We are ending a week in this amazing country. I haven't written much because we were spending a good portion of this visit discovering the largest city, Reykjavik. Our flight got in at 3 in the morning and it was still relatively light outside. It would have been even lighter if it wasn't pouring down rain! The rain stayed with us off and on for the next three days but that didn't stop us. Arrived at Guesthouse Lily in Kopavadur, just outside Reykjavik. Breakfast was from eight to ten and we told the guy checking us in that we would most likely not be at breakfast since we wouldn't get to bed until at least 4 a.m. Were we surprised when we got up at 8:30 that morning. Met a delightful Icelander, Pietur, who now lives in Thailand and spent quite a while talking with him and Lily about things to do, things to eat and just getting the lay of the land. Since we thought jet lag would be dogging us today, we planned an easy day - unpack, find an ATM to get local money, figure out what we would do the rest of the week, do laundry and find a pub to watch the Italy/Uruguay soccer game.
We are waiting on the bus at the airport. It is now 3:30 in the morning, 11C outside, beginning to rain and that is natural light!
Since Pietur just arrived the day before and was going to the bank, we walked with him to the ATM. Ernie took out about $700 which gave us 75,000 kroner. We felt rich until we saw the prices of everything. Even though we knew it was going to be quite expensive, we still had a pretty hefty sticker shock at everything. We went to a local Indian restaurant for lunch and paid almost $50 for two appetizers and two main entrees along with sparkling water. It was really good but not that good! Went to the pub and watched Italy lose. The officiating was particularly bad. I couldn't believe it when Suarez bit the Italian player. I didn't know Mike Tyson was on the field. Maybe they should have fed the poor guy before the game. The. When the ref totally ignored the Italian player trying to show him the bite, he just turned his head away and ignored him. Unfortunately Suarez only got a 7 game suspension even though this was the third time he bit so done on the field. I had hoped they would have banned him for life but that didn't happen. I doubt the ref will ever play another World Cup game but would hope that he doesn't coach professionally again. We'll see what happens.
Next day we went into Reykjavil and got a 3-day Reykjavik card that provided free transportation, free entry into the museums and all the thermal pools along with a multitude of other discounts. We had hope to get some fish and chips for lunch but unfortunately find any in this land of fish. It seems that most of the fish here is grilled and the potatoes are baked with rosemary or dill on them. We did have a bowl of great lobster soup which is very common here. Lobster here is actually langoustines. They do not have the big Maine type of lobsters. In any case, they are great! They also had Minke whale on the menu but we weren't quite ready for that adventure! We also were grateful that it was not Saturday so we did not have to make the hard choices ----- to have the saltfiskur (salt fish) or the skata (stingray) that is fermented for weeks or sometimes months and served with potatoes and hot fatty animal suet. It is said to assault your senses with the pungent aroma of ammonia!
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| Saw this swastika on a building photo in the Marine Museum. Here's the explanation for its use. |
After spending almost $40 on lunch, we decided to try not to break the bank on supper. Since we were starting the fade and since there was a store just. Few blocks from the guesthouse, we decided on a picnic supper. Ernie got a package of some sort of lunch meat and I opted for some soup (we had access to a kitchen). To be honest, Ernie's choice looked pretty disgusting to me (we dubbed it mystery meat). Of course he finished his sandwich and then said that he thought it was some sort of lamb lunch meat.
The next day was the one of the thermal pools and then the National Museum of Iceland. The pool was an experience in itself and thankfully the process was explained by Lily. You pay for your entrance and the. Head to the respective locker room - men or women. Shoes are removed before entering the locker room. You find a locker and then strip. Everyone is required to shower before putting on your bathing suit. You walk to the communal open shower, soap provided, along with a graphic depiction of all the areas that need to be washed. After the washing, put on your bathing suit and go to the pool. There is a large lap pool, a large pool to play in, a children's pool area, water slides, a large soaking pool around 36-38C and then several smaller pools with hotter temperatures. There are also sauna rooms, steam rooms and massage rooms if you want to schedule a massage.
We wanted a light lunch before getting to the museum so we stopped at a Subway. There is something to be said for constants in life. Well the only thing constant here was the food because the prices weren't!
Again, the museum was great! We didn't tour all of it because we needed to get to the pub for the America/Germany soccer game. Went to the Dublin Pub and met some really nice German folks who shared their table with us. Of course we were rooting for opposing teams but we decided that the guys would settle their differences in the parking lot after the game - if necessary. While the outcome was not a win for USA, they moved up because Ghana lost. So the guys were happy and there was not settling things in the parking lot.
We must have felt we were on a roll, because we decided to try a Chinese restaurant near our room. You would have thought we learned after the Chinese fiasco in Bucharest. Suffice it to say we were not pleasantly surprised with a good meal. The surprise was that we ordered fried fish with black bean sauce and it was the best fried fish we had in a long time. If we just had the sense to order French fries with it, we would have had our fish and chips!
Next day was the Reykjavik 871+/-2 Museum. While digging the foundation for Hotel Reykjavik Centrum in the downtown area, the workmen uncovered a 10th century longhouse. Turned out the wall dated from 871 plus or minus two years, hence the name. Another super museum! We went back to the Sea Baron Restaurant for another lunch and this time we did try the minke whale, along with more lobster soup and blue ling. The whale meat is dark dark red, like a really dark beef steak, and tastes like steak. It was really good and we will definitely have it again if the occasions arises.
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| Lobster soup |
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| Blue ling and minke whale |
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| Close-up of the whale |
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| Last piece of the whale with a little steak sauce |
On to the Arbaejarsafn (an open air museum) to see some of the country's older houses and building. Plank by plank, stone by stone, various structures were dismantled and rebuilt on this museum site - including sod houses. Most of the houses,were,furnished with period pieces along with farm animals and guides that explained life in those times and demonstrated some of the old skills. Afterwards another thermal pool. I could get very used to going to one of the pools every day.
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| The staircases in most of the houses were not as wide as this one! |
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| This is the mama sheep on one side of the fence |
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| This is the baby trying to figure how to get through the fence to mama |
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| Poor cow is really wanting the grass on the other side of the fence. Guess it really is greener there. |
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| Ernie just had to help and fed her done grass. |
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| This young girl really had to work to get the calf out of the paddock. |
After walking around the open air museum, we needed some refreshment. A cup of coffee and a pancake filled with jam and cream did the trick.
Tomorrow we pick up a rental car and drive the Golden Ring. More about that in my next post.
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