Here’s where you can read about the rest of the trip

Day 1 and Day 1.2

Day 2 and Day 2.2

Day 2.3 and 3

Day 4, 5, 6, 7

It’s only been a month since we came back, but it feels like years. It’s a whole new world over there and still so much to explore. I only briefly touched on our glacier tour, so I wanted to bring us back to the good old days when I was in Iceland…

We went on our glacier tour, booked through Trip.IS at their office for about $220CAD per person. They provide a guided tour of Solheimajokull, all the equipment (crampons and pickaxes), and a bus to take us there. Also included a quick ice climbing session (no pictures, because I was too busy being spiderwoman). There are some tours for a much better price, but we were pretty last minute so we didn’t bother searching too much.

The snow is black because of the ash from recent volcanic eruptions (2010? is that still recent). The ash actually helps to protect the ice and insulate it. There were random cracks and  holes, so it would’ve been a pretty treacherous hike if we did it on our own.

I really can't wait to go back, but with Europe the way it is now (France... Turkey... less recently Brussels), I can't help but be afraid to visit. I think I've decided on a few places I want to see, so look forward to more #luwesatravels posts.

We woke up early on Day 4 to do some driving along the Golden Circle where all the tourists go. Cave tours on Day 5, then more driving to chase them waterfalls. Glacier tours on Day 6 (more on this later). Finally, horse riding on Day 7, and a quick dip in the Blue Lagoon before heading home to pack…

View from Skogafoss, which I want come back to for camping and hiking the full trail that goes behind it (Fimmvorouhais or Five-milestone-ridge):

Skogafoss (so grey from this view, but it’s actually very green and full of life all around it):

Seljalandsfoss:

Fish soup at one of the tourist traps to warm up after a windy adventure around Gulfoss and Geysir:

Picked this up at a grocery store to try at the Blue Lagoon:

Excellent yogurt! This apparently can now be found at City Market and other stores around Vancouver. Chock full of protein and flavour:

I actually was looking forward to going home. Finished reading this joyful book about The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, while sipping on California red wine (H also bought a Spanish one that I just did not like) and eating Japanese ramen soup:

I almost lost my passport – after locking up the AirBNB house behind us, and before piling into the car, I checked for my passport one last time and realized the passport was GONE. Panic ensued at least for me for a good 30 minutes as we tried to break into the house (fish hook style twig, Go Pro stick with gum on the end, plastic bag tied to the end of a stick…). Finally, the owner came and opened the door for us. The darn passport was under the bed. How did it get there? H will know best, and I won’t talk about it anymore. Good thing I love him…

This city is just fabulous, even when its cloudy and gloomy. The houses are a cheerful colour, and make the grey sky just a little more bearable.

Some shots of our Icelandic dinner after hiking at Sæta Svínið. Local food including:
Puffin meat… Whale meat…

Horse Carpaccio… Salmon… Char…

Lamb…

and the winner, cream cheese Skyr!

The next day, after picking up B, we toured the city some more (Scout house, penis museum, shops), and ate some more at Cafe Loki:

See above for fermented shark meat (gross) next to coffee and Icelandic flag, and rye bread ice cream (not bad).

We wandered a bit more around the streets, went up Hallgrímskirkja

This was a day for all of us to recover. We went to a bath in the city and just relaxed in some of the 38°C - 47°C pools. (T also got lost as we were lounging around outside of the pool, but we found him.)
The next day was lava tours…

After hot dogs, we went to find Glymur, the second tallest waterfall in Iceland (it used to be the tallest until a taller one formed on Morsárjökull). We got lost along the way, which stressed me out, but in the end, we made found the sign that we were supposed to turn at:

…we found the sign behind the gate at the head of the trail…

 

…we found the other little signs pointing towards Glymur…

…going down the steps…

…sitting on a precipice (can you spot T?)…

…going into the dark and heading back into the light…

…crossed the log bridge that actually is not available in the winter to discourage the faint of heart…

…up the rock steps…

…found it!

And here’s the view with your back facing the waterwall. I find this a bit more fascinating:

Then, be greeted by animals all the way home:

We tried this licorice chocolate that I got for half price because it was expired at the tourist trap that we visited:


Pretty fucking gross. End of Day 2.

We started off the day pretty late, recovering from our plane ride and whatever jet lag we were experiencing. To help us feel a bit better, we decided to explore Old Reykjavik, grab a quick bite, and go hiking. What else could be quicker than hot dogs?

These are the famous Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur (literally translates to The Best Hot Dog in Town):

They were OK. Fried onion, mayo, ketchup, mustard toppings. All the boys seemed to like them, but TPL and I both weren’t really feeling it.

After lunch, it was time to start the real adventure.

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Side bar to real time:

Baked some cookies tonight because I got bored and hungry. Tried out Tara O’Brady’s chocolate chip cookie recipe, which according to Buzzfeed Food is one of the best out there. Crispy outside, soft inside. I should remake these – the butter got heated up too much:

Continuing Day 1 from the previous post...

We wandered over to Reykjavik Roasters next to get some coffee and wake ourselves up:

H picked up one of the bags of coffee, and they were kind enough to grind up half the bag of beans for us so that we could have it every day at the house. TPL got a hot chocolate to warm up:

Where else would this look be acceptable?

Check out their Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reykjavik_roasters/

They have great coffee, and it was another amazing little shop to hang out in. If I had more time, I would’ve loved to just sit here, people watch, and read the novels I’ve been trying to catch up on (Northanger Abbey is on my list right now).

Moving on…

1. Lost luggage
2. Lost on the trail
3. Lost cellphone
4. Lost Altoids box
5. Lost passport

All found. This is the place to find yourself. There’s so much space to develop and grow. It was exactly what I needed.

1. Lost luggage

We arrived on the 24th after a 7 hour plane ride at the lovely KEF airport. I was feeling quite excited and refreshed, because I slept pretty much the whole way. H makes a magnificent pillow. We went through customs with no problems, met up with TPL, and went to grab our luggage. We all grabbed our stuff, and waited for T’s suitcase to come out of the chute. We waited and waited and waited for a black suitcase with a little red string on the handle. Where was it?!

As the rest of the crowd dispersed, we realized it would not make sense for us to keep waiting pointlessly, so T went to the counter to ask. D and TPL went to get the car, while H and I went to pick up alcohol at the duty free (it’s so much cheaper!). T eventually had some forms to fill out and was sitting near the conveyer belts, where one of the airport attendants was checking the remaining pieces of luggage left behind. There was a black one, a random stroller, some other bags, and a grey one. The airport attendant approached T, who was sitting forlornly by the belts.

“Is this one yours?” she asked, pointing at the grey one. “It has your last name on the tag.”

“No, it’s not, mine’s black, it’s probably somebody else’s.” T was sure that it wasn’t his. “If it’s mine, you can laugh,” he says, stubbornly.

“Pretty sure it’s yours, it even has the same flight.” The attendant starts laughing.

At least we picked up some good alcohol:

We dropped off stuff at the place we were staying (Airbnb is the way to go in Iceland – we each spent about $218CAD for 7 nights), and headed back out for what was supposed to be breakfast, now brunch. Went to Kaffi:

This place took a bit of hunting to find – had to ask a kind stranger for help. Food was great, maybe because we were all starving. It was pure vegan heaven. Too bad I’m not a vegan. We were now ready to continue exploring the rest of this quaint little city (town?).