Visit Iceland... Now!!!!!

Here are some of the places that I have been to in Iceland.  The first 3 places are part of the Golden Circle. The 4th one is in the southeast coast.  I will be posting more photos of places I´ve been to in Iceland.

The best way to get around Iceland would be to hire a car.  I recommend Wheels and Tours for travel advice on car rentals and day tours.    With the cars rental, taxes and insurance are included in the price.  You get unlimited mileage too.  The convenience is the most important part though, they bring the car to the airport and they will meet you at the airport when you are returning the car.  You may drop it off in reykjavik also.  They have two offices, one near the airport and the other in reykjavik.  

I suggest going on the Golden Circle tour.  You can start in Reykjavik or from the airport and go around the golden circle.  With a rented car, you may go on the ring road, a road that runs all around Iceland along the edge of the country.  This may take at least two weeks on a tight schedule with very little time for stops.  If you want to enjoy the sceneries a bit more and if you don´t want to be in a hurry all the time, I would suggest spending at least 18 days to go all around Iceland. 

Here is Strokkur.  A geyser in Iceland that erupts frequently (every 10-15 minutes).  One of the must sees in Iceland.  This is one of the sights that visitors can see when doing the Golden Circle Tour.

Still part of the Golden Circle.  Þingvellir (Thingvellir) is a natural phenomenon that is to me both amazing and strange.  The European plate and the North american plate meet at this point in Iceland and are actually pulling away from each other.  In a few thousand years from now, Iceland will be halfed into two parts.  One belonging to Europe and the other one to North America.

The most amazing stop of the Golden Circle tour is the Gulfoss.  A huge waterfall that looks very powerful and overwhelming.  A story goes that an Icelandic woman, threatened to throw herself into the waterfall if the government (or some private company) would continue with their plans to make a hydroplant at Gulfoss.  A discussion started about whether it was worth it to turn something so beautiful and grand into a dam and destroy all that beauty.  Luckily the dam project never pushed through and we were able to see this beautiful rough nature.

A gem in the southeast coast of Iceland.  It is about 3 hours away from Reykjavik.  A wonderful sight to behold.  This would really give you the Arctic feel.

Some photos of other places:

Svartifoss - very beautiful

Camping in Skaftafell

*tip:  you can camp anywhere in Iceland for one night for free.  But of course, if you want the convenience of fresh water and toilets, there are plenty of camping sights all over the country for a minimal fee.  

Need to shower?  go to a local swimming pool!

On top of Stóri Dimon, we camped at the foot of this hill.  

Our campsite at the foot of Stóri Dimon.  All we needed was a car and our tent.  Check out Wheels and Tours for great value for your money.  The owners are very accommodating and friendly.

Icelandic horse.  A tough breed.

Kvonn.  A summer bloom in Iceland.

The midnight sun over Reykjavík.

Seljalandsfoss...you can walk around and under this waterfall.  When you walk down you will get a bit wet from the mist so cover up if you don´t want a shower.

The countryside in the summer.  

Svinafellsjökull.  If you have seen the move Interstellar...Matt Damon was on this glacier!  This is in Snæfellsness.

This is a viking house preserved and is now a museum.  Þjórsársdalur.

Skogarfoss: warning!  lots of tourists here!  Sometimes it is hard to get a photo without all the other tourists in it.  This is one of the famous waterfalls in Iceland.  Another must see.

Wild mushrooms.  I would´t eat this but I have heard that you cannot find anything that´s poisonous in Iceland.  I am not suggesting that you eat the mushrooms.  

I´ll post more photos later on.

*These are photos taken by me, except for þingvellir which was taken from the internet.

Frekar Anrikur Dagur / Rather Busy Day

Dagurinn minn byrjaði snemma.  Ég fór í skólann í Reykjavík á köldum og dimmum degi.  Ég lenti næstum því í umferðar óhappi út af snjónum á veginum.  En ég var að keyra Skodann þess vegna var allt í lagi.
Tímarnir í skólanum gengu vel.  Það var áhugavert og skemmtilegt að læra eitthvað nýtt.  Eftir skólann, fór ég út á Kleppsveg að heimsækja vinkonu mína sem heitir Ahn.  Hún er frá Vietnam.  Við töluðum í nokkra mínútur.  Barnið hennar var skemmtilegt og brosti mikið.  Hann vex mjög hratt.  Í dag var afmælið hennar Ahn.  Ég vissi það ekki og kom þess vegna ekki með neina afmælisgjöf.  Ég baka kannski köku handa henni á morgun.
Eftir heimsókninna, fór ég á bókasafnið á Tryggvagötu við hliðina á Kolaportinu.  Það heitir Borgarbókasafnið.  Ég fór inn og spurði móttöku konuna hvernig maður fengi bókasafns skyrteini.  Þar voru tvær konur sem voru mjög almennilegar.  Ég fór á fimmtu hæð og leitaði að bók um Íslenska Goða fræði.  Ég fann bók og ég fékk hanna lanaða.  Ég get haft bókina lánaða í einn mánuð.  Ég ætla kannski að kaupa bókasafns skýrteini fyrir heilt ár.  Það kostar 1.700 krónur.  Ég hitti líka Kínverskan mann á bókasafninu og hann heitir Dong.
Svo keyrði ég heim.  Það var mjög bjart frá sólini á leiðini heim.
Ég kom heim klukkan þrjú.  Maðurinn minn var heima þegar ég kom heim.  Ég borðaði kartöflur í karrí.  Mér finnst það góður matur.  Það var Indverskur matur.
Við keyrðum út í Nettó að kaupa mat.  Nettó er matvörubúð.  Allt í einu, ákváðum við að fara að veiða.  Við veiddum mjög mikið af fisk en við slepptum þeim flestum aftur.  Við tókum tvo fiska með heim og elduðum í kvöldmatinn.
Það næsta sem gerðist í kvöld var það að Sjönni hringði og sagði okkur frá norðurljósum á Selfossi.  Við keyrðum til Grindavikur að sjá norðurljósin.  Þau létu ekki sjá sig.  Svo við fórum aftur heim.
Og núna er ég upp í rúmi að skrifa um daginn í dag.

