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 GreenlandWell, 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!
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!
Welcome home Marcel. A bon voyage indeed.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to reading about your next adventures.
-Nick
Thanks, man. But who knows? Maybe you can be part of my next adventures instead of just reading about them...
ReplyDelete