The Blue Lagoon and Airport Blues...

The $18 Breakfast

Through the Lava Fields to the Blue Lagoon

The Swim-Up Bar at the Blue Lagoon

The Blue Lagoon With the Hot Springs in the Pool

Me, After Taking a Dip in the Hot Springs

Millions of Icebergs Off the Coast of Greenland, as Seen from the Plane

Glaciers, Rivers, Mountains and Clouds in Greenland

Ice, Snow and Mountains in Greenland

Well, shortly after writing the last entry in my blog, I decided to check out the ice bar in Reykjavik. It was 12:30 a.m., but it was still daylight. Unfortunately, the staff at the hotel told me that on Sundays, the bars close at 1:00 a.m. I would have been better off going on the weekend, when bars are open until 8:00 a.m.!

So, I simply went to my room and wrote a few postcards to my folks while listening to a fascinating BBC documentary on the influences of Salvador Dali. I went to bed around 1:00 a.m.

I awoke around 8:00 a.m. and started to pack all my stuff for my return trip to Canada today. My flight would only leave at 5:00 p.m. from Keflavik, about an hour's drive away from Reykjavik, so I thought I would have time to visit the Blue Lagoon, Iceland's famed geothermal springs and spa resort. I carried my luggage downstairs, paid my hotel bill, and made my way on-foot to the bus station. I had already bought a return-trip ticket to the airport, so it was a question of paying a small supplement for the added stop-over at the Blue Lagoon, which was on the way to the airport. I had missed the 10:00 a.m. departure by then, having arrived at the bus station by 10:30 a.m., and the next departure was scheduled for 11:00 a.m., so I resolved to have breakfast here. I had the regular breakfast (eggs, bacon, toast, coffee) and a bottle of water for 1800 kronur (about 18 dollars Canadian). You gotta love these prices!!

After the 45-minute bus ride, I got to the Blue Lagoon shortly before noon. We followed the narrow entrance pathway carved into the lava fields to the geothermal springs and spa resort. The view here was amazing. Nestled in among the bleak, barren, Moon-like landscape were pools of brimming turquoise. It was a very surreal landscape. I got into the locker room, rented a towel, some trunks and a bathrobe, and proceeded to the shower area. All people who dip into the springs need to shower before the enter the pools.

As I stepped outside in my swim trunks, I shivered in the very cool Iceland air. It might have been only about 12 degrees. But I was very comfortable indeed when I sat in the thermal springs. And happier still when I bought myself a drink -- the Blue Lagoon cocktail -- from the swim-up bar. There were tons of people in the pool, but the pool was ginormous, so there was no noticeable crowding. I stayed in the pool until well past 1:15 p.m., at which time my fingers were wrinkling up. I emerged from the warm, healing waters, made my way to the locker and got out Troy's camera to snap pictures of this place. I even got a photo taken of myself on one of the numerous bridges, in my robe.

The bus I had to take to the airport was the 2:15 p.m. one, because as my flight was at 5:00 p.m., and the next bus after this one was the 4:15 p.m. one, I wouldn't have time to make it! So, I showered, got dressed, paid for my drink, and left the premises in time to catch the bus. It was a 15-minute bus ride to the airport, where check-in was pretty uneventful. I downed a couple of cheeseburgers and a large fries. In addition to the coffee I drank this morning, I also had two colas with dinner, in a desperate attempt to stay awake all day. The thing was that waking up at the time I did this morning was like getting up at 3:30 a.m. Ottawa time, and if I want to get over the jet-lag quickly, I am going to have to try to get back to the regular sleeping patterns quickly. And to do this, I need to stay awake today to get a good night's rest tonight.

The first leg of my return to Canada was the 6-hour flight to Toronto. Leaving Keflavik at 5:00 p.m., I would get into Toronto 6 hours later, at 6:10 p.m. local time. As we flew from Iceland there were no clouds at all in the sky, so by the time we got to Greenland, we had a completely unobstructed view of the island! And it was spectacular!! I took quite a few pictures of the mountains, the glaciers, the glacial rivers and lakes, the icebergs... some of the most stunning landscape I have ever seen in my life. And the pictures are very good!

It was smooth sailing until we got to Toronto, and I hit a major snag. This turned out to be the low-light of my trip. There were 5 major flights into Toronto, all at 6:00 p.m., so customs was jammed pack. We snaked in line for well over half an hour, until an employee asked us all if there were any passengers making a connecting flight, and if there were, we were asked to step into a separate, shorter line. (Thank God!). My connecting flight to Ottawa was only scheduled for 9:10 p.m., but it was already 6:40 p.m. by then, and I needed to clear customs, grab my luggage from the caroussel, get my new boarding pass, pass the security check and board my flight. So after clearing customs, having declared $681 of gifts I bought abroad, I got to the luggage caroussel, and waited. And waited. And waited. After about an hour with no luggage appearing at all, a message came over the loud-speaker to say there was a problem with the luggage system, and they were doing everything they could to get it fixed. Meanwhile, more flights were coming in, and irate passengers were standing around waiting for their luggage to arrive. I finally spotted my piece of luggage on the conveyor belt around 8:00 p.m. and retrieved it so that I could get my connection. Problem was that there was a huge line-up to get to the connections gate. I was starting to think, "So much for the 9:10 p.m. flight to Ottawa." Just then, I realized that I was having problems lugging my suitcase in the line, and when I stopped to examine if something were caught in the wheels, one of the wheels fell off. It had been completely torn off by Icelandic Air. Brand new suitcase, first trip I take with it. I finally got to the desk to get a new boarding pass at 8:30 p.m., thinking I'm not going to make it, but the people at the desk say I can still make my flight, but I will need to hurry. So, I place the luggage on the conveyor belt and rush off to the security clearance area, where I am yet again herded into line. I make it through that part of the airport, and there is 10 minutes left before my flight is scheduled to depart, and I still need to locate my gate, number 128. So I am running around like a madman, trying to balance my backpack filled with CDs on my back, sweating up a storm, and trying to find my gate. I finally make it with, by my calculations, only minutes to spare, when I discover that they haven't yet proceeded with the boarding of the plane yet. In fact, they are paging pilots in the airports to see if any pilot is available to fly to Ottawa tonight!! And when one pilot finally approaches the gate, they then ask if there are any available flight attendants! Luckily, I boarded the plane, our flight was delayed by about 20 minutes, and there were no other hiccups on my return to Ottawa. I was really happy to see that Troy had come to meet me at the airport, even though it was close to 10:30 p.m. by the time our flight came in, it would take close to an hour by the time I got my luggage and we drove to my home, and the poor guy had to work for 8:00 a.m. the next day (this morning). But all's well that ends well, except for the wheel that came off my luggage. But I was told to call Icelandic Air, and they should look into compensating me for the damage.

