FUN-travel: Reykjavik, Iceland to London, UK
February 17, 2015 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: Reykjavik, Iceland to London, UK
Day 54 – Sunday, August 24 – Reykjavik, Iceland to London, England – full on clouds – high 50’s
Ittoqqortoormitt, Greenland
What I LIKE
- 8:15 – wake up
- 8:45 – get up to more good hot espresso
- – nice lazy morning
- 11:00 – check out of apt – leave bags in office
- 11:15 – walk for brunch
- *11:25 – arrive Le Bistro
- 11:40 – order 2 cappuccinos classic burger & grilled veggie plate
- **12:45 – Kaffir – get take away quiche – saved $50 by doing this option
- 1:00 – shuttle to train station on time
- 1:15 – airport bus on time – starts sprinking
- 2:00 – arrive airport – very efficient check in
- – more than a dozen people to check bags
- – 2 helpers get luggage tags from self service kiosk
- – NO BAGGAGE NAZIS!
- *** – security live very fast & efficient too!
- 2:30 – tax refund counter – more efficiency at its finest!
- – only 4 people waiting for credit card refund
- – cash line is 2 rows long snaking thru the airport
- – don’t even ask to see my items
Ittoqqortoormitt, Greenland
- ****Duty free wine – more Viña Maipo wines –
- Gran Devoción 2010 – syrah/petite syrah – 90 pts Wine Advocate & Vitrol Carmenere
- 2:50 – lunch – 2 tandori wraps to go
- # flight takes off on time – only 2.5 hrs long
- 7:50 – arrive early
The Norther Lights We Slept Through
- Breeze thru customs
- Luggage already on belt
- Get directions to Terminal 5 – FREE express train runs every 15 minutes
- 9:00 – arrive Sofitel Hotelin Terminal 5
- Don’t have to deal w/taxi & schlepping bags – this is a transit hotel
- Get upgraded to King bed! YEAH
- ##12:30 – night night
Bardarbunga Volcano Eruption We Missed Too!
What I DON’T LIKE
- *only have high bar stool seats w/no backs – wait for table
- – breakfast is over at 11:30 & now only offer
- huge brunch plates w/fruit, yogurt, breads – too much food!
- 12:00 – told they’re out of buns & running to store
- 12:30 – still no food
- 12:40 – walk out! Starving!
- **ordered chicken & got veggie
Monacobreen, Svalbard, Norway
- ***very sensitive as my jewelry goes off and I hardly have any
- ****charge $2 for a plastic bag & didn’t tell us
- # no jetway – have to schlep on bus to plane
- Arrive Terminal 1 & need to get to Terminal 5
- Pretty sterile hotel – no view to outside
- – window looks across to another room window
- ## had to move clock ahead
Monacobreen
FUN-fact – Reykjavik is the most northern capital in the world and Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe.
More FF – They sell a product called Skyr which is pretty good. Like strained yogurt and it has been a part of their cuisine for over a 1000 years.
More FF – When NASA was looking for a place on Earth that most resembled the moon’s surface, they found it in Iceland.
More Eruptions
FUN-travel: Reykjavik, Iceland – Day 3
January 15, 2015 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: Reykjavik, Iceland – Day 3
Day 53 – Saturday, August 23 – Reykjavik, Iceland – Full Day 3 – thick overcast skies w/intermittent patches of blue – balmy summer day – high 50’s
Blue Lagoon
Husavik, Iceland
What I LIKE
- 8:15 – wake up to good hot espresso
- 10:30 – walk to bus terminal
- City is buzzing w/lots of people for marathon
- (FYI there is no traffic aloud in city today)
- 10:45 – arrive terminal
- 11:00 – depart for Blue Lagoon
- – drive includes lots of lava landscape w/mountains in distance
- 11:55 – arrive to huge lava rock pools filled w/steaming (100 degrees) geo thermal sea water
- 12:05 – arrive entrance and line to enter
- – pretty state of the art w/wristbands
- – cost includes locker – w/extras of towels & robes = $40
- – need to put conditioner on hair before entering
- – put mud from lagoon on face & neck
- – shampoo & conditioner from lagoon made hair silky
- – didn’t even use hair dryer & no frizz
- 1:00 – lunch – seafood salad w/shrimp & lobster, steamed mussels & 2 Gull beers= $58
- 2:15 – depart bus back to city
- 3:00 – arrive & walk via pavilion garden park & large lake
- – lots of stages set up w/music, dancing, kids games all over city
Pavilion Garden Park
- 4:30 – back to apt for R & R
- 5:00 – realize I left bathing suit at lagoon – oh well it was 11 years old
- Never put lotion on & skin is so soft
- 6:00 – dinner @ Seafood Grill
Solfar (Sun Voyager) Sculpture
FUN-food – spotted catfish w/broccoli, barley & lobster sauce – smoked Shag, Puffin & marinated Minke whale w/blueberry, fennel, red onion & hazelnut dressing – Gretti’s salad, rocket, buri cheese, tomato, carrot – Morande Pionero Merlot 2012 – food just so-so = $133
- Everyone drinks and serves tap water & proud of it
- 11:00 – festivities capped off w/fireworks
What I DON’T LIKE
- Nothing I can remember
Last Supper
FUN-fact – The Blue Lagoon water color comes from the silica and the way it reflects sunlight. If you pour it into a transparent cup, it will always have a milky white color. The sun simply makes it look blue!
