Up, up, and away, Mon, 8/15/22

 

Iceland lived up to our expectations, it did not disappoint!  Small island country, big with scenery ... all sort of picturesque sights.  Even an erupting volcano.  I captured the real-time photo below from our hotel TV.  At no time was our little foursome threatened.  We couldn't even see it from anywhere we traveled, but we did see a brownish haze to the southern sky as we returned to Reykjavik from Snæfellsnes peninsula yesterday.  If we'd had the right gear, the time and, let's face it, the energy, we could've hiked two (strenuous) hours up to the volcano, but we had none of the above.  No matter, Jimmy and I, Nannie and Bubba, we had a wonderful stay in Iceland.  Now we were flying to Boston for the third phase of our trip.

As we rode on the shuttle bus to Keflavik airport 6:30ish Monday morning, I saw the smoke plume from Fagradalsfjall's eruption.  This was as close as we got to the volcano.  Speaking of buses, did you know Iceland has no trains?  True.  Big yellow buses are well-used in Reykjavik, smaller ones, as well.  I'm not sure about towns or wee villages.  No trains.  Interesting. 

Island people were friendly.  Seemed as though everyone spoke English.  Talking to a young man, he told me that learning English in school is mandatory beginning at age 12.  Two years later, all young folks must take yet another language in school.  I wish that was an option when I was growing up, or 40 years later, when Matt started school.

The Kroner was 10-1 (or 1-10?).  If an item cost 7990 Kroner, it translates to roughly $79 USD, which made pricing something fairly easy.  Just not cheap by any stretch of the imagination!

So, we were off, back to the US.  The four of us were seated randomly on Icelandair.  Bubba was lucky to be in a window seat; the rest of us were in aisle seats.  Me?  I was stuck in the back by the toilet.  I hope to never be that unlucky again!

Much of the airspace was clear, and -- wonder of wonders -- we flew over southern Greenland with no cloud cover!  Bubba shared his pics with me.  So awesome.  Check 'em out, below.

Icebergs.

Glacier.

Glacier and pack ice.

Nannie rented a car, and we jammed eight good-sized bags in it plus us four!  She ferried us to Westwood, MA (near Boston), no problems, and our family reunion began.  Brother, Rus, and his wife, Anne; nephew Jon, wife, Lauren and two kids, Will and Lizzie; niece, Kristen, husband Rob, two big kids, Kyle and Anna.  Oh, it was grand to see the family -- it had been six years since we were last together!  Sorry Matt and Jen and Evie couldn't attend, since Evie's first day of Kindergarten was today!

A hamburger/hot dog cookout was held at Kristen's home that first night.  Random photos below.

Rus and Nannie.  Rus is the oldest.  He's the guy who was at death's door six years ago.  Glad he slammed the door in death's face!  I'm two years younger than Rus.  Nannie is seven years younger'n me.

One of two big dogs.  This one is Maggie.

Kyle's dog.

Bubba petting the other dog, "Rusty."

Jon's dog.

 Will and Lizzie (10 and 8, I think).

Jon, Anne, Kris (with her back to camera), Rus and Lizzie.

Family visiting. 💗💗

Haha, Jon hoisting this 80-lb dog!  Maggie.

The next day the six retired people went for a hike on Fuller Brook Trail in Wellsley.  We enjoyed a very pleasant walk on an ADA-compliant, stone-dust path along the shallow, drought-stricken Fuller and Caroline Brooks.  Yes, Massachusetts (at least this part) is experiencing a drought.  For me and Jimmy, that meant it was like home.  Sorry.

"The Three Studs" 😉

Jimmy, Rus, Bubba.

Posies along the way.

Anne, Jimmy and I continued on to the Sudbury Aqueduct path ... kinda like a rails-to-trails path, only this carried water, not trains, for almost 100 years.  It was constructed between 1875 and 1878 and now serves as a continuation of the Wellsley trail system.  The others stayed behind in the shade.  I did NOT need my overshirt.

You know photos are required when family gets together.  L-R:  Bubba, Nannie, Jimmy, Rus, and me on their farmer's porch.  Anne took the pic.  The other one with Rus taking the pic turned out fuzzy.

Tuesday evening's picture!  I used the self timer on a tripod.  You should see the outtakes, but the family would kill me if I posted them.  Back row:  Rob, Anna, Jimmy, Kyle, Jon, Kris, and Bubba.  Front row:  Rus, Nannie, me, and Anne.  Maggie the photo-bomber!

