Jan 15, 2018 - Southern Iceland in 7 Days

When my BF presented me with his dream of being in Iceland for New Years Eve I immediately said yes. To be fair, I say yes to him way more than I say no because he's generally full of good, fun ideas and I like to see him smile. But, regardless, I said Sure! Sounds like fun! and I began the research part of our adventure. Thankfully we live close enough to Montreal that flying direct into Reykjavik was an option for us. WOW Airlines,which I'd never heard of and thought sounded pretty suspicious, turned out to be a really decent budget...

Nov 6, 2017 - Notes from the Frozen Tundra

Welcome - On the way to Iceland here were pleasant stops in Swabisch Gmund, Germany and Stockholm to visit friends. Catching up with old and new friends I wish were closer. I've included a few photos. The first of a lovely Romanesque Cathedral In Swabisch Gmund that was far more interesting than several churches on the WHS list. And a few pics from the Royal Park in Stockholm, a city I'll always love especially the bookstore and food hall:) Iceland is cold. It's also raining. And the third windiest country just got hit with near hurricane...

Oct 29, 2017 - Iceland Oct 2017

5 day Iceland trip from Oct 20th to Oct 24th Oct 20th: Day 1- Reykjavik and Blue Lagoon - Landed in KEF around 3:00 PM - Picked up rental car and drove to Reykjavik (accommodation near Hverfisgata and Frakkastigur) - Dinner at Hraðlestin (Indian restaurant- good food) - Drove to Blue Lagoon (reached 8:00 PM, till it closed at 9:30) - Back to Reykjavik to explore some bars - Lebowskibar (try white russian), Den Danske Kro (live band, good music both English (90s)and Icelandic; try whiskey sour) Oct 21st: Day 2- Golden circle - Thingvellir...

Sep 10, 2017 - Val's Top 10 Pearls about Iceland

1. History. Believe it or not, Iceland was inhabited by Irish monks long before the first settlers. The irish monks considered Iceland to be a sanctuary. The monks never settled in Iceland. Eventually the island was inhabited by Norse settlers who brought Celtic slaves and Irish and Scottish wives. Some Viking dude called Naddodur was one of the first to "discover" Iceland when got lost and drifted off course to Iceland. He called the island Snaeland (Snowland). Another dude called Hrafna-Floki intentionally said to the island, spotted some...

Sep 10, 2017 - Rick's Top 10 Nuggets about Iceland

1. Sheep farming. There are alot of sheep in Iceland. The human population of Iceland is just over 340,000. The sheep population is at least double. There are no natural predators in Iceland. No wolves, bears or coyotes. Last year a polar bear swam all the way from Greenland. Greenland refused to take the polar bear back so Iceland killed it. Can you imagine killing a polar bear since they are endangered? Anyway the sheep are free roaming and tagged so at the fall roundup all of the sheep are gathered and split off to their owners. In case...

Sep 5, 2017 - Day 9 Back to Canada

Day 9 - Back to Canada Well today was pretty underwhelming. We had the typical Klettur breakfast (nothing to write home about) and headed back to our room to shower and pack. By noon we were picked up for our transfer back to the airport about 45 minutes away. Things went very smoothly at the airport including at the tax refund office. Thank god we get some of the taxes back on our souvenirs since the tax is an unbelievable 24%!!!. Our flight left at 445 pm and we arrived in Edmonton at 530 pm (7 hour time difference). We were so happy we...

Sep 4, 2017 - Day 8 Phallological museum, Perlan museum and Warm baths and Cool Lights

Day 8 - Weird s**t Well we had breakfast at Klettur but it sure wasn't like the breakfast at Skuggi. It really is too bad Skuggi was all booked up for our last 2 nights on our own and we had to book someplace else. Oh well. After breakfast we headed out to see what kind of trouble we could get into. For example we stopped at the Phallological museum and spent about an hour looking around. Again this was a rip off but I have to say Rick and I will probably never forget our visit to this museum. The museum has a huge collection of penises...

Sep 3, 2017 - Day 7 SHOPPING !!!

Day 7- RnR, SHOPPING and the Blue Lagoon We had Skuggi's amazing breakfast, checked out and headed to our new hotel - Klettur Klettur was not as nice as Skuggi and it amazed us to see the TV was mounted on the wall tucked away in a corner and at the most bizarre angle from any of the twin beds. In fact it was pretty hard to watch TV so we actually moved furniture around to make the best of it. We headed out to do some shopping for souvenirs and perhaps some Icelandic sweaters. For lunch we had some of the great hotdogs from the hotdog...

Sep 2, 2017 - Day 6 Golden Circle

Day 6 After breakfast at Hotel Derholaey we headed to some amazing spots. Our first stop was Reynisfjara beach which is a black sand beach with an incredible surge that can be deadly. In fact a few years ago a tourist was swept away by this surge. The weather was crappy but we negotiated down the beach to the awesome rock formations which were really Games of Thrones like. We also saw puffins which we felt incredibly lucky about since they should technically have all been gone by now. Puffins fly like hummingbirds but they are about 1000 x...

Sep 1, 2017 - Day 5 Glacier walking...

Day 5 Today we headed to our next stop which was Vik. We backtrack on the windy road up the mountain and stopped in Egilsstadir for about 90 minutes while Hugrun fuelled up and washed our vehicle. Rick and I wandered around town. We took a photo of a gigantic wicker flower basket which Mom would love and then headed to the supermarket where we purchased snacks for the road and had a bit of a picnic and coffee in the eating area of the supermarket. We also stopped at an Agriculture store and chatted up the owner. Rick was amazed at the...

Aug 31, 2017 - Day 4 Heading down the Fjords

Day 4 The Eastern Fjords We spent the morning in Borgarfjorour Eyestri where we saw a very small church with a very valuable painting hanging on its wall. The painter, Johannes Sveinsson Kjarval grew up in the village and donated the painting to the church. Next was the small summer house with the grass roof- Lindarbskki. Then we wandered around and took a little hike up a small hill - Alfaborg or Elf rock to find a sun dial. Locals say the queen of the Icelandic elves lives there. LOL! After hanging around for a while we headed off for a...

Aug 30, 2017 - Day 3 In the middle of nowhere

Today we started our day at 0630, had breakfast and then headed to Godafoss waterfall just 20 minutes away. We have noticed a few things about Iceland. There are sheep everywhere in groups of three and there is water everywhere too. Lots and lots of water!! We will leave it all up to you to figure out why the sheep are in groups of three. Haha. Rick figured it after mulling over it for awhile. Next stop was just past Myvatn lake which is a large lake. in the volcanic area called Namaskaro in northwest Iceland. This lake is shallow at only...