Photos from Iceland

After arriving at the airport, my family was kind enough to pick me up - I guess one of the perks of squatting at my parents'! We then decided to grab Chinese food in Flushing which really hit the spot!

At home, I was able to unpack, take a shower, do laundry, and upload my photos! Please note that the photos are not always in order due to the timestamp from downloads from other members on the trip and etc.

Hope you enjoy the photos from the trip!

Last Day in Iceland

Today we leave Iceland and our hotel was called "Room with a View" and I leave you with this view:

We're sad to leave, but not sad about leaving the sulfuric aftertaste in the tap water (smell of rotten eggs in the shower). 

Also here's a picture of Dresa's breakfast from Dunkin' Donuts that she wanted me to post and share - she said she wanted to make sure people could compare between our food photos:

After sweeping through the room and checking out, we walked around Reykjavik to do some shopping. Hopping in and out of stores and perusing ceramics and wool clothing - we became fans of the store called 66° north, named after the latitudinal location of the Icelandic fjords.

We found our way to Hallgrímskirkja church (of course I find a church in any new country). It's Lutheran which is the state religion and made out of white concrete. It had a very simple interior - kind of like if IKEA designed a church. Due to our timing, we opted not to go up to the bell tower, but was told you get a great view of Reykjavik. Here's a collage of the church and its doors:

Also there's a statue of Leifr Ericsson in front the church, "discoverer of Iceland" that the U.S. gave as a gift to Iceland - here's a photo of the front and back:

As we criss crossed the streets, we made our way to the famous hot dog stand that's been in operation for 70 years - John Kennedy and Bill Clinton had eaten the famous hot dogs here. Icelandic hot dogs are special because they're made of lamb and therefore have a different flavor than we're used to. There were geese hanging about and I enjoyed the hot dog with everything that included fried onions. Here's a collage of the experience:

I saw a funny magnet that had different weather forecasts for each hour - indeed today we experienced sleet, sun, wind, and snow. The weather changes here in a cold minute!

I picked up a rich cup of hot chocolate and we all reconvened at the hotel for our private airport transfer and our driver from Friday, Robin picked us up. We sang along to the radio while enjoying the landscape. Here's a view of both sides of the road on the way to the airport:

We got to the airport, shopped at the duty free, and waited for our flight. I made sure to pick up hot dogs for my friend Athena and met a nice woman from Scarsdale at the gate while finishing my post. Thank goodness for free airport wifi!

I'll post my photos when I'm back in the U.S., but for now, we're getting ready to board and return home!

Glacier Walkin'

So we woke up and were on time, but a few struggled with their alarm clocks. It all worked out because our pick up from Sterna Travel came to our hotel at the later range of the pickup. The original pickup was in a shuttle and our driver, was actually our guide for the day, Peter.

The shuttle brought us to Harpa Hall (the corporate office of Sterna), the concert hall which has colorful lights so we could transfer to a much larger bus. Here's a photo of inside the lobby of Harpa Hall:

This tour is a combination with the Beautiful South Coast and a Glacier Walk. Some other folks on the bus planned snowmobile excursions, but we were the only ones doing the glacier walk. Anyone not doing either visited Vík village, Dyrhólaey sea cliffs and Reynisfjara beach known for black sand beaches.

Peter was a diligent tour guide with an Icelandic dead pan and loud microphone and continued to provide lots of facts about heating and Iceland's geothermal resources when all we wanted to do was sleep. However, we appreciated him pointing out various environmental facts about the south shore which was originally under the sea, the various mountains, and birds. 

Our first stop on the South Coast tour was the beautiful and photogenic waterfall, Skógafoss. There was a high viewing platform and Liam, Christina, and I trekked up. Here's a photo of Liam and Christina before going up the long staircase behind them and then waterfall photos:

We learned on our trip that in addition to geysir being an Icelandic word, saga is as well. There are famous dramatic stories and these sagas are interesting reads. As we explored the southern landscape and the caves turned homes, there were many famous sagas. 

The big bus dropped us off at an intersection and Laorus, a shy driver for Arcanum tours picked us up in a van and bought us to their equipment shed near the glacier. Arcanum is a partner of Sterna Travel and provides the glacier walking services. 