All in all, a wonderful trip, and I can't believe that something I had waited for all of my life, and I had planned for since 2007, was already over. Sweden was everything I had ever hoped it would be, and it really became my ABBA pilgrimage. I really didn't know what to expect from Iceland when I asked for a prolonged stay there instead of a simple stop-over, but I discovered an incredible landscape and I am very much eager to return.

But despite all this travel, as Dorothy says in "The Wizard of Oz":"there's no place like home".

M.

PS- I will be adding photos to all my blog posts as soon as I figure out how to do this!

To Eyjafjallajökull and Vatnajökull and Back Again

The Skogarfoss Water Falls

The View Beside the Falls

Ash-Covered Sheep Near the Eyjafjallajökull Volcano

The Lava Fields, About 1000 Years After the Eruption

Fisksup With Viking Beer

Part of the Vatnajökull Glacier, the Largest in Europe

The Glacial Lagoon, Where Parts of the James Bond Movie, "Die Another Day", Were Filmed

All Geared Up To Explore the Icebergs in the Glacial Lagoon

Icebergs (90% Are Underwater)

Giant Slabs of Ice in the Glacial Lagoon

Broken-Off Pieces of Ice from the Icebergs, on the Coast of the Atlantic Ocean

The Fishing Village of Vik

The Foothills of the Eyjafjallajökull Volcano

The Seljalandsfoss Waterfalls

View From Behind the Falls

Side View of the Falls

Another View of the Falls

The Rabbit in a Field of Alaskan Lupins

The Sun at 11:00 p.m. in Reykjavik

It turns out that the bus tour I signed up for yesterday was not 10 hours long, as I had thought, but a good 14 hours. I was pleased because I got to see the entire southern shore of Iceland, from Reykjavik in the south-west to Vatnajökull in the south-east. It was a long, exhausting and intensive trip, but here are the highlights.

I woke up in the mid-morning sunshine this morning only to realize that it wasn't yet 5:00 a.m. I went back to sleep and was rudely awakened by my wake-up call at 6:30 a.m., and Man, was I tired! I lounged around for a bit, trying to wake up while watching some lame 70s BBC comedy. (Last night, before going to bed, I watched the Fawlty Towers episode with "Lord" Melbury). Anyway, I finally got up, showered, got dressed and came downstairs to check my e-mail messages. It was already 7:20 a.m. by then, and I wondered whether I could get a quick bite to eat before the tour bus would show up at the hotel. It was supposed to pick me up between 7:30 and 8:00 a.m. As it turns out, it pulled up in front of my hotel just then. But we were going to stop at a convenience store downtown to get something to eat anyway, so it was no big deal. I got myself a bottle of water and a delicious chocolate chip muffin.

And we were off.

The entire island of Iceland is circled by a road called the Ring Road, or route 1, and we were going to go exploring the southern section of this road from the capital, Reykjavik, to the glacier, Vatnajökull. There were several stops along the way.

As we made our way east, we basically covered a lot of the road I saw yesterday on the Golden Circle tour. Then, after about 2 hours, the landscape was completely unfamiliar to me and new. We reached the river Þjórsá, the longest river in Iceland, which cuts across what is believed to be the world's largest lava flow, at 805 square km, and about 8,000 years old. Nothing grows here except for moss on the volcanic rocks. We saw several dormant volcanos and some hot springs coming out of the rock. We visited the Skogarfoss waterfall, and stopped for lunch at the Islandia hotel, a remote hotel located in the heart of barren lava fields with nothing else in sight. Truly a surreal experience. We were given a choice of soups for lunch, and as I had already had the lamb soup, I tried the seafood soup today, which was seasoned, I believe, with saffron. I had an Icelandic beer, a Viking, with my meal.

We got to the foot of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano, now dormant, but expected to begin erupting again soon. The entire region here was bleak, and even the sheep in the fields, usually a snowy white, were a dull grey from the volcanic dust and ash. The vistas all along the southern caost from this point onward were simply stunning. Of course, I couldn't always catch the place names of the areas we visited. I do remember that the valleys near Kirkjubæjarklaustur were particularly verdant, with sheep high up in the mountains (or should I say, volcanos). We started seeing glaciers high up in the mountains, and it was truly a stirring sight! We stopped shortly in Skatafell National Park, and then passed Ieland's biggest volcano, Öræfajökull glacier, which has the highest peak of the country, Hvannalshnjúkur. When we got to the western edge of Europe's largest glacier, the famed Vatnajökull, our tour bus stopped at the Jökulsárlón, an amazing glacial lagoon at the foot of the glacier. We disembarked so that we could board an amphibian boat which drove the short distance to the lagoon before setting off on the water. The experience was definitely a highlight for me, floating along on our boat, snapping pictures of the massive icebergs among which we sailed. The air was incredibly cold here. Without the wind chill, I am guessing -10C, easily. Our guide caught hold of some ice from a glacier and explained to us that it was 100% pure water because it had been compressed under the glacier for more than 1500 years and had then been floating in the water of the lagoon so long it got rid of any impurities. She chopped her slab of ice into small, manageable chunks and gave each of us a bite to sample.

