Day 1

(Current Time & Place: 12/29/16, 10am, relaxing after a delicious breakfast at our second B&B)

Day 1 - 12/27/16

Mike:

Taking Icelandair was a great idea.  The plane was seven row across with two aisles for a two/three/two seat configuration, which means we got an aisle seat for Jon and a window for me (perfect).   The seats were comfortable and each seat had its own TV and USB power source.   I should have slept since our plane departed at 8:30pm and we were arriving at 6:30am but I got lost in a book and read the entire trip.  Jon dozed for a while and then proceeded to watch the new ghostbusters movie.  I'll have to watch it on the way back because Jon was dying of laughter.  Anyway the trip was uneventful.  Towards the end we received the Siminn SIM card I had ordered from the airline before the trip ($24).  We installed it in Jon's iPhone, and we now had a local Icelandic number, with 100 minutes, texts and 1GB of data....  A way better deal then what AT&T or Verizon had been offering!

Anyway, the landing was smooth and Jon exclaimed, "We're in Iceland!"   We disembarked and were through immigration in no time.  Of course the path to baggage claim took us right through the massive duty free shop which was reminiscent of the ferry we took a few years back between Stockholm and Helsinki.   We meet up with Lauren and Bryan, who flew in from JFK, and went to pick up our car rental, a Suzuki Grand Vitara with snow studs from Lotus car rental.  It was a bit of a struggle to get all of our suitcases to fit in the truck, plus the wind was ridiculous.  The max wind speed for the day was 30 meters/second (67mph), so we were warned to be careful when opening the car doors to avoid damaging the vehicle.

It was a good 40 minute drive from the airport to downtown Reykjavik, through wind and darkness, but we finally arrived and I was more then ready for some breakfast!!  We parked in downtime but we were having a difficult time trying to use the parking meter.  Luckily a traffic officer was in proximity, writing up a ticket for a car parked illegally in a handicap spot, so we got a run down on using the meter, plus a breakfast recommendation to the Gray Cat!   (Yelp doesn't work in Iceland 😑).

Our stomachs full with eggs, potatoes, and pancakes (I know, a very traditional Icelandic start, right?), we were off to our first destination, the giant church Hallgrimskirkja.  I know I mentioned before that it was very windy, but at this point it was also raining.  So rain and strong winds make it very interesting to take pictures but our two photographers stayed strong (Jon and Lauren).....  We ran into the church to see the inside and hope for a break in the weather.

Jon: 

To emphasize how bad the wind was, we had bouts where we could take photos, and then when the wind gusted it literally moved us so much we could not take a photo without having it be horribly out of focus. Add that to the blowing water... An interesting experience. The inside of the church was really interesting as well. It was constructed in the style of the massive cathedrals on the mainland, but as this was made of solid concrete it came a bit later in time than those that it was built to resemble. 

While there was a pulpit in the Catholic style, the altar was much more Protestant in style (probably Lutheran, all of Scandinavia seems to be Lutheran), and of course there was a massive organ above the main entrance.

We took a bunch of pictures inside and then braved the outdoors again to capture some more pictures between gusts of wind and bouts of rain, but eventually we were cold enough that we sought refuge in the neighboring Loki cafe. We didn't order anything, just stayed indoors long enough to warm up and then went outside to take photos of the opposite side of the church before loading up into the car to begin the drive towards our first hotel- guesthouse Dalbaer 3. The wind was pretty amazing, it jerked the car around a bit as we traveled through the countryside. The road was nice, one lane each side, and was almost always raised over the surrounding land, making us a bit more susceptible to the wind. 

To take advantage of the remaining daylight, we drove to Gulfoss, or the "Niagara of Iceland."  Unfortunately, at this point Iceland decided to show us how much fun 20+ meters per second is with sleet- so fun times were had loading/unloading cameras. Regardless, Gulfoss is gorgeous. There are two levels of waterfalls, and not a whole lot can be said beyond that; the landscape is simply stunning. 

There were lots of paths about the area, and we tried to take advantage of most of them. One that went up to the falls was wisely closed, as it looked like an ice trap, but we were still able to get some close pictures.  Then we took a set of wooden stairs to the upper vantage point.  Lauren and Bryan decided to go one cliff closer to the falls while Mike and I scoped out the hotel/gift shop/restaurant/bathrooms, because about that time the wind and sleet decided to rejoin us. To give perspective, it seemed like it was impossible to fall into the wind; that is the wind kept us up, and even helped us along if we were walking with it. 

We hit a bit of a snafu here. While we agreed to meet at the gift shop, Lauren and Bryan decided to be helpful and move the car from the lower vantage point up to the gift shop. We missed that memo and walked around looking for them. Eventually we ran into each other and loaded up to head to the hotel. All's well that ends well. 

Our hotel was in Fludir, 20 minutes south of Gulfoss!  One of the many nice things about Iceland is that they have a central website that gives updates on current road and traffic conditions throughout the country: www.road.is  Armed with this, we knew our route was "slippery" with areas with "spots of ice", which was an amusing heads up. A couple of hair pin turns, bridges, and roads built on top of man-made hills and we arrived at Fludir. The first thing we noticed was the light pollution from buildings (in this case greenhouses).  At this point the sun was setting, around 4pm, and the buildings were really noticeable against the backdrop of twilight.

Mike:

We checked into Guesthouse Dalbear III and headed over to one of the two places that offered dinner in Fludir, Guesthouse Grund.  Mostly the menu was pizzas, burgers and sandwiches, so it was almost like being in the US, however the etiquette is different.  When you walk into a restaurant, you seat yourselves rather then waiting to be seated.  Also, when you're done you go up to the counter to pay the bill.  Anyway, I ordered lamb chops which came with veggies and a salad while everyone else did burgers and pizza.  I made the right choice; the lamb was excellent.

Back at the B&B I connected to the wifi and received an email before going to bed from Arctic Adventures.  "Due to severe weather forecast for tomorrow we have made the decision to cancel all our snorkeling departures."  Bummer!!!  I was really looking forward to snorkeling.  A brief emergency planning meeting was held, and we made a new game plan for tomorrow.  We were heading north.