Fred’s Adventures from Iceland – Part 2

In an earlier, brief posting I was speculating how my trip from Iceland would turn out. Well today was the day I would find out. I had called Icelandair on Friday and they said everything was a “go” but do you blame me for being skeptical.

I got up at 8 AM and thought “I should be packing.” But I’ve always been a last minute packer. So I lay in bed just thinking. It has been an incredible couple of weeks. I’ve had a great time. I had a terrible start to the trip. Well documented. The weather was just the pits for most of the time. Well documented. I got into several fights with my daughter. Not so well documented but then that’s private. Last night was just spectacular with all the fireworks going on. I can still hear the occasional “boom” here and there.

After all this thought, I finally got up and had my last shower in Iceland. Maybe not for the last time. I plan to be back. It was about the same as the first. An experience. Have overcome the hot and cold dilemma. Have overcome the showerhead demon.

I finally started packing about 11:30 AM. I was literally done by 12:10 PM. Kelly had checked the bus schedule online and there was a bus leaving at 1 PM. We were about 15 minutes away walking. Kelly made breakfast. The not-so-soft-boiled eggs that I had requested. They were like halfway between soft boiled and solid. They were perfect.

At about 12:40 PM we headed off for the bus terminal. I said my goodbyes to Yassu and Liu but Kelly didn’t want me to wake Remy. I gather he can be a French-Canadian bear at times. I think he’s a pussycat. All talk and no action.

It was overcast and dull. We got to the terminal and Kelly went to check when the next bus for the airport was running. They said 2 PM. Damned holiday schedules. We had another hour to kill. We went to the coffee shop and Kelly had a Swiss Mocca and I had a Viking beer. This could be my last beer in Iceland. No more suspense. It was.

About 1:30-1:45 PM there was a bus outside that had a small Kaflevik Airport sign in the window. We went over and sure enough that was the bus. I said my goodbyes to Kelly and got on. I feel a lot better knowing her circumstances and what she has to cope with and how well she can handle them. I’m really proud of Kelly. She’s doing everything right.

By now it’s raining and it’s dreary and miserable. About the same way I came in. God-forsaken country.

I get to the airport and get in this humongous line. I guess it speaks volumes when you’re the dominant player and your competition is a puppet of yours, Iceland Express. It has a couple of counters over to the side, out of the way. They finally split the line in two to speed up things. I get my turn and am checked in. No problems. I must be on their list. I’m supposed to check in at Gate 31. Fine.

Boarding was scheduled at 4:30 PM. At about 4:15 PM they started processing people through the gate. Wow. Early I thought. I’m still a novice. Little did we know that this was just an interim step. We were supposed to be going on a 757-200 airplane. I’m not totally sure but I think the 200 means a capacity of 200 passengers. Before we got funneled through the gate there may have been about 50 seats in the holding area for this jumble-sized jet.

Once we got processed we got to stay in this stairwell area designed for maybe 50 people and there were 200 of us. Finally they started loading us as I like to term it. A couple of families were led to the elevator and whisked off to God-knows where. At this rate I thought it would take a couple of days to get us boarded. But finally they gave the okay and there was a mad stampede up the stairs and escalator to get in line to board the plane.

It seemed to take forever to get seated. But finally we did and things got back to some normalcy. I think we took off about on time, about 5:20 PM. They announced that the flight would take 5 hours and 10 minutes. So we were supposed to be arriving around 5:30 PM Boston time with the 5 hour time change.

I tried to read, I tried to sleep, I tried to occupy my mind with drivel. God is 5 hours a frigging long time to kill. We finally land in Boston. They make us fill out these custom and immigration forms. We go through customs and everything goes fine.

However unlike the trip to Iceland where they checked the bags through so that you didn’t have to worry about them, this time they wanted you to retrieve your bags from the Icelandair flight, hall them over to the Transfer Desk about a couple hundred feet away and check them in there again to be put on your next flight. It seemed like they didn’t want to sort through the luggage themselves so they made us do it.

We then had to go through security check to get onto the Boston to Toronto flight. I have my backpack, I empty my pockets, I take off my coat and my shoes and go through the screening door. I pass, but the backpack doesn’t. The lady comes over and says, “There’s something in here that we don’t like. Do I have any shot glasses?” Of course I did, I had a couple and Kelly had given a couple others as gifts.

