Blogs from Reykjavík, Southwest, Iceland, Europe - page 5

First day of my trip: both flights were on time, I caught the bus from the airport to Reykjavik (45 minute ride), found my AirBnB, and spent the day exploring Reykjavik. I'm having difficulty pronouncing anything. For example, my AirBnb is on Kjartansgata. I got dropped of on Hateigsvegur. Oh well, most people here speak English so I just show them the map and point to where I want to go. First stop today was the Hallgrimskirkja, the iconic church that is visible from all over Reykjavik. I went up the tower to get a good view of the city. Next I walked through center of town and stopped by the Volcano House. I saw 2 films about volcano eruptions on Iceland. There is a rift zone that goes through approximately the middle of Iceland, which ... read more

Iceland Road Trip Day 3 Another day dawned in the most northern capital city in Europe. The plan was to get up around 7 AM and drive along the more southern tier of the Golden Circle. Good plan, but not perfect execution. We got up at 9 AM and hit the road just before 10 AM. It was a little colder today than yesterday, with a temperature forecast of -10 C. Also, we had a bit more wind to help drive the temperature down further, so we bundled up with everything we had and hit the road. Our first stop Reykjafoss in the Botanical Gardens in Hverageroi. The big attraction in the gardens is supposed to be the water falls or FOSS in Icelandic. In conjunction with that, there was a geothermal park right outside the ... read more

Reykjavik Day One We arrived at the airport a little late, about 7AM rather than 5:30 AM as scheduled. For us, it was no problem as we were not traveling onward, to those, however, with connections it was near tragic. WOW Airlines is a budget airline, so there are no frills and no quick solutions to problems. There are some major advantages to a budget airline, COST; and some major disadvantages, if something goes wrong you are screwed. The folks going to Dublin from Detroit, made their flight, barely. Folks going to London and points further on in Europe, did not. Unfortunately for them, the next scheduled flight is tomorrow! The airline was responsible for overnight accommodations and feeding these folks so that was not bad, but what do you do while you are waiting for ... read more

Sloppy mess out there today..! Early flight out of Akureyri - it was a balmy 7C at 7am... that's one way to get rid of all their snow! Flight was quick and smooth. I really like Air Iceland - they have fun little quirks, much like everything else in Iceland I guess. For example, in each seat pocket is a book for you to write your "North Adventure" and see what others have done on their visit too. Anyway, once in Reykjavik I dropped my stuff off at the hostel and continued on my way. It was raining in Reykjavik, which puts a slight damper on the plan to explore. Nevertheless I ventured out towards the city centre and roamed about for a few hours. I went to Tjornin to watch some of the ducks and ... read more

I caught the bus into the big bus stop (the nice taxi man gave me several tickets to use), unloaded my very heavy bag into a locker and walked into the city. It took me about 15 minutes, past ponds with lots of ducks, swans and gulls. People were out feeding them. There was a mother swam with 4 babies that were as big as her. You could only tell because they were still a little bit grey in colour... big babies! It was really cold. The wind here in Iceland is almost relentless just different speeds of relentless. I walked to the end of the city to the convention centre which was at least lovely and warm and then wandered back into the main street where the most remarkable and scary lighted cat awaits. I ... read more