by Mary Middlebrook | May 27, 2018 | Iceland
Well, the day finally arrived…SUMMER VACATION!! And this one is like nothing I’ve ever done before. Two and a half months of fast travel. Usually I get a housesit in one location and hang there for the majority of the summer, then meet Brian somewhere and we fast travel for 7-10 days. But I wanted to mix it up a bit this year…
It started as all of my travels do, with a housesit. I saw a cat sit in Dublin for 10 days. Easy! Applied, got it, and started looking for other sits to work around it. I landed one on the French Riviera, near Nice, for 4 days with a ferret. Next up, two weeks in Switzerland with a cat. Then, the ICEing on the cake, a two week sit in Reykjavik, Iceland with a cat (sort of- there’s someone else here to take care of it if I want to leave and explore for a couple of days).聽 I will say this- NONE of these were places I was thinking, “Oh! I want to go there this summer!”. A sit pops up in a place I’ve never been, I apply, if I get it, I’m there. 馃檪
After I had these 4 sits in place, I started working out my schedule around them. After Iceland, I decided to head to Scotland for a couple of weeks to research and film for a Scottish Mythistory class I want to do. Then I’d go to Dublin, do my sit, head to Cork for a few days after that to explore. Then, back to Dublin to fly to Nice for my sit on the French Riviera. Then off to meet Brian in Malta for a few days of exploring. We’d then fly to Rome (cheaper return flight for him, even though I was there last summer), explore for a couple of days. He’d head home, I’d fly to somewhere to be determined for 10 or so days (I was hoping I could find a sit to fit those dates), then I’d be off to Switzerland for my housesit. From there, I’d fly to Spain to visit a friend for a few days and then fly home. I had everywhere set and booked except for those 10 days after Rome. Then the Dublin lady cancelled the sit. GRRRRRRRR! It happens, gotta roll with it. I already had flights in and out of Dublin, so I just extended my trip to include some time in Belfast and see more of the country and sought out super cheap AirBNBs. And then I finally figured out what to do with those spare 10 days- I’ll do a solo driving tour of Romania! Whew! This will be a summer to remember (and with my crappy memory, a summer to blog as well!!). And packing was a CHALLENGE with all of these varied climates (ski pants to sun dresses!), 2.5 months, budget airlines with serious baggage restrictions, and my obsession with only using carry on…I’m working on a post just about the packing adventure!
Flight to Iceland was on WOW Airlines. CHEAP from LAX. Like $200, plus $50 because I want to carry my luggage on rather than check it. WOW is a bare bones budget airline. They don’t even give you water. No in flight entertainment. You get a seat, a seat belt, a barf bag, and restroom access (which I was happy to see didn’t have a coin slot!). Leg room was really good- better than most flights I’ve been on lately. I was THRILLED when no one sat in my row! The 9 hour flight left at 7pm. I took my ZZZZ quils, and <del>slept</del> changed positions every 20 minutes while dozing. I am convinced that the management at WOW went to whoever made the plane and said, “We’ll pay extra for you to put torture devices in any area that might possibly allow a passenger to get comfortable while sleeping.” Seriously, no matter what position I was in, some hard piece of plastic or metal was jabbing me. I’ll shut up with my complaining now.
Woke up to an announcement that we would be landing in 30 minutes, almost an hour ahead of schedule. I looked outside to see ocean and clouds. A very cold ocean. My least favorite type of ocean. See, I don’t do cold. Cold to me is anything below 70 F. Iceland highs would be in the high 40s, low 50s. Iceland, indeed. A few moments later, I saw land. Wow.
We got off the plane and boarded buses to go to the terminal. It was chilly, gray, and drizzly out, but I was dressed appropriately in thermal layer shirts, a big puffy jacket, and ski pants (yes, i wore ski pants on the plane! Don’t judge! I am all about comfort over fashion!). Easy breezy through customs, they didn’t even look at me. Just stamped and sent me on my way. Found the Grey Line Tour people, walked outside and boarded the bus. I swear to god that the guy who took my ticket is a direct descendant of Erik the Red. This guy looked exactly how you would expect a Viking to look! Except he was in a raincoat and waterproof pants. 馃槈聽 I was excited to see the scenery for the next 45 minutes, except I promptly fell asleep and didn’t wake up until we got to Reykjavik and I had to change buses! There were only a few people in the minivan with me, and they all got off first. It was just me and the driver for the last few minutes. He’s from London, been here 40 years, his wife is Icelandic. He said I only need to know 2 things about Iceland: It’s always raining and it’s expensive!! LOL I don’t think the Iceland Tourism Board will be hiring him anytime soon, but he was lovely to talk to and we had a few laughs!
He dropped me off in the aforementioned rain. I had to walk about 10 minutes to my housesit. No problem with Google Maps (which is usually trying to kill me, but somehow managed to take me directly to my destination this time- I think it’s hoping I’ll let down my guard so it can ambush me on car rental day…). The house is just LOVELY!! Simple, clean, cute, with a very friendly cat. I quickly unpacked and got ready to go get groceries. I was STARVING. And I had to prepare myself- I had heard horror stories about just how expensive Iceland is. Like mortgage your house to eat a hamburger in a restaurant expensive. So 99.9% of all of my meals will be homemade, plus I brought along 3 lbs of pepperoni sticks just in case! I walked to Bonus, which is the discount grocery store of Iceland and is about half a mile from here or less. It was still drizzly, but with all of my layers I was warm. I’m in the Old West Side part of town- the very touristy spot. You know it’s touristy when you turn the corner and see Hard Rock Cafe. 馃槈聽 The best part is that I’m literally within walking distance of practically everything I want to see in Reykjavik! Easily found the store and started shopping. The store was small (by US standards), but the selection was good. Most things were in Icelandic and I just had to go by the pictures, but that was easy enough. The prices for things like bread and peanut butter and jam and crackers and pasta and such weren’t really all that bad! Very comparable to LA prices. But the meat. Good lord, if I lived here I’d be a vegetarian!! It is SOOOOOOOO expensive! Like a normal size pack of bacon, about a pound of it, was $20!!! Um, no thanks! Same with small packs of chicken breasts and such. Even frozen fish sticks were like $14 for a medium sized bag. I did break down and buy a very small (less than 8oz I’d say) pack of chicken lunch meat for $4. Ouch. So here’s my haul:
2 Salami Frozen Pizzas
1 Big Bag of Penne Pasta (several meals)
1 2-pack Frozen Garlic Baguette
1 Peanut Butter
1 Jam
1 Big loaf of Bread
1 Big bag of frozen veggies
1 Very small Chicken (I think) lunch meat pack
3 cans of tuna (pricey at over $2 a can, but a little bigger than normal cans and good protein)
1 tub of mayonaisse
1 jar of pasta sauce
3 packs of Ramen noodles
2 packs of flavored crackers
1 pack of butter (at least I think it’s butter- it’s all in Icelandic, but the package looks like a butter package…)
1 2-pack of toothpaste (it was cheaper than buying just one tube, go figure)
1 5 pack of chocolate/granola/fruit/nut bars
1 pack of those tasty milk chocolate biscuits (cookies) I always get in Europe
1 3 pack of Cup a Soup
Grand total? 5,685 ISK = $54 US. Honestly, no where near as bad as I was expecting, and this should last me for about a week. Knowing that a fast food hamburger at McDonald’s here is like $15, I’d say I scored.
