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Published: September 27th 2013
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Blimey – where to start.
Let’s start with dinner last night.
As we’re not coming back to Reykjavic, we thought it might be nice to eat out at a nice restaurant. We found the perfect place, tiny little restaurant, candlelit tables, Icelandic food (lobster, mussels etc). Just round the corner from the hotel. Perfect.
Trouble was, when it actually came down to it, we weren’t that hungry. We stood outside the restaurant for a while going over the menu, and, although the food looked delicious, were we really hungry enough to splash out?
No.
So, instead, we had our romantic dinner for two at the wiener stall – two lovely hot dogs and a bottle of Chablis (actually, no Chablis, just hot dogs).
Delicious.
So then, this morning. Whale watching.
Did we see anything?
Yes we did. We saw dolphins (inc. mother and baby) and we saw minke (sounds like Binky) whale, delicious with peppercorn sauce I understand.
(DN: We saw a film recently – Blackfish – which is all about Seaworld’s poor treatment of orca (killer) whales. One thing we learned was that whales have an extra bit on their
Icelandic Coastline
No pics of whales I'm afraid - they went under before I could even point my camera!! brain, on the side of the cerebral lobes, that no other mammals have. It’s in the region that deals with emotion and social stuff, which means basically, they have an emotional/social part other brains that is much more complex than humans. This implies we can’t begin to understand what the consequences of this are. The upshot of this is that they are more emotionally/socially advanced than humans. The logical conclusion to this is that it would appear to be more acceptable to eat humans than whales!! Mmmm – I think I’ll have the Dave’s Eyes Terrine for starters and the Devilled Susan’s Kidneys for mains. Not sure about pud. If I have enough room, maybe the Sticky Children’s Fingers Pudding, with custard not cream).
Turns out < 1% Icelanders actually eat whale, but it is still on the menus of many of the restaurants!!
But enough of eating them. I asked the guide on the boat how big she reckoned the minke whale we saw was and she said about 8-9 metres !!
Blimey indeed.
After lunch (the Fingers pudding was delicious), we set off to drive South to our next location, out in the middle
of nowhere, about an hour’s drive from Reykjavic. Before I came to Iceland, the pictures I’d seen looked a bit bleak. They reminded me of Saddleworth Moor. Now that I’m here, it doesn’t remind me of Saddleworth More any moor. Rugged is a better word. Think of the Moon, but with grass.
Anyway, as we were driving along, we couldn’t help but notice plumes of smoke coming out of the ground by the side of the road. Geothermal vents – everywhere. We stopped and looked. Strong smell of sulphur (ahh – reminds me of home . . . Hades I mean, not Forge House, though now you mention it . . . ), bubbling goo like porridge. Weird. The place is alive.
When the Iceland volcano - Eyjafjallajökull (don’t ask me to pronounce it) - went off in 2010, turns out a new island was created at the time. This has given scientists something to get excited about as they can now watch how land evolves (report should be ready in about 100,000 years). And, talking of volcanos, there’s another dormant volcano here called Snæfellsjökull (don’t ask me to pronounce it) which is where Jules Verne’s Journey To
Australia!!
Themed room at hotel The Centre of the World started. There are magma tunnels you can go down and explore (not enough time Sed, sorry) and they say the magma tunnels actually join up with magma tunnels from Mount Etna in Italy!!
Not so bonkers then Mr Verne.
Anyway, after breathing in the sulphurous fumes, I wound the car window down, and we arrived at our next destination in South Iceland – Hotel Ranga in Hella. Lovely hotel in the middle of nowhere (Moi thinks she’s on the prairie). Big sky. Aurora wake-up call booked.
Skies are clear at the moment. Bit of a Moon later (I know, I know). Low geomagnetic activity (but . . . who knows).
Actually, who cares. Anything else at this time would be a bonus, we’ve already had our money’s worth. What an amazing place?
Some interesting things we have learned.
The surnames of the Icelandic people are derived from the father’s line eg. Sven Erikson (son of Erik) or Moi Dominicdotter (daughter of Dominic). Because the father’s name is built into surname, they don’t use the terms Mr or Mrs. In fact, they call everyone by their first name, even strangers!!
Isn’t that lovely?
But it doesn’t stop there. Apparently, sometime not so long ago, they had a committee meeting and decided to dispense with the notion of gender!! So, they don’t have he/she, they refer to everyone using he, male or female. The rationale being that we are all hu-man beings. Isn’t that lovely too?
Anyway, the sun is going down (nearly dark), the sky is completely clear above us, and I just heard the hotel manager tell someone that the aurora forecast has just gone from a 1 to a 4 (on a scale of 10)!!
Time to put me thermals on.
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Dave Farley
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LavaTubes!!
"they say the magma tunnels actually join up with magma tunnels from Mount Etna in Italy!! " Hmm whoever they are I dont believe theyre up to speed with modern geological thought. Still an entertaining idea. Blog well up to usual excellent standards, keep it up xx