At the shed, we put on our walking harnesses, sized our crampons, and our helmets with the help of Maya. But our glacier guide was a patient man with a middle name, Raven (his first name was too difficult to pronounce). We walked about 15 minutes to the glacier and put on the crampons which made such a huge difference on the ice and even helped on the black sand parts of the ground. We also learned how to hold and use our ice axe. 

I had always wanted to do a glacier walk when I was in Patagonia, but our itinerary didn't allow for it due to our tight schedule. I was appreciative that the other ladies were willing on this trip!

Yesterday we snowmobiled on a glacier, but today we walked on top! We explored the frozen world of Sólheimajökull glacier where we saw crevasses, glacier sinkholes, and ice ridges. 

They told us to dress extremely well, preferably waterproof and warm clothing, a hat, gloves, good walking shoes, wear thick socks. They said the glacier walk does not require any special skills and can be enjoyed by people with normal fitness and in good health. However, we did find it a bit challenging, but most unpleasant was the fact that it rained all day. The walk from start to finish was about 3 hours and although the rain wasn't that bad, for that length of time, we were drenched. Here are some photos of our glacier walk:

Our last photo was an "ussie", a picture of myself and Shirley. When we returned to the equipment shed and cafė, we ate a quick snack of ham and cheese that we brought from our original groceries and joined the rest of the group on the bus. 

The next stop was another waterfall called Seljalandsfoss, where you can walk behind in mild weather. However, practically the whole bus did not get off because they were so tired of being wet - I guess the rest of the group did not enjoy the rain on the beach as much as we enjoyed it on the glacier. I was the only one from our group to get off the bus and took this one photo from the parking lot - I guess it was time we stopped chasing waterfalls!:

After about a 2 hour drive back to Reykjavik, the bus dropped us all off at the various hotels on the route. Due to a few delays, showers, and drying off our soaked clothes, we decided to push back our reservation at Grillmarkadurinn which means Grill Market. As we were a few minutes late, half of us started to walk to the restaurant, so we didn't lose the reservation and we ran into my friends again from the Blue Lagoon. I asked them how their weekend was going and they started chirping "where's Liam?" Too funny. 

We're so glad we made it to dinner as it was the best meal of the weekend - we had an amazing tasting menu in a semi-private dining room and a wonderful waiter, Svess and the sommelier who clearly had an American accent (he went to middle school in Atlanta). Here's a group photo in the dining room:

Our meal collage below which included king crab with grilled lemon, cod with apple in a shellfish sauce, beef ribeye with carrot purée, lamb with 3 sauces, shark with a ginger soy sauce, duck salad, and dried cod and deep fried squid - wonderfully delicious!:

Then the dessert was every dessert on their dessert menu! Licorice ice cream, gooseberry, clementine sorbet, chocolate cake with hazelnut, fruit, and hard chocolate with melted caramel poured on top:

Our waiter was super accommodating and humored us with our jokes and requests for his American impersonations. After dinner because we were so beat, we headed back to the hotel and sang oldies and listened to Andrea rap while Dresa decided to redecorate and fix the chandelier in our living room - clearly a cross generational group who has been incredibly convivial on this trip! 

Despite our failure to see the Northern Lights all 3 nights, we've enjoyed each other's company and have decided we need to go on another trip, like to Norway, on a hunt for the Northern Lights!

Golden Circle & Snowmobiling

We woke up around 7 am and got ready for our first excursion in Iceland called the Golden Circle. We had some fruit and yogurt from our groceries and waited for our pick up. We had booked with Extreme Iceland but they apparently contracted out the job to Mountaineers of Iceland.

Our tour was booked for a super jeep which has its own air pressure system driven by our guide, Arni - however his name appeared to be pronounced Ani. Arni speaks with a slight Australian accent as he lived there for several years. Here's a photo of the super jeep which requires a truck license:

We drove in the dark out of the city and Arni pointed out various things like the domestic airport, mountains, and a church with a cemetery decorated with neon lights. We drove by a small waterfall which had a salmon ladder beside it pictured below:

And here's a photo of the desolate road early in the morning:

Our next stop was to see Geysir in a world renowned geothermal hot spring area and the hot spring after which all other spouting hot springs on earth are named. Here's a photo of us walking up to the area:

