Friday, September 4, 2009
Heading home
We will be leaving for the airport after lunch for our long trek home. It has been a great trip and we´ve loved Iceland but we are looking forward to being back home. Funny how you feel that way as a trip ends!
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Blue Lagoon
One thing not to be missed in Iceland is the Blue Lagoon. What a wonderful way to wind up our trip here. We rode out to the Blue Lagoon on our little bus and 9 of us went. It was all most interesting and just a great fun, relaxing and neat time. The water is thermal and sooo warm and it felt so good. We wore bracelets that let us in and out of the facility and we could get something to drink or eat ,etc all on our bracelet and then pay when we left. We took towels from the hotel so we didn't have to pay for one. There was the special silica paste that we could plaster on our faces and we all agreed we were much more beautiful when we left. It was just a very relaxing time.
Tonight is our farewell dinner together. There are five of us that head home tomorrow and the others head on to Greenland for a week. I am sure they will have a great time but I am glad we are heading home. This has been a very active trip and we are ready to rest and catch up at home! We fly tomorrow afternoon to NYC. We will spend the night at the Hilton there and fly to Atlanta early Saturday morning in time to be home for the game.
Today we took the hotel shuttle to the nearby mall and did our souvenir shopping and then walked back to the hotel. Iceland is such a gorgeous country but souvenirs are not that easy to spot for our tastes, which is just as well. I was going to bring back some of the Blue Lagoon hand cream etc but the smallest size tube was the size of the hotel shampoo and were about $25....hmmm. No handcream is that good!
Tonight is our farewell dinner together. There are five of us that head home tomorrow and the others head on to Greenland for a week. I am sure they will have a great time but I am glad we are heading home. This has been a very active trip and we are ready to rest and catch up at home! We fly tomorrow afternoon to NYC. We will spend the night at the Hilton there and fly to Atlanta early Saturday morning in time to be home for the game.
Today we took the hotel shuttle to the nearby mall and did our souvenir shopping and then walked back to the hotel. Iceland is such a gorgeous country but souvenirs are not that easy to spot for our tastes, which is just as well. I was going to bring back some of the Blue Lagoon hand cream etc but the smallest size tube was the size of the hotel shampoo and were about $25....hmmm. No handcream is that good!
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Wetsuits and River Rafts
Today we went river rafting on the glacial river. Can we say “cold water?” It was quite an experience but so much fun! First, before we got to the river rafting place, we stopped at a crater formed by a big volcanic explosion and now is filled with water. There have been concerts from boats out in the middle as people sat around on the slopes. It was very interesting. The banks were very steep and it just surprised me that someone would think of it as a theatre to perform in!
When we arrived at the river rafting place, we went in and the staff assigned us each a wetsuit, wetshoe/socks, a waterproof jacket and we headed to the dressing rooms. One thing we are learning is that there is no privacy in Iceland. They do separate by gender but we are all one big happy family now as we changed into our bathing suits to wear under the wetsuits. Just getting the wetsuits on was an experience. It was like putting on a second skin. Too bad people couldn’t video us as I suspect we might win the world’s funniest video! We had a lot of laughs but we managed to all get dressed and ready. You can wear polartec or wool under the jacket, on top of the wetsuit, or wool socks. But if you wear anything cotton, you will be colder than not having anything. We all got life jackets, helmets and paddles. We were all set! We could not take our cameras as they would get ruined, but Jim put his little one in a ziplock bag as it is on its last leg anyway and we are near the end of the trip. He got some good photos of me. I bought one of the waterproof cameras that they sold at the place-exactly twice what we would have paid at Target for one, but then we’d have had to bring it through all the xray machines. I doubt I got any decent photos on it, but I tried. The company missed an economic opportunity not to take photos from the shore along the way-we’d have all paid! Regardless, it was hilarious and fun. I wound up in the floor of the boat twice when we hit a big stretch. One across the raft from me would have gone in if our guide had not grabbed her. Julie, if this was a 2*+ rapid ride, ours must have been about a .50. Our worst rapid was about the lightest one today. We did get soaked and our toes got numb from the cold. The scenery was beautiful and I am so glad we did it. Would I do it again if we came back? Nope, been there, done that. Now the one in Costa Rica? In a heartbeat! (notice the heart reference). This one brought back family memories of a river raft trip on the Snake River…. It was a lot of work paddling and maneuvering and just staying in the raft, but we did have fun. We rafted for about 1 ½ hours and then came back to change clothes and eat our warm soup for lunch. They had a hot tub outside you could use and a sauna too but for me, by the time I got the wetsuit off, I just wanted to be dressed and it was not worth the effort to go out in the cold to the hot tub!
