Iceland, anyone?

[Deleted]

Z, what did you imagine it would be? I loved it really. The whole family did. And most of them did NOT go in to it expecting to love it, lol. It's become a bit of a mantra, ie. Mom says You should try it! Someone says, no, yeh right, and someone else says... Remember Iceland  

[ZaireinHD]

ice hotel taken in Sweden

the sky! look up in the sky!

LOL

I've never seen a night sky like this in the picture

 

LOL - no air conditioning required

[ZaireinHD]

Ice hotels are created and melt away - I was / am interested in taking a vacation to a freezing cold place! I love being in cold temperatures! not into being hot. my favorite season is winter!

My body temperature runs HOT on HOT on HOT everyday! I have my fan on at my desk at work in winter and summer and I am the weirdo at work cause women are wearing gloves and their coat + the real skinny guys got on jacket or sweater and I'm sitting there with a fan on - LOL

I sooo love it when one of the women co-worker comes by with her FREEZING cold hands and wants to warm up on my body heat! she would come by and put her freezing cold hand on the back of my neck and I (sometimes) can't stop the moan! sound I make out load!  

LOL

her cold hand on the back of my neck feels sooo good! and she says the same. she says oh your heat feels good Z!

 

[ZaireinHD]

this one

and this


not what I had in mind of a vacation to Iceland
sure could be cold? but the scene looks sad to me

[aprilleigh]

No Aurora Borealis because of the time of year ... that ends about March, I think? And since it was still light ALL NIGHT LONG.... I fully admit, seeing the Aurora would have been amazing, and I really hoped we'd see it. But I'm not brave enough to deal with all that weather! 

Living Social and Groupon have been sending me getaway deals for a 3 night stay w/ Northern Lights tour ... so tempting!! 

I'll try to upload some of "my" photos later. 

[Deleted]

It is stark in places, and isolating. The landscape is raw and not always inviting. But it's breathtaking too, and the air is so clear. 

   
Reykjavik is different. I didn't take many photos there, but maybe the kids have more. They especially liked the graffiti.  

[lund]

I think that the McD disappeared in the financial crises a few years ago.

I LOVE to go Europe-USA by Icelandair. The stop-overs are reasonable, and it is nice to get rid of most of the jetlag. And even if going directly in one direction, it is nice to get out of the aircraft and stroll around the airport for 45 to 75 minutes, shopping allowed. (A bunch of aircrafts come in from different European cities, change passengers, and depart to a number of US cities, or the other way around. The effect means a lot of comfortable flights with easy changes.)The food has been OK to Iceland and wonderful from Iceland, and they have really known about all ingredients (important for persons with food allergies).  (Sabena and AA have pretty bad track records here.)

The landscapes are impressive and dramatic, the hobby photographer can have a ball, the history nerd too, and there are many outings for active people. (Whales, fishing, bathing, horseriding, bird watching, looking at Surtsey ("new" volcanic island developing), just boating, looking at historic sites, and probably a dozen more.)

[Deleted]

It wasn't the easiest airport to be gfree at as I recall. But a nice airport.

[Icelandic Woman]

ZaireinHD if you want to see more colorful beautiful pictures of Iceland go here:
iceland-photo-tours.com/

[Deleted]

We're in Iceland right now!  Fantastic place; weather has been cloudy or rainy about 80% of the time and we still love it and are plotting on how to come back again.  It's dreadfully expensive, starting with our airfare on IcelandAir from BOS:  DH is too tall for Coach and has a creaky back and low immunity to germs, so he flew Business Class.  I have no such excuse for flying Business Class.  Umm, wait... I can't stand to be away from his side.  Yes, that's it!  Only 5 hours from BOS.

So far I have:

1.  Taken a hike up to a volcano and gone down 250 meters into the magma chamber via hydraulic lift

2.  Stood on a bridge spanning a fissure between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates

3.  Taken a Jeep tour in which DH and I had the guide to ourselves (a happy accident- the Jeep holds  a max of 8 people), making an unscheduled stop to Bobby Fischer's grave site, which was a little off the planned itinerary

4.  Visited Gullfoss, which is better than Niagara Falls

5.  Watched a geyser erupt at Geysir (yes, that's the origin of the English world)

6.  Bought way too much.  Beatiful Icelandic yarn (well, I'm saving a bundle knitting my own hat), a wool cap for DH, a gold charm for my bracelet, a tiny pair of red mittens for our granddaughter

7.  Gone swimming in one of the wonderful public pools- they're all geothermically-heated.  This one was nearest to out hotel.  It's indoors and Olympic-size.  You are required to shower before using the pool.  Without your suit on.  With no curtains on the stalls.  Let me tell you, I saw way too much.

Photobucket link below.  The huge, craggy rocks are an edge of a tectonic plate at Thingvellir.  The closeups of giant, interestingly colored rocks are taken from inside the volcano.  (More at insidethevolcano.is). 

We're either going to sell one of the cars or raid our granddaughter's 529 Plan to get back here next year- not sure which!

s300.photobucket.com/user/Athena531/library/Iceland

[Icelandic Woman]

Awesome pictures @athena53!!! I am glad you are enjoying your trip.

[Deleted]

Thanks!  We're back and I'm putting together a blog. I told DH I was going to learn enough Icelandic to speak it when we return- it's a beautiful language, with enough cognates with English and German that I can pick up some words without looking them up. I bought a paperback dictionary and it was expensive!  (Well, there's not a huge demand for them, I guess, between the relatively small population of Icelandic speakers and the fact that so many of them speak excellent English.) 

Some of the food choices were- well, unusual.  I did not try horse carpaccio, puffin or whale.  I LOVED Skyr, though!