Connecticut & Iceland: Day 1 and 2

Flew to NY last Thursday. Went to our hotel in Stamford, CT (the hub of our East Coast trip). Took the train into the City on Friday. Had lunch with Jamie at Bryant Park - very nice, that area is buzzing at lunch time with business people taking a lunch break - especially since it was quite a nice day. Walked through Times Square. Met up with Nathan and his cute 5 month old, Zachary, in Central Park, for a nice stroll through the park. Had drinks with Erica in Rockefeller Center. Then caught dinner in Union Square and a walking tour through the West Village with Brent. Saw Glee being taped on the street in West Village, and also passed by Tom and Giselle's townhome (or whatever the NYers call these types of homes), which had a party going on (probably a Draft party).

Next day had Papa's/Phil's 90th Birthday party in Norwalk at Sono Brewhouse. Lots of family from all over, including people who hadn't seen each other for many years. Great times had by all. Photos to come later.

Sunday attended Dena's wedding. Greek Orthodox ceremony in Stamford. Reception at beautiful Waterview venue in Monroe. Good food, lots of fun.. Rich was especially fond of the massive dessert bar, complete with smores station (hold the marshmallows) and chocolate fountain.

Monday had lunch with Papa/Phil and Uncle Alan before heading to JFK to fly to Iceland.

After a 5 hour flight, landing at 6am, we got right over to the bus terminal and soon picked up a tour to the Golden Circle. The Golden Circle consists of:


1. Gulfoss - a ridiculously powerful and large waterfall

Gulfoss Waterfall

   


2. Geysir - Geyser goes off every 5 minutes and shoots off water up to 20 meters. It only took us about 6 tries to time it right to get photos and video!
     
                              

3. Þingvellir (pronounced Thingvellir) - site where 2 tectonic plates (The Eurasian and North American) are visibly separating. Also the historical site of the first parliament.

Came back to our hotel (Castle House), which really is "serviced apartment" style, with a living room and kitchen, which is very nice and convenient. Right on a lake and near the center of town. 

View from our Apartment

Our Living Room

Walked through the town, surprisingly quiet in the evening - we hear the nightlife starts pretty late (around midnight), and especially on weekends. But at 6pm on a weekday all the stores were closed. There are tons of restaurants in Reykjavik though. We walked through the main part of town and then all the way to a large public geothermal pool. These are extremely popular in Iceland. Large pool filled with naturally warm water from the earth. They also had "hot pots" of varying temperatures (aka hot tubs). These are popular for locals to come, socialize, swim, etc.

Speaking of water, one of the first things we learned is there is no shortage of water in Iceland. The hot water comes naturally from the geothermal springs in the earth and the cold water is pure spring water. This is the water that comes into the homes here, and is free to everyone. Its not uncommon to see water drinking fountains constantly running, and urinals in the mens rooms on a motion sensor where they all flush at once (per richard). The hot water (including in our apartment) is geothermal water with sulfur naturally occuring in it - which you can smell. Though it is entirely safe and natural (everyone here is used to it). you're not supposed to drink it - and its also kind of gross if you accidentally do. Though the cold water is very safe to drink, clean and fresh, and sometimes called the best water in all of Europe.

Next day (after finally catching up on sleep), we went whale watching. They gave us amazing insulated jumpsuits, which really kept us surprisingly warm. Beautiful sail out of the harbor, where we saw harbor porpoises and minke whales.

Awesome Arctic Suits

Does this make my butt look big?

After we got back we decided to try a traditional Icelandic dish called "pizza". Since many traditional Icelandic foods revolve around whale or shark, this won't necessarily be a culinary excursion for us.

In the afternoon, we made our way over to the Blue Lagoon. The Blue Lagoon is a man-made lagoon, sitting next to a natural hot spring. It is filled with naturally warm water (2/3 salt water, 1/3 fresh) from deep within the earth. It has over 200 types of (good) bacteria that is supposed to be very good for your skin. There is this amazing pure white silica mud, which you put on your face and allow to dry, and is supposed to be good for your skin.  

"Now She's Mine" -Richard

The Blue Lagoon itself is dug into a lava field (from an explosion in 1226) and is a really incredible site. The water is steaming with mystical steam because of the freezing air.  It was 4 degrees celsius outside when we were there. (And it also stays open and people come even when its more freezing and snowing). They have a sauna (built into the lava rocks) and a steam room. After a nice relaxing afternoon and evening at the blue lagoon, we made our way back to Reykjavik. Only after we saw the bus leaving without us from the parking lot, and Richard literally sprinted and successfully chased it down.

At the Blue Lagoon

Random observations from our first two days:


People in Iceland are really nice. It's almost disturbing.
They do seem confused when they tell you place names like Hjaltastaðaþinghá, Skriðdalshreppur, and Egilsstaðabær, and you don't understand what they're saying and you can't repeat it back to them. We have barely been able to learn any of their words, and when you see many of them written, you wouldn't have the slightest clue how to pronounce them.

The Icelandic money is the króna.  It goes at about 100 to 1.. So everything seems realllly expensive at first.


We have gotten a lot of inquiries about what the weather is like here. It is surprisingly warm.  It is typically in the mid-40s at this time of year. Of course, they use celsius so it's been between 5-8 degrees, which makes it seem colder.  


Also, it stay light until about 11pm at this time.  


Coming up next on an all new episode of Beth and Rich: The Travel Blog: The Greatest Road Trip Ever.