The lady brings the backpack to me and says she has to search it. There is something there they don’t like. She opens it up and takes out a couple of things. She then sends it through the screening device. It doesn’t pass. She takes a few more things out and redoes the process. Again they’re not happy. She comes by with this package that is all wrapped and says “I think this is it.” “I have to open it.” She says. She tries to do it gingerly at first but I said go ahead and rip it open. She does and she finds a shot glass. Inside is another package that she takes out and opens it. Low and behold, it’s a tiny lighter. “Yippee’ she cries. “We found it, we found it.” as she’s waving this poor little lighter around. I feel like 2 inches tall.

She says you have three options. “Go to jail, go directly to jail, do not pass Go, do not collect $200” wasn’t one of them. You can leave it with us. That means they confiscate it. You can go back to the check-in counter and check the offending backpack or you can mail it to yourself. As far as I know it wasn’t very expensive but I didn’t just want to give up on it. As for the second option, I had less than half an hour before the plane was supposed to take off. It should have boarded by now. So I picked the third one.

To do this I had to go out of the security area, fill out these forms and drop the lighter into a receptacle. After all this I had to go through the screening line again. As I went through, the guy at the entrance looking at my passport and boarding pass as if it was ‘déjà vu’, and I say “yea, you’ve seen me before.” And he says “It’s just standard procedures, sir.”

I managed to eventually get through. I forgot to take off my shoes which set off a bunch of alarms. But finally I was through. Thanks Kell. I needed that experience?

I go to the waiting area for Gate B25 and then I think “This plane was supposed to board at 7:09 PM according to the boarding pass and now it’s 7:45 PM.” So I go up to the counter and ask, “When is this plane boarding?” “A few minutes, sir.” A couple of minutes later they announce that Flight 4547 is boarding for Toronto, Canada.

The plane is a frigging EMB, whatever that means. And although I’m booked with American Airlines, it’s an American Eagle plane again. Just like the one from Toronto to Boston a couple of weeks ago.

We take off, sort of on time. It’s a very light load. There are only 5 people in the first 20 seats. I don’t know how many are behind me. We manage to get to Toronto okay. I think the plane was skidding a bit when it was landing in Toronto but it did manage to come to a stop eventually. But we seemed to have landed in the middle of nowhere. They called it Gate A1c or something like that but when we got off we had to board this bus which took us over to Terminal 3.

Then we go through customs. On the plane I had filled out the custom declaration form and there was only one question that I had a little problem with. And that was the question about sending something to yourself that is not in your possession. Remember the lighter. I hadn’t intended to send it to myself but I ended up doing it. So I checked that as a “Yes”.

So what does the custom officer focus on, not the excess booze that I was carrying (I had no booze), or the drugs (I had no non-prescription drugs) or even the handguns (I had no guns) but the fact that I had sent something to myself. She doodles a few circles on the front and the back of my declaration and sends me on my way.

Then we had to wait for our baggage but I wasn’t sure if it was going to show up but it eventually did. I get my baggage and go out the exit dropping off my doodled declaration with the agent at the gate. He looks at it and shrugs his shoulders.

So I’m free and clear. I try to find the Airways Transit counter. I wander around a bit but eventually find the Ground Transportation counter and the Airways Transit guy who has this itty-bitty sign in front of him. Get a bigger sign people so that we can find you. I check in at 10:13 PM according to the official log. On my watch it was 10:10 PM. “Someone will be with you shortly.” I get the word.

Well, I sit and wait. No-one else has checked in at the Airways Transit desk so I’m thinking that I’ll be the only one on and get home in short order. Fat chance. I wait for 50 minutes before the driver shows up and by then there’s been a whole slew of people checking in at the Airways Transit desk. Most of them are Oriental students that I think are returning to UW or Laurier for the next term in bunches. I think “It’s gonna take all night to get home.”

By about 11 PM the driver shows up and he calls me and another guy and I think, “This is OK. Only two of us.” When we get to the van there are two other people already in it. So that’s four. I’m sure I’ll be the last one to get dropped off. He picks up another passenger at another stop. It’s a little after 11 PM when we leave the airport. How long could this take?

I will avoid the unpleasantries. I didn’t get home until almost 1 AM. I had a discussion with the driver about the injustice of this. I was probably the first one to check in with Airways Transit almost 3 hours ago and the last one home. His suggestion was that I book a private car for an extra $60 and I wouldn’t have this problem. Such a wonderful service you people provide. Hope I never have to use you again. At least when I’m paying.

