Well, I just got back from the land of fire and ice last night, and man what a trip it was. So because most of you guys don't have the time or money to go there, here's a summary of what I did. And on that note, if you are planning to go to there in the future, take me with you-I can help you guys.
Day One:
- Got off the flight, where we promptly went to go to the fabled Blue Lagoon. Trust me when I say it, a trip to Iceland is not complete without going there sometime. It's a geothermal spring, so the water is very warm there despite what the weather might be (don't worry, it was solidly in the 50's-60's there when I was there). You might have been told that it has healing capabilities-I can indeed confirm that I felt super relaxed and healed after visiting there.
- I had my first Icelandic hot dog, which basically kicks our hot dogs' asses. You can quote me on that.
- Went to the top of their fabled church, the Hallgrimskirkja, where I got a superb view of the city of there. The building also is spectacular, and it's of an unique design.
Day Two:
- Went on a tour of the Golden Circle, which took up most of the day, which was 300 km tour of southern Iceland. This tour included seeing the geysir as well as Thingvellir national park, which housed Althingi, the world's oldest parliament (est. 930).
-The geysir was amazing, to put it bluntly. To see it go off was spectacular, and has reinforced why Iceland has to be the world's most beautiful country (he said as he's visited in summer).
- Althingi was a piece of history that really is unrivaled. You can't hate on the world's oldest parliament, and you can't hate on the fact that it's played a prominent role in Iceland's longstanding history.
Day Three:
- Went whale/puffin watching, so that took about 2-3 hours
- Had some of their fabled hot dogs from their fabled hot dog stand from the nation known for being crazy about hot dogs. They're still better than our hot dogs, and the toppings they put on them are amazing.
- Saw two little documentaries about the 1973 and 2010 volcanoes, the first of which destroyed a settlement on the Westman Islands; being as resilient as they are, that community rebuilt it basically from scratch.
- Went to the National Museum of Iceland, which has to have been one of the most impressive museums I've ever been to. And to be fair, I think it gives the Smithsonian a run for its money, and it even beats it for how attention catching it is during the duration of your visit there.
- Learned how amazing and unique their food is there, even their pizza. Can't beat a pizza that has shrimp, chicken, and other various toppings on it. It made our pizza here look inadequate.
Day Four:
- I hiked a glacier. A freaking glacier. Be jealous.
- En route to the glacier, we stopped by to see a little plaque that commemorated the first stage of the epic volcano going off of last year. I got to feel the soot created by it too, so that was neat.
- Stopped by two beautiful waterfalls, and I even got to walk underneath them!
Day Five:
- Happy Canada day! (Eh?)
- On that note, apparently some Canadian girls had an epic fail with writing postcards
- I went horseback riding on the fabled Icelandic horse. It took a lot of energy, I'll tell you. But hey, it was worth it both for the experience and for the awesome scenery we saw during it!
Day 6:
- I had whale for lunch (seriously). And before you ask, it tasted like beef and steak.
- We hung out at the flea market for a bit, and it was pretty cool
- Who knew that some Icelanders really like the military, especially our military?
- Went to the Saga Museum
- On the way to dinner, we went by the house that Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan signed the treaty that ended the Cold War!
- Proving that they do food right, I had some amazing gourmet burgers. They, again, make our burgers look like crap. In case you want to check it out, the name of the place is Hamborgarafabrikken-it's totally worth stopping by!
Day Seven:
- Home sweet home!
Thoughts, observations, and random tidbits:
- Fun Fact time: Iceland has been settled for roughly 1,080 years. It's only been an independent country since 1944.
- Fun fact time #2: Reykjavik means "smokey bay" in Icelandic. Betcha you didn't know that.
- Fun fact time #3: In summer, you can expect to see sun for 22 hours of the day; the only times when you don't see the sun is when you're probably sleeping, so it doesn't matter. This is fun but it does make sleeping really hard at times.
- Fun fact time #4: Their water, due to it being geothermal, is so clean that you can drink tap water
- The girls there are very attractive
- Odds are you'll run into a redhead girl about every one in three or five girls you see. Though it seems like half of the female staff in the restaurants are a redhead. (And they have souls.)
- It's pretty expensive there as they have to import their food from elsewhere
- Iceland is the most beautiful country in the world. Again, you can quote me on this.
- Even though Reykjavik is the capital city, within 30-60 minutes drive, you can get to nature quite easily
- There are museums everywhere, even when you don't expect it. This can also extend to the countryside.
- On that segue, you can expect to find at least one or two houses that are completely in the middle of nowhere
- They speak English fluently, and I mean fluently. Which is good, because Icelandic has to be one of the toughest languages to learn.