When we emerged from the lagoon, I walked across the road to the other side of the Ring Road, and the Atlantic Ocean. I snapped photos of the smaller chunks of ice that had broken off from the icebergs in the lagoon and drifted onto the sandy beach of the Atlantic Ocean. The waves here were enormous, and I did not venture too far from the shoreline.

We boarded our bus again and made our way back to Reykjavík, stopping along the way in the small fishing village of Vík, where we had a mediocre dinner at a fast food type joint. I figured it was a fishing village, so I got the fish and chips at 1700 kronúr (around 17 dollars Canadian), but then again, the soup of the day was going for 750 kronúr (7,50 Canadian). Did I mention that Iceland was expensive?!? The villagers in Vík live in dread of the next volcanic eruption of the Hekla volcano, not because of the ash or the lava, but because of the very real threat they face of having a tsunami. I would not like to live there!

As we were enjoying the view, we suddenly noticed in a river we were crossing, a small red car sinking fast, and a young twenty-something driver climbing out of the driver's window, with his cellphone to his ear, clutching his backpack, and attempting to climb onto the roof of his sinking car. Incredibly, we just kept on our way, and the guide called 112 on her cellphone for help.

We made a final stop at Seljalandsfoss waterfall. What made this one the most special of the three I have visited is that we could walk along a pathway that leads behind the waterfalls. It was a most mystical, magical and memorable moment for me. Even the pictures I took are breath-taking, I think.

We were supposed to arrive in Reykjavík by 10:00 p.m. at the latest, but we were already running behind schedule with 12 more km to go when the guide suddenly cried out "rabbit". The bus stopped, and stalled. We couldn't get it to start again. And what was the connection with the rabbit?? Turns out there wasn't one, just a coincidence. The fact was we ran out of gas. So, we waited about 20 minutes for another bus to come to our rescue. In the meantime, I took a picture of this mysterious rabbit...

We boarded the new bus at 11:00 p.m. sharp, and I snapped a picture of the sun which was still fairly high above the horizon. I got dropped off at my hotel shortly thereafter, and learned -- alas! -- that the Ice Bar has just closed for the evening. So, I won't get a chance to go.

We shall see how tomorrow unfolds, but as my flight out of Iceland is only at 5:00 p.m., I am going to try to go to the Blue Lagoon geothermal spa in the late morning, early afternoon.

But for now, I'm going out to see Reyjavik on my last night of my trip.

Troy, see you tomorrow!

M.

The Golden Circle

The Complimentary Cream of Celery and Truffle Soup

First Course: Fried Langoustine and Poached White Sea Pearls With Vegetables Tartan and Coriander Vinaigrette

Second Course: Plaice Pipe Under Parmesan Turf and Chanterelles on a Green Ground, With a Glass of Riesling

Third Course: Fillet of Lamb With Rusty Spring Vegetables and Summer Truffles, With a Glass of Pinot Noir

Fourth Course: Hot Chocolate Cake With Soft Chocolate Raspberries Ganache

Lunch: Kjöttsup With Brennevin.

Gullfoss Water Falls (Note the People on The Cliff on the Left)

The Geyser at Geysir, With The Stupid Tourists Who Got Soaking Wet...

The Hot Springs at Geysir

A Cloud of Ash From the Eyjafjallajökull Volcano

Hakarl (Rotten, Raw Shark)

After my last post last night, I went out exploring the city a little bit. I ended up doing some shopping downtown. I got a souvenir for Mam and Dad, and a little something that Troy asked me to get him here. For myself, I got the Björk box set that contains all of her live albums. Yay!

I was exhausted and really hungry by the time I got back to the hotel, so I decided to have a late dinner at the hotel restaurant, "The Gallery". My meal started at 8:30 p.m. I decided to go all out and order a special meal, so I got the special 4-course menu they had on last night. Before the meal came to the table, I ordered a long-island ice tea as a cocktail. Because I got the special Kjarval menu, the chef came to the table to give me a complimentary appetizer, a cream of celery and truffle soup. (I had never had truffles and thought it was amazing). I ordered a glass of Riesling wine to accompany my first few courses. The first course was the fried langoustine and poached white sea pearls with vegetables tartan and coriander vinaigrette. The sea pearls were like small scallops, and I had had these once before in St. Malo, France. Absolutely delicious. I asked the waiter to give my compliments to the chef. The second course was the plaice pipe under parmesan turf and chanterelles on a green ground. Plaice is a flat fish, and this too was amazing. When the waiter asked me if everything was to my liking, I responded that the culinary orgasm was continuing. He then asked me if I wanted a glass of red wine to accompany my third course, and since I said yes, he recommended I get the pinot noir with my third course, the fillet of lamb with rusty spring vegetables and summer truffles. I had the rest of my Riesling with dessert, the hot chocolate cake with soft chocolate raspberries ganache. This has been one of the most memorable meals of my entire life, and it blew away all of my previous misconceptions about Iceland being a culinary wasteland!