My son Brian was still awake so we had a nice visit. He brought up my suitcases and put them outside my bedroom door. At about 2 AM I decided that after 23 hours I should get some sleep. I turned off the kitchen light and walked to my bedroom in the dark. I have done this hundreds of times. However this night there were a couple of suitcases in the way and I happened to hit one of them with my left foot. I think I broke my second to baby toe. It was very painful. Still is, almost a week later.

Over and out. Done with this puppy.

Fred’s Adventures in Iceland – Part 4

On Friday morning, the 30th ,Kelly and I decided that we would try to go to the malls. We had been to the Kringlan Mall briefly. You’ll remember the toilet incident. We also wanted to go to the Smaralind Mall. Infamous for being shaped like a penis.

We decided that we would walk there and then take the bus back. A good plan you might think. Anyways, we set out and everything seemed to be going fine. The weather’s co-operating. Not too windy and not to rainy.

We arrived at the Kringlan mall about 12 PM. We looked around. I checked out the washroom with the world’s smallest toilet and sure enough it was there. I took a picture for posterity. There was no sign that it was intended for kids only. Kelly found a similar one in the ladies room.

At about 1 PM we went to the Blue Café for lunch. I had the cream of mushroom soup and the scrambled eggs with toast and a beer. Kelly had salad.

After lunch we looked around a bit more and then headed off for the other mall. Kelly thought she knew where it was. We crossed the main highway and walked along the sidewalk for a number of blocks. We came to an intersection that had a few stores around it but nothing that looked like a mall.

We walked around for quite a while and we convinced ourselves that this wasn’t the mall. Neither of us bothered to ask anyone where the mall was. Finally we decided that we had had enough and we would take the bus back. We had this big fight over the fare. It was 220 Krs each for the bus ride. I had 110 Krs left from my cash stash.

We were still arguing about the fare when the bus driver said get on or he’ll leave. We got on and Kelly dumped some change into the receptacle. Her patience had run its course and she had dumped in 300 Krs for a 220 Krs ride. So be it.

The bus dropped us off downtown and we browsed for a while. I got the champagne for New Year’s Eve and we looked for a few more gifts. Kelly was able to find the things for Jon and Natalie and her brothers. We managed to get back to Gamli Gardur in one piece and had some dinner. Kelly cooked up some chicken wings.

Later we discovered that we were nowhere near the Smaralind mall. It was another 5 or 6 blocks over and a few blocks down from where we were. On the bright side we did find the KFC outlet for future reference.

Saturday morning Kelly and I went downtown to do some final shopping. Read my lips. Almost everything was closed. How does this country operate? We found one gift shop open and I got what I wanted. I think. Other than that it was a dead zone.

We went back to her residence after that and called it a day. Sporadic fireworks were going off all day.

We had a leftover dinner that evening. We had a quiet evening listening to the fireworks going off every so often. About 9:30 PM we headed out to find this bonfire that was burning near the coast. Anna Vala had alerted Kelly to the location. It was Kelly, Remy and I that went a-searching for the big flame.

When we got there we knew it. It was a gigantic bonfire. At least 50 feet across and 20 feet high. Where the frigg-a-frack did they get all that wood. Iceland does not have that many trees. Someone said it was drift wood that they collected all year long and saved it for this one day.

There were 3 tour buses lined up along the street with people looking on this spectacle. We hung around for a while and then headed back to the residence. Just incredible.

The fireworks were going off all evening. Mostly one offs. However by 11:30 PM they were going off continuously and for the next hour there was nothing but a bombardment going off constantly. It was incredible. I’ve never seen anything like it. All over the sky. In every direction. Nothing but bursts of light and sound. Incredible. When they said you had to wait to see it and believe it they weren’t kidding. Amazing. I’m lost for words to describe it.

It lasted a good frigging hour. At 12:30 AM we finally went back inside and broke open the bottle of champagne to toast the new year. It was great. This was the best damned new year’s I’ve ever had. And God knows I’ve had a few. There were Yassu, Liu, Remy , Kelly and me.

This was the best damned fireworks display I’ve ever seen.