More FF – Turned on the BBC and they are reporting “a red alert has been issued for the volcano in Iceland.” No one in Iceland is even talking about it and when I checked in for the flight on line there was no mention of it either. Pretty interesting wouldn’t you say?
FUN-travel: Reykjavik, Iceland – Day 2
November 10, 2014 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: Reykjavik, Iceland – Day 2
Day 53 – Friday, August 21 – Reykjavik, Iceland – Full Day 2 – full on sun – balmy summer day – high 50’s on coast & low 60’s inland
Stokkur
What I LIKE
- 6:30 – wake up to good hot espresso
- – ready for big day of adventure
- 8:35 – pick up for Grand Circle Tour
- 8:45 – arrive main station to change
- 9:10 – depart – scenic drive
- – includes rolling hills w/rugged lava landscape
- – black volcanic jagged mountains in distance
- – occasional steam spouts from bubbling hot springs
- So clear can see huge glacier miles away!
- Having a heat wave! Sunny & 55
- 10:30 – 1st stop – Fridheimer
- – gigantic green houses growing tomatoes
- – 51 rows, each 90’ long & double sided
- – eat tomato soup w/nice seeded baguette 900 Kroner =$7.50
FUN-fact – They grow tomatoes all year round under artificial lighting in greenhouses yielding an average of a ton a day with an annual harvest of 370 tons!
- 11:15 – depart for
- 11:25 – 2nd stop – Geysir @ Haukadalur
- only erupts during earthquakes – last time in 2000
- – pretty impressive @ 200 to 250 ft high
- Strokkur erupts every 8 to 10 mins
- – impressive @ 75 to 100 ft high
- 12:55 – depart for
- 1:05 – 3rd stop – waterfall Gullfoss – really spectacular!
- – 3-step “staircase” abruptly plunges in two stages – 35’ then 65’ into crevice 100’ deep
Thingvellir National Park
- – crevice about 60’ wide & 1.5 mi long then plunges – 210 ft into canyon surrounding it
- – beautiful rainbow @ end – get up close & personal
- – really loud, ferocious & incredibly powerful
- 2:07 – 4th stop – Thingvellir National Park
- – pass site where Eurasian & American tectonic plates are pulling apart
- 3:15 – take nice walk to
- – Parliament – venue for general assembly
- – established in 930 – annual meetings held until 1798
- 4:00 – depart back to Reykjavik
- 5:08 – drop off not far from hotel – go shopping
- – need to find gifts – ooh! nice sweatshirt only 5900 Kroner = $50 – deal of the century
- & get VAT refund for one I got me yesterday! YEAH!
- 6:00 – room R&R
- 8:00 – dinner reservation Sushi Samba
- – Japanese South American Fusion
- – place is packed & on sound overload
- 8:15 – get seated
- 8:45 – bread w/basil cream butter arrives
FUN-food – Sushi Samba– 1) surf n turf roll = lobster tempura, avocado, beef carpaccio, spicy mayo, teriyaki, chili crumble = 3190 Kroner – 2) Hot Maguro roll = torpedo shrimp, tuna, avocado, jalapeno mayo, kimchee = 2990 Kroner – 3) under “Street Food” deep fried Cuban lobster cigar = chorizo, dates, chili jam, chimichurri sauce = 1990 Kroner – 4) reindeer mini burger on brioche, Portobello, manchego, bleu cheese sauce = 2590 Kroner – Viña Maipo Vitral Reserve 2012 Carmenere = 6590 Kroner
Gullfoss
- – By far the BEST meal we’ve had all trip
- – excellent mix of flavors
- & most expensive @ 17350 Kroner
- – Yikes! Thanks god it’s just monopoly money
- = $150 US
- – definitely hip, hop & happening – not just a meal but an event!
Puffins
What I DON’T LIKE
- Tried to restart my Netflix subscription @ home
- & told there is no service in Iceland – but coming soon!
- Only negative w/dinner all served at same time
- – should have ordered tasting menu – they will let you share an order for 1 – just didn’t want dessert
FUN-fact – Yellow Stone is the tallest predictable geyser in the world with powerful bursts between 150-200 feet. Its interval ranges from 6 to 15 hours, although recently, it has averaged 7-8 hours and eruptions last between 9-12 minutes
More FF – Iceland has a population of 320,000 with 2/3rds living in the capital city of Reykjavik.
The Sun Voyager Sculpture
FUN-travel: End of A&K Arctic Cruise – Reykjavik, Iceland – Day 1
November 5, 2014 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: End of A&K Arctic Cruise – Reykjavik, Iceland – Day 1
Day 52 – Thursday, August 21 – Reykjavik, Iceland – End of A&K Cruise – full on sun – balmy summer day – high mid 50’s
What I LIKE
- 6:45 – get up
- Ready for next big adventure!
- 8:00 – packed up
- 8:15 – out of cabin
- 8:20 – breakfast (closes @ 8:30)
- *9:15 – bus to city center
City Center
Cruise Recap – Really smooth well stabilized ship with good sized rooms for the price (and all with balconies). A&K is a 5 star experience and who we have gone with in Antarctica and Egypt. Both have been most favorite trips. The ship is French and the staff was for the most part friendly. The food was a bit disappointing. We had done a river cruise on Uniworld through the Burgundy and Provence region and the food was spectacular. We really expected to see a whole lot more wildlife and icebergs. Heard they were going to do this same trip next year one month earlier which I assume will make a big difference. We wouldn’t recommend this trip unless you’ve been everywhere else and really want to hunt for polar bears in the wild. Antarctica still wins as the “best vacation we ever had!” The abundance of wildlife is phenomenal.
- 10:30 – arrive Reyjkavik4You Apartments
Hallgrimur’s Church
- – get upgrade to 1 bdrm w/full kitchen
- –great to have so much space!
- –free fast Wifi
- 12:00 – plan out next 4 days
- – make dinner reservations
- – make tour reservations
- Front desk fabulous! Handles everything for us
- 2:00 – take off for stroll thru Old Town & city center
- 2:15 – coffee break @ Kigali
- – buy fresh ground espresso for morning coffee
- 2:30 – run into 2 couples from ship – doing same as us
- – self guided tour & lodging
- – while I like meeting new people it’s nice to be on our own
- 3:30 – wine store stop – Vinbudin – only retail place in town for alcohol
- 4:30 – snack break @ Durum Restaurant
- – Cajun chicken quesadilla ala Icelandic style
- – brown thin bread w/yogurt sauce
- 5:15 – check out restaurant on our list
- server recommends Icelandic Bar
- – so we cancel more formal dinner and go there
- 5:30 – grocery store just around corner
- – they have separate really cold room for the meat & dairy
- 6:30 – put name on list – go back to room
- 7:40 – get seated
FUN-food – Icelandic Bar – Loved the coziness! If you’re into beer this is the place to be. I like my wine and they had some of that too. The appetizers come in cute little jars. We had grilled minke whale (tastes like steak) and fried shrimp topped w/blueberry glaze and arugula which was divine! Fish & chips were good. Yalumba 2010 Cab – dinner cost = $80
FUN-surprise – 9 pm on Thursday nights in summer they have a vintage car show in town – 50’s- 60’s – 70’s & 80’s models – saw Mustangs, Cougars, Cadillac’s, Fords, Lincolns, Mercedes, BMW’s, etc – for over an hour they paraded past our window table!
Opera House
What I DON’T LIKE
- *only takes 15 mins to city but w/all drop offs takes 75 mins
- – then driver tries to drop off 2 blks from our hotel
- – cost of post cruise hotel outrageous!
- Trying to find deal on souvenirs impossible
- – too expensive here!
FUN-fact – Iceland was discovered by the Viking Eric the Red in 985.
FUN-travel: Grundarfjörður, Iceland – A&K Arctic Cruise Day 12
October 26, 2014 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: Grundarfjörður, Iceland – A&K Arctic Cruise Day 12
Day 51 – Wednesday, August 20 – Grundarfjörður, Iceland – A&K Cruise Day 12 – sun w/clouds in distance – low 50’s
What I LIKE
- 7:45 – full on sun!
- 8:30 – usual breakfast
- 9:30 – start packing
- 11:30 – Recap slide show in main theatre
- 12:15 – lunch no theme
- 1:45 – start line up for tour
- 2:00 – depart for land tour Wonders of the West
- – small fishing villages hug dramatic coastline
Djúpalónssandur
- 3:00 – first stop Djúpalónssandur – walk thru lava rock formations
- – down to black sand beach
- – filled w/pebbles & stones of all shapes & sizes
- – varying shades of black & gray
- – fishing boats dot the horizon
- 3:50 – back on bus for
- 4:10 – 2nd stop – Arnarstapi
- – small seaside village
- – nice walk along cliffs of more lava
- – huge lava sculpture welcoming all
- 4:50 – back on bus for
- 5:15 – 3rd stop Budi – small village
- – black church & cemetery
- – short walk to beach w/yellow sand
- – more lava rocks w/high grass & rolling dunes
- – miniature flower clusters like Greenland
- – only bigger versions of daisy, daffodil & roses
- 6:00 – back to ship – nice drive along seaside
Alice, Bill, Chris & Me
- 6:30 – arrive ship
- 8:00 – dinner Deck 6
- – YIKES everyone had the same idea and it’s full!
- 11:00 – night night for big day tomorrow
What I DON’T LIKE
- No satellite & have seen everything on TV
- 12:45 am – totally missed the Aurora Borealis! AKA Northern Lights
FUN-fact – People names – In Iceland the child is given a first name and the last name is the first name of the father with their gender added. Example: John Erikson