I left the table at 11:30 p.m. and made my way to bed where I slept soundly until 3.00 a.m., when I noticed the sun was shining. I pulled the blinds, went back to bed and slept until 8:00 a.m. this morning. A quick breakfast buffet, checked my e-mails, got ready and left the hotel by 10:00 a.m. to walk around town. There are tons and tons and tons of possible excusions here: I could go snow-mobiling on the glaciers, I could go horseback riding to explore the Icelandic countryside, I could go for an airplane excursion to Greenland, I could go dog-sledding on the glaciers, I could go on a helicopter tour of the volcanoes... But many of these tours start at 8:30 a.m., so I was late for all of them, and I only have one more full day in Iceland. So, when I was downtown, I bought a ticket for today's afternoon tour of the Golden Circle, and I bought a ticket for tomorrow's 10-hour excursion to the Eyjafjallajökull volcano and the Vatnajökull glacier, the largest glacier in Europe.

I was on the bus by 1:00 p.m. when we departed for the Golden Circle tour. This is "the" tour that all travellers to Iceland need to see, apparently. Ours was a special afternoon tour, so I could get to see the major sites in one 6-hour trip. We left Reykjavik and made our way to our first stop, Ðingvellir, the site of the first Icelandic parliament, which first met outdoors in the year 930. I couldn't believe the landscape on our way there: huge, rugged cliffs; massive volcanic masses; desolate, bleak, unpopulated magma fields... The landscape is unlike anything I have ever seen, and I am longing to come back here to have more time to explore this otherworldly scenery. When we stopped at Ðingvellir for a visit, I remembered that the fellow who sold me the tickets this moring recommend that I try the kjöttsúp (meat soup) at the restaurant here, a hearty lamb soup that I absolutely devoured. It was simply fantastic and richly flavoured! I also tried brennevín for the first time, the strong, 38% proof liquor that is called, in Icelandic, "firewater". From Ðingvellir, we continued onward to Geysir, a geothermal hotspot that has since lent its name to all other geysers in the world. We waited with bated breath until a huge plume-like jet of boiling water erupted into the air, at least 100 feet up, I would guess. I had to laugh at the stupid tourists who had crowded around for a closer look and who were soaking wet after this episode. I got a drop on my sunglasses and a drop on my head, otherwise unscathed. From Ðingvellir, we made our way to Gullfoss, a majestic waterfall. I would have stayed longer watching this amazing sight, but the bugs were really annoying so after snapping a few shots I sought refuge in the bus. On our way back into the city, we came into a thick cloud. At first, the bus driver and our guide couldn't tell if it was fog, rain or ash. Turns out that it was drifting ash from the recent eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano. Although it has long since stopped erupting, the tons of ash are still drifting in the air. The guide said if it got to the point where we would not be able to see ten feet ahead of the bus, we would have to put on our gas masks, but it didn't come to that. We also drove through a huge lava field that was created during a volcanic eruption around the time Iceland became Christianized, around the year 1000. One thousand years later, there is still very little vegetation here, only moss growing on the rocks. We also saw the massive destruction from 2008's devastating 6.3 earthquake, and the huge boulders that had been hurled from the highest mountain tops into the valleys below. The guide also said that salmon and trout are very prolific in the waters here. In one lake, the largest trout caught a few years ago weighed 38 pounds, and people were sure it was a salmon, but it wasn't. Given the fantastic fishing here, fishing licenses are ridiculously expensive: 300,000 kronúr (about $3,000 Canadian dollars) a day. Because the costs are so prohibitive, only an elite of sportsmen and women come here, chief among whom are Princes Charles, William and Harry.

It was around this time, near the end of the tour, that Troy's camera jammed. I couldn't turn it off or do anything else with it. So it stayed on for another 10 minutes before the battery went. I tried removing the battery, but the shutter would still not recede back into the camera. I figured I would have a look at the instructions, recharge the battery, and see if I could get the camera working again.

When we got to the city, the chauffeur was kind enough to drive me to my hotel, so I got my stuff ready and headed out for dinner. I wanted to sample authentic Icelandic cuisine, so tonight I made my way to the Ðrir Frakkar restaurant. I did not have the guts to try the whale steak or the fried puffin, but I bit the bullet and decided to be adventurous and order the hákarl, the putrified, raw shark, as an appetizer. Luckily, it came with some brennevín to wash it down. I thought I was quite brave and can't believe that I actually sampled three pieces before giving in. There were still about a dozen pieces left in my bowl, but I couldn't finish it. The taste still haunts me. As I brought the toothpick to my mouth, I could smell the slight aroma of ammonia. The first few chews weren't so bad: it reminded me of salmon sushi. But then the taste exploded into my mouth and the aftertaste was dreadful. If ever I had wondered what Fricot and Sarriette's kitty litter box tasted like, I think this would be it!! I am happy to report that the rest of my meal was a million times better: butter-fried halibut with lobster in a lobster sauce, a glass of house white wine, and then the chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream for dessert. I got to speak some Spanish with the waitress who was from Columbia, I spoke French with the tourists from Belgium on the tour bus, I listened to the Swedish tourists on the bus speaking with each other. And of course, spoke lots of English during the day. It truly was a multicultural experience.

So here I am now at the hotel, putting the finishing touches on this post. I just mailed a bunch of post cards, and I am thinking of retiring soon because the tour bus is picking me up at 7:30 a.m. tomorrow morning for our tour of the southern coast of Iceland. Luckily, when I went up to my room immediately after dinner, I was glad to see that I could finally turn off the camera by placing the recharged battery inside, so all should be good for tomorrow. I am a little concerned that I might be nearing the upper limit of photographs I can take on this memory card, but we shall live dangerously.

Bless ("Bye bye" in Icelandic)...

M.

Ævinlega sæl og blessuð (Icelandic greeting)

Pad Thai With Mango Daiquiri: My Last Dinner in Sweden


The Thai Boat Restaurant, Near Hans's House

A Rainy Street Corner in Reykjavik The Night I Arrived. Note the Icelandic Flag.