Later we stopped by a beautiful little church that had lovely stained glass windows-abstract designs. There have been 11 buildings on this site and the first one was built in 1057. They are doing archeological digs beside the church to see if they can find the bishop’s house that was supposed to have stood there.
Before the river rafting, we stopped at one of the largest flower growers in Iceland. His greenhouses were amazing and he was growing gerbera daisies and mums and roses and other cut flowers and he makes bouquets that are sold in supermarkets , like our Kroger. It was really interesting because his property is on one of the geothermal areas and he heats and grows them using the water from this.
After our visit to the church in the afternoon, we went to the geothermal power plant near Reykjavik. It is very modern and they explained how they use the thermal features to make power for their country. Very resourceful.
Jim and I went next door to Pizza Hut for supper as we are too tired to go the downtown to search out a restaurant. Our room here at the Hilton is lovely and we have a great view over the water and mountains. It has been a great day.
When we arrived at the river rafting place, we went in and the staff assigned us each a wetsuit, wetshoe/socks, a waterproof jacket and we headed to the dressing rooms. One thing we are learning is that there is no privacy in Iceland. They do separate by gender but we are all one big happy family now as we changed into our bathing suits to wear under the wetsuits. Just getting the wetsuits on was an experience. It was like putting on a second skin. Too bad people couldn’t video us as I suspect we might win the world’s funniest video! We had a lot of laughs but we managed to all get dressed and ready. You can wear polartec or wool under the jacket, on top of the wetsuit, or wool socks. But if you wear anything cotton, you will be colder than not having anything. We all got life jackets, helmets and paddles. We were all set! We could not take our cameras as they would get ruined, but Jim put his little one in a ziplock bag as it is on its last leg anyway and we are near the end of the trip. He got some good photos of me. I bought one of the waterproof cameras that they sold at the place-exactly twice what we would have paid at Target for one, but then we’d have had to bring it through all the xray machines. I doubt I got any decent photos on it, but I tried. The company missed an economic opportunity not to take photos from the shore along the way-we’d have all paid! Regardless, it was hilarious and fun. I wound up in the floor of the boat twice when we hit a big stretch. One across the raft from me would have gone in if our guide had not grabbed her. Julie, if this was a 2*+ rapid ride, ours must have been about a .50. Our worst rapid was about the lightest one today. We did get soaked and our toes got numb from the cold. The scenery was beautiful and I am so glad we did it. Would I do it again if we came back? Nope, been there, done that. Now the one in Costa Rica? In a heartbeat! (notice the heart reference). This one brought back family memories of a river raft trip on the Snake River…. It was a lot of work paddling and maneuvering and just staying in the raft, but we did have fun. We rafted for about 1 ½ hours and then came back to change clothes and eat our warm soup for lunch. They had a hot tub outside you could use and a sauna too but for me, by the time I got the wetsuit off, I just wanted to be dressed and it was not worth the effort to go out in the cold to the hot tub!
Later we stopped by a beautiful little church that had lovely stained glass windows-abstract designs. There have been 11 buildings on this site and the first one was built in 1057. They are doing archeological digs beside the church to see if they can find the bishop’s house that was supposed to have stood there.
Before the river rafting, we stopped at one of the largest flower growers in Iceland. His greenhouses were amazing and he was growing gerbera daisies and mums and roses and other cut flowers and he makes bouquets that are sold in supermarkets , like our Kroger. It was really interesting because his property is on one of the geothermal areas and he heats and grows them using the water from this.
After our visit to the church in the afternoon, we went to the geothermal power plant near Reykjavik. It is very modern and they explained how they use the thermal features to make power for their country. Very resourceful.
