Iceland: July 2015
Thingvellir was where we saw the most "crowds" of anyplace in Iceland, but they didn't even begin to approach Grand Canyon-level crowds. We took an English-language tour from a park ranger. The tour covered the history of Thingvellir and also the natural resources, though the guide couldn't remember complicated (and common, for this place) words such as "brown trout" (she had it written very large on her notes) and "spawn" (she made confusing hand gestures and kept saying "um, um" until I supplied it).
At one point it started to drizzle, and then actually rain, so we just grabbed rain gear from the car for the short hike up to the waterfall.
Leaving Thingvellir, we appreciated the amount of detail (and the not-to-scale-ness) of these helpful road signs we kept encountering.
We managed not to hit any sheep.
We drove to the Hellisheidi Geothermal Power Plant the long way, with several wrong turns (thanks, road sign that is only clear in hindsight...), but it was an incredible facility. We loved seeing the factory floor and the large pipeline of hot water that runs to Reykjavik. "You know, when they say they produce 99% of the heat and hot water in Reykjavik," Robert said, "they really mean 100% minus a few crazy people who live entirely off the grid, right?" I believed him. The plant was gleaming but essentially deserted, and I was starting to think maybe it was a bizarre midweek holiday or something, when our guide explained that the entire plant employs eighteen people, including the chef ("They have a chef?" Robert repeated), the dishwasher, the custodians, and the woman at the front desk in the gift shop. Talk about efficiency!
From the plant we drove into Reykjavik for the first time this vacation, now having spent three nights outside of the city and our final three nights in the city at the Kvosin Downtown Hotel, a really lovely hotel where we had essentially an efficiency studio--big fold-out couch, nice bed for us in a dark nook, blackout curtains and shades, and a small full kitchen. We had dinner at the Seagryffon, loving the famous lobster soup (Robert was prepared to be disappointed, but wasn't), the service (unlimited bread, and free lobster soup without lobster chunks for the kids (soup with no stuff in it? Sign them up), and the grilled local fishes. We also had a great conversation with a French high school science teacher who sat down with us and showed Marcus his beautiful journal full of writings and watercolors.
After breakfast at the hotel bakery/cafe on Thursday morning, we walked around the city, admiring the first-place Leif Erikson statue, the Harpa concert hall (note: Harpa and harbor sound too similar. Be careful when asking directions at the bus station!), the Christina fishing boat, Hallgrimskirkja church, a random little train, and some tasteless Icelandic fried dough things (kleinet) that the children adored.
We also learned the quick and easy Icelandic word for bathroom:
That sure comes trippingly to the tongue, right?
Around noon we took a ferry to the Videy Island in the harbor, where after playing in the playground and using the snyrtingar, we took a long hike around the island, gathering wildflowers and marvelling at just how deserted everything here really was.
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Created: 8/3/15. Last Modified: 8/3/15.