T-Shirt in a Tourist Shop in Reykjavik

Lutheran Cathedral Near My Hotel in Reykjavik

Surprise everyone! There is a free business centre in my hotel here in Reykjavik, and I can keep blogging. Maybe I should pick up where I left off...

After yesterday's post, I went back to my room to watch some TV and to relax a bit while waiting to meet up with Hans. He called my hotel room punctually at 6:00 p.m., and I went downstairs to meet him in the lobby. We walked a little ways to a great Thai place which was located in a replica Viking boat docked on the Hammarby canal, about half way between my hotel and Hans's condo. I had a mango daiquiri and the chicken pad thai. It was delicious! (But it still doesn't beat that place we used to go to, Nick. I brought Troy there a few weeks ago, and I think he was glad to be introduced to the place! But I digress...)

After dinner, we walked around for a bit on Södermalm, and we talked about all kinds of things: genealogy, the Millennium series, "Tales of the City", travel... It was great just to hang out on a park bench in the city, chatting and enjoying the dazzling sun! It was 25C degrees with no humidity! Beautiful weather indeed. And I am really tanned! At 9:00 p.m., I told Hans that I needed to pack for my trip to Reykjavik, so he walked me back to the hotel. I thanked him for spending time with me like this on my trip. It is certainly nice to have someone to hang out with when you visit a distant city, and his company was agreeable. Hans has promised to get me the latest Benny Andersson release when it comes out, a special piece of music that was commissioned for the royal wedding. And I promised him that I would reimburse him when I receive it.

With that, I went to my room and spent time trying to pack my luggage so that it wouldn't be too heavy. I transferred all of my CDs to my backpack and was also able to fit in a few heavy books in there as well. Exhausted, I finished packing and went to bed around 11:30 p.m. last night.

I awoke on my own this morning at 8:00 a.m., checked my e-mails, had breakfast, showered and got ready to leave the hotel. I thanked Johan for being such a good receptionist, and headed to the subway station. From there, I was able to get to Central station and hop onto the Arlanda airport Express shuttle. I managed to get to the airport by 11:00 a.m. My flight was only scheduled to leave at 2.10 p.m., but I wanted to get information about tax free shopping, exchange my Swedish kronor for Islandic kronúr, have lunch, and locate my gate. I had some teriyaki noodles washed down with pear cider at the airport, and it was quite tasty. Then, I settled into the lobby at my gate and read the liner notes for the newly-released Deluxe edition of ABBA's "Voulez-Vous" album, with -- get this -- a bonus DVD that features the "ABBA in Switzerland" special I tried to record as a child, the first time it has ever been officially released. Of course, it would have been difficult to secure the rights for all of the performers on that special, so it features only the ABBA segments, and not Roxy Music, Kate Bush and Ted Gardestad.

I boarded the plane as scheduled and had a very uneventful flight into Reykjavik. The seats on Air Icelandic are still as uncomfortable as I remember, but I managed to doze for about a half hour. The flight to Iceland from Sweden was three hours long, but at the same time, we gained an hour. So I arrived in Reykjavik around 3:30 p.m. local time. The cool thing about being in Iceland is that I can forget the table of 7... one Canadian dollar today is worth 118 kronúr, so if I simply divide the prices by 100 I should have a good idea of the exchange.

The international airport in Iceland is in Keflavik, about 50 km away from the capital, Reykjavik, so I bought a round-trip ticket into the city aboard the "Fly-Bus". It took a full hour to get into the city, because the bus made several stops along the way.

My friend Darren would be very proud of me because I have not studied at all for this trip, and I am not exactly sure what I should be doing, or going, or seeing. This leg of the trip is a total adventure.

As I made my way to Reykjavik, I admired the bleakness of the landscape that met my eye. I have never seen such sweeping vistas of rugged desolation. It was hilly, jagged terrain as far as the eye could see, evidence of recent volcanic activity, with the only vegetation being the moss-covered moors and dales. There were no houses, and we met very few cars on our way into the city. It was almost like an extra-terrestrial landscape, with the wide ocean on the other side of the bus. Apparently, the entire country has a population of 300,000 people, two-thirds of whom live in greater Reykjavik. The second largest city has 17,000 people. This makes for a very sparsely populated country! As for the language, needless to say, I do not understand a single spoken word. But the written language, being derived from Old Norse, as is Swedish, is intriguing to me. I seem to be able to make out certain words on the road signs. For instance, a billboard for a ostburgare, which I made out to be a cheese burger, because the Swedish word for cheese is öst. Or the sign for a sjukarhus, which I thought might be a hospital, because the Swedish word for hospital is sjukhus...

I got to the Holt hotel here in Reykjavik about an hour ago, and it was great settling in. The hotel here is way more luxurious than the Clarion in Stockholm, which I really liked. The main lobby here is grand in an old-style kind of way, whereas the Clarion was definitely a designer hotel. One thing is certain: Iceland will be expensive, although not as expensive as it was before their economy crashed in 2008 and their currency was seriously devalued. In 2008, one Canadian dollar barely bought 68 kronúr. I think 118 kronúr to the dollar is a better deal. Still, the average entree at the hotel restaurant here comes in at around 4400 kronúr, so somewhat less than 44 dollars...

This is pretty much where I am at now. The Icelanders have their dinners close to 8:00 p.m., but I may not be able to last that long, especially since I am on a different clock. After dinner, I might venture out for a walk, even though I am tired, because I would like to see a bit of my new surroundings. In some ways it feels like I have gone back in time by two weeks: it is overcast here, like it was when I first arrived in Stockholm, and the high for today was 13C. Definitely chillier... Oh, and as a side note, my blog is not a good name. I recently discovered that Iceland is not really recognized as a Scandinavian country. Who knew? I guess it's pretty much the same as Newfoundland not being considered part of the Maritime provinces.