Plenty of hugs, lots of laughter, and back-and-forth yakkety-yak as we played catch-up, filling in the blanks for the past six years.  Kyle and Anna both have summer jobs.  He'll be a senior this year, Anna in tenth grade.  They were little kids when we last saw them.  Dang.

We have two more days to spend with each other.  We will fill them happily.

Snæfellsnes, Sun, 8/14/22

 

Sunday!  Our final full day in this magical land ... and our last private tour.  We were picked up by Andres of Mercury Grail Travel as scheduled at 10am (wish it had been earlier), for the fairly long drive into the heart of the Snæfellsnes peninsula -- not Snuffleupagus as we initially called it, haha --  on Iceland's West Coast.  We'd heard such good things about this area of Iceland, its dramatic landscapes, moss-covered lava fields, waterfalls, sheer cliffs, all crowned by Snæfellsjökull -- the glacier-topped volcano.

We thought the drive through the peninsula was pretty neat with its varied landscapes, as you can see in my pictures.  The ever-changing scenery kept us glued to the car windows.

And sometimes we'd come upon these moonscapes of solidified lava.

Cotton grass in the foreground, a farmhouse in the back, lorded over by a red cinder cone.

Pinnacles and Peaks,

blue skies peeking out.

Everywhere in Iceland we saw fields of marshmallows!

Or perhaps they're hay bales?

Check out this waterfall!  Cars in the parking lot mean people are stopping by to walk up to a bridge over the water.  Each cascade is prettier than the last.

We've arrived at the tiny Black Church in Búðir, aka the very photogenic Búðakirkja!  As we were getting out of the car, a busload of tourists followed us in.  The church and a hotel is all that remains of a village ... there's history if you want to Google it.  Búðir sits within the Búðahraun lava field, where we four migrated after taking church pics.  Here was an expansive environment of torn-up earth grown over with grassy flora.

It's a very unique place with jagged rock formations and sinkholes, a jumbled mess of rocks.  130 different plant species can be found and we saw many.  Birds, too.  We walked lightly over the paths, such as they were, minding our feet that we didn't slip into a sinkhole.  Was there water at the bottom?  How deep?  This place was just a ... hard to find the adjective, but I guess the closest I can get is, wonder.  We could've hiked oer these grassy fields all day. 

We heard its call before we saw it.  I'd describe it if I could, but it was strange sound.  We saw two adults, one obviously a mama with a few young'uns.  Ptarmigan!  A first for me, I think.  Very cool.

Brown sand and black rocks make for darker camera shading, but this is Nannie's "I am here!" photo.  As we neared the ocean, sand appeared and flora disappeared. 

Lots of elements in this pic!  Yes, there's a cemetery beside the church.  What you can't see is the wind whipping through our hair. 

Andres recommended a lunch stop at Samkomhusid in Arnarstapi for some yummy Icelandic home cooking. We enjoyed our meat soup (lamb, it's served all over the country), with warm bread straight from the oven, and served by smiling women.  Nice stop.  I sat near a window, too bad about the spider in the window (outside) spoiling my view! 

If you stood on this side of the statue, the wind took your breath away.  If you stood on the lee side, you missed the face of Bárður Snæfellsás - the Protector of the Snæfellsnes peninsula.  You know there's a saga about this, too, if you choose to Google it.

After lunch, we made our way to Hellnar (not far from Arnarstapi).  Hellnar was among the largest of ancient fishing villages beneath the Snæfellsjökull ice cap, and there's not much left of Hellnar today. After a short walk down a hill, we were rewarded with this view of the remarkable basalt rock formation known as Valasnös ... and caves.  We didn't walk down into the caves, but others have (above).  Using binocs, we watched birds fly into the big  cave on the right.

It wasn't a far piece to get to Djúpalónssandur Black Beach with its muddled piles of lava and fantastic huge mossy towers.  We clambered down the footpath to the rocky beach, admiring all that we saw.   I wish I could show you a long shot -- the entire area was wild.

At the arch was a marvelous view of Snæfellsjökull.  I could see it from my perch, but camera man wasn't in the correct spot to capture me, the arch and the glacier.  So, just trust me on this one.

