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.