Ensku:

My day started early.  I went to school in Reykjavik on a cold and gloomy day.  I almost had an accident because of the snow on the road.  But I was driving the Skoda so it was all right.
My classes went well.  It was interesting and fun to learn something new.  After school, I went to Kleppsvegur to visit my friend Ahn.  She is from Vietnam.  We talked for a few minutes.  Her child was fun and smiles a lot.  He grows very fast.  Today is Ahn´s birthday.  I didn´t know it and I came without a birthday gift.  I will maybe bake a cake for her tomorrow.
After the visit, I went to the library in Tryggvagata next to Kolaportið.  It is called Borgarbókasafnið. I went in and asked the receptionist how I can get a library card.  There were two women that were very nice.  I went to the fifth floor and searched for a book about Icelandic Gods.  I found a book and borrowed it.  I can keep the book for 1 month.  I will maybe buy a library card for a whole year.  It costs 1.700 krónur.  I also met a Chinese guy in the library and his name is Dong.
So I drove home.  It was very bright from the sun on the way home.
I arrived home at 3 o clock.  My husband was home when I arrived.  I ate a potato curry.  I found it a good food.  It is an Indian food.
We drove to Nettó to buy food.  Nettó is a grocery store.  Suddenly, we decided to go fishing.  We caught a lot of fish but we released most of them.  We took two fishes home and cooked it for dinner.
Next thing that happened tonight was that Sjönni called and told us of the northern lights in Selfoss.  We drove to Grindavík to see the northern lights.  We didn't see it.  So we went home.  And now I am on the bed writing about the day today.

Rainbow connection

My husband and I were driving around just exploring the towns near us.  I believe this rainbow appeared in the town of Garður.  We drove towards the coast and the rainbow´s end was in the sea!  The pot of gold must be underwater.  I probably would have dove for it if the water wasn´t too cold.
This was the second full rainbow that I´ve ever seen in my life.  These are apparently common in Iceland during the summer time.  Looking at the photo it seems like the rainbow is a gate to another world, maybe a wormhole to another dimension or time!

Fields of lava

We walked on some lava fields and tried to enjoy the last few days of summer before the winter comes.  Here is a typical Icelandic landscape of rock and moss.  The photo is not so nice (I have other photos) but in real life, one would be amazed at these rocks.  Holding one and just thinking about how it got to the surface (by volcanic eruptions and magma flowing and hardening) gives one a special feeling of being brought back in time.  

If you come to Iceland (especially in the summer)  I would recommend that you walk on some lava fields.  You can just walk a bit from the main road and then you will find yourself lost in some amazing raw, natural wonders of nature.  Watch out for the elves though.   

Garður and low clouds

On the map of Iceland, one can see the southwest part as a boot shaped area.  We drove to the very tip (on the toe area of the boot) and came to a place called Garður.  This is the harbor and that day was such a nice day, except for the strong wind.  I have never seen clouds this low.  It looks like I can just get on a chair, jump up and grab some of it.

Reykjavik marathon

Here is a photo of the Reykjavik marathon.  I took it on the 24th of August last year.  I snapped this photo from the 3rd floor of the Hotel Cabin.  I don´t know what the route is for these runners but I´m interested of joining them this year.  Just a 5 km run to start with maybe.  I sure hope I can make that happen this year.  Man I can´t go one day in this country without sometime in the day shivering from the cold.

Pick berries, it´s good for the soul

So my husband and I went to pick some blackberries in a lava field.  It doesn´t take a lot of effort to go there.  You just drive to a lava field (in Reykjanesbæ, should take less than five minutes to get to the nearest lava field), park your car and then walk and look for the berries.  These berries are what make Icelandic sheeps so tasty.  The sheeps graze and eat these during the summer.  

We didn´t really have a particular idea about what to do with the berries.  When we came home, we tried to make a jam out of it.  But it failed since we didn´t put the stuff that makes it like jelly.  I believe the jam we made is still in the fridge.

And here is a photo of a blueberry.  If we would wait a few days, the black and blue berries would be in its full stage, all ripe and ready to be picked.

We spent hours doing this.  It was fun.  It was very relaxing.  It made me feel light and calm.  

So we will be doing this again next summer!

Blóm

My husband´s mother brings with her flowers on her visits to us.  These roses are beautiful.    

This flower was from my husband´s parents first visit.  It was a bunch of blue flowers.  They were beautiful and lasted for weeks!

The flowers made the room look bright and cheery.  

Viking house

A viking house.  

Glacier Lagoon