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.
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.
posted by Kelly @ 5:11 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home