But you CAN see Snæfellsjökull above!  It's a 700,000-year-old glacier atop a volcano at the tip of the peninsula, and it's famous for being featured in Jules Verne's novel "Journey to the Center of the Earth."  We had quite a view of the glacier from the Black Beach.  The mountain is actually called 'Snæfell' (Snowy Mountain), though the 'jökull' (glacier) is often added to help distinguish it from other mountains of the same name.

I'm sorry to say that for the first time in recorded history, Snæfellsjökull had no snow or ice at its peak in August 2012, causing concern among locals that climate change is threatening the nature of the mountain.  By now, I'm sure everyone is convinced climate change is threatening our planet.

(Many rock formations on and around Snæfellsjökull are said to be trolls petrified by sunlight or else homes of the hidden people.  Hmmmm ....)

Icelanders dote on elves and trolls -- probably because they live with so many outlandish sights like these. Only an elf or a troll could live in these rocks.

One of two freshwater lagoons -- these lagoons are held in high esteem by locals because they're thought to possess healing properties. 

 

Imagine yourself standing close to the water, but not too close, and hearing the soft clackety-clack whoosh as the waves sweep in over the rocks and then retreat, over and over.  It's a good sound, maybe even a healing sound.  These glistening pebbles that make up the beach are known as Djúpalónsperlur, or “pearls of the deep lagoon.”

We left Djúpalónssandur Black Beach reluctantly.  I swear we could've spent all afternoon cruising the beach and rocks.  Nannie and Bubba hiking up the hill.

Iceland has so many waterfalls, most of them named and all of them grand, so here's another one, but I'm not sure of its name.  That might not matter.

These dudes were standing by the edge of the road.

Waiting for the cars to pass so they could cross?

As the afternoon wore on and we started looking at our watches, we ended our tour with Kirkjufell, or "Church Mountain." Standing tall above the small fishing town of Grundarfjörður, this is apparently the most photographed mountain in Iceland, one of the top 10 most beautiful mountains in the world, and yet most recognized as being “Arrow Head Mountain” on Game of Thrones. Search me, I don't remember seeing it in the series, so maybe I need to rewatch it? 😀 Maybe not.

At its base is Kirkjufellsfoss (waterfall), a really pretty cascade.  You wouldn't believe how many people were milling around with cameras and phones and tripods, all aiming to get a pic of the falls and the mountain, like I did in the pic above this one.  I wasn't aware of any special significance, I just really liked what I saw.

I'll end the long day with Nannie and me filling our water bottles from the side of a mountain.  Mind you, this was not as easy as it looks.  The rocks beneath our feet were slick and the cascading drops did not fall in a straight line!  Nannie got a soaking.  I'll tell you true, Iceland has the purest, best drinking water in the world.

Positively.  Wonderful.  Day.  We didn't get back to our hotel till (can't recall exactly) seven or so in the evening.  Dinner was Skyr yogurt and popcorn again, delicious and nutritious.  Jimmy and I eyeballed our luggage and said, "whew, okay, let's do this."  Our flights out of Reykjavik on Icelandair tomorrow are early, we'll catch a 6am shuttle.  See you tomorrow.

  

More and more! Sat, 8/13/22

 

Sailing to Iceland on Oceania Insignia was part one of our trip.  Spending time touring Iceland was icing on the cake.  My sister, Nannie in Baton Rouge LA, and Jan, our travel agent in Grass Valley CA (Adventure Travel), arranged these private tours via phone.  When presented to me, I said, sure, okay, sign us up!  Jimmy and I are used to group tours with Road Scholar, etc., so having personalized day trips is great.  We could get used to this!

Today is our fourth day of Iceland adventuring -- and we'd travel The Golden Circle, (but backwards) with Bjarni, of BHT, again.  He took us around on our first day.  We were looking forward to all we'd see on the Golden Circle, we'd heard so much about it.  Apparently it's a MUST for tourists.  I dunno, it seems like all we've experienced thus far is primo.

Anyhoot, The Golden Circle is Iceland’s most popular tourist route. Its three main highlights are Gullfoss; the Haukadalur Geothermal Valley, with its many springs and geysers; and Þingvellir National Park, the only UNESCO World Heritage Site on Iceland’s mainland and the birthplace of the country’s parliament.

First off was a walk around the approximately three-thousand-year-old Kerið crater, making it younger than most of Iceland's volcanic craters -- and that's the reason its slopes are red-colored rather than volcanic black, because the iron deposits are, geologically-speaking, fresh.  And, I mean, RED. The path around it is roughly a mile.

