Category: Iceland

Today we toured the South Shore of Iceland – black sand beaches, glaciers, and waterfalls!  The tour was longer travel than yesterday – our asses are glad to be back “home” in Reykjavik.  But it was worth it – again, incredible sights were seen and it was WINDY!  Loved it!

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We were going to do Snaefelsness Peninsula tour today, but it got snowed-in and we did the Golden Circle tour instead.  Tomorrow we do South Shore tour, and we’ll try for Snaefelsness later in the week.

Oh, and Happy Iceland Beer Day!!

Here are today’s photo highlights:

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Reykjavik: Adorable.

Keflavik Airport: Adorable, fast.  But an excruciatingly far and cramped bus trip from Reykjavik.

Skyr, famous Icelandic yogurt-type stuff, is pretty good.  A little tart, but thick and creamy.  It’s lowfat, though, so it’s really quite nice and nutritious.

Jet lag is hell getting old.  No matter trying the “stay up till local bedtime” trick, I was still wide awake at 1 aM.  Will just have to power through it for another day and then should be fine.

There are tons of Thai and Asian restaurants all around Reykjavik.  For dinner last night we ate at “Noodle Station” just down our street that had this rich, deep beef broth with with ramen noodles and tender chunks of beef.  An interesting first meal for coming to Iceland you’d think, but it was super yummy and pretty reasonable – $15 for both of us.  Considering you don’t ever tip here (it’s not expected) that’s about what you’d spend in Seattle for the same with a tip…

That said we paid $7 for three bananas at the grocery store.

Iceland cold tap water tastes amazing.  Comes naturally from springs and said to be the best in the World.  I’ll argue that the Pacific Northwest has some equally awesome water, but still – Iceland is better than some parts of Washington.

On the other hand hot water, amply supplied by natural geothermal sources, smells gross like sulfur.  Lets just say showers are quick.  Hot and cold water come from two different sources.

Paprika potato chips are pretty good.

Our apartment that we rented is great.  A veritable Skandinavian Ikea showcase.  It has one of those spiral-staircase-of-death things to get in, though (it’s on top floor).   It’s on Skólavörðustígur street.  Sko-la-worth-ust-iger is what we think that is 🙂

Iceland has 320,000 people or so, yet is a first world country with generally excellent roads, airports, telecommunications, utilities, social services, hospitals, schools, etc, etc…(bank failures notwithstanding…)  How they run an entire country with less than the population of Seattle proper is interesting to ponder.

Everyone speaks English without an attitude.  But not between themselves, of course.

Today we are off on a day trip to the Snaefelsness Peninsula and will probably have a bunch more photos.

Also, as you know I’m a big airplane geek, I actually posted a “trip Report” on airliners.net: Icelandair FI680 SEA-KEF February 2012