Fred´s Adventures in Iceland – Part 3

On Monday morning the 26th of December, we got up early since we needed to get to the airport in Reykjavik for the flight to Akureyri for our three day escapade. I think Kelly set her alarm for about 8:30 AM but I had woken before 7 AM and was already by the time she got up.

We got packed and shortly after 9 AM we set out for the airport. Kelly had not been there before but she thought she knew where it was. So off we went. It was still pretty dark. It actually was snowing a bit. It would have been nice if it had happened the day before. We walk over to what Kelly thought was the terminal but everything looked shut up tight. We walked around a bit to see where we were supposed to go but couldn’t find anything open.

There were a couple of people getting ready to get into cars and take off. Fortunately one of the cars stopped to ask us what we were doing there. Kelly told him that we were there to catch the flight to Akureyri. The guy just said, “You’re in the wrong place.” Then he said, “Get in.” We got into his car and he drove us over to the terminal which was across the road and almost halfway back to where we had come from.

Fortunately again, this was like 9:30-10 AM an hour or so before our flight at 11 AM. Sometimes you got to be lucky. I think I’m using up my luck. We waited for our flight and managed to get to Akureyri without further incident.

After we landed we looked around to see how we were going to get to our hotel. There were a bunch of people waiting for taxis. A couple of taxis came and people got in and the taxis took off. Finally there was just Kelly, me and this gruff looking guy waiting at the airport. Another taxi came and it was for this gruff looking guy. The driver asked us if we wanted a taxi and we said yes so he called one for us.

A taxi eventually came and it took us to Hotel Kea. We checked in and went up to our room. It was nice but it overlooked into a courtyard that was bland to say the least.

We decided to venture out to see what was around. We walked up the street from our hotel, and by up I mean a 45% angle. It was steep. At least it felt that way. We got the sense pretty quickly that most places were closed. We already knew that the bar and the restaurant at the hotel were closed. As we walked around we found that most everything else was closed.

We found a convenience store and a café/bar that were open. And the local cinema. We went into the café to see what we could have for lunch. It was already after 1 PM. They only served cakes and drinks. It was called the Café Amour. Cute. My daughter and I were in the Café Amour. I ordered a beer and Kelly had an Irish coffee. Guess which one was more expensive.

Kelly had contacted her friend Gunnar who lives in the area and who had actually arranged for us to stay at the hotel and he suggested that we try the Griefinn, a restaurant that he was sure was open. We wandered over there and sure enough it was open.

As we were approaching the restaurant we ran into the gruff looking guy from the airport. He was outside the restaurant having a smoke. “I see you made it alive.” or something like that, he said.

We go in and get seated. I order a chicken sandwich and a beer and Kelly orders just a tea. The gruff looking guy comes into the restaurant and sits down at the table beside us. He turns around and the first thing he says “You are Polish, No.” I say yes and he says he’s Bulgarian and goes back to what he was doing.

We get our food and I split my sandwich, my fries and salad with Kelly. The Bulgarian comes over and continues talking to us about a number of things. He goes back and orders an appetizer.

A while later, he orders his meal but then has to step out to have a smoke. He stops by our table and I say “That can kill you.” He then starts into this tirade about how “smoking causing cancer” is a government conspiracy and that he has it on good authority that smoking does not cause cancer. I let that slide.

Kelly and I continue with our meal. Once we’re finished we say our goodbyes to the Bulgarian and head out. We go back to the hotel and relax in the room. Somebody should have told us to avoid Bulgarians and December 26th in Akureyri or anywhere else in Iceland.

Kelly wanted to see the Chronicles of Narnia which was opening that day. We had gone by the theatre several times but forgot to check when it was playing. So we venture out again and go by the theatre. It was after 6 PM so we missed that one. The next showing was at 8 PM. We could make that. The next one after that was at 10 PM and I didn’t want to wait for that one.

We went back to our hotel. It was now 6:30-7 PM and Kelly was getting hungry. We checked at the desk to see if the restaurant in the hotel was open and the lady said “But of course, the Griefinn is open.” “If you’d like I can order a taxi and you can go there, no charge.” Later she said we can order a pizza if we would rather not venture out and they would deliver it to our room. Again it would be from the Griefinn. (Pronounced Grey Inn)

Kelly decided that she was hungry so we ordered a pepperoni pizza. This was around a quarter after 7 PM. It would take about 30 minutes. We wanted to catch the show at 8 PM. The pizza came about 15 minutes later. Kelly had about a half of it, I had a tiny slice and the rest is still in the mini bar.