So, in case you are wondering, I am now 5 hours ahead of Ottawa time, 4 hours ahead of Moncton time. I will make the most of my time here in Reykjavik, even though I am really looking forward to coming home. Thanks to Martin and Troy for both letting me know that my house is still standing and that my cats send me kisses...

All best,

M.

Coda

The Hotdog Guide in Gröna Lund Amusement Park (from top to bottom: you can have your hotdog with mustard, with pickle mayo, with relish, with two scoops of mashed potatoes, with shrimp in mayo, or with sautéed onions)

A Swan With Her Cygnets in Djurgarden

Benny Andersson's House, Near Käknatorget (The Käkna Tower)

Djurgardenbronskanalen (The Canal, Near the Djurgarden Bridge)

Well, I left the hotel after my last post and made my way to Åhlens, the department store next door. I figured I would buy the Swedish language dictionary I saw at only 14 dollars Canadian. This is great because the only thing I have at home right now is a Swedish-English dictionary that doesn't tell me if a noun is an "en" word or an "ett" word (like "un" or "une" in French). This new dictionary will also tell me how to write the plural of nouns: there are five ways of forming the plural of a noun in Swedish, and I always get those confused. (Example: the plural for kvinna, meaning "woman", is kvinnor; but the plural of telefon is telefoner; and the plural of dröm, meaning dream, is drömmar.)

After this, I caught the ferry from Slussen to Djurgården. I decided that I would spend a lazy afternoon just enjoying the sunshine and trying not to think of stressful things. I enjoyed lying down on a huge flat rock and listening to the sound of the waves. I went all the way on foot to the small cabin on the canal where I had had the ice cream. On the way, I saw Benny's house again, so I took a better photograph of it. But suddenly, I really needed to pee. For a moment I thought I could go behind the rain shelter that ABBA was photographed in in 1970, but that was just a sacrilegeous thought. I couldn't pee on hallow ABBA ground... I ventured into the woods and stumbled upon a small burial site where some pre-Christian Swedes were buried some time between 500 and 1100. Although less hallow than the ABBA site, I still had to respect this place.

After emerging from a nearby hillock, I took some more pictures of this beautiful location. I also found the distinctive looking V-shaped tree that Benny and Frida were photographed in front of. Then I stopped for a late lunch, around 2:00 p.m. at a quaint little restaurant on Djurgården. I had some lasagna with a side salad and some pear cider. Yummy!

I walked away from Djurgården and along the coast back to Slussen, where I was able to take the subway back to the hotel. It was a very hot day, and I was glad I had my shorts on. Some Swedish men were going around without shirts.

But I am still thinking of the earthquake and hoping that I will receive word to tell me that everything is OK at my place...

When I got to the hotel, I paid my bill (I wanted to do this before I leave tomorrow), and I came to the business centre here to write my thoughts. As I am waiting to meet Hans tonight around 6:00, and as I am not sure if I will have time to post something new from Sweden, I thought I would take a few minutes to reflect on my two weeks here.

My experience in Sweden was a very rewarding one. In some ways, it is exactly what I expected it to be, in terms of its progressive, socialist, and inclusive outlook. The biggest surprise for me -- which will sound very silly -- is that it was a lot more European than I expected, in very subtle ways.

I certainly learned a lot while I was here, about the culture, the people and, ultimately, about myself. I learned that my Swedish-language skills are quite modest, yet they do allow me to communicate, especially in situations where I find myself with people who speak no English (or French, or even Spanish) at all. I learned that I have a lot to learn about the language, and this is a challenge I may decide to take up by having more private lessons. I learned that I want to "live life" a lot more. All too often, I get sucked into routines which sometimes feel very comfortable and I begin to like the familiarity too much, leaving me with no sense of adventure. The trip was good to shake me up a bit again. And I learned that my life is very, very good right now (presuming the quake did no major damage to my home). It was a short trip in some respects -- it sped by without my doing everything I had put on my list, but then again, it was an impossibly long list. In other ways, it was a very long time, especially being away from Troy, and also from my cats, in that order. I still have a weekend in Iceland ahead of me, and I am not sure what to expect there, but I am nearly ready to come home.

Maybe I am just a sentimental old fool, but I am feeling sad to be leaving. It was a great experience, and it really was the best possible destination to mark my 40 years of existence on this earth.

Thank you all for your loving thoughts which you shared with me during my journey, and for accepting to read my daily words. Despite the geographical distance, keeping this blog was a way of staying conneced with the people I cherish the most in my life.

Thank you all for being a friend...

M.

Not Exactly As Planned...

Our Approach to the Royal Palace on Drottningholm

The Royal Gardens at Drottningholm

The English Park at Drottningholm, Where Scenes From "ABBA The Movie" and the National Commercial Were Filmed

Long View of the Back of Drottningholm Palace

The Water Walls at Drottningholm

ABBA Posing In Front of the Water Walls on Drottningholm

Lisbeth Salander's Home on Fiskargatan (In the Millennium novels by Stieg Larsson)

The Best Meal I Had in Stockholm

Polar Music Studios (1978-2004), Now A Gym

Well, I had been working on my blog until well past midnight, so I got my wake-up call at 9:00 a.m. But the thing is that I was already up before then, so it was all good. I hurried to get breakfast because I wanted to make the most of my day, and that included a tour of Drottningholm, the royal residence near the island of Ekerö. Finally, I remember to tell you all about the exhibit in the hotel lobby. For Love 2010, the hotel lobby hosts a slide show of artwork chosen to depict the theme of love. Thing is it includes quite some raunchy scenes, and I am often surprised that the exhibit is playing in a public space like the hotel lobby. I mean, there are very graphic orgy scenes. Meanwhile, back home, an exhibit at the National Gallery which has been placed behind a screen telling people it is restricted is still the subject of public hostility. What a cultural difference!!

