Iceland Part 3

I know you may be surprised to see an update on the Iceland trip pictures, I have been on a blogging hiatus lately. Sorry for the delay in posting these.

We pick up the trip here with a small day tip outside of Reykjavik. This first picture seemed to me the be the loneliest place to live ever. There is nothing but the ocean near by.

This is a small church and cemetery near the ocean. You can see the moss has found a home in the carving in the stone.

Jon Arni knew of this ship which ran aground and there is some debate as to who is going to move it. So as it is the ship is stuck and does not appear to be moving anytime soon.

As I mentioned before the weather was not great in the eastern part of the country so we ventured up to the Snaefellsnes peninsula for a day trip and stopped in this little town here, Stykkisholmer. This town is know for their scallop fishing.

This is the town map which list most everything there is to see and do.

Just guessing I would say there are about 500 people who lived here.

Naturally we had to have lunch so we stopped in here, The Five Fish Restaurant. It was easy deciding what to order, you got what they were serving, it was a great meal of soup and fish. Everybody who was eating lunch were manual labor guys and all seemed to be locals. I think they knew I was not from there. These guys had been working all morning so they were fairly dirty so everybody took off their shoes at the door and so we were all walking around in socks.

They also had this very progressive church here. I was amazed, it is very dominating piece of the serene.

And this boat was in the local junk yard. I thought it made for a few good pictures. It was surrounded by piles of scallop shells.

Iceland Pictures - part 2

In beginning this post I have decided to provide you with a map for reference. It may help you visualize my travels around the country. To keep it easy I would concentrate on the bottom left hand side (southwest) of the map near Reykjavik. Because of the bad weather, which began the day I landed and improved the day I left, we did not have the opportunity to travel to the eastern part of the country.

I have posted this link for a great video of Iceland, click on the Nature video. Later you will be prompted to watch the Driving in Iceland video

http://www.visiticeland.com/displayer.asp?cat_id=906#

I have decided to begin this post at the beginning of the trip. On day 2 momma, pabbi, Jon Arni and I drove to Hveragerthi (the greenhouse town). It is a brief 45 minute drive to the east. I thought this picture well represented the natural geothermal activity. As you can see this sauna is almost part of the natural landscape. Yes that is steam coming from the top of the building. You really feel like you are in a cave at this sauna. Keep in mind it was not exactly a warm day, the temperature was around 48. In case you are wondering who goes to the pool when it is that cold; the pool is a part of daily life. Don't tell me you couldn't do this every day. Also, I only know of 2 indoor swimming pools in Iceland, there are around 120.

If you don't want to go to the steam bath there is always the hot tub. this is the lay down one and there is another one that is for sitting. Very nice.

I took this picture from the parking lot of the pool. This is a river going through town. You can see and old settlement on the bank of the river and a walking trail.

This is a good picture looking back into town and the geothermal activity. This town has a lot of greenhouses for growing various fruits and vegetables. I wish I had some pictures of the greenhouses but I am sure you know what one looks like.

Once leaving Hveragerthi we head for lunch. We left town heading west and landed here in this little town. I don't remember exactly the name (I think Eyrarbakki.) Apparently this was a major port during the older days. Since then everything has shifted to Reykjavik. The house below was a major center for brokering deals. If I recall correctly the King of Denmark was here at one point in time, but I could be lying about that (I'll keep you posted.) I did not get the dates on how long this house has been here but it has been a long time. You can also see the rock wall surrounding the yard. This wall is about 4 1/2 feet high. I think it served a couple of purposes, mainly to keep wind and other vikings out and children in. This is Main Street. It also give a good look at road building, which is out of volcanic rock. These are also typical older style houses in Iceland. And of course the Red House. This is a popular place for Icelanders to go. The main dish (at least for me) was the Icelandic lobster. It was the best lobster (hummer) I have ever eaten. We actually went back here another day and I had the lobster soup and it was wonderful also. This house is next door to the house of commerce above.
Day 3.

