Well, I've done some more travelling - this time to Iceland. I've been before but was quite looking forward to visiting again, since the date for the last visit was probably 2000, 2001 at the latest. I had fond memories of wandering around the town, as well as an early evening visit to the Blue Lagoon - two things I was keen to repeat.This trip was Thursday lunchtime to Sunday morning - a really good length of time, leaving us plenty of opportunities to see galleries, eat well, do lots of walking, as well as hiring a car on the Saturday for a wonderful day of driving and visiting other things I hadn't been able to see on my previous visit.
Reykjavík is a great little city. This time I felt a bit closer to the city, I was doing more walking around and began to be able to take shortcuts through lanes, recognise street names, and even in one instance give directions to a cafe I had not yet even been to.
Highlights of the city section of the trip include the Culture House where there was two fantastic exhibits - one on the creation of a nearby volcanic island over the last 50 years and it's resulting ecology, the other on the Icelandic Sagas - including original documents and books! Most amazing.
We also found a great little coffee shop, an amazing vegetarian place for dinner and a very cute organic cafe where we spotted the lead singer of Sigur Rós. We also hung out at Sirkus which is Björk's local bar, but she was on tour. Still a fun place though.
Saturday saw us driving out to the Geysir area - the Great Geysir not particularly active anymore nowadays, but we got to witness it's little brother "Strokkur" shoot off a few times. I was informed that apparently seven tourists a week scald themselves when they unbelievingly test the water to see if it is actually hot. Idiots.
Next stop after Geysir was Gullfoss, a pair of waterfalls further out. Great stuff - although freezing cold out there. Quite a popular destination, there were many people out on the rocks overlooking the waterfalls. I'm amazed sometimes by the safety at these attractions - in Australia you'd be fenced back 100m from the edge by huge wire fences, just for your own safety. Here you're free to plunge down the crevass if you wish. Bless.The drive then took us to the famous Blue Lagoon where we hopped in the pool, ignoring the light rain pattering onto our faces. And again, I loved it. So relaxing and interesting and well, just something I want to experience more regularly.
I'd like a "yearly holiday destination", the creation of a nice routine where I can say "oh, I go every year". Sure - there's the skiing trips, but I'd like somewhere different as well.
Next trip for me? A weekend in Munich to catch up with Dylan. Looking forward to it! :)
There are more Iceland pictures on my Flickr pages.