After buying a new pair of earphones for my iPod (the last pair just suddenly stopped working), I got to the dock to take the ferry from Stadshuset to Drottningholm. I got to the dock by 10:35, but with the ship leaving at 11:00, there was already a line-up. I guess the trip could be described as "the milk run", because along the way, we must have stopped at about a half dozen docks, delivering the morning papers to these isolated communities. We finally got to Drottningholm at noon sharp, having taken exactly one hour to get there. I spent that time trying to see if I could locate Agnetha Fältskog's house on the island of Ekerö, but to no avail. It was only when I got to the hotel and looked it up on the Internet that I discovered her home is located on the other side of the island, so I would not have been able to see it from the ferry.

My main concern when I got to Drottningholm was that I wanted to take the time it takes to visit the palace and the grounds (the guide book says it takes a full three hours minimum), but at the same time, I wanted to be back in Stockholm for the start of the Millennium tour at 6:00 p.m. When I got to the information desk to buy tickets, I was very, very disappointed. Despite what the guide had told me at Kungligaslottet the day before, Drottningholm was not open. I was really peeved. The whole palace was closed because of the royal wedding, just like the royal apartments in Kungligaslottet. Since it was noon, I decided to start with lunch at the restaurant. I ordered the köttbulle macka (meatball sandwich), and waited. Twenty minutes later, I had to ask them where my meal was, and they had forgotten to get it. A minute later, I sat at the table with my meal, which was quite a disappointment. It was an open-faced sandwich which heaps of chopped beats in mayo, with cold meatballs on top. I managed to eat about half of it, washing it down with "Coca Cola Light". Then, I spent about ten minutes trying to get soap from them so I could scrub my white shirt which had gotten a beet juice stain on it. Let's just say at this point, I was not exactly a happy camper... I got out of the restaurant at 1:00 p.m., and bought my combined ticket to see at least the Drottningholm Court Theater and the Kina Slott (Chinese Pavilion). At least the visit of the grounds was free.

I got to the theatre at 1:05 p.m., and was allowed to join the group that had started the guided tour of the theatre about five minutes earlier. It was a grand building, and I was finally starting to get into the whole thing after the initial disappointment of the palace being closed. We were ushered into the actual theatre part of the building and sat down so that our guide could describe the huge room we were in. I had completely forgotten that it was here that Ingmar Bergman had filmed parts of his movie version of Mozart's opera, "The Magic Flute". Hans had told me this some time last week. It was a great feeling knowing that I was in the very room where he had filmed that movie!

After leaving the theatre around 1:30 p.m., I made my way onto the Drottningholm grounds and took extensive photos. The gardens have been compared to Versailles and I can see why. It was a perfect baroque garden and I could easily see why it has been declared a UNESCO world heritage site. And to think that the royal family lives here permanently! I saw the long gravelled pathways along which Agnetha Fältskog strolled in the 1999 ABBA documentary, where she says the walks have been helpful for her to come to terms with the turmoil of the ABBA years. (She lives nearby, so she can walk here often). I also took several photographs of the English Park, where ABBA were filmed having a picnic and riding a horse as part of Ashley's dream sequence in "ABBA The Movie". And they also filmed parts of their Australian National commercials here in 1977. Heading further south, I came to the famous water walls that grace the cover of their 1977 single, "The Name of the Game". It was great seeing all of these ABBA connections in one spot. I got to the China Pavilion and had a quick tour of the buildings, which I thought were just OK, and then headed back through the garden to the ferry. It was 2:45 p.m. then, and I was relieved to think that at least I would have plenty of time to make the Millennium tour tonight. As I crossed the grounds, I listened to music from the movie "Orlando" on my iPod. It seemed like a very appropriate, regal choice. As I was reaching the palace again, a car drove up and the guard opened the gate to let it into the palace area. I couldn't tell who it was, but I took a picture all the same. I got to the ferry just in time and joined the long queue to the boat. As I was one of the last people on board, there was hardly any room left outside, so I sat inside and enjoyed a glass of white wine. The journey back was a little quicker because we didn't stop anywhere along the way. I got to Stadshuset in Stockholm by 4:00 p.m.

Knowing that the Södra Stadshuset on Södermalm closed at 5:00, and that I had to get my ticket for the Millennium tour here, I made my way to the building as quickly as possible and got my ticket. Then, since there was still ninety minutes before the tour, I went back to the hotel to leave my back pack, and only brought the Millennium map and my ABBA guide book with me for the evening. Troy's camera was firmly attached to my belt, and I had my sunglasses on because it was yet another gloriously sunshiny day!

