Friday, June 5, 2009

With the wings & the fangs & the eating of the eyeballs

The title will become clear as I type our adventures for our first full day in Iceland. The phrase was courtesy of our Rapier Protectorate, Cedric Crispin, and became a theme for all of us to mutter throughout the remainder of the trip. But I digress and there is so much to convey to make this more clear.

We woke up and after a leisurely breakfast of fruit toast and cereal, we wandered into Akureyri for lots of shopping and, of course, ice-cream. We went to Akureyri's High, or Main, Street and stopped into a tax-free store where we found all kinds of souvenirs. From there we wondered to the 10-11 which is a convenience type store similar to our 7-11's in the USA. Nik picked up all kinds of Icelandic luncheon type stuff for us to enjoy later. Ice Cream was enjoyed at Leirunesti (the Big Bridge Burger Bar) next to the runway and we were treated to a couple of plane landings on the runway built out into the Fjord.


We crossed the Eyjafjordur
From Iceland Tourism

and then stopped to take pictures across from Akureyri.

These flowers dot the landscape everywhere and the way that I understand it they were introduced as a ground cover that has now gone further than planned but the locals enjoy them so they are there to stay.

We stopped at Ljosavatn (lake called water of light).

From Iceland Tourism
And then Nik showed us on the map where we've been versus where we're going.

From Iceland Tourism
Having taken in the beauty of a stilled lake, we were ready to see the waterfall that Nik had been talking about since we had gotten in - Godafoss! What a spectacular waterfall with a spectacular view all around. The tale is that Iceland had a choice of whether to continue to follow their gods or change to the Christian faith and when they made the choice to change to the Christian faith, the local Chieftan took the idols and threw them into the waterfall . . thus the name the Waterfall of the Gods.

From Iceland Tourism


Although there was plenty of time spent there and plenty of fun had, we managed not to get wet .. well all of us except for Cedric who insisted on crossing to see the plaque.
From Iceland Tourism



With the view suitably drunken in, it was time to shop the gift shop.
From Iceland Tourism

Then we were off to do more shopping at Myvatn. When we arrived at the gift shop I couldn't help but note the blackish dust on one of the stuffed animals in the window. We hopped out of the vehicle where upon we were attacked by the local gnat (on steroids), called the midge. Cedric found this to be his worst nightmare and he was totally grossed out by these varmints. He insisted that they had fangs and were trying to eat his eyeballs. I will admit that they were annoying as they flew between your glasses and your eyes and since they were the size of Wisconsin mosquito's it could be intimidating. So here, as Cedric maliciously eliminated any midges that happened to follow us into the car, was born the phrase "with the wings and the fangs and the eating of the eyeballs."

Then we were off again to see the lava flows

From Iceland Tourism
What you can't see is that in the cavern there is hot water.

And from there we went to where the European and North American plates meet, where David and I stood on our respective sides (him in Europe and me in NA) and kissed across continental plates.

From Iceland Tourism
And then we travelled further yet to experience the blue mud at Namafjall. While the landscape reminded me of what I would imagine Mars to look like .. the smell was something in and of itself and not in a good way. Cedric and I were sure that the smell was going to hang with us on our clothing for some time while David was brave enough to wander the fields and take a closer look.

From Iceland Tourism

From Iceland Tourism
As we headed back to the main road to go back towards the event site when David had the opportunity to touch snow . . in June. He was so thrilled and the remainder of us were glad that he didn't decide to make snowballs to throw at us.

From Iceland Tourism

We were also really impressed as we passed one of Iceland's Greenhouses. The greenhouses all run on the hot water and steam available from Iceland's natural resources.

From Iceland Tourism
We received a call on our way to the site that indicated that the site may not be open as of the time that we would reach it, so we opted to go past the site to Husavik for more shopping and to see the outside of the world famous Phalic museum.

From Iceland Tourism
From Iceland Tourism
From Iceland Tourism
From there we headed back to the site at Laxamyri where we were looking forward to fencing and fun with the Shire of Klakavirki.


No comments: