Iceland

Iceland is a grim looking place this time of year, unless you know where to look.  I'm enjoying the differences between what I'm used to seeing in my life and what I have been seeing.  Iceland has ugly architecture, beautiful mountains, streams and rivers everywhere, horses and sheep, steam bursting from the ground, tasty fish.  We arrived yesterday and immediately did some touring with our 22-year-old guide on his second tour ever, stopping at the Saga Museum and touring Reykjavik before we ever got to the hotel.  The Saga Museum has some perfectly made dioramas of the history of Viking settlement in Iceland, but the recorded narration goes on much too long for non-Icelandic ears.  The human figures were almost too lifelike to approach.

This hotel (the Grand) is different from all of the others - less European, more Scandinavian.  Simple, IKEA-like furniture, no rugs, geometric patterns for decoration.  In fact, there's a very idiosyncratic design style here - lots of abstract figures.  And a lot of spray-painted street graffiti along with a few well-done murals.  But the buildings are mostly hideous - concrete boxes with corrugated metal roofs.  Right now the grass is mostly brown (except for golf courses), and there are few trees, so everything is winter-looking.  But Skyr is abundant - good stuff, like yogurt but with a richer, smoother texture.

Last night's dinner was excellent - the best lamb I've ever had, but it took over 2 hours to serve 3 courses.  When you've been eating every meal with the same people for 2 weeks, there's only so much conversation to be had.

Today was a great day, although it started out rainy.  We did the "golden circle" and looked at lots of geology - mountains, glaciers, geysers, waterfalls.

Graylag geese who completely ignored us.

Geyser!  This one is unpredictable - every few minutes, give or take, it erupts.

Beautiful, clear, boiling hot water.

Big honkin' waterfall fed by a glacier.

The day was consumed by stops for scenery, walking around scenery, bathroom breaks, gift shops, lunch (smorgasbord and all the pickled herring I could eat!), more scenery to walk around.  Boulders and ground (which is old lava) are covered by all kinds of mosses and small ground cover which is beginning to bud, as are the small shrubs and trees.  I caught sight of golden plovers, the Icelandic harbinger of spring.  My birds of Europe book has lots of dogeared pages from everything I've spotted, including a raven today. And after we got back to Reykjavik, still more sightseeing.

Dinner was a little faster, with lovely salt cod in a sauce with figs, lemons, and almonds, preceeded by cauliflower soup and grilled gf bread.  I took my knitting this time to keep me occupied between courses.  I'm looking forward to the breakfast buffet at the hotel - good food, and when I'm done I can get up and leave.

Tomorrow is a free day until dinner, and my plan is to take the free shuttle into town, visit the National Museum of Iceland (because I love archaeology), the Phallus Museum (just because how could I not?), and the shopping street which may or may not have yarn for sale.  We have seen a lot of beautiful hand-knitted things at gift shops, which are pretty much all itchy, but no yarn, and the stores that sell it might not be open Sunday, but so it goes.  If I find it, I find it, if not, I'll survive.  Some people are planning to visit one of the geothermal pools about 10 minutes away, but my kind melt when wet.  Then walk back to the hotel (they only offer the shuttle one way), have dinner with the group, and pack for an early departure so we can ride by the Blue Lagoon before heading to the airport.  It has been a great trip, but I'm ready to go home and do some laundry.