We went over to the cinema about 7:45 PM. Where there wasn’t a soul around about an hour earlier, there was a large crowd milling about waiting to get it. The line-up for tickets was fairly long as well. We got in line and waited our turn. The tickets were 800 Krs each. (That’s $16 a ticket) By this time they had started letting people into the theatre. When we got in, the theatre was filling up. We got seats at the end of the aisle about 20 rows from the front.

Within minutes they started showing previews for upcoming shows. Finally the movie started. I had read the book many years ago but I really didn’t remember the story very well. The movie actually was pretty good. Lots of action and lots of scary things.

Kelly had warned me that for no apparent reason they have an intermission during the showing. Usually she said that they stop the movie about halfway through at no particular point. This time they stopped this movie about 9:30 PM just before the lion was to appear.

I got out of my seat and was pushed up the aisle and down the stairs. I thought Kelly was behind me. I couldn’t believe how pushy these Icelandic people were. They were pushing passed me like I wasn’t even there.

When I got down to the concession area I looked back and waited for Kelly. She was nowhere in sight. Once the crowd dissipated from the stairs I went back up and down the aisle to our seats. Kelly was sitting in her seat. She said she didn’t want to get pushed around. Now she tells me.

The movie started up again while a lot of people were still coming back to their seats. Most of the people in our row were not back yet. Once they started coming back, not only were they pushy but very impatient. Before I even had a chance to stand up to let them by they forced their way past me without an “excuse me” or even a grunt.

The movie finally ended and I get up to go up the aisle. Kelly hadn’t warned me that here in Iceland you go down the aisle to some side exit that lets you out into the street. I got pushed down the aisle and out. Another nice Icelandic experience.

We went back to the hotel and caught the last half of Santa Clause 2. The room was rather warm so Kelly tried to turn the heat down but it didn´t seem to help. So instead she opened the window which let in the cool breeze but also all the traffic noise which was pretty loud considering there weren´t that many cars out there.

We tried to sleep but the traffic noise kept us awake and periodically a bunch of revelers kept passing by the hotel, yelling and screaming and making all kinds of racket. They did this about every half an hour or so for the rest of the night. I don´t think I got much sleep at all although Kelly tells me otherwise. She said I was snoring a few times which kept her awake. I have no recollection.

We finally managed to get through the night. I showered and got dressed and we went down for breakfast at about 9 AM. It was quite good with lots of choice. After breakfast we headed over to National Car Rental. We got a Grand Vitara for two days and 600 kms for 12000 Krs. The regular price was 4500 Krs for 100 KM for 1 day. It sounds like we got a steal.

We headed off to Husavik. We´ve been driving for a while and Kelly tells me that we should have turned left some time ago. But not to worry we can turn left at the next road and double back. By the time we got to the next road and crossed the river and got back to Highway 1 where we were supposed to turn we had put on 25 Kms. Kelly´s excuse/reason was that I was going too fast and once we passed the road she didn´t think that I would want to turn around and go back.

It reminded us of a trip we took out west to Alberta in 1999. We were on our way from Weyburn Saskatchewan and we were supposed to take a road that went diagonally across the province to Saskatoon and North Battleford. We missed our turn and kept going all the way to Swift Current and then up to Saskatoon supposedly because I didn´t want to turn around and go back. This move probably added a 1000 Kms to our trip. So what´s 25 Kms?

We were finally on the right road to Husavik. It was a little after 10:30 AM now and getting lighter by the minute. The sky was clear and blue and although there was some wind it wasn’t too bad. The road looked dry with no patches of ice or snow. However the road looked narrow with no shoulders and if you happened to go off the road you would have gone straight into the water or down a steep slope and into water. Neither was welcomed.

We were driving through the mountains and we could see them clearly on either side of us. They weren’t the caliber of the Rockies but not too shabby. As we went along and climbed into the mountains the slopes off the road got steeper and higher. Except for a few places, there were no guardrails. Where there were, it must have been really dangerous.

The drive was very scenic with the snow covered mountains on either side, and the treacherous narrow road beneath us. We finally made it to Husavik a little after 12 PM. The speed limit along the highway in most places was 90 KPM but I don’t think I went much over 70 KPM at any point.

