Niceland

25 June 2013

We had a wake up call for 7am this morning as we’d booked an all day tour for the “Golden Circle” they call it – seeing some of the highlights around Reykjavik.  We were all tired, but we are hardy travelers so we just plodded on.  The worst thing was we had to change rooms in the hotel because of another mix-up they did, so we had to pack up our bags and put them in storage while we were gone today.  Ugh.  I’ve never had such trouble at Radisson before as they are usually top notch.  Oh well, in the scheme of things, it’s a small thing.  The big thing is that Kory left his very expensive camera somewhere and we don’t know where.  We’ve called all the lost and founds and no one has turned it in, so he’s pretty bummed about that. 

One of the reasons I hate cruising is because of all the movement of people in groups.  You are only as fast as the slowest person, and even going on a bus tour for one day proved the same.  Most of the time was spent sitting on the bus waiting for the last person.  Honestly, they need to invent some kind of bracelet that sends a signal five minutes before people are to be on the bus, as at one point we waited up to 30 minutes for someone who never showed up so we finally left them behind.  But really, holding up everyone for 30 minutes wasn’t good customer service and it went like that all day.  We had very little time to see the things we took the tour to see, because of this, so it kind of put a damper on the whole experience, but aside from that, what we did see was pretty cool as it was nice to not rent a car and have to try and read those crazy road signs, finding our way around.

We learned a lot about Iceland history from the tour guide, so we would have missed all that if we’d gone out on our own.  As it was, we learned that the first Norwegian Viking King to settle this land brought with him several other men from Norway and on the way, swung by Ireland to pick up (kidnap) some women to join them.  So the first settlers were Norwegian and Irish.  All the animals they brought with them are basically still here.  The breeds of chickens, horses, reindeer and sheep are very unique in today’s world because they haven’t been diluted by other outside breeding and are still of the varieties that came over hundreds and hundreds of years ago. 

The only native animal to Iceland, aside from the fish and birds is the Artic Fox and Red Fox.  The only way they figure they got here was on ice floes, as Polar Bears sometimes show up in Northern Iceland via the same method.  They shoot them immediately.  They also have rats and mice and mink that have arrived via the ships, and they proudly count them as “wildlife.”  It’s tough for anything to survive in this climate, including trees. 

When the first settlers came, they cut down the trees that were here to make houses and burn fires.  They didn’t know the trees wouldn’t grow back, and they didn’t.  So for about 800 years, Iceland had no trees.  But in the early 1900s, the government and families started planting them so now there are groves in various places.  They’ve also planted wild lupine, with the idea that it would loosen up the soil to help other plants grow, but as it turned out, the lupine has just taken over the country.  It’s absolutely gorgeous this time of year when the flowers are blooming, but many people want to get rid of it because it’s not a native plant and it’s obviously doing too well. 

The stops we made today included a national park where the first settlers had their annual parliamentary meetings (top photo) that formed the laws of the land, the largest waterfall in the country, (above) the biggest geyser, the sight of the oldest church and the power plant (below) that harnesses the thermodynamic forces to provide heat and electricity to 95% of Iceland’s homes – basically for free. Each and every house and building is heated by water that comes out of the ground boiling hot.  Huge pipelines run the water down to the city where two thirds of the country’s population live, and gives them warmth year round for a flat fee to pay for maintenance, no matter how much they use. 

The geyser area we stopped at is a lot like Yellowstone National Park, with one very active geyser going off every five minutes or so.  It was fun to watch the sink hole “breathe” as the water bulged up and sucked back down until it finally blew.  We also learned that the word “geyser” is an Icelandic name that was given to the first one “discovered” nearly a thousand years ago, and from that, all others were thus named “geysers” even though it’s actually just the name of a particular one we saw today.

The waterfall we saw has more water flowing over it than Niagara Falls but it’s placed in an awkward spot.  It’s easy to see where the river used to flow, then I guess because of volcanic activity below it, the ground got hollowed out and eventually the river eroded enough rock that the bottom just dropped right out of the river and created the falls, as the water, when it comes over the falls, drops into a thin crevice and sort of disappears.  It’s weird.  But then, that’s not unusual for these parts.  Volcanic activity has made this place the unique place it is.

In the National Park, there is a much used road cutting through the park that last year developed a sink hole.  As it turned out, that sink hole was just the beginning of a huge ravine running underneath the road so it didn’t take long and the entire road in one big section just disappeared down a massive crack in the earth.  They’ve since built a bridge over the crack so the path can still be used, but it’s kinda freaky to think about what’s going on under your feet.

One recent housing development (above) was built around some natural hot springs so there would be a nice park in the middle of the neighborhood everyone could soak in.  One day a woman realized her house was getting way too hot, and when they went to investigate they found a new fissure had opened up under her house so it didn’t take long for it to burn up and now in it’s place is a hole that spurts up steam, non-stop.  I think they moved out before they lost any of their stuff, though, so that was good, but still, how do you make payments on that?  I’m sure they don’t have insurance for such things in this land of ice and fire.

We also traveled along “no-mans land” today as Iceland sits right on top of the European plate and North American plate, so the valley between the two ridges of these two plates is constantly growing wider and has actually now formed it’s own little plate.

The tour guide was telling us about the “pleasant sulfur smell” we’d encounter in different areas.  She admitted, she grew up with it so is used to it, but I’m not sure anyone else finds it so pleasant, and it’s everywhere in Iceland, but not as nasty as some places I’ve smelled.  The threat of large earthquakes, volcanoes erupting and bad snowstorms would be of greater concern.

Our tour bus got back over an hour late so Kory’s friend was waiting for us and not sure why we weren’t where we were supposed to be.  I’d made the reservations so he couldn’t find us even registered at the hotel since he didn’t know my name.  Good thing we were only five minutes late.  He then took us to his house and we enjoyed a wonderful dinner and a lovely evening chatting with Kory’s dear old friends – hearing about the many ways God has provided for them over the years both in direction and protection.  I love God stories.

The evening was just too short, so they invited us back sometime on our way to and from Norway, so it would be nice to have more time with them.  Maybe we’ll come back to Norway next year for a week or two, who knows.  I can’t think about being gone for two years, that’s for sure.

So the big bummer of today was Kory losing his camera, but Kaleb actually was thrilled all day as he got a message from his regular Algebra teacher, who just came back from vacation and RE graded his final exam.  He felt the sub was a bit too harsh on some of her judgments so instead of getting 78%, he actually got 87%, which bumped his final grade in the class up to an A- instead of a B.  Kaleb was doing the happy dance all day.

It was a full day and now it’s after midnight and the sun is still shining in through the window.  This old horse needs blinders so I can get some sleep!