Jim and I went next door to Pizza Hut for supper as we are too tired to go the downtown to search out a restaurant. Our room here at the Hilton is lovely and we have a great view over the water and mountains. It has been a great day.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
photos from Tuesday's glacier adventure
having trouble getting photos to post. this is one of me at the glacier, with our gear and ready to go. Hope I can get some of the others to do because they are so funny
Waterfalls and Glaciers, adventures galore
Today was chocked full of adventures for us. The weather was wonderful and we took good advantage of it. We started off the day driving to a huge glacier. I could tell you the name but you probably wouldn't believe me if I wrote it down! Basically it is glacier of the sun. We were given our snow equipment-things that fit over our shoes that had big spikes all over them-we thought they were much like the roller skates that most of us had as kids where we had a key to make them fit. Our guide instructed us in how to put them on and checked us well when we were through. Let's just say without those contraptions, we would not have been able to do the glacier walk. We had walked on a glacier in the Canadian Rockies but this was very different. As with most glaciers, the ones here are melting fast. This one has some geothermal things under it that are increasing the melting from the underside. So there were holes and thin spots and crevices all over. We followed our guide carefully or most of us did. I was shocked at how muich work it was to walk up that very tall hill or mountain of ice! It took new muscles that we don't use much. My ankles are sore tonight-so guess our exercise on Tuesday where we exercise the ankles is not quite enough to get them up to speed for this kind of adventure. It was amazing to go up the glacier so far and to see the landscape all around from an upper vantage point. Going up made my back spasm-guess it was putting strain in a way that it was not used to. Coming down was much easier, though harder to control your speed and steps. We were on the glacier almost 2 hours though so it was quite a fun experience.
From there we went to eat lunch at a very neat restaurant on the top of a ridge with a pretty view. I was craving a Coke about that time and unfortunately, they were all out of soft drinks. oh well. After the refreshing lunch, we headed to the town of Vic. It is the southern most town in Iceland. We walked along the black sand beaches and enjoyed the beautiful views. We stopped by a woolen factory and enjoyed watching the workers sorting socks and packaging things.
Next we went to two museums that were side by side. One was an indoor/outdoor museum that was similar to the one we went to a couple of days ago but had many different features and was quite interesting. The other was a transportation museum. From my perspective, its chief attractiveness lay in its nice "technical stop."That is what our guide calls our restroom breaks.
From the museums, we went to our first big waterfall of the afternoon. It was a high one and spectacular because it fell so far. Then we drove for about half an hour to another big waterfall and got to walk behind this one. It involved climbing up rocks as steps and holding on for dear life for us less agile people!It was beautiful though and it was very neat to see it from both sides. We literally climbed up on our hands and knees at one point. Photos won't do that justice! Just imagine it.
We drove on back to Selfoss which is a wonderful little town. Our hotel is wonderful and more upscale than the one even in Reyhjavik. We have a beautiful view from our window overlooking the river and the pretty little town church. Jim and I went for a walk after dinner and it was just lovely. We visited with two pretty horses in the neighboring pasture and found a geothermal area down near the water.
Tomorrow we start off by river rafting....brrrr.. I am thankful for my experience with Julie on our mission trip. Our guide tells me this is a class 2 rapid, but that sometimes it is a class 2+. I think it will be great fun but we can plan to get wet. Look forward to some funny photos, I hope. Who knows if we can get any or not.
From there we went to eat lunch at a very neat restaurant on the top of a ridge with a pretty view. I was craving a Coke about that time and unfortunately, they were all out of soft drinks. oh well. After the refreshing lunch, we headed to the town of Vic. It is the southern most town in Iceland. We walked along the black sand beaches and enjoyed the beautiful views. We stopped by a woolen factory and enjoyed watching the workers sorting socks and packaging things.
Next we went to two museums that were side by side. One was an indoor/outdoor museum that was similar to the one we went to a couple of days ago but had many different features and was quite interesting. The other was a transportation museum. From my perspective, its chief attractiveness lay in its nice "technical stop."That is what our guide calls our restroom breaks.
From the museums, we went to our first big waterfall of the afternoon. It was a high one and spectacular because it fell so far. Then we drove for about half an hour to another big waterfall and got to walk behind this one. It involved climbing up rocks as steps and holding on for dear life for us less agile people!It was beautiful though and it was very neat to see it from both sides. We literally climbed up on our hands and knees at one point. Photos won't do that justice! Just imagine it.
We drove on back to Selfoss which is a wonderful little town. Our hotel is wonderful and more upscale than the one even in Reyhjavik. We have a beautiful view from our window overlooking the river and the pretty little town church. Jim and I went for a walk after dinner and it was just lovely. We visited with two pretty horses in the neighboring pasture and found a geothermal area down near the water.
Tomorrow we start off by river rafting....brrrr.. I am thankful for my experience with Julie on our mission trip. Our guide tells me this is a class 2 rapid, but that sometimes it is a class 2+. I think it will be great fun but we can plan to get wet. Look forward to some funny photos, I hope. Who knows if we can get any or not.
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