back from a great New Year's trip to Iceland. We only went for four days, and the weather was mostly crap (as it often is, I am told) but we still managed to have a great time - largely thanks to our friends who showed us around and looped us in on New Year's Eve fun - Cheers!
I am just posting now because we stayed up all night partying on New Year's and as a result my energy level has been rather low for a few days :P.
Although it seems a bit ironic to travel to a place that is colder and darker than Denmark in winter for a 'break', there are a few things there that make life in winter bearable, even pleasureable. For example, most municipal pools have outdoor hot baths for soaking which like everything are heated by their extensive geothermal district heating. Ah, the advantages of living on a volcanic hotspot on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge!
So as a result we went swimming every day while there, and (much to Malcolm's delight) some of the pools had outdoor jacuzzis and big water slides. I only got stuck Homer Simpson-style once in the water slide, until my friend Erlingur explained the technique to me - then it was great fun!
Reykjavik is very consious of its 'hip' status nowadays (thanks to Bjork, Sigur Ros and the like) with lots of trendy shops, galleries and clubs along Laugavegurinn, the main shopping street that runs downtown.
There are elements of other places in Reykjavik -- the laid-back vibe, natural beauty and fresh maritime air make it feel like Vancouver or Seattle, while the tidy buildings are like others in Scandinavia -- yet it is oddly compelling and unique, mostly because of the incredible landscape which I'll get to in a minute.
Food and drink in Reykjavik are bloody expensive but high-quality and we had great seafood virtually every day while there. In general food and things like cafes seem higher quality here than in Copenhagen, but that's not a high bar to beat ;).
Here's Malcolm in our favorite cafe near the hotel, where we invented and played the game 'trade the coins': Three of my 1 IKR 'Cod' coins for your 10 IKR 'Flounder' :)
There is of course a good deal of interesting history and mythology regarding Iceland. One of the coolest things we saw in in the city was the Reykjavik 871 (+/- 2) exhibition, a recently-unearthed viking longhouse from the original settlement. It provides great insight into the lives of the first settlers, and it is probably the best interactive historical display I've ever visited, with beautiful restoration of the remaining structure, motion-sensing 'holographic' films that animate the surroundings as you pass, and even an interactive 3D table that illustrates the lives of the settlers there. We all loved it, including Malcolm, and we picked up a great history on the settlement of Iceland, The Sagas of Icelanders, Icelandic Folk and Fairy Tales and some nice kids' books on viking history and weaponry for Malcolm who, alas, is fascinated by any and all weapons.
It is not until you see the countryside, though, that you understand what might have motivated these people to invent such elaborate mythologies...
I greatly overused the adjective 'dramatic' while touring the countryside in Iceland, because wherever you looked were brooding landscapes with mountains in the distance, or waterfalls, or geysers, or a volcano caldera, or just a great lava plain stretching off into the distance, but almost never any sign of human habitation. You feel this great urge to load up a backpack and just start walking for as far as you can go until reaching the sea. We would definitely like to come back in summer weather and try some long treks here.
On the final full day we ventured out to The Blue Lagoon, a lake of warm, geothermal seawater that has been turned into a spa
it was eerie and beautiful to float around in warm, slightly-astringent brackish water and gaze up at the cold, clear sky.
But I must admit my favorite part of that trip was the landscape and the way to and from Blue Lagoon: It was the only clear day of our trip, and the mountains stood out in perfect detail from the roadway.
So naturally after all that beauty and nature we needed a good dose of old-fashioned human partying, and as Erlingur's family graciously invited us along we joined them for some drinks, a traditional New Year's dinner (smoked lamb - quite nice), lots more drinks, singing of songs and playing music (his dad is quite a decent keyboardist, while I banged along on guitar) and a few more drinks.
Although I have no photographic evidence, I should point out that Icelanders love fireworks. Nay, they *love* fireworks, to the tune of millions of dollars worth of the things, or put another way, an entire year's worth of air pollution in Reykjavik from automobiles in one night. I have never seen so many fireworks. It started around 10pm and lasted until around 12:30. By the time the New Year actually occurred, the air was so thick with smoke that you couldn't see the exploding rockets a short distance away. Icelanders are a little nuts :).
So all this fun took us right up to the early bus we had to catch to the airport and the morning flight home on January 1st 2007. An auspicious beginning of 2007 for us!
The full set of snaps is here.
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