After a week of frantic, mad preparations, and an all night packing exercise, Larry and I got on a plane to JFK on Monday morning. At the skycap desk, we had the pleasure of performing the time honored suitcase shuffle, as Larry’s bag was 8 pounds over weight. Luckily mine was exactly 8 pounds under the weight limit. How’s that for precision? Oh and despite all our packing “lean” for this trip, I am hereby declaring that we overpacked. Our bags weigh a ton, and the carry ons are killing me. I have both our laptops, power cords, and various other components in a backpack on my back and it is NOT light. I’m going to need a chiropractor after this.

We managed to catch a few winks on the plane, and then caught another flight to Reykjavik, Iceland that evening. The flight to Reykjavik is only about 5 hours but with the time difference we arrived at about 6 am local time Tuesday morning. We immediately rented a car and headed out into what Winnie the Pooh would say was a “very blustery day”. Seriously, the wind almost knocked us and our luggage over when we first stepped outside. And it hasn’t let up all day long. I’ve almost blown over several times now. I would guess we’ve had a sustained wind of 40 mph, with higher gusts, all day long. And to think I used to complain about the wind coming off the Hudson. All I can say is, I love my North Face jacket!

Though we had kind of a rainy, gray start to the day, by the time we got to Reykjavik and found somewhere to have breakfast, the wind had begun to blow the clouds away. Blue skies! Given the good fortune of clear skies, we decided to tour the Golden Circle, which includes:

(1) the national park called Þingvellir, where the ancient parliament (Alþing) was established and held beginning in 930, and where the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates collide and you can literally walk in between the two;

(2) Gullfoss, which means “gold falls”, a huge waterfall formation that seriously rivals Niagara Falls;

and

(3) a geothermally active area known for its most famous landmark, Geysir. It actually contains several hot pots and a couple of geysers, the original Old Faithful Geysir and Strokker Geysir. We were treated to several eruptions while we were there.

We also stopped at a volcanic crater called Kerið. While it is over 3,000 years old, it’s still the youngest crater in the area.

Everywhere you look in this country you are reminded of its unique geothermal and volcanic attributes. There are many public pools which are sourced from the natural hot springs, the most famous being the Blue Lagoon. 98% of Iceland’s homes are powered by geothermally generated electricity (they know how to use their natural resources!). You can always look across the rugged terrain and see steam coming from some natural hot spring, or steam pouring out of a geothermal power plant. And if you aren’t looking at that, you’re looking at a rugged lava field (covered in spongy green moss, a seriously stunning sight to behold), or a volcanic crater.

Larry and I both have noted that the landscape here reminds us of Scotland. It’s like a more rugged Scotland. With even more wind. And the best part? The fact that it stays light until midnight. Currently the sunrise is about 4:30 am and sunset about 10:30 pm – but because we’re so far north it doesn’t get completely dark until about midnight. On June 21st, sunrise is 2:34 am and sunset at 12:04 am. How great is that? I wouldn’t want to be here in the winter, where it’s only light for about 4 hours a day if that, but summertime is heavenly for night owls like ourselves. After we found a hotel and went searching for dinner, we were surprised to discover that most restaurants were closed. It was after 10:30 pm and we hadn’t even realized it because it was still so light outside.

Random notes and observations . . .

Reyjkavik is a beautiful city. It’s very clean, both physically and architecturally. Iceland only has about 300,000 inhabitants, and 60% of them live in Reykjavik. Despite that, it still feels like a charming small fishing village, only one with some really cool designer boutiques and fun restaurants. Our little hotel is right across the street from the Hallgrímskirkja, the most famous church in Iceland. Our room even looks directly at it. Unfortunately the entire tower is covered in scaffolding! Reminds me of the first time I tried to see the Sistene Chapel. Such a disappointment.

The Icelandic horses are beautiful. They are much smaller than continental horses and have longer hair and thicker manes. We had to stop and pet a few along our way today.

We are also sampling some of the local flavors, of course. Today I tried skyr, which is a soft cheese that comes in various fruit flavors. I had apricot vanilla. It’s technically a cheese, but more like a thick yogurt. Skyr has always been a part of Icelandic cuisine as it was brought over by the Vikings. Very yummy. We also bought some of the famous dried, salted cod. We haven’t tried it yet but it sure smells. Even through the sealed bag. We’ll have to get brave and break that open tomorrow.

The language is interesting and very nearly completely indiscernible to an English speaker. Once in a while there’s an odd word that bears a resemblance to something in English but for the most part, there are no similarities. The Icelandic language evolved from the original Norse settlers and has remained so pure that modern Icelanders can read the ancient Viking texts perfectly well.

(All photos (c) Larry L. Hanson or Lisa Hanson, 2009)