Came back, made a sandwich, and watched some YouTube while waiting for Brian to video chat. The 13 minute You Tube video wasn’t even over before I fell asleep- for like 4 hours!!!! And I didn’t even move once! I woke up to about a zillion messages from Brian who was convinced I had frozen to death or something. Made myself a dinner of Ramen with some of my frozen veggies in it (hey, I gotta get some kind of nutrition out of that junk!). Sat down to plot out my adventures for tomorrow and blog. I am so far pleasantly surprised that Iceland isn’t as cold as I thought it was (because I actually prepared for Arctic Tundra Death) and food isn’t going to max out my credit cards. 馃檪 It’s now 10:30pm. This is the view from my room right now. Yep, sun is still out. Sunset is at 11:15pm and sunrise is at…get this…3:30am!!! Yep, only 4 hours of darkness this time of year. Glad I brought my sleep mask.
CONTINUE TO DAY 2
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by Mary Middlebrook | May 29, 2018 | Iceland, Uncategorized
Slept until 6:30am, which was about 6 straight hours. You’d think that that, combined with the “sleep” I got on the plane, plus the 4 hour nap I had taken when I arrived would be plenty of sleep for 3 people! Apparently not, because I ate some breakfast, video chatted with Brian, and fell promptly back asleep about 7:30 and woke up to my alarm at 9:30. Why an alarm? Because I had an adventure to attend to at 10!
One of the best ways to get orientated when you land in a new city is to seek out the “free” walking tours. Pretty much every city has them, some have multiple organizations that do it. Now, let me start by clarifying “free”. It doesn’t mean you should be a total cheap ass and suck up the guide’s time and energy and pay nothing. It means you should donate whatever amount you think the tour is worth at the end. Tours are generally about 1.5-2 hours long, and depending on how many stops we make (more stops = more information), the personality of the guide, how much I learned, and the size of the group, I pay anywhere from $10-$20. There were two free walking tours in Reykjavik that I found, and I decided to go with City Walk Reykjavik, mainly because I like the idea of starting at 10am AND they offered the ability to pay online with a credit card. I hate exchanging currency and try to avoid it at all costs! FYI, if you want to do this tour, you MUST book in advance.
The group was about 25 people, which was quite large. People from all over the world, which was cool. We started at a little park called聽Austurv枚llur that is just a couple of blocks from my housesit in front of a statue of this dude,聽J贸n Sigur冒sson. Don’t ask me to pronounce any of these names or places. Like the guide said- just try to get the first syllable right and mumble the rest….
I learned that Iceland used to be a colony of Denmark, and that the Danes weren’t very nice to the Icelanders… they wouldn’t allow them to have their own businesses or anything. Denmark had a complete monopoly on the island. Well, it was good old聽J贸n Sigur冒sson, who was a native Icelander living in Denmark, who plead the cause of independence for his people in the mid-1800s. However, Iceland didn’t receive independence until 1944 (spoiler alert: Denmark was kinda getting crushed by WW2, so Iceland said, “Yo, Denmark, we’re going to be independent now. Toodles, and good luck with that Nazi thing.” Denmark wasn’t really in a position to argue…). But because聽J贸n had fought the good fight and kinda sparked the whole idea, he is known as their father of independence.
Directly across the street from聽J贸n’s statue is the parliament building. It was built in 1881 out of a type of volcanic rock (I forgot the name), the only natural building material on the island! It isn’t very big, and here’s the crazy thing- it took 1/3 of the entire budget of Iceland to build it!!! Iceland was a super poor country, being under the thumb of Denmark… That crown on top of the building represents Christian IX, king of Denmark at the time. And over each of the four sets of windows, there is an animal. A dragon, an eagle, a bull, and a giant. Each are the spirits that watch over the 4 regions of Iceland. Now, without getting too much into politics, when Icelanders get pissed off at their government, they literally come to this park across from Parliament with pots, pans, and spoons- banging them to make noise that they are unhappy!! This isn’t some protest from generations ago- it still happens today! I couldn’t help but envision millions of Americans on the White House lawn with pots and pans and spoons…
A short walk took us to another statue, that of聽Sk煤li Magn煤sson. He was the first entrepreneur in Iceland. He started out as a young man working for a Danish owned (because there wasn’t any other kind) business. His boss would tell him to charge the poor people more, and聽Sk煤li hated this treatment of his people. He became a sheriff, and as sheriff he had connections to the King of Denmark. He was allowed to open a wool factory in this little area of homes that was barely even a settlement. People flocked (god, I crack me up!) to the wool factory for jobs and opportunity- things that were severely lacking in this Danish colony. Over time, the area around the factory grew and grew. That little settlement was Reykjavik, and聽Sk煤li is known as the father of Iceland’s capital. Interestingly enough, the little area where his statue is is on one of Iceland’s oldest graveyards. Construction on the hotel next door has to constantly be stopped because they keep finding bones. Remind me not to book lodging there if it ever opens…
Speaking of supernatural construction issues, next on the stop was something I was really excited to see! The Elf Stone! The story goes that the city was building a road in a suburb of Reykjavik. There was a large boulder, and every time a machine was in place to move it, the machine would break down. This happened to FIVE different machines!! So the construction company did the logical thing- called in a woman who can speak to elves. She struck up a conversation, and learned that the elves would be willing to move if they were given one week’s notice and moved to a more central location in the city (even elves hate commutes!). The construction company complied, and the stone was moved to its present location without further problems. Fun fact, polls show that over half of Icelanders believe in elves. 馃檪 If you like this story, stay tuned- I have more elvish enlightenment coming next week!! #believer
Next we walked into the oldest part of Reykjavik, a neighborhood called聽Grj贸ta镁orp. Here you can find the oldest homes in the city, back to the mid 1800s. Yes, by European standards those houses are infants, but Iceland is a different kind of Europe, having been colonized rather than its own country. This is the neighborhood where聽Sk煤li set up his wool factory, and people came to live. The houses are built out of timber that was imported from England and Norway (rumor has it that those pesky Vikings cut down every tree practically in Iceland to build ships!). The timber is covered with corrugated sheet metal (also imported) to protect the wood from the elements. The home owners are not allowed to change anything about the houses except for the paint- so many of them paint the homes in bright colors!