You can kind of see the smoke / bubbling in the following photos, but I missed the 3 - 4 geysers that actually blew and was higher than Old Faithful of Yellowstone per the information station:

And here's our wonderful group shot taken by some fellow New Yorkers:

We went into the cafe and had donuts thanks to Donna and headed back to the super jeep. We were then off to the famous Gullfoss (the Golden Waterfall). Here are some photos where parts of the waterfall are frozen:

Here's Christina and I and then the obligatory selfie:

And some photos from the higher viewing platform:

Next we drove along the adventurous and bumpy Kjolur mountain road on the east side of Langjökull Glacier (Long glacier), the second largest ice cap in Iceland after Vatnajökull, with the size of 953 km2. Its volume is 195 km³ and the ice is up to 580 metres thick. The highest point of the ice cap is about 1,450 metres above sea level. Langjokull is melting quite fast, and some researchers believe that it will disappear in about 150 years if climate change continues at its recent pace.

We arrived at base camp where we put on snow suits over our clothes and helmets. After learning how to use the snowmobiles, we went out for our ride in a complete whiteout. But we snowmobiled in single file and after about half an hour took a break. I was definitely more comfortable on our way back and sped more. Here's our halfway break group photo:

Also Arni took a fun video that Rosemary posted - we are turning sideways and making duck faces to make ourselves thinner in our bulky snow suits, and laughing in the snow:

https://www.facebook.com/rosemary.saporito/posts/10209700901774321

We then reversed our route and down from the glacier. On our way down from the glacier, we enjoyed snacks and my favorite dried mangoes. Liam enjoyed the mangoes which made me so happy! Also Arni said there are such few trees in this climate, that 5 trees make a forest. Here's a photo of an Icelandic forest:

We stopped back at the cafe of the waterfall for some lunch and then headed to Thingvellir National Park, which is one of this country’s most significant historical sites because it was here that Iceland’s first parliament was founded in the year 930 AD. Thingvellir is one of the most frequently visited tourist sites in the country. Each year, thousands of visitors go there to become better acquainted with Iceland's greatest historical site and jewel of nature.

At Thingvellir, the Eurasian and North American plate boundaries which run through Iceland are clearly visible - the plates are moving apart here and the land between them is subsiding. Here's a photo of Donna in front of and pointing at the North American plate:

And here's a photo of the ridge / valley in between the plates - people actually snorkel / scuba in the water which is apparently super clear between the continents:

Here's a photo of Christina and Shirley up against the North American plate which gives you perspective on how big it is:

And the walkway up to the top:

The lighted house is on the Eurasian side while the left is North American:

Shirley told Arni earlier in the day she wanted to put one foot on each continent and he was like "ummm, the continental divide is pretty wide." She responds, "what if I lie down?" And he disappointed her by explaining it's about 4-5 miles! For fun, here's a photo of Shirley's attempt:

We then headed back to Reykjavik which took about 45 minutes and passed by Hofdi House which is where Reagan and Gorbachev met and started the end of the Cold War in 1986. 

After returning to the hotel, we got ready for dinner at Dill, considered one of the best restaurants in Iceland. I made reservations months ago! Here's our starter champagne and tasting menu with the choice of 5 or 7 courses:

Here's the visualization of our 7 course tasting menu with some amuse-bouche:

We had a private room for most of the night which was convenient as we broke out into song throughout the dinner, but eventually another American group from DC joined us. As we chatted, we realized one of the guys, Atanu was from Buffalo and went to high school with my friend Mikey. We took this selfie and sent it to Mikey - they apparently took the same girl to different proms:

After dinner, we tried to go to Kiki Queer Bar which we thought would have karaoke again like last night where Dresa, Zack, and Cindy sang "It may be right" by Billy Joel. Alas, they didn't have karaoke tonight, so we called an audible and headed to Kaldi bar which is a local brewery. Here's a photo of a dark and light beer - Zack was kind enough to buy us a round and of course, Brennavín shots:

Dresa joined us for drinks - she had opted for a whale watching tour that included a Northern Lights component as well today, but like us, it was cancelled again tonight due to the weather forecast. We leave you with our blue steel and duck face photo from Kaldi bar to end the night and as we cross our fingers again that we get to see the Northern Lights tomorrow (our last night in Iceland)!