On this trip we drove the 'tourist circle.' We left Reykjavik and headed east around the big lake on the map, near Thingvellir (where the North American and European continents collide). Then headed south toward the coast and followed the Reykjavik peninsula to the Blue Lagoon and then back home. Along the way we crossed many rivers like the one below. Looks fishie to me.

This dam was located one the river above. Apparently there is some controversy about if it should be taken down or not in order to improve the Arctic Char population.

Also on the way is the original seat for the Icelandic Bishop. This was an extremely windy place. The Bishop now resides in Reykjavik, but this church still contains all the names to the present day of all the bishops. It also has a crypt which you can go down and see a tomb of one of the old bishops. This place now is for groups to come and have company meetings or just to get away from it all. You cant see the former school and lodge which is behind me. Let me tell you that if you want to get away from it all this is the place. There is nothing here to distract you.

These are some old stone head featuring the bishop and a viking farmer. Jon Arni is also featuring his new Columbia jacket. I really am surprised these stones as big as they are have not blow away yet, not to mention Jon Arni and momma.

An Icelandic farmhouse feeling the effects of the weather. Yes the tractor is holding the building up, but I'm not sure what is holding the tractor up.

I took this picture from the middle of the river in Jon Arni's jeep. Just a typical spring day in Iceland.

I just like how this picture shows how the lava flow has dictated where this river was going to flow.

Iceland 2007 - part 1

Well it only took ten years but I finally made it back to the land of

Ice and Snow.

I disembarked on May the 8th early in the morning.

The first thing to do was a little nap at the house

Funny how big I remember feeling while I was here

I just wish I had the keys because it was freaking cold.

there is nothing better that to be greeted by a cold Viking Beer and

Jon Arni had several cold and ready.

(this is actually a special picture for Kibby, anything here look familiar?)

what follows beer? music with friends

then naturally a car ride

to the pool

after all this hard work we got a little hungry so we headed to the

Red House.

(Where I possibly ate the best lobster in the world.)

Actually this is not how the trip began but it sounded good. Actually my first day was a full agenda. I ran around with Jon Arni making sure all the kids were up. It was great meeting my new little nephew, Jon Thomas. He really is a man on the move these days. We then went home to momma and pabbi to get pabbi out of bed and have some breakfast. I remembered how much I love grav lax (salmon with dill) and pate for breakfast. I really could eat these two things every day, and actually did while I was there. We then went on to Astas for some coffee and to meet my new niece. She was not so much on the move these days, mainly sleeping and trying to catch up with Jon Thomas. I am sure it wont be too long before Asta will have her hands full. This was all followed up by a trip to the pool. Which for some reason I did not take any pictures of the new pool and gym. The positive economy has really modernized the entire city and the pools were not excluded. The pool itself is actually the same besides the addition of a saltwater hot tub, the real improvement was the addition of a very nice fitness center and spa.
http://www.laugarspa.is/e_Default.aspx

the best I can do is to put up a link to the pool and new gym. The evening ended with pabbi's birthday dinner at the house with the entire family. Once again I didn't take any pictures but it was a excellent ham dinner (one of my favorite dishes in the world- Hamburgerrikkur, right?) filled with lots of laughter. This was a wonderful way to begin the trip.

I am going to try to organize this post in several post based on whatever the theme of the day or event was. I will try to get these up as soon as possible. Please just have a little patience with me. I will e-mail everybody as I update the blog. I was so glad I went. It was definately too long between trips and I hope it will not be as long before the next trip.

Thank you to my Icelandic family for such a wonderful trip.

I love you all very much

BWI

Here are a few pictures from my brief 20 hour layover in Baltimore. I actually enjoyed the day very much despite the snow.
The historical Constilation

After exploring the inner harbor I headed toward the Mount Vernon Historic District. Here are some pictures from there.
Boy playing in water
War

Peace