We now walked to a park surrounded by a lot of little restaurants. It’s called聽Ing贸lfstorg Square, and is a place where locals hang out. In the winter, they turn it into a skating rink! Notice those two pillars toward the back with steam rising out of them? Interesting story… The early history of Iceland (800’s forward) is written in sagas. Of course, these sagas weren’t written until the 1200’s, so take them for what you will. However, here’s what’s really cool. The modern Icelandic language is still EXTREMELY close to the ancient Norwegian language. So these sagas that were written over 800 years ago are still readable by people who speak Icelandic. How cool is that?! Anywho, let’s focus on that “ancient Norwegian” language for a second. Iceland was founded by Norwegians- which is where the language comes from. Quick detour- Icelandic children learn Icelandic, English (from age 6), Danish (from age 13), and then they get to pick another language (generally French, Spanish, or German). So pretty much every Icelander speaks perfect English (for those of you freaking about about all of these words I’m posting that look impossible! btw- they are!). Ok, back to Iceland being founded by ancient Norwegians. The sagas tell the story of聽Ing贸lfur Arnarson, a Norwegian nobleman. He got into a feud with the earl, ended up losing, and in the process lost all of his land. With nothing left for him in Norway, he packed up his wife, children, slaves, animals, and the two huge pillars that held up his house, and sailed west. He saw land, threw the two pillars into the water, and prayed to the gods to wash those pillars on the shore of the place where he should settle. The pillars landed ashore in 874 at a place where smoke was rising from the land (thanks to all of the geothermic activity).聽Ing贸lfur named this place Reykjavik, which means “steamy bay”. And that is how the first settlement of Iceland came to be! The two pillars with smoke are a symbol of the city, and can be found almost everywhere you look!
Look for the smoking pillars!
We then left the park and walked up a little hill with a statue on top. It’s the statue of聽Ing贸lfur Arnarson, who will forever overlook the city he named from his hilltop perch. And the symbolism is just amazing. It’s just so darn….VIKING! Love it!
It was really windy and cold on top of the hill (back when I thought that was windy….see Day 3….yowza). We walked back down into town, down some touristy streets, and toward the tourist information center where the tour ended. Here were some of the sights we saw along the way…. Very nice tour and highly recommended to get some of the backstory of Reykjavik and a feel for the layout of the city.
The harbor
So many different meanings to this one…
After the walk, I came home to get lunch, ate, and promptly took my 2nd nap of the day for 3 hours!! What in the hell is wrong with me? I couldn’t sleep to save my life in South Africa, now all of a sudden I’m a narcoleptic! Anyway, woke up and decided I had time for another adventure. Looked at my nifty little map I’ve created of all the places I want to go, and decided on the Settlement Museum- mainly because it was a) like a 2 minute walk away and b) reviews said it would take about an hour and I was kind short on time since I had already taken 2 naps and one tour today! Paid my $15.50 to get in, and I must say, that although it’s pretty small, this is a very well done, modern museum!
One thing that was really interesting was that the only land mammal in Iceland at the time of settlement in the 800’s was the artic fox. Settlers had to bring all of their animals with them to survive. There was a whole little exhibit room about the animals. Birds that were eaten included puffins and auks- which were large flightless birds. The last of them were killed in 1844. 馃檨聽 Outside that room, there was a really cool area where kids could get hands on with Viking stuff!
The next room was the main attraction. In 2001, construction was started on a new building. As they were digging, they just so happened to have unearthed the oldest known human settlement in all of Iceland!! It’s dated to 871 +/- 2 years. And that was actually the first name of the museum! 871 +/- 2!! See, no one could agree on the EXACT date. Was it 871? Was it 870? Was it 872? Icelanders, not being one for controversy, decided to compromise (insert gasp with an American accent) and make everyone happy by including a range of dates. If this was the US, we would have 5 groups of people, all firmly convicted of their belief of the exact date. They would call each other names, start Twitter wars, refuse to even think about hearing any logic from the other side. There would be Viking deniers, and people screaming that Viking is a racist term- they are Norwegian. Sigh. We suck. Anyway, back to how things should work…the city stopped the construction, excavated the site, and preserved it by building a museum over it. The museum is underground, giving you full access to the preserved site. The site is right in the middle of the large room, and all around the edges are these really cool, interactive information boards. There are also a ton of artifacts that were found at the site. It was seriously very well done, easy to understand, and fun to explore. Three to five longhouses were found, and there is still excavation to be done. How do you say, “I would like to buy a shovel.” in Icelandic? 馃槈
Silver bracelet. So delicate and gorgeous, and in such great condition!
An axe head. WOW!
I am all about Viking keys. They are SO COOL!
Fish hooks
Look at the detail still on this! They think it’s a gaming piece.
Reconstruction of how it would have look back in the 870s.
Came back, made some dinner, did some work, and went to bed with the sun still shining at 11pm.