- I've learned that from this trip, Germans travel a ton
- You meet some awesome people staying in hostels, not to mention that you save a ton of money
- The shower in our hostel was so relaxing that I thought I was getting a massage
Day One:
- Got off the flight, where we promptly went to go to the fabled Blue Lagoon. Trust me when I say it, a trip to Iceland is not complete without going there sometime. It's a geothermal spring, so the water is very warm there despite what the weather might be (don't worry, it was solidly in the 50's-60's there when I was there). You might have been told that it has healing capabilities-I can indeed confirm that I felt super relaxed and healed after visiting there.
- I had my first Icelandic hot dog, which basically kicks our hot dogs' asses. You can quote me on that.
- Went to the top of their fabled church, the Hallgrimskirkja, where I got a superb view of the city of there. The building also is spectacular, and it's of an unique design.
Day Two:
- Went on a tour of the Golden Circle, which took up most of the day, which was 300 km tour of southern Iceland. This tour included seeing the geysir as well as Thingvellir national park, which housed Althingi, the world's oldest parliament (est. 930).
-The geysir was amazing, to put it bluntly. To see it go off was spectacular, and has reinforced why Iceland has to be the world's most beautiful country (he said as he's visited in summer).
- Althingi was a piece of history that really is unrivaled. You can't hate on the world's oldest parliament, and you can't hate on the fact that it's played a prominent role in Iceland's longstanding history.
Day Three:
- Went whale/puffin watching, so that took about 2-3 hours
- Had some of their fabled hot dogs from their fabled hot dog stand from the nation known for being crazy about hot dogs. They're still better than our hot dogs, and the toppings they put on them are amazing.
- Saw two little documentaries about the 1973 and 2010 volcanoes, the first of which destroyed a settlement on the Westman Islands; being as resilient as they are, that community rebuilt it basically from scratch.
- Went to the National Museum of Iceland, which has to have been one of the most impressive museums I've ever been to. And to be fair, I think it gives the Smithsonian a run for its money, and it even beats it for how attention catching it is during the duration of your visit there.
- Learned how amazing and unique their food is there, even their pizza. Can't beat a pizza that has shrimp, chicken, and other various toppings on it. It made our pizza here look inadequate.
Day Four:
- I hiked a glacier. A freaking glacier. Be jealous.
- En route to the glacier, we stopped by to see a little plaque that commemorated the first stage of the epic volcano going off of last year. I got to feel the soot created by it too, so that was neat.
- Stopped by two beautiful waterfalls, and I even got to walk underneath them!
Day Five:
- Happy Canada day! (Eh?)
- On that note, apparently some Canadian girls had an epic fail with writing postcards
- I went horseback riding on the fabled Icelandic horse. It took a lot of energy, I'll tell you. But hey, it was worth it both for the experience and for the awesome scenery we saw during it!
Day 6:
- I had whale for lunch (seriously). And before you ask, it tasted like beef and steak.
- We hung out at the flea market for a bit, and it was pretty cool
- Who knew that some Icelanders really like the military, especially our military?
- Went to the Saga Museum
- On the way to dinner, we went by the house that Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan signed the treaty that ended the Cold War!
- Proving that they do food right, I had some amazing gourmet burgers. They, again, make our burgers look like crap. In case you want to check it out, the name of the place is Hamborgarafabrikken-it's totally worth stopping by!
Day Seven:
- Home sweet home!
Thoughts, observations, and random tidbits:
- Fun Fact time: Iceland has been settled for roughly 1,080 years. It's only been an independent country since 1944.
- Fun fact time #2: Reykjavik means "smokey bay" in Icelandic. Betcha you didn't know that.
- Fun fact time #3: In summer, you can expect to see sun for 22 hours of the day; the only times when you don't see the sun is when you're probably sleeping, so it doesn't matter. This is fun but it does make sleeping really hard at times.
- Fun fact time #4: Their water, due to it being geothermal, is so clean that you can drink tap water
- The girls there are very attractive
- Odds are you'll run into a redhead girl about every one in three or five girls you see. Though it seems like half of the female staff in the restaurants are a redhead. (And they have souls.)
- It's pretty expensive there as they have to import their food from elsewhere
- Iceland is the most beautiful country in the world. Again, you can quote me on this.
- Even though Reykjavik is the capital city, within 30-60 minutes drive, you can get to nature quite easily
- There are museums everywhere, even when you don't expect it. This can also extend to the countryside.
- On that segue, you can expect to find at least one or two houses that are completely in the middle of nowhere
- They speak English fluently, and I mean fluently. Which is good, because Icelandic has to be one of the toughest languages to learn.
- I've learned that from this trip, Germans travel a ton
- You meet some awesome people staying in hostels, not to mention that you save a ton of money
- The shower in our hostel was so relaxing that I thought I was getting a massage
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