take one of both of us on our camera so we were photographed by a semi-professional! Some woman on the coach said that she must only be going for the photogenic people. Of course she was!
The flight back was fine as this time we had touch screen to play with. I tried to get James to watch Lazytown but we stuck with Arrested Development instead! I have to say that coming back to snow chaos was very bizarre considering we'd been ina country that isn't affected by it all! All in all though we had a wonderful holiday. It was much needed and it reminded me how much more to life there was than crappy work and other boring life stuff.
So yeah, if you made it to the end of that then congrats! And in summary, here is a film that James made of our trip which you'll have seen if you're on his Facebook friends list. It's a bonus for you people who've never met us as you get to hear James and even see me! You lucky people you.
