Willie’s Icelandic Affair ‘09
I leave in 4 more days for my journey to the world of fire and ice and from the iceland weather updates it looks more like the world of ice…. 0 degress celius is not what I was looking for but what the heck – It’s Iceland.
I depart Halifax (yeah I get to even see Halifax) on June 04th at 10pm by iceland air and arrival should be 515am on 05th..won’t be the least bit tired. They are 6 hours ahead of edmonton time but only three hours ahead of halifax time and I will have been in halifax for a day already.
Wednesday – Just sitting in the AirCanada Lounge enjoying a cup of coffee – ok it is tim hortons coffee..I wanted to see if I could remember how to do this blog thing – Jalene your a good teacher – The flight for Halifax departs shortly and I am looking forward to a little down time before hitting the pavement of the east coast (just a day and a half prior) to heading for the real destination – ICELAND – I will catch up with everyone later. Have a good day at the office ladies….xox
June 04th – My daughter Megan texted me today to remind me the blog is only good if blogging so here goes. Arrival in Halifax went without a hitch other then almost missed connection in ottawa due to 10 minute manicure taking 20 minutes…oh well made it and all good – very short flight from ontario to the east coast and I was very surprised at how quickly it passed.
Met by friends in halifax wearing the tradional dress of yellow rain caps and jackets (if only they knew how ridiculous they looked). Explored the downtown halifax core and got the lay of the land so to speak although this morning my legs are telling me the lay of the land is all uphill. Truro is the actual place where I spent the night and heading to the airport this evening for iceland – I love the layback feeling already and the humidity and warm weather really has helped my spirits. I can feel the salt water surrounding the whole area. By the way antique shopping is abundant here and I can tell not just one suitcase coming home. I will email when able once my destination in iceland is reached. Thanks Meg for the reminder xoxox
June 04th/05th – arrived safe and sound in Keflavik at 515am on 05th – what a long day – now at a hotel in a small place by the name of Harnsef awaiting dinner – After stepping off the plane – we ended up again going through a xray screening process prior to going through what they like to call customs. A really great little airport – lots of shopping and places to eat if you have time. We took off for breakfast and a relaxing dip in the blue lagoon.
The biggest thing I notices at once was no trees in fact here in iceland they say 1 tree is a tree/ 2 trees are a couple of trees and 3 trees are a forest. We have already learned so many myths and fables that my head is spinning / trolls and hidden people are the main ones and everyone knows the stories about them – if you ask them if hidden people are real they say “no but I have seen one” now what the heck does that mean? Vocanic rock is all you see for miles and miles at first. All the homes and even sidewalks are heated with hot water from under the ground. These thermal springs are a life line here in Iceland. I have seen waterfalls you can’t imagine and the roads – oh the roads one lane in most parts and hopefully you don’t meet anyone. The icelandic horses (not seen up close) but I know I am in love with them already. When the volanic rock begins to end then all of a sudden everything is green and much more lush (still no forests however) small towns/villages/cities spring up out of nowhere. I know I am jumping
all over the place but I am tired and need to get some shut eye. Hopefully this has made some sense – I will add tomorrow if internet available. So far the adventure hasn’t let me down…by the way we drove in a underwater tunnel – 40 meters below sea level – 16 miles long – it was an experience on its own (I am clostiphobic??is that how you spell it?) Talk to everyone tomorrow…xoxox
june 06th I think. Well today started at the crack of dawn – well not really as the crack of dawn began at 2am In fact I am typing this at 11:41pm and it is light as day out there – Really the day began at the respectable hour of 9am and we went in search of the most powerful waterfalls in iceland – They truly were spectular – Geiesers where next I don’t think my pictures will ever do them justice – it just happens way to fast – facinating view every 8 minutes and no matter what anyone says you just stand there gawking forgetting to click the camera. We walked from north america to europe today also – that was so much fun to think that I walked that far. Actually just a couple of steps but never the less did it! The icelandic horse farm came next and they captured my (eart for sure – the eyes the long bangs (mane) if I could I would bring one with me to sherwood park.
The highlite of the day was the white water rafting – cold wet and so much fun – it made the white water we have done as a office was like a walk in the park….the 23 foot cliff dive – and we were offered to go for a jump..yeah right – well I DID IT in fact I DID IT TWICE – just to prove to myself I actually did it…what a blast. I couldn´t even jump off the bridge in combermere and here I was doing something much more dangerous in Iceland. After river rafting there was a really good lamb barbeque…we were baaad and ate the poor thing all up. Bed time, so off I go starting early the next am.
june 07th-last real day for sightseeing – started by prceeding through small villages and farmland to the mountains that have the best view of the atlantic ocean-magical – I expected to see puffins but unfortunately this is their nesting season so none were spotted-instead we saw spectacular waterfalls again (kathy it was like the elephants in africa oh another waterfall) the sheer cliffs hanging over the water/the little red church in the distance I can´t even describe it-sometimes I felt like I was in another world- We had a picnic lunch (lamb sandwich) on the side of a hill – with lush green grass to stretch out on.
TROLLS* were watching us I am sure ::: once again as we drove the landscape changed we are a short distance from reykjavik and yet there are abandoned homes which have become just a bump in the landscape homes that have been built into the side of the mountain *why would someone take the chance? The icelanders use a flower called lupin to help stop erosion and keep the land fertilized they are growing everywhere _ today was black sand beaches old viking homes waterfalls and many many rocks birds and sheep
there will be no blog tomorrow as we will be leaving and yes a hotel inspection is in the cards oh well a job must be done and that is it
I understand now why when you arrive at the iceland airport there is a huge sign saying welcome back + that isn”t just for icelanders returning home it is for all the visitors that haven”t had a chance to see everything yet I hope to return and start over enjoying what I have had the opportunity to see and do once again>>> by the way icelanders eat puffin and drink vodka _ I used to like vodka>>>>well no more>>>
see you soon and until we meet again iceland _ thankyou!!!!!!