Day 3- This’ll be fast…
Woke up at 8:30!! Dang!! Even after two naps the day before! Made breakfast, and promptly took a 2 hour nap! What. The. Hell.???? Brian thinks it’s exhaustion from such an intense spring semester. Could be true. Summer semester starts next week. Ugh. It was windy outside. Like seriously tropical storm force winds. Internet said 33 mph winds, and that was steady, not even including the gusts that would shake this entire 3 story house. What a shame, because it was actually kinda sunny outside! But I know my constitution is not up for such conditions. So I stayed inside and worked all day instead of going to the museum I had planned. No worries, I’ll go tomorrow. It’s 7:30pm now and the wind is already dying down a bit. Supposed to be back to normal tomorrow.
CONTINUE TO DAY 4
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by Mary Middlebrook | May 30, 2018 | Iceland
So last night el suckoed. I decided to try a night without my zzzz quils. I tossed and turned and turned and tossed half the night. I got up at 1:30am and snapped this picture. This is smack dab in between what is supposed to be “sundown” at about 11:30pm and “sunrise” at about 3:30am. As you can see, there is no such thing as darkness this time of year. It’s weird. Like really weird. Thank Odin I brought my sleep mask, because there are no curtains in my room! Took my zzzz quils, and dozed off somewhere after 2:30am.
Didn’t wake up until 10am, and that’s because the kitty, Mani (pronounced M-ow-ni) started scratching at the door saying, “Hey, housesitter lady, you better get my food ready or I’m leaving you a craptastic review!”. Glad he woke me up, because I had adventures to attend to!! That is, if the weather was cooperative…Let me tell you something I’ve learned about Iceland weather in the past 4 days. What’s the forecast? ALL the weathers. You pick it, I’ve had it (except warm!). There’s a saying that Iceland is the place where the gods create the weather before they send it out all over the world. I’m sold on that belief system, because it’s the only thing that makes sense! I was beginning to think that I would only get warmish (c’mon, this is ICEland and I know “warm” isn’t really a thing!) sunny weather when unicorns danced through stars and rainbows (that’s the equivalent of “when pigs fly” in Iceland, at least in my mind). Well, well, well….what do we have here??
Yep! The day was GORGEOUS!!! Zero wind, blue skies, sunny, and warmish (low/mid 50’s)!! Ate my pb & j sandwich, layered up, packed my stuff in my daypack, and headed out to meet the free shuttle to the Perlan Museum. The free shuttle says it meets at Bus Stop 5 at the Harpa Center. I was standing at the bus stop. Thank Thor I turned around and saw the shuttle! If you’re coming here, the meeting spot isn’t at the actual bus stop. If you’re facing Harpa, it’s to the right, where the water starts. Quick ride to the museum. I was really looking forward to this, because I plan to create a brand new Earth Science class online in the fall- and the goal is to take full advantage of all of the major Earth Sciencey things Iceland has to offer, like volcanoes and glaciers and geysers and such! The Perlan exhibit called Wonders of Iceland had all of those things in one spot, so I was really excited….and man, it did NOT disappoint!
There were basically four parts to the museum:
–An exhibit on volcanoes and the tectonic timeline of Iceland
–Some animals of Iceland, including a recreated cliff where seabirds nest and a virtual aquarium
–An exhibit on glaciers, including a man made ice cave
–An observation deck
I started off in the volcano section. Oh my gosh!! It was SO. WELL. DONE!!! So much information, great images, and even a really cool movie that I recorded for class! I took pictures of literally every single piece of information there was- it was that good. Basically, the entire exhibit is on my camera! 馃槈 Seriously, it was the first time I got really excited about this new class, and I am so ready to dig in and teach this stuff. It’s fascinating!!! In an effort to not overwhelm you with the inner workings of plate tectonics, here I present just a few of the pictures I took of the general exhibition area.
Ok. I had to show you ONE sign! There are dozens more. Email me for copies. 馃槢
You sat on that glacial bench and an awesome movie about tectonics played- sound effects, shaking, the whole deal!
Just part of that cool timeline exhibit
The timeline kind of flowed into the animal section. There was an artic fox- the only indigenous land mammal of Iceland. There was a fossilized walrus skull. Walruses used to live in Iceland, but were hunted to extinction here by 930!! Crazy, isn’t it? And apparently a lot of places in Iceland are named for walrus, because the animal was so important. Practically every part of it was used. I guess not important enough to not hunt to extinction, though. :/ There was talk of the cod fishery, which we discuss in my Marine Zoology: Vertebrates class. Yet another species almost hunted to extinction, but we had sense enough to stop it slow it down. Then there was a huge replica of the聽L谩trabjarg bird cliff, which is the largest sea bird cliff in Europe. Did you know that over 10 MILLION puffins come to Iceland every summer?! I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I’ll get to see some next week. The exhibit had these cool viewers that you could look through, zoom in on a bird, and it would show a realistic scene and give you information. So fun and innovative! The last section was a virtual aquarium, where you could sit on a bench and watch a movie of underwater life in Iceland. I had fun naming the phylums and classes in my head.聽 馃槢 #sciencegeek
I seriously can not tell you how impressed I was by these first two sections. But little did I know what was next… Guided tours of the ice cave were every half hour, although you could just go in by yourself if you wanted. They were handing out coats at the door. I really didn’t want to use one, because I was already looking like the little brother in A Christmas Story after his mom dresses him to go outside…in my SmartWool leggings underneath my water resistant outdoor pants and my two layers of thermal shirts underneath my puffy winter jacket. (Yes, this is what I was wearing for 50 degree sunny weather!!). The guide was nice enough, but I didn’t feel like she had a strong understanding of the glacial cave and its features. She was telling us about some animal that lives in the glacial moss that starts with a T and she can never remember the name but it’s one of the toughest animals on earth. Of course, I pipe up with “TARDIGRADE!”, and she says, “Yes, that’s it!”. #sciencegeekhermione Anyway, it was COLD in that cave!! -10 C, which is 14 F!! But I was like a kid in a candy store, trying to learn as much as I could! When the tour was over (it was 12 minutes long- it’s not a huge cave), I went back through by myself and shot video explaining everything. I was in there for probably 20 plus minutes and didn’t even feel cold. Until I was done and realized my fingers had kinda gone numb. 馃檪聽 It was a FANTASTIC experience, and almost has me half persuaded to go into the real thing….there is a tour that leaves from Reykjavik…it’ll mean eating PB & J for the entire Scotland trip as well, though….hmmmmmm…. With no further ado, I present to you the pictures inside the ice cave!! It was really an amazing exhibit- I wish there had been more to explore!