We drove around and quickly found that we had covered the whole town in about seven minutes. We were looking for some place to eat and something to do afterwards. We stopped at this building that had a big RESTAURANT sign on it. It was closed. As we found out most everything else were closed too. There were a couple of gas stations with little eat-in areas so we stopped at one of them. We each had a classic Icelandic hotdog with the works and a coke. Try it once but never again.

After lunch we walked around to see what else we could do. Kelly had said that there was supposed to be a phallic museum in town. We found it but it was closed for the season. It was only open from May to September. I guess they can’t keep it up, I mean open, once it gets too cold. We went down to the harbour and took some pictures of the ships docked there.

By now it was around 1:20 PM and we had been there a little over an hour. Nice little town but pretty dull when it’s all closed up. We started heading back to Akureyri. We took a slightly different route back going across to Highway 1 instead of taking Highway 85.

When we got closer to Akureyri and it was still around 2:30 PM Kelly suggested we go over to Grenivik. She was looking at a map and thought it might be a nice side trip. We had plenty of time. We were less than half an hour from Akureyri at that point. We turned off Highway 1 and onto the road that led us to Grenivik. The road was much lower and closer to the ocean and it seemed fairly sheltered from the wind.

As we were going along we could see that up ahead there were signs of a river flowing into the ocean. On the water you could see the change of currents where a triangle was spewing out into the normal flow of the ocean. Also you could see that definitely this was the mouth of a river, the so-called delta that was spreading into the sea.

As we were getting closer we could see that the road disappeared around a corner and we thought that when we got there we would see the river rushing down to the ocean. What happened when we turned the corner was this incredible gust of wind that I thought would blow us off the road. Before us there was this narrow spindly metal bridge that we had to cross. Fortunately we were not blown over and we managed to get across. Kelly said, “I think we should go back.” I didn’t want to venture back so soon. I had this chill run up my spine.

Once we crossed the bridge we took a left and carried on to Grenivik. It was only 8 Kms away. We pressed on. When we got to Grenivik we saw the cutest little town. The houses were painted different colours and there were all kinds of Christmas lights on already although it was still before 3 PM. At one house there was a Santa Clause on a swing. We passed a cemetery where they had placed a cross on each grave site that was lit up and it looked so festive. It was like bringing the deceased into the Christmas spirit.

After that we decided to head back. I was dreading crossing the bridge “over the river that flowed into the ocean”. But when we got there the winds had died down and we had no problems getting over the bridge and then back to Highway 1. We got back to the hotel a little after 3:30 PM.

Kelly wanted to take a nap so I went out to look around. There was a book store across the street that was open so I browsed there for about a half an hour. Then I went to look at the toy store. I wanted to get something for my great nephew Andrew and my other great nephews and nieces. Well, that store was closed. As it turned out most of the other stores around were closed too. Now this was the 27th.

For dinner we decided to go to the Bautinn Restaurant next door. It was one that was highly recommended in the brochures. I had gone earlier to make reservations and the waitress said “You don’t need reservations. I guarantee you.” As it turned out we didn’t need reservations. There was one other couple in the restaurant when we got there. A few more people came after we arrived but not very many.

Kelly had the vegetarian tortilla dish and I had the lamb. Mine included a soup and a salad. The soup was cream of mushroom and it was delicious. We had a bottle of wine as well, a German Riesling. Very nice. It was about half the price of the meal at Caruso. Very nice as well.

After dinner Kelly went for a swim. She was to meet Gunnar if he was still around. I watched some TV and updated the journal. Shortly after Kelly came back from swimming we went to bed.

I woke up around 2 AM and Kelly was nowhere in sight. The covers, the comforter and the pillows were gone. I lay there for a while thinking where did she go? I came up with nothing. I needed to go to the bathroom and as I opened the door I heard some moaning. Kelly was trying to sleep on the floor in the washroom. “I couldn’t stand your snoring Dad so I came in here.” she said. I tried to help her fix up her make-shift bed.

I went back to bed and lay there wide awake and thinking. “Poor Kelly, She can’t sleep because of my snoring. I have to do something.” I went down to the front desk but nobody was there for about 10-15 minutes. Then the night person came and I said, “I need to ask a big favour. My daughter can’t sleep because of my snoring and I was wondering if there was something you could do.” “Of course”, he said. “Take this key.” It was for room 411. “411” I said. “Oh, excuse me. 414”, he said. So I took the key and went back up to the room and opened the door to the washroom. “Here Kell, go to room 414 and have a good sleep.”

