still in London, I ventured to Borough market to meet Adam and taste the paella made in gigantic pans, we ate while the heavens opened as we sat in relative comfort under shelter in the little spanish stall. From there we wandered about and had a coffee near St Paul's and headed to Oxford St in the rain to meet the cousins for lunch, via an apple shop where i booked in for an ipad check up as my tablet has a few hiccups wot needs sorting! Apparently the genius will sort me out! I made an appointment for the next day.
Lunch was at a rather large Italian restaurant and then the goodbyes! Adam and I wandered up to Covent Garden where he was directing me to a pastie shop, but alas it had been replaced with a patisserie! We got an ice cream at a boutique ice cream shop, chilli and ginger was an acquired taste with chunks of chilli mixed in! Then we walked towards Tower Bridge along the Thames, which took some time. The sun peeped out from behind clouds but the wind picked up. We finally got to the freshly painted Tower Bridge and said our goodbyes. I headed to the Design Museum but was too late to go in, oh well! Met friends from Inca tail and had a home-cooked meal and some red, and recalled our trip as well as talked about Iceland which they loved last year. Then home James, exhausted!
The final day in London had me visiting the apple store genius bar and met Bev for lunch and found a sushi train where we had an awesome dessert of glutinous rice parcels filled with green tea ice cream and one with rich chocolate....mmmmm. After dinner which i cooked for my host, i went to covent garden and had a final farewell London drink and back home to pack.
The next morning I left for Heathrow and allowed 1.5 hours which was perfect to check into my Icelandair flight for Rekyjevic. The flight did not supply meals, you had to buy them, but i was too excited to eat and arrived in sunny Rekyjevic (vic meaning harbour), and took the transfer bus to the Hilton, just out of town. I checked in and after a shower walked into town to explore. I stopped by at the 4th floor hotel on the way in as it was my supposed Intrepid meeting point the next day. The staff had no group booking and had not heard of Intrepid. maybe i got it wrong? Ate fish and chips for dinner near the old harbour and wound my way back up the hill to the hotel, checked my trip notes, yup, the hotel was correct for tomorrow.
So after a most yummy continental buffet breakfast and a long chat to a trez handsome French tourist who spoke perfect english, I checked out and wheeled my luggage to the 4th floor hotel. Alas, the drama unfolded! No booking, no idea, where was I to go now? I tried their internet to contact Intrepid but the message sending failed! Australia was still asleep so no one I could contact there! My phone had little credit left. I logged on to recharge my phone but there was an error! Looked up the London office, finally topped up my sim card via the phone which decided to work, and called. Oh, apparently the hotel had been changed and I should have been informed! FANTASTIC! Got my new details from the London office, thanked the helpful staff of the hotel who were Filipino, trotted off to the new guesthouse with stress levels falling rapidly. Finally got to the correct hotel, checked in and felt relieved and ready to tackle another day of exploring.
I saw a busker attract a huge crowd, juggling on a ladder, Wally from Australia, (can you believe it?) entertained the crowd and made more than a few kroner that day with his antics and witty banter - bizarre! I booked a snorkling trip in a fjord which is between the tectonic plates of North America and Europe on my last day in Iceland. Met up with the new group and took off the next day. Our leader Jens is our guide, historian, geologist, bus driver and local Icelander. We have seen massive waterfalls, walked behind one even! and lava flows, black sand, ash from the Grimsvotn recent eruption, volcanoes everywhere you look, steaming geothermal pools, fjords, geysers which are fun to watch, massive glaciers which are retreating every year due to global warming, white, blue and black lcebergs on a glacial lake which break off from the tongue and drift out to sea to be lost forever in the ocean, twisted metal which were once bridges buckled under the force of post volcanic flooding, daylight which goes on and on and midnight is still bright as midday and i took a photo to prove it!
Every day we drive amongst picturesque, perfect postcard landscapes, one side ice-capped mountains, on the other side beach or fjord, no native forests as the trees were chopped down for wood in the early days of settlement. Houses are made of timber or colourful corrugated iron with bright iron roofs of red, blue and green. We drove through a 6km tunnel and it was the first darkness i have seen here, i do miss the night time. Food is basic and expensive and even more expensive if eating at more gourmet places.
All the placenames are unprounceable, the language is very hard to foreign ears, luckily everyone speaks perfect english! We even stayed at a farm at the base of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano that erupted last year and caused chaos. Iceland is born of volcanoes as not only is it above the tectonic plates between Europe and Nth America, but is a volcanic hotspot and islands are born from underwater volcanoes and the shape of the island can change with each eruption. It is a paradise for geologists. The weather even if 8c - 10c during the day is mild if there is no wind, and you can wear a jacket and feel hot if walking uphill, not like back home!
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