Park Inn Island Reykjavik Reykjavík

... 1079;у. Заспа 85;ные, небри 90;ые ислан 76;цы едут в автоб 91;се на работ 91;, пробе 75;ая глаза 84;и свежу ...

Grey. That is my overwhelming impression of Iceland. Grey skies, grey rocks, grey water, grey buildings. I marvelled at the lack of color in the country. Maybe I'm jaded by all those lush tropical places with layers of colors you can't even identify...Okay, we did have some incredible ...

... the bed, and beautiful down comforter had my name written all over it. I slept until about 3pm. The weather here is unbelievable......beautiful. Probably in the low to mid 40's. After waking, showering, and exploring the hotel, I wondered off to catch my first bus. I went to the downtown area, which was about 10 min. away. I stopped at a little rest., and had a lunch consisting of a piece of white break with cream cheese, baby ...

... whaling boats, inviting tourists to come aboard and have a look. We did just that, of course (James + boats = happy).

Our last stop was maybe the most memorable of the entire trip. From all the reading I had done about Iceland, I kept seeing references to "hakarl," a type of shark that is a traditional Icelandic staple. I knew it was supposed to be pretty awful - an "acquired taste" to say the least - so I knew it wasn't something we'd find in ...

... took me the rest of the way. The hotel is accustomed to arrivals early in the morning, therefore check in at 8:30 was not a problem. Since it was still dark and I was tired, I went to bed for a nap. I awoke and wandered the area of the hotel. It is located on the main restaurant, pub, cafe and shopping street of Reykjavik. Stopped and had a couple of Viking beers @ $5.00 a pint, then back to the room for a break before dinner. I was strange to see it start getting ...

... example of the processes of making the vellum (animal skin paper) and inks etc. I also discovered that there are litterally volumes and volumes of different sagas all on different topics, I always thought they were sort of just creative history writings, but the Icelanders wrote heaps on all sorts of different topics, creative, religious, and historical. The most famous saga is the one of Liefur Erikkson who discovered North America centuries before Columbus and ...

... which time they go out till 6in the morning. The people get really trashed here. There are more sloppy and ugly drunks here than I have seen in a while - not since the Foreigner concert at Worlds of Fun in 1991. As late as 1985 beer was illegal in Iceland. It was a very political issue I am told. Since 1985 beer sales have been the highest selling alcohol in the country. Last night in Reykjavik I hung out with an Italian named Enrico Brizzi, great name. Several drinks ...

... which has since become less of an issue in the wake of Iceland's 'economic changes', but cost factors would never deter myself from checking out a destination as alluring as this. The journey from Keflavik airport to downtown Reykjavik is best made during sunlight hours, when the surreal lunar-like landscape which leads the way makes you question whether you're still on the face of the earth, let alone on the ...

... 2 cm a year. Therefore there is volcanic activity leading to formation of smelly mudpots, sulfur springs, lava figures, and pseudocraters. I learn that pseudocraters are formed by gas explosions caused when molten lava flows into the water. There are also waterfalls with dizzying heights. After the tour while walking around ...

... in Melbourne). I manage to get a good picture of it, which is very hard to do - I have to track it with the camera as it dive bombs me, quickly take the picture, then wave my arms in the air to drive it off. After lunch we drive up a rough dirt road to the glacier - it's classified as a 4WD road but we're told that it's passable in a normal car in this weather, and the views are beautiful. We continue on around the peninsula through a lava field which goes all the way to the sea ...