Just one of the many ice tunnels! Some you had to stoop to walk through.
This is a glacial mouse. It’s not a mouse. It’s a rock covered in moss that looks like a mouse. And tardigrades live in it. 馃檪
This was a simulation of a cravasse- a deep crack in a glacier that can be 100s of meters deep. The effect was with mirrors, and I didn’t even realize it until the 2nd time I went through!
This showed how the glaciers are layered with ice and ash. Scientists can date the layers because they know when the eruptions happened.
I exited out into the warmth of the museum, thinking my glacier adventure was over. Not by a longshot! There was an entire exhibit all about glaciers!! It took a while for my camera to defog itself, but once it did, I took so many pictures and videos. I swear, the people in there must have thought I was crazy. The exhibits told all about the different types of glaciers, organisms found in the glaciers (using these cool microscopes- I videoed all of them for the class, about 8 in total!), seriously anything you ever wanted to know about glaciers. Who knew they were so cool (pun SO intended!!)?? And to top it off, this HUGE interactive screen exhibit. There were three different topics about glaciers, then 3-4 sub topics for each of those- things like geology, people, organisms, etc… You stood on the footprints for each sub topic, pointed to the wall, and information would come up! I was in science geek heaven, and kids would have a BLAST with this thing! Of course, I videoed a lot of it. Again, so innovative, creative, educational, and FUN!! At the end, there was a wall of little plastic disks, where you could write stuff and hang it up. 馃檪
That interactive wall.
These little simulation microscopes were so cool! You turned the knob and information and pictures appeared.
I had spent over 2.5 hours in this museum so far, and loved every second of it! Now it was time for the last part, the observation deck. And man, were the views amazing….
It was time to catch the shuttle back. But damn, it was SO nice out!! I google mapped it, and it was only 2 miles back to the house. Why not! I actually took off my puffy coat, stuffed it in my backpack, and headed off into the unknown parts of Reykjavik! There was a beautiful little hiking trail from the museum down to the main highway.
Tell me an elf doesn’t live in there, and I’ll call you a damned liar!
The hiking trail soon met with the main highway, and I was really concerned about there being a safe place to walk (I’m looking at YOU with a side eye, Malaysia!!!). No need for concern! This is Iceland!! There was a perfectly lovely walking/bike path literally the entire way from the hiking trail to the tourist center by my house!
What? You don’t have to play frogger to cross the freeway in Iceland??
I spent a lot of time watching these birds hover over the water, dive in, and come back out with something to eat. They were beautiful!
This picture, with these red tulips, kinda captures the day. 馃檪
I then took a quick detour. Someone on the Iceland Facebook Group told me that Dr. Pepper could be found at a store just a block or so from my house! I headed over there. No Dr. Pepper, but I did find this little guy! Oh! And remember the story of the two pillars from Day 2? Here are some. 馃檪
Oh my Meili,聽 I am in full travel mode, now! I admit, it’s been a weird past few days. The sleep thing, some anxiousness about the intensity and logistics of the next 2.5 months, and probably the gray skies (seasonal affective disorder…it’s a real thing, people) and 24 hour sunlight. But all that changed today! Adventurous solo traveler (that’s ME!) is back and ready to explore, discover, and learn! And speaking of adventurous….you’re going to fall over D. E. A. D. DEAD when you see where I’m going tomorrow!!!!
CONTINUE TO DAY 5
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by Mary Middlebrook | May 31, 2018 | Iceland
I slept from 11:30 to 6:30! Yes, with the help of zzz quils, but at least since I had no nap yesterday, I feel like I’m finally getting on track with sleep. What’s on the schedule for today? The usual. Working tirelessly for all of these students of mine, striving to spark creativity, passion, and knowledge in today’s youth, research, research, and more research… Yep. Just another day at the office. Except that today, my office is INSIDE OF THE MAGMA CHAMBER OF A FREAKING VOLCANO!!!!!!! People,聽 my job does not suck. 馃檪
So Mary, you’re probably saying to yourself, how in the world are you going into a magma chamber of a volcano? Everyone knows that magma chambers either solidify rock solid or collapse into themselves after an eruption (duh, right?!). Well yes, well educated reader, you are correct about that! However, as I always tell my students, there is ALWAYS an exception in science! And the聽脼r铆hn煤kag铆gur volcano (pronounced聽Thrihnukagigur…yeah, that doesn’t help me either) is the exception. It is one of the very few volcanoes in the entire world where the eruption didn’t either fill or destroy the magma chamber. The magma just kind of ran back down into the earth they think- like pulling the plug on the end of a pipe. And it left a glorious, intact magma chamber in place. And not only is聽Thrihnukagigur one of the few volcanoes in the world where this has happened, it is the ONLY one in the world that you can go into!! Hell yeahz! I’m all about doing something super unique! Which is why I coughed up $100 more than I paid for my plane ticket from Los Angeles to Reykjavik for this tour… That’s ok. I’m living fine on PB & J and ramen. Seriously, my cupboard looks like I’m 19 again and in college! 馃檪聽 Dear waistline: Follow suit.
Trying to figure out how to dress for this thing was a bit challenging. Did I want to go with my heavy winter clothes and break out the ski pants? It was cold outside (it didn’t get over 45ish today). On the other hand, we did have to hike 2 miles to the volcano and 2 miles back, and I didn’t want to be overheated…. decisions, decisions. I finally decided to go lighter- my wool tights under my water resistant hiking pants, knee high thermal ski socks, two layers of thermal shirts, and my puffy jacket (yes, that’s light. don’t judge). I stuffed my raincoat in my daypack as well, because like I said yesterday, Iceland has ALL the weathers, and you never really know when or which one is going to pop up! This combination turned out to be perfect, and luckily I never needed the raincoat.
I researched several companies that offer this tour. It’s all the same exact thing, so I went with the cheapest. That was Grey Line, using my SEE5 code for a 5% discount. Same company I’m using for my airport transfers. They picked me up promptly at 9:30 and we went to their main terminal, where I got on a bus that was not subtle about where we were going! I was excited- this was going to be my first time out of the city and into the natural wonders of Iceland!! It was cloudy, grey, and cold out, but I enjoyed seeing the snowpack on the Blue Mountains in the distance get closer and closer.
Soon we were at a ski resort, where we were dropped off. We went inside the ski lodge for a bit, then our group of about 18 people headed off down the trail with our guide for the day- Stainay. I know I just butchered however that is spelled in Icelandic, but she told us it’s like “Stain” on your shirt and the letter a. 馃檪 I wish everyone would break down Icelandic like that! It was cold, I ain’t gonna lie, and I was seriously starting to regret my decision to not put on the ski pants.
Along the way, Stainay gave us information about the volcano, all of which I videoed for class! She said that she would have at least put on some mascara if she knew I was coming! 馃檪 It was really interesting that the volcano wasn’t even discovered until 1974. The guy who found it was lowered down 120 m (400 feet) on a rope with a flashlight. He stated there was nothing there but a big ugly black hole- basically because the immense darkness just swallowed all of the light in his sad little 1974 flashlight. In the 1990s,聽 the rescue teams of Iceland used it to practice rappelling, because there’s no wind inside. They explored a bit and saw that there were some colors and formations inside. Eh. National Geographic contacted these guys when they were doing a documentary on volcanoes in 2010 (only 8 years ago!!). They used window washing lifts to lower all of their gear inside, and this is the first time the magma chamber was properly lit up. They were amazed at what they saw! Tours only started in 2012.
The trail was easy. And I’m not saying that as some fit Angeleno…let’s just say that on a couch potato scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being “there’s somewhere to exist other than the couch?”, I’m a 4.5. Seriously. The only time I’m active is when I’m traveling, and the last time I did that was at the end of March. Otherwise, I’m either creating a lesson plan or grading on the couch- upwards of 10 hours a day. Oh, and I have a rebellious knee that goes rogue every once in a while. I say all of that to say this- if you think you aren’t fit enough for this hike, you’re probably wrong. It’s flat 95% of the way, with only 2 little climbs at the end- one to the base camp and one to the volcano. If I can do it with zero problem, chances are you can too. At one point, we crossed a metal bridge over a pretty deep gorge, several meters deep. This was a rift where the Eurasian and North American plates are pulling apart!! They’re spreading at a rate of about 2.5cm (1 inch) per year. Before we crossed the bridge, we were on the Eurasian plate. After the bridge, the North American plate. SO COOL! I plan on seeing this phenomenon in another spot next week as well. Fascinating stuff! And then, in the distance, the misty clouds cleared just enough for us to see the volcano! It’s actually a series of 3 volcanoes. The one we were going in is on the far right. It’s the youngest, having erupted 4,500 years ago. The middle peak formed about 5,000 years ago. And those two are infants compared to the one on the left! That one formed during the last throws of the Ice Age, about 50,000 years ago! When it erupted, it was covered by several hundred meters of ice. Wow.聽Soon the trail started its first climb- toward base camp.
It was a short climb (which definitely warmed me up!) to the cozy little camp. It was basically 3 rooms- we entered in through a gear room with helmets and harnesses, then went to sit in another room where there was hot coffee, tea, and water. Here we were split into 3 groups because only about 7 people can go on the lift at once. I was in group three. We kind of just sat there waiting for our turn, which finally came in about 30 minutes or so. I recommend trying to get in the first groups, because then you have longer to spend at base camp when you get back! You’ll see why later. 馃檪 We had to put on a harness, which I ain’t gonna lie, freaked me out. If you’ve read my blog before, you know I am TERRIFIED of heights. What in the hell did I need a harness for? I was too scared to ask, because if they had said something like, “You have to rappel 10 m down to the lift.” or something, I would have just wasted $350. I kept my mouth shut and put on my harness. Then they gave us super cool bandannas (that we got to keep!) that we were to put on under our helmets. All geared up, we were ready for the final climb to the crater of Thri*mumble mumble mumble*!!
A very short, steep climb brought us to the crater, where a bridge (god dammit, why is there ALWAYS a sketch ass bridge high above some deadly drop that I have to traverse on EVERY freaking vacation!!!!!! I’m going to have a word with my travel agent…) led out over the nothingness below. Soon, the lift arrived! And much to my relief, I learned what the harnesses were for. We were clipped in to cross the bridge, and then clipped on to the lift. No diaper required. 馃檪
I videoed the entire 6 minute ride down. I was so captivated by what I was seeing, I didn’t even consider the fact that I was dangling in a metal death trap 400 feet above the unforgiving floor of a 4,500 year old volcano! The colors! The formations! It was like a cave on crack! Seriously, they could have lowered me half way to China and I wouldn’t have been bored for one second. Plus, it would have been warmer! It’s always about 5 C (41 F) in the chamber. Brrrr. But I survived -10 C yesterday for 20+ minutes in the same clothes, so I wasn’t too concerned. Plus, just like yesterday, when I got to the bottom I was so excited about everything around me I forgot about being cold. The floor of the chamber measures about聽50脳70 m (160脳220 ft). Large lights are strategically placed, lighting up the gorgeous formations. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. I took about 80… It’s hard to understand the scale with nothing to compare it to. Let’s just say “Huge” and leave it at that. Water was falling from above, like thousands of constantly streaming diamonds. The water takes 6 months to filter through the rock- so we were seeing water from Christmas. 馃檪 It then filters through the floor of the cave to a huge underground lake, which supplies much of Reykjavik’s drinking water. The colors in this place were unbelievable. Reds for oxidized iron, yellows for sulfur, and greens for copper. Like an underground rainbow of rock.
The opening to the crater is up there somewhere.
The lift coming down
All too soon it was time to go back up. We got to spend about 25 minutes on the floor of the cave. This time, I took pictures as we ascended… There was white stuff covering the rock in patches in certain places. Stainay said this was bacteria. Apparently there are about 20 species of bacteria that live in the chamber, 5 of which have only been found in this one volcano!! No insects or other critters live in the chamber. In what seemed like seconds, we were back to the top, and our exploration of Thri *mumble* *mumble* *mumble* was over. 馃檨
White bacteria
We had only been down there for a total of about 40 minutes, but in true Iceland form, the weather had changed! Not to warm, but to clear! The clouds had left, and we had a view of Reykjavik! When we came up, we couldn’t even see the other two volcanoes that are right next to this one! We took some pictures and descended to base camp, where we were met with a DELICIOUS bowl of hot lamb (or veggie if you’re so inclined) soup!! YES!! A meal that did not consist of peanut or ramen and had MEAT in it! Real meat! And this is why I say be in one of the first groups- because we kinda got rushed out of there and I didn’t finish my soup. 馃檨聽 We headed back on the trail toward the ski lodge. With the clouds gone, the views were just out of this world- which is exactly what the lava field we were crossing felt like. This tour was amazing. Like seriously, amazing. It is so worth the money if you are a science geek or adventure geek (I’m both!). Because seriously, who do you know that can say they’ve been inside of the magma chamber of a volcano?? Not counting me. 馃檪 Do it. It’s a once in a lifetime thing. And who knows, some earthquake could cave it in at some point or it could become active again and it’ll be gone…
Reykjavik
Reykjavik zoomed in
Base camp
Lamb soup and a little light reading!
Got back to the house and was beat. I managed to whip myself up a brand new dinner concoction though!! Penne pasta with butter and cup o’ soup mix with tuna. 4 whole ingredients!! That’s a record so far! And it was reaaaaaaallly good. Not lamb soup good, but fancy tuna helper good. 馃檪聽 And I need that nutrition…because tomorrow, the teacher goes to school….
CONTINUE TO DAY 6
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by Mary Middlebrook | Jun 2, 2018 | Iceland
There are two things I only do when I travel: exercise (walk) and take medications. Sleep medications, specifically. I used to use Nyquil, but for this trip I learned that they also make a sleep aid that doesn’t have all of the cold meds in it called zzzz quil. That’s been my go to for the past 5 days. It doesn’t make me as groggy in the mornings as Nyquil. Last night, I hoped that the hike from yesterday would have sufficiently worn me out to the point that zzzz quils would be unnecessary (fun fact: I have this completely irrational fear of becoming addicted to medication). I mean, I could easily have dozed off on the bus ride back from the volcano and had to force myself to stay awake. Well, here it was, 11:30, and I was still up. Since I didn’t have anything planned for early, I decided to ditch the meds and try to sleep on my own. Sleep mask firmly in place, I laid down in the gloomy daylight (cloudy all day yesterday) at almost midnight. One thing I’ve learned, even when I’m jacked up on the zzzz quil, is that sleep in Iceland is mind over matter. If you wake up and your sleep mask has moved and is allowing light in, you seriously have to convince yourself it’s 2am. I don’t care what time it really is, it’s 2am. Because 2am is the time when all middle aged teachers with a loving boyfriend at home should be soundly asleep. I woke up probably half a dozen times, quickly adjusted the mask, reminded myself that it was 2am and no I did NOT need to look at my phone to confirm (that would be the end of any sleep), and dozed back off. I managed to do this until 5:15am. Which by that time I was firmly convinced had to be at least 8am and time to start work. Yeah, not so much. But I am pretty pleased that my almost 5 hours of sleep was drug free! That said, I worked until 9, then my brain started fogging up, so I napped until 11. Well, 5 + 2= 7 which is pretty close to the 8 hours I require, so I’ll call it even!
The rest of the morning and early afternoon was spent working. Then, it was time to head out on the day’s adventure! Basically, I was going from teaching school all day (well, grading projects), to being the student. Because today is the day I attend ELF SCHOOL!! Again, like yesterday’s trip inside the volcano, this isn’t for my personal entertainment. No, no, no! This is research for classes I am going to teach- mythology and folklore (I’ll be researching in Scotland, Ireland, and Romania as well this summer- yeah I know….).
It was a 2.5 mile walk to Elf School. I am FAR to cheap to take the bus. It’s like almost $5 one way!!! I’ll hoof it, thank you very much. But one stop I had to make before I went was to the bank to change money. This is something I hate, hate, hate doing, and try to avoid whenever possible. I prefer credit card, because I don’t have the energy to figure out what all those damn coins and bills are. I’m old and grouchy. Hell, I never even use cash at home. I hate it. I lose it. Plus, I then end up with this mountain of random currencies from all over the world stuffed into various drawers and bins at home. Hate it. But the banks here are closed on the weekends and I’m renting a car Sunday. Just in case I was in the middle of no where and wanted a snack and they didn’t take credit cards, I figured I better change $100. Of course, that might get me a pack of gum, a water, and some chips.聽馃槙聽Landsbankinn bank was just a couple minutes from the house, and on the route to Elf School, so off I went. Here’s how it worked…you go in and take a number. Watch the big screen for your number to pop up, and see which teller number desk you are supposed to go to. Seriously, that simple. No guns, no hermetically sealed double doors, no “one person at a time in the bank” rule. Civilized banking, at your service! She did try to give me two huge bills and a bunch of change, but I asked for smaller ones for the bus. Just in case I decided I didn’t want to walk back- I know the buses require exact change (and a kidney). When I got back home after the day and looked at the money, I literally squealed with delight! MARINE LIFE!!! Also, I did the exchange rate online. I got back $96 for my $100, which is about $40 more than what I got back from a $100 in Rome (side eye to Italy).
Bank only took about 10 minutes, and I had allotted 30 to be safe. Started the walk toward Elf School, and had a little extra time to explore anything that caught my eye. I walked by a convenience store to look for Dr. Pepper. And elves be praised!! Look what I found! Almost $3 a can, though. YEE-OUCH!! I can almost get a case for that back home!! I did pay $2 a can in Belize, but that was black market Dr. Pepper! Plus, I could eat a meal like a normal person for about $3-$4!! I passed on the Dr. Pepper, even though I was intrigued by that Dr. Pepper Zero, which must be like my beloved Diet Dr. Pepper. I’ll probably cave in tomorrow and get some. I just didn’t want to haul it in my back pack 5 miles roundtrip.
Then I saw a sign for a tattoo convention. I had an INGENIOUS idea for a traveling tattoo sleeve right before I left. I’m not brave enough, but Brian has one extra bare arm!! I told him about it and he got that look on his face…. Had he been here, we would so be there! And no, I’m not telling you my idea until we implement it! Cause we’re selfish like that! Here are a couple of other random things I saw along the walk…
Um, ok.
I’m convinced that that black glove is the one I lost in Paris!!