Woohoo, it's chilly and windy, but here we are.

Layered up.

We could've walked down the stairs to the water's edge, but (not sure why), none of us felt the need to do this.  The crater is 180' deep, so that's a lot of steps.  I haven't enhanced these pics.  The color you see is what we saw.

My first crowberry.  I'd never heard of crowberries prior to this trip.  They're small and REALLY low to the ground and almost invisible, but Bjarni found a patch.  I ate one and found it tart, not like a sweet blueberry.

Nannie and I got a headstart.  The fellers are following ....

Kerið looks smaller from the other side, but if you look closely, you can see a couple of people at the water's edge below the steps.  The lovely gray bush on the right is a fur willow, native and prevalent in Iceland -- it has soft furry leaves.

 

Close-up of the people,

and fish rings on the water.

Bjarni wondered if we'd like to get close to Icelandic horses, and we said yes.  After leaving the crater, we stopped at a local farm to check 'em out. 

Fridheimar farms supplies most of Reykjavik's tomatoes.  We were invited to go inside one of their greenhouses to view the operation.  Not like anything we've ever seen!  Tomato plants towering ten feet off the ground.

With TONS of tomatoes.  I tried one and it was delicious.

Two of the horses, one's a girl and one's a boy.  Ahem.

I've been trying to spot a White Wagtail (bird),

and here it was, waiting for me!

Aha, next up, on our way to Gullfoss, was a quick detour to view Faxi falls.  Wide and serene, this falls boasts a fish ladder (rising from the top of my head 😊).  We walked from the viewing platform above, down to the water.

Serene, maybe, but that's a lot of water flowing over the rim!

We didn't see any fish, but I found a clump of Bluebells, aka Geranium sylvaticum, or Wood Crane's-bill, (Blágresi in Icelandic).  Always appreciate spots of color.

Our first sighting of Gullfoss, otherwise known as Golden Waterfall!  OMG, so impressive!  It's 105' tall, with lots of mist and a roar that can be heard far away, and it falls in two tiers into a beautiful canyon.  Look closely and you'll see people, more like dots, out on a headland over the falls.  We did not go there!

So much water, so scary in its intensity. 

Nannie and I grew up in Niagara Falls,

we've seen waterfalls.  This one was amazing.

It's big.  Real big.

Down the canyon.

And here we are at the Geysir geothermal area, and as I pulled my camera out of my pocket, the geyser erupted!  Old Faithful, right on cue.  Actually this is Strokkur, which erupts to heights of up to 131 feet every ten minutes or so.  Cool beans.  It scared the daylights out of me when it blew with a loud whooosh!

100°C is 212°F -- don't go any further!

Some of the geothermal pools had an almost iridescent glow, and a wonderful shade of blue.  The sulfur smell wasn't prevalent except in one area, below.

Like any other geothermal landscape, it's desolate and barren-looking.

We walked around the entire area.

This gives you a comparison of geysers.

Never mind the purple bird dookey dribbling down.

We stopped for lunch at Efstidalur family farm for lunch.  Originally it was maybe an ice cream stop, but we were hungry enough for burgers and fries!  Those cows must produce some fine ice cream!

Finally, Þingvellir National Park (Thingvellir), the only UNESCO World Heritage Site in Iceland.  Here we sat on the Atlantic Ocean ridge, between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates.  This location is also a historical center, being home to the original site of the world’s longest-running parliament. Icelanders formed it here in 930 AD, before much of the rest of Europe had even starting thinking about representative democracies.

The Eurasian tectonic plate is above, a tortured-appearing jumble of rocks. Þingvallavatn Lake (Thingvallavatn Lake) is behind.  

Look below the red x and you may be able to see a bit of white (like a waterfall), and that is where the North American tectonic plate is.  It took like seven minutes to drive from one side to the other, and then we were out of the national park, which surprised us Americans who are used to large parks with lots to see and do.

Still and all, we had a great day, and were happy that we got back to our hotel at 4ish, rather than 6 or 7 in the evening.  We're tired at the end of touring, yet have to go find dinner, get showers, and be ready for the next day.  Tonight we went to the local grocery store and bought containers of Skyr, wonderful Icelandic yogurt and ate that (and popcorn) for dinner.  Easy-peasy.  Tomorrow is our last day of scooting around the island with a guide.  Oh boy, new territory.