This morning we walked out the door, and the clouds parted and I actually saw the sun! Almost didn't recognize it, but then Gail remembered what it was. I actually took a photo of it, well almost... in the time it took me to snap off the lens cover and point the camera, it was gone.
BUT... it is still there. Just gotta keep the faith.
Packing up, moving on.
I look back at the past few days in Reykjavik (which I can spell now without having to cheat) and realize just how much fish we have eaten. Makes sense, after all, it is a big island, surrounded by lots of fish. Gail is worried we will start to reek of fish.
Great. Now I am a big old fishy fart.
I am typing this part as Gail is prettying up, just out of the shower... she wrinkles her nose, no fooling, and says, "WHAT is that smell?" sniff sniff "Ohhh, it's fish from last night!"
Onwards to Vik.
We have settled on a name for our blue Yaris with the missing hub cap: Squeak! It just creaks and squeaks on down the road; on the smoothest road my seat kind of rocks a little, gently creaking.
We make a stop in Hveragerdi for gas, coffee and a sweet roll at the bakery. We ended up with a ham and cheese croissant by mistake. Hveragerdi has an abundance of hot springs, in town, around town in the hills, so many that they have huge greenhouses, heated by the water and artificially lit, to grow things like tomatoes.
Today, it seems, is the day of the waterfall. Some with names, many without, so I name them: Maxifoss, Ultrafoss, Bossfoss, Minifoss.
The first one with a name is Urrifafoss, right off Highway 1. I almost passed it by; the sign flashed us, we were on a bridge over the river and I saw the river disappear into mist. I pulled a U-turn and we found it. The most impressive part was the death hole in the middle, where the lava made kind of a U shape, and water pours in from the top and both sides. If you fell in there, I doubt there would be anything left to find.
That was impressive, but next up was Selialandfoss, at the edge of Eyjafjallajökull glacier. You might remember Eyja, that was the volcano that erupted in 2010 and the ash spread all over Europe and cancelled thousands of flights. Well, this waterfall drops 65 meters, right from the edge of the glacier over the edge of the lava wall. There are several other waterfalls dropping down the cliff a ways. I liked this one a lot because you can hike up to and behind the waterfall. Already wet from the rain, now I was soaked... But the sun came out! Then it starts to rain again.
We drive along. I can feel the weight of the glacier hanging over us, too close in to see it except for the occasional glimpse through fog and clouds.
I think it looks like Hawaii here. The jagged black lava, bright green grasses... We could be on the Big Island of Hawaii, or perhaps Kauai, the north end with the sharp mountain ridges. Except Hawaii is warm, and we are cold. Oh yea, and the sheep. And stone, sod-roofed houses. But the ridges, valleys and mountain tops look like Hawaii. Except for the patches of snow.
So, what is it like here? Well, think about those razor-sharp Hawaiian ridges, and mysterious, misty valleys leading down to the sea. Add bright green grassy moss draped over the black lava rocks, with steam rising off in the distance. Kind of like that. But cold. It is not Swelterland, you know.
Iceland: Truth in advertising!
Next up: Skògafoss, a huge white wall of water, dropping in a different valley but off the same glacier. There is a cold wet hike, up a metal staircase, to the top. Wet, cold, and breathtaking.
By now it is past 14:00 and we are hungry, so we pull into the little store and restaurant. I am a little tired of the traditional foods, so I get a hamburger, and let me tell you, it is a great one. Thick, juicy, cooked just right... their special sauce is great. Gail strikes it lucky today: cauliflower soup. Soon we are warm and happy, the edge is off our hunger and we are back in Monsieur Squeak and creaking our way on to Vik.
There are sod-roof houses, barns built into lava caverns, farms with gabled roofs just too cute, too many to photograph. We see more sheep and Icelandic horses everywhere. The horses are small, very furry with long long manes and tails. They look majestic posed in the fields, hair blowing in the wind; it is as if the farmers take them out, pose them in the morning for the tourists, then bring them in at night. I am surprised that you can't buy their hides in the stores, next to the seals and reindeer.
We finally arrive in Vik, a cute town of 300 people on the edge of the sea. There are magnificent rock formations: Dryhólaey, a huge sea arch, and Reynisdrander, rock stacks and a cliff of columnar basalt like at Devil's Tower, Wyoming. While we are wandering the black sand beach, it starts to pour, so we jump back in Squeak and get to our hotel.
Tonight we are in a hotel, above the beach. There are two restaurants in Vik, so we will eat here at the hotel buffet. Our huge room has a view of the rock stacks, and the walls are knotty pine. They heat the room with hot water piped in beneath the floor; the same water fills two hot tubs outside.
Hot tubs... after dinner.
Later note: the dinner was a buffet. Tomorrow we will try one of the two places in town. I should have just had two burgers for lunch and called it good. And about the hot tub... It is really a warm tub, just above body temperature... in this weather I want to cook, like a cannibal stew. Besides, three unsupervised kids were eating ice cream in the hot tubs. No thanks.
True facts about Iceland:
I am waiting to buy toothpaste and deodorant until the UK. I am afraid Icelandic toothpaste will taste fishy, and the deodorant will come in sulfur scent.
Well, I just can't leave well enough alone. Just like last year in Prague, last night we stumbled across the American embassy in Reykjavik. I pulled out my camera and snapped a photo when the guard stepped out. "No photos!" He yelled, but no one pulled a gun on me this time.
So, what did the shark smell like last night? A sharp sting of ammonia that destroyed my nose and taste for ten minutes.
We thought something was missing here. Besides the sun, I mean. Today Gail put her finger on it: No trains. Not a single train track in the country. Public transpo consists of busses and walking.
Doritos here come in "Cool American" flavor. I have to get a photo of those.
You know how we are supposed to recycle batteries, stop dumping them in the landfill? At home I save them up in. Coffee can till I get hundreds of them, because the one place that takes them is way across town. Last time I just took them directly to the dump. Here they have battery recycle bins at door to most stores.
It is funny how quick you can start picking up on a language. Not that we need to, it seems everyone speaks English. That is part of what helps the learning, however.
Some words are easy: ÜT is OUT, OPID is OPEN. Try these: KAFFI, BANKI and JÚLÍ (a month).
Others take a little thought, like ADGANG which is exit, or MORGUN which is morning, and these I figured out because they are close to the German, ausgang and morgan. But some words I just scratch my head and think, what the hell? Like SKINKU. I got a croissant with this. It means ham and cheese. What's with that?