Last Day in Iceland

This morning we actually saw the sun! It was still quite windy and there were some patches of rain, but overall not too bad.

The shops and museums didn't open until 10 or 11am so we took a free bus tour (ie: we hopped on the first local bus that came along, not really knowing where it was going). We saw a few suburbs along the way. We changed to another bus that would take us back into town.

We browsed several shops, bought some good walking/trekking shoes for Andrew, then went to the office to try and get our tax back. The office was closed, with a note up saying something about the financial crisis. We knew the banks etc were in a bit of trouble around the world, but we had no idea what had just hit Iceland. We decided to just wait and do it at the airport.

We didn't have time for more museums, so we stopped by the City Hall. It is positioned on the lake near the centre of town, and one of the highlights is a 3D scale model of Iceland showing the contour of the land and glaciers.



We stopped at a bakery for lunch. It was nice food, and quite cheap too.

Then we walked back to hotel the same way we walked when we first arrived. The snow had all gone, and the mountain backdrop had changed a little.



We got to the airport and spent our last cash on duty free :-) then boarded our big bird home.



The journey from Heathrow too ages as there were delays on several tube lines. We shall avoid Heathrow next time!

A day in rainy Reykjavik

We woke this morning to rain beating against the window and howling wind. Slowly we crawled out of bed and had a leisurely breakfast, psyching ourselves up to venture out into the weather and try and see some sights.

As it was so wet, we decided to catch the bus into town. It was so much quicker than walking which was great while the weather was bad. First we walked to Halgrimskirkja church, the rather ugly concrete building. The outside of the tower was covered in scaffolding but that probably wasn’t any loss since we couldn’t stand upright to look at it because of the wind, let alone take any photos of it. There is a lift up the tower with a great view. (on a fine day, when there’s no scaffolding) so we didn’t bother going up. There was a man inside practising the organ which was nice to hear. The organ looks a little threatening with some of the pipes pointing straight out, almost like guns and the architecture of the building is quite different to what you usually see in a church.



We wandered down towards the main street past some shops, including a very nice (and expensive) art shop. A lot of the shops don’t open until about 10 or 11am so we were safe from spending money. We found a shop called 66° which is the Icelandic equivalent to Kathmandu. Well, at least the clothing range. We found things we like but still the credit card was safe. More souvenir shops and information centres and we were worn out (and wet), so we stopped for a hot chocolate and bite to eat at Café Paris.

We decided to buy the tourist card which gives you free entry to museums, transport and some discounts on food and other shops. We visited the Settlement Museum 870±2 where an old Viking settlement was discovered (estimated to be from around the year 870) underneath modern buildings. It was very interesting and well presented with multimedia displays around the perimeter of the remains. All this underneath a hotel and restaurant.

We had a quick look at the Photography museum. There is no permanent exhibition there, and the current exhibition on people who have moved to Iceland was ok but not particularly exciting.

Next adventure was catching a bus. Any bus, we didn’t mind, just whatever came along. After one stop we realised that actually we didn’t want to go that way so got off, walked in the rain and waited at another stop for another bus. We got to the Kringlan shopping centre (largest in Reykjavik apparently) and browsed what they had to offer. Nothing unexpected, but then we found the 66° shop again and this time we did spend money.

Again we were tired to rested at a café then ventured outside to catch the bus back to the hotel. It wasn’t raining, and the bus journey wasn’t that far. We could have walked! Back out into town for dinner where we walked around a lot and settled for a fish buffet. There were so many different fish dishes that although we had a bite sized piece from each one it still wouldn’t fit on one plate. Then there was dessert.

Back to the hotel for our final night in the cabin!

Golden Circle Tour

A reasonably early start for a nice hotel breakfast then onto the coach for the Golden Circle tour. Our tour guide was very good and gave the commentary in both English and French (and later some German too).

We drove inland and climbed into the hills where it was snowing.. The road was white and we had to slow down to a crawl to see where we were going. Everything around us was white. After a while we descended into a valley where it was raining (not snowing) and made our first stop in Hveragerði greenhouse village. We saw a greenhouse on the way through and stopped at a place called Eden, a shop/café with lots of local craft items and clothing for sale.







Next stop was a waterfall (fresh water) with beautiful clear water and a staircase for salmon to jump up (when they are in the mood for exercise).



We drove past the geysers to the Gullfoss waterfall which is on a glacial river so the water is very murky because of the silt that the glacier has carved out. The waterfall is impressive, with several cascading levels tumbling down the valley.



Back to the geysers, we walked around the area, past a natural spring with amazing crystal clear water, and the pond nearby where the water has cooled is a pale blue colour. Then to the highlight which is Geysir.




It usually fires water and steam into the air about every 2.5mins, but must have suffered some stage fright when our group arrived because we were waiting a good 5mins. But then, when you least expect it, whoosh! it send a column of water into the air. Some of it comes back down with a splash and some keeps going up as steam. When it’s not exploding it is a surging bubbling pool of water that looks like it’s about to overflow at any minute, but it still catches you by surprise.

We had lunch at the nearby café and visited the geyser museum with displays on the volcanic activity in the area, and features on geysers.

Our final stop was þingvellir National Park, a UNESCO world heritage site and the original site of the parliament (from the 920‘s). It is situated on the Great Atlantic rift which is the amazing valley and rocky cliffs left by the separation of the two tectonic plates (North American and Eurasian). There were some amazing Autumn colours in amongst the mossy rocks from the shrubs that are beginning to grow back now that many grazing animals have been evicted.




Finally we headed back to the hotel and disappointingly it was still wet and windy. By the time we walked into town it wasn’t so bad and we had a nice seafood and lamb dinner at a local restaurant.

London to Reyjavik

For a change we weren‘t leaving at some horrible early hour of the morning, so there was no early start required. When we got to the train station we discovered that there had been a fatality on the tracks so there were up to 60min delays. There was nothing we could do but wait, to we waited. A train arrived and whilst it was a bit slow, we made it to London and the tube journey was fine. We even had 20mins spare for some lunch!

The flight was uneventful, although there were great views of Iceland as we approached and the landing was so smooth that we didn’t actually feel the moment we touched down. From there, our coach transfer took us via a few hotels, the bus station and a few more hotels. There was snow recently so almost everywhere there was ice or snow.



Eventually we made it to the Cabin Hotel, which lived up to its name. It feels like our little room is a cabin, just on the fourth floor of a building next to many others! Actually, that’s probably a bit harsh, it’s just a very small room. We have a bathroom, tv and a window! Some of the rooms don’t even have an outside window.

We went for a walk into town via the waterfront. The sky was lovely and clear and the view over the harbour with snow covered mountains in the background was stunning. It was bloody freezing too. You had to be careful not to slip on the compacted snow, and the odd car would spin and skid along the road.

We found an nice café/bar to have dinner and enjoyed a nice tomato/seafood soup, lobster/pasta and cod/mashed potato. The walk home was even colder, and the cabin is not the most central hotel, but we needed to work off the extra kg’s we just ate!

Chester & Wales

This weekend we drove to Chester to stay with some friends of Andrew's parents (Morgan friends).

They have a lovely townhouse on the river not far from central Chester.

On Saturday morning we went on the City Sightseeing tour around the city. It's a great way to look around the city and hear a bit about it (without reading the books!)





Following the tour we walked around half of the ancient city walls.

Then we went for a drive into Wales, checked out the canal and climbed up a hill where there were some ruins.








This is the view from K&G's deck over the river and into town. Lovely!



On Sunday, Andrew went with Keith to a car show while I headed into town with Gill. There were Morgans of course!





We had a lovely weekend and were well looked after by our hosts.