I hoped she did because I sure didn’t. I was awake the rest of the night. I watched some TV but nothing good was on. I tried to write in my journal but couldn’t get very far. I just tossed and turned until about 8 AM in the morning. I showered and got dressed and then sat and waited. Shortly after 9 AM, Kelly came to my room and we went down for breakfast.

Gunnar, Kelly´s Icelandic friend who lives in Akureyri met us at 10 AM in the lobby and we headed off to Lake Myvatn. For the first 60 Kms it was basically the same route that Kelly and I did yesterday. However there were a couple of differences. First, it had snowed during the night, not much but enough that the road was snow covered. It looked more treacherous than it had yesterday. Second, Gunnar directed us to the Godafoss (The Waterfalls of the Gods) which we had missed the day before. It was quite the falls. It was also really windy when we were there so we did not venture too close.

We got back onto Highway 1 and carried on until we got to Lake Myvatn. We stopped at the Zanzibar Restaurant. I ordered a clubhouse sandwich and a beer. The poor lady had a heck of a time getting the draft dispenser to work properly. I told her that I would be happy with a bottle if she had a problem. But she was determined to get it going and eventually she did. Gunnar ordered a pizza and Kelly had a coffee.

Afterwards we explored the area. The first place we stopped at was Dimmuborgir. There are elaborate lava formations including the “Elves’ Church” in the area. However the paths were coated in ice and the church was some 50 minutes away. We looked around briefly but did not venture very far.

The second place was Grjotagja. It is a small cave with a thermal spring inside. You used to be able to swim in it but because of the eruptions from 1975 to 1984 the water got too hot for swimming. The temperature is cooling down so that at some point in the future swimming may be allowed again.

The third stop was this field of hotspots. There were marked paths where you could tread and the rest was out of bounds for fear of severe injury or death. The water was several hundred degrees. Gunnar said that every year a number of people got seriously burned or killed because they ventured where that shouldn’t have. We made sure we stayed on the paths. However they were very muddy and our shoes got caked. Even the scrapers were not sufficient to get the mud off.

Finally we drove the rest of the way around the lake and headed back to Akureyri. I gather that Lake Myvatn is much more breathtaking in the summertime and you’re able to do much more exploring but it was still a great experience.

That evening we had dinner at La Vita & Bella restaurant which was next to the Bautinn. Kelly had the primavera pasta dish and I had the sedani with monkfish, shrimp and scallops. We had a bottle of the Riesling white wine again. Dinner was very nice.

Thursday morning Kelly got a call from the TV station that they still wanted to do the interview. As part of the foreign student having a traditional Christmas dinner with an Icelandic family, the national TV network wanted to interview the student and the Icelandic family about their experience. Initially it was supposed to be done before the dinner but Kelly never heard from them. But now they wanted to do it this evening. She explained that we were in Akureyri and weren’t expecting to be back until after 7 PM.

They suggested that they have a crew meet us somewhere in Akureyri and do the interview there. As it turned out they met us in front of the cathedral just above the hotel at 11:30 AM. The interview went fairly well. They said that they would shoot as many takes as needed but we never repeated anything. They asked us only a couple of questions about the actual dinner. They seemed more interested in asking about Christmas traditions and customs in Canada and Poland and how they compared to the Icelandic Christmas that we had experienced. I was only seven the last time I had Christmas in Poland so what do I remember.

The interview was supposed to be shown on Channel 2 between 7 and 8 PM that evening. We didn’t know whether we’d be back in time to catch it.

We had checked out before the interview and they hadn’t charged us anything extra for Kelly using a second room. That was a nice thing to do. We drove around Akureyri to see what else we could find to explore. We discovered that indeed we had been in the heart of downtown and there wasn’t too much else to see. We did find a small shopping centre and stopped to have a look.

Kelly got a call from the TV station again to see if we could send them the photos we had taken at the dinner. There was a camera store in the mall and we stopped to find out if they could download some photos for us. The guy said that he didn’t have the right equipment but their main store downtown should be able to help us. We went and found the shop and sure enough the guy there downloaded the photos and emailed them to the TV station for us at no charge.