I hadn't yet had dinner by the time the Millennium tour started at 6:00 p.m. in front of Bellmansgatan 1, the address where investigative reporter Mikael Blomkvist lives, in Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy: Män som hatar kvinnor (which was translated as "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"), Flickan som lekte med elden ("The Girl Who Played With Fire") and Luftslottet som sprängdes (which was translated as "The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest"). The tour brought us from Mikael Blomkvist's house in the book, to his house in the film (not the same location), to the marvellous view of the city from Monteliusvägen with a perfect view of the courthouse where Mikael Blomkvist is convicted of slander, to Lundagatan where Lisbeth Salander lives at the beginning of the first novel, to the Mellqvist Coffee Bar where they always hang out, to the Synagogue on Sankt Paulsgatan where Detective Bublanski worships, to the headquarters of Millennium in the book, to the headquarters of Millennium in the film, to the 7-Eleven where Lisbeth Salander goes shopping all the time, to Mosebacke where Lisbeth Salander meets her lawyer, and finally, to Lisbeth's magnificient flat on Fiskargatan she buys with the billions of dollars she stole. I really, really enjoyed this tour, and it was the very first time I have gone on a literary tour. The guide we had read relevant exerpts from the novels as we travelled. It was great. I hope to be able to do other literary tours in the future, especially the "Tales of the City" tour in San Francisco! By the way, Troy, the tour has got me in the mood to re-read the Larsson books, so perhaps if you'll lend them to me I can read them in English this time. The guide also pointed out that in the trilogy, all the good guys live and work in Södermalm, and the evil people are located elsewhere in the city, with the heart of evil being located on Strandvägen, in Östermalm.

The tour brought me to locations I had already seen in the city. Bellmansgatan 1, for instance, was near the house that appears on the back cover of Agnetha's "Elva kvinnor i ett hus". I pass the 7-Eleven on Götgatan all the time because it is between my hotel and the Slussen subway station; and when our guide decided to take a break from the tour to outline Stieg Larsson's life, she chose the park in front of Benny's hotel, the Rival hotel, to do so. It was really cool. She also informed us that this park was the spot of a riot in June 2004 when neo-Nazis and anti-Nazis clashed, right in front of Benny's hotel.

By the time the tour ended around 8:00 p.m., I was famished. I hadn't had dinner yet and I really wanted to eat something good. I chose a restaurant in Södermalm on Götgatan I had noticed on my walk yesterday. I sat myself down and ordered a dish that looked good. But then again, anything would be better than that horrible lunch I had. I ordered the pasta dish which was described as "pasta med musslor i en hummersås" (pasta with mussels in a lobster sauce). I also ordered a fantastic mango-hibiscus cooler I just discovered, and then ordered a second one. When the dish came to the table, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it also included a half lobster on top. This was the best meal I have had in Sweden up until now. I was really, really impressed.

It was not yet 9:00 p.m. at that point, the sun was still shining in the sky, so I set off with my ABBA Guide to Stockholm. My goal was to see the last four spots in Stockholm I really wanted to see before leaving Sweden. The four sites were scattered to the north of the city in Vasastan, but I thought if I used the subways I could get to see them. I located the first two very easily. The first was the building that used to house Polar Music Studios. ABBA had this built for them in 1978, and the first song recorded here was "Summer Night City". They produced their final three albums here: "Voulez-Vous"(1979), "Super Trouper"(1980) and "The Visitors"(1981). In addition, Frida recorded her albums "Something's Going On" (1982) and "Djupa Andetag" (1996) here; Agnetha recorded her albums "Wrap Your Arms Around Me" (1983) and "Eyes of a Woman" (1984) here; and Benny and Björn recorded "Chess" here (1985). Quite disappointingly, the studios became a gym in 2004. The seond site I located was Atlantis Studios, formerly Metronome Studios. It was here that ABBA recorded their early albums "Ring Ring" (1973), "Waterloo" (1974) and most of "ABBA" (1975). It was also here that Agnetha recorded her comeback album "My Colouring Book" (2004).

I won't go into unnecessary detail about how I got lost, but it took over an hour for me to find the last two spots. It was well past 10:30 p.m., and the sun was beginning to set when I found the street where the cover photo for the album "ABBA" was shot: you might remember it is the one where the four members are sitting in a parked Rolls Royce sipping champagne. The fact is that after ABBA won the Eurovision song contest with "Waterloo" in 1974, the Swedish press had a field day saying that ABBA was a commercial pop band only concerned with making money, so the decision was made to shoot this tongue-in-cheek cover. The back cover showed them in the lobby of a swanky hotel wearing glamourous 1930s clothes. And finally, I came to the old headquarters of the Polar Music Offices during the glory days of ABBA, from 1975 to 1980. It was here that the band prepared for their 1977 Australian Tour and their 1979 world tour.

And with that, I took the subway back to the hotel. Since it was well past 11:00 p.m. by the time I got in, the business centre was long closed and I had to wait until this morning to write my blog. I awoke early to make the most of my day. I wrote this post, had breakfast and am getting ready to tackle my day. I am starting to feel very nervous about my trip to Iceland. I simply don't like moving from place to place when I travel: I much prefer being in the city. I checked my ticket, and my flight leaves Stockholm tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 p.m. After a three hour flight to Iceland, I arrive in Reykjavik at 3:00 p.m. local time. I hope they have an Internet connection so that I can keep writing my blog, otherwise I might have to stop writing it.

The last few days, I rushed to get a lot done because I wanted to leave this last full day in Stockholm open so that I could relax and not do much. It is still a gorgeous day, so I plan on going to Djurgården and lying down on a shady bank somewhere to read. I plan on bringing my Frommer's Guide to Iceland with me because I confess that I haven't even started looking at it!
The only definite plan I have is meeting up with Hans tonight at the hotel at 6:00 so we can go out for a drink.

I was also very nervous this morning when I read the news on the Internet and read Troy's e-mail about the earthquake that just hit Ottawa. At 5.2 on the Richter scale, it wasn't massive, but according to the news sites, it did cause damage in the city (shattering windows at City Hall), and I am more than a little concerned about my place. The last time we had a tremor, the fissure in my foundation allowed some water to seep into my basement. (A very minor incident with a small patch of wet carpet, and I had the foundation seeled, but still...) And I keep thinking about my having both natural gas and cats alone at home... All I can do is hope for the best...

So that's about it for now.

Cheers!

M.