Want a decent meal? Take out a home equity loan. $60 for 3 courses. This isn’t a fancy restaurant. Just a regular one
I looked at the GPS and was still way ahead of schedule. Saw a Kronon on the side of the road, so decided to stop in. This is another grocery store chain. I must say, it is MUCH nicer than the Bonus by me, with a much better selection. Prices honestly didn’t look too much more than what I spent at Bonus. If it wasn’t so far from me, I’d rather shop there. I wasn’t comfortable being “that tourist” on day one in the grocery store, but I had nothing to lose at this point (hell, it’s day 6!), so snapped some pics of random things so you can see the outrageous prices.
$6 dollars for a bag with about 5 avocados- each one about the size of a toddler’s fist. Like all of those put together would make one of our big Haas avocados at home. $6!!
Want one of those pre-roasted chickens to take home? That’ll be almost $14!!
$22 for a pre packaged grocery store kit of sushi. HOLY CRAP!
Kept walking. Definitely wasn’t in the touristy area any more. This was “local” Iceland. Businesses and such that tourists wouldn’t be interested in. Home decor, electronics, etc… Very “Main Street USA” before the big box stores came along- except more upscale looking. I soon arrived at my destination….ELF SCHOOL!!
I walked in and headed upstairs. The door was locked, and there was a couple sitting outside. I started talking to them. Now, if you know ANYTHING about me as a traveler, when I see or hear an American, I run the other direction. Literally. If I can’t run, I stare at the ground, stare at my phone, try to blend into the background and not make contact. But something about them was a really cool vibe. I have traveled to 4 continents in the past few years. I have run into a lot of Americans. These are the only ones I actually felt drawn to converse with. It’s a big deal for me, people. (Yes, I’m Ameriophobic, so sue me.). Anyway, we started talking about where we were from (they’re from Minnesota), what we were doing in Iceland, what we were doing in Elf School…I told them about the Elf Stone I saw on Day 2. A father and daughter from New Jersey showed up, and a couple from Quebec. Then, we were ready to begin. We met Magnus, the headmaster of Elf School. (Side note: How cool is it that he’s been married to his husband for 30 years and adopted two little girls from Africa!!) We paid ($65 each) and he gave us a nice sized book about elves! I sat next to the lady from Minnesota (Connie). I took a couple of pics of our classroom, which was more of a study room in their home. I didn’t feel comfortable filming or taking pictures during class.
Let me begin with this. Elf School is not for everyone. Neither is medical school, law school, or high school (god, I hated high school!!). If you’re going there with the idea that this is some slick tourist operation and there’s some high tech, well rehearsed and regurgitated lecture about elves, you will be sadly disappointed. If you want to sit in a room with a man whose passion in life is all of the unseen things, a man who is kind of like an eccentric grandfather who will tell you rambling stories about elves in between going off on decidedly non-elf tangents, and quite possibly tease you often (the lady from Quebec was on the receiving end of that, thank goodness!), then you will be quite pleased. I was quite pleased. 馃檪 He started by telling us how humans with psychic abilities are the only ones who can see the elves and hidden people. Then he started talking about how psychic ability is inherited. It must have been all over my face (or he’s psychic! Except he’s never seen an elf…), because he looked right at me and said, “Are you psychic?”. I said yes, and told him the story about how I was the black sheep (had to explain that analogy!) in my family for a lot of reasons, but my ability to see and feel and know things others couldn’t was one reason. And how when I learned I was adopted at age 36 and met my birthmother and half sister, I learned that it ran in the family. 馃檪 Not something I talk about very much, especially because I have so much conflict with it because of this darn scientific, logical brain of mine, but I felt comfortable enough sharing there. Because if you can’t talk about your weird 6th sense in Elf School, where can you discuss it?!
Over the next hour or so, Magnus told us various stories of encounters people have had with elves and hidden people. You’re probably thinking, what’s the difference. Well, there are about 14 known types of elves. Anywhere from a couple of inches tall, to almost a meter tall. And elves are kinda what you think- flower elves, tree elves, nature elves, house elves (shout out, Dobby!), etc… The hidden people though are unique to Iceland. These are human looking, just like you and me. You’d never know the difference if you saw one walking down the street. But for the most part, they are hidden unless you have the ability to see them. They live in rocks and cliffs and things. The story goes that Adam and Eve had a lot of children. God came to visit one day, and said he wanted to meet all of them. Eve brought out some of them, but there were others that she hadn’t washed yet, and she was embarrassed for God to see them. Of course God, being God, knew there were more children that had been hidden from him. And he said that from then on those children would be hidden from all mankind. Hence, the hidden people. Fun fact, I believe more in hidden people than I do in God… Like seriously. Weird, huh?
After a few stories (and several tangents and teasings of the poor woman from Quebec- but it was all in fun and harmless…he’s not mean), it was break time. Magnus’ husband brought us WONDERFUL bread, butter, and Icelandic pancakes, that were made from a recipe given to someone by an elf!! 馃檪 The pancakes are more like crepes, and filled with whipped cream and some kind of berries. Mmmmmmmmmmmm. There was tea or coffee as well. During the break, Connie turned to me and said I didn’t have to be afraid of dead people. Come to find out, she’s a medium and paranormal investigator!! I’ve never met such a person, and I immediately understood why I felt comfortable with them from the very beginning.
More stories, and being the Hermione I am, I asked a lot of serious questions (of which there really were no answers, thus is the nature of this stuff). After about 3.5 hours it was time to say goodbye. Seriously, I could have stayed another few hours. I really wanted to talk more about various hypotheses and explanations and such. He did say I asked clever questions. 馃檪 We got our Elf School diplomas and took a group photo. I’m hoping he’ll send me a copy of that.
After class, I offered to take Connie and her husband to see the Elf Stone by my house….my fee would be one car ride to said Elf Stone! They agreed, and we all got in the car and headed downtown. As we walked to the stone, I told them a little history of the neighborhood that I had learned (and felt like a proper tour guide with all my names and dates and such!), then showed them the stone. We exchanged information, hugged, parted ways, and I was happy to have made a new friend. 馃檪 It was a short 2-3 minute walk to the house. Fed the cat, ate a sandwich, worked, blogged, did some research on my road trips that will start in a couple of days, and stared at the light pouring into my room at 10pm, 11pm, 12am, 1am…..fine zzzz quils. You win. But maybe I better research zzzz quil rehab centers in Los Angeles before I doze off!聽馃
CONTINUE TO DAY 7
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