We wandered around and stopped at the Bláa Konnun and had a drink. We did a little more browsing. We decided that we should stop and have some lunch. We went to the Striked Restaurant which was on the top floor of this office building downtown. Kelly had a Caesar salad and a tea I think and I had a shrimp and scallop appetizer and a beer.

We got back into the jeep and this time Kelly drove us around Akureyri. She hadn´t driven a vehicle since July. She also hadn´t experienced a roundabout.

We then drove to the Christmas House which was about 10 Kms from Akureyri. Although it had all kinds of knickknacks most of them were made in China or Germany or some other place other than Iceland. We didn´t find anything interesting to buy.

On our way back we stopped by the airport to see if we could catch an earlier flight. This was a little after 4 PM. It was a good thing we did because Kelly had booked us on the 8:20 PM flight which meant we wouldn’t have got back to Reykjavik until after 9 PM sometime. We were able to change to the 6:10 PM flight. We had almost 2 hours to kill.

We went to the nearest gas station to fill up the jeep. There was a restaurant right beside it so we went there. We were the only ones in it other than the poor waitress. Kelly had a hot chocolate and I had a beer. We nursed these until about a quarter after 5 PM and then we headed for the airport.

We decided that if we had to wait we might as well wait at the airport. We got there and dropped off the jeep. We just parked it in the National Car Rental spot. We went into the terminal and they were checking people in for Reykjavik so we checked in. Then we just waited with the rest of the folks. Not much else to do. Since there was no one at the National Car Rental counter we left the keys at the check-in counter.

Finally they boarded us and off we went. It was about a 45 minute flight. We arrived at Reykjavik a little after 7 PM. We got our bags and headed off to Gamli Gardur. It took us about half an hour to get there. We ran up to the fourth floor to the lounge where the TV was and when we got there we were informed by Raphael the don that the news was over. We missed the broadcast of our interview. I don’t know what the hell he was watching but it wasn’t the news so he hadn’t seen it either. Some French don.

I got a craving for chicken wings. I don’t know why. I just did. Chicken wings are not easy to come by in Iceland. Kelly contacted a few of her friends and we called a few take-away places (translation – take-out) but none of them had any. The only place that might have some was a KFC place across the city and I never liked KFC wings anyways.

So wingless we were. We had some leftovers for dinner and I went to bed.

Gamli Garður 2006

Well my dad is still writing up the end of our holiday together so I will be posting those soon but thought I would write something in the meantime.

New people have been starting to move in this week. They seem nice, but I have realised that first impressions mean nothing. Not that any of their first impressions were bad, but you can't tell what a person is really like from just meeting them.

So on our floor we already have 4 new people. There is Florian who is now living in Mathieu's room, he is from Germany, studies in Austria and is studying business. There is Megan from Vermont in Nathan's old room, I think she is doing Earth Sciences. Then there is Guillaume from Québec living in Harald's old room(there is also a girl upstairs named Lorance from Québec. Too bad Mathieu moved out because the Québecois would be taking over). And then there is Adrian from South Africa... haha Rémy won't ever live it down. He told us that Adrian was from South Australia (which is actually correct), but he was thinking South Africa so made a comment how it was too bad Chrissy wasn't living here anymore (She lived in South Africa for a while). I was thinking why would she care there is an Australian here? Then he thought he made a mistake and told us he was from South Africa. A lot of people already have had their nationalities mistaken. Adrian from South Africa, Florian from Austria and Lorance from France... New arrival today, Mario from Germany as well. There is suppose to be a girl named Allison coming but apparently she's been stuck in Boston for the past two days.. This time around we definitely have a more diverse floor. I have also met a guy from the second floor named Brian from the U.S, but besides that don't really know who else has moved in from up stairs.

And apparently they are doing renovations in the second floor kitchen so things will probably get pretty hectic around here for a few weeks. My classes really don't start until the 15th (I have been off since the 1st of december) so I decided to take an intensive course which is only a week long next week on Cultural Heritage, looking mainly Scotland as the case study but looking at other cultures as well. Problem is that with taking this course I will have an over load and still haven't heard back from Trent on what I have to do about being allowed to take an overload in my courses, so I think I will just take the class anyway and if they don't want me to I guess I can drop it but it will give me something to do in the meantime. I have also applied to work at Ömmukaffi (grandma's café) but haven't heard from them yet so I am going to go there today and ask.

Well Tisho gets back today and Tom get's back Saturday, so probably by the weekend we will have a full house.

Heyrumst