Well, this is going to be a long one so I best get cracking. We set off from Port 80 after lunch on Tuesday, leaving behind us two very forlorn cats. We left the car at Lee & Richard’s and Lee took us on to Angouleme station. Our train was late, as it always seems to be for Matt, but we weren’t in any rush in any case.
At Roissy, we checked in to the hotel and tracked down a pizza place for dinner, then retired for an early night. We were up at 5:30 the following morning, something which was to become a recurring theme for the rest of the trip. Our flight left on time at around 8.30 am and three hours later, we arrived in Reykjavik. They’re two hours behind France so by 9:30 local time, we were already through security and had collected our bags. Having been warned about how expensive everything was, we dipped into the duty-free shop and scored a bottle of Icelandic vodka for a mere 20€.
We then went to collect our hire car, which went less smoothly. There were two or three hire car companies at the airport, and with no other selection criteria available, we plumped for the cheapest one. Unfortunately for us, everyone else had employed the same logic and so the queue was massive. The other hire car companies meanwhile were empty. In the end it took a little over 2 hours to get our car, which given we only had a total of 30 hours on the island, was a little frustrating.
Stepping outside for the first time to collect the car, we were greeted by the most bitter and icy wind I think I’ve ever felt. This, we were to learn, is a constant presence in Iceland. We couldn’t check into our hotel until the afternoon so instead made a start on sight-seeing. There is a popular tourist circuit called the Golden Circle that can be done in a day so we embarked on that.
Our first impression upon setting out was just how unworldly it all looked. We’d been going nearly an hour before we saw any vegetation beyond a lichen-like moss that grew on the rocky ground. When we finally saw trees, they were sparse and very small, offering no protection at all from the wind. Were it not for the cloudy blue sky, you could easily believe you were on an alien planet.
Our first stop was Gullfoss waterfall. This is a particularly forceful cascade where the river Hvítá drops into a deep ravine. Like all the stops on the Golden Circle trail, it was quite crowded with tourists but that didn’t detract from the impressive sight. A path led from the car park to a viewpoint where the force of the waterfall caused a constant spray to blow around in the ceaseless wind.
Our next stop-off was to Haukadalur, a geothermal site of hot springs and geysers. In fact, its largest geyser, called “Geysir” is the one from which the term geyser comes – the father of all geysers, if you will. Apparently, Geysir itself no longer erupts, a large earthquake having put it out of business some time ago. However, there’s another close by called Strokkur, which erupts like clockwork every 10 minutes, so we joined the crowd to witness that.
Our third stop was Þingvellir National Park, where their original Parliament was built back in 930AD. It’s no longer there, but the park itself is still well worth a visit. It is where the North American and the Eurasian tectonic plates meet. The plates are gradually splitting apart, creating lots of massive fissures in the ground. The park was the most verdant part of the country we saw, with actual grass and even some pine trees that had made it to over 2 metres tall.
That concluded the Golden Circle and so we drove in to Reykjavik itself to check in to our hotel. This was situated in the centre of the city, on a square overlooking a massive church called Hallgrímskirkja. It’s 75 metres tall and dominates the Reykjavik skyline, making it a useful reference point. It’s a bizarre-looking building and very young too. Work began on it in 1945, and it took 40 years to complete. We were amazed to discover that is built entirely out of concrete. In fact, nearly all their buildings are as it’s only been since WWII that the Icelanders upgraded from living in huts. Trees are a new feature on the island and there’s no history of stonemasonry, so concrete is their default building material. The plain, boxy style of their buildings jars a little with the rugged beauty of the landscape, but the houses are often painted vibrant colours to mask their plainness.
Our hotel was nice, if a little basic, and it was good to get some respite from the wind. We indulged in a few vodkas apiece and then hit the town in search of food. Iceland being an island, the local diet is unsurprisingly fish-focused. We picked out a sushi bar that had one chicken option for me and had a beer each. Matt affirms that it was the best sushi of his life and it certainly was well presented. It was served in bowl of crushed ice with a blue LED light at the bottom, making it glow. It was dark in the restaurant and we’d had a long day so we decided to retire to the hotel and have a nightcap and an early night. We stepped outside and were immediately thrown by how bright it was. It was close to 10pm but as bright as noon. It was surreal knowing it was night-time while your eyes told you otherwise. We watched a film and then had a very fitful night’s sleep that we abandoned around 6am the next day, having not seen nightfall.
Our flight wasn’t until late afternoon so after breakfast, we took a walk to a museum. It was closed for refurbishments, but had an observation deck, so we went up to see the view. Afterwards, we took in a nearby botanical garden which was a bit of a let-down, given the general sparseness of flora on the island. Next we stopped at Seltún, another very impressive geothermal site. The road that led there was coastal and the scenery was stark and beautiful, despite the incessant wind.
We returned the hire car and then killed time at the airport while we waited for our flight. We had about 2/3rds of our bottle of vodka left and managed to take care of that while we waited, so were nicely oiled for the flight. We got through security and went through yet another duty-free area where we piked up a superfluous half-bottle of vodka that we took with us onto the flight. Iceland Air don’t offer complimentary food or alcoholic drinks, but they do offer free soft drinks, so we ordered a number of orange juices and tonics that we “Irished up”.
The 6 hour flight went by in a haze. We’d set off late but they managed to make up time, so in the end, were only 15 minutes behind schedule. We landed at the smaller of Minneapolis’ two terminals and our timing was excellent: we just beat another plane load of people to the gate. We were officially travelling together which meant we were able to go through security at the same time. I let Matt do all the talking and we were out in record time. This was a huge relief to me as I had heard many nightmare stories about airport security measures that non-Americans are now subjected to in Trump’s America.
Matt’s friend Mike met us at the airport and drove us to Jan’s. Outside, we were greeted by hot and humid air which after the chill of Iceland, felt like a balm. Back at Jan’s we changed out of our winter-ware and sat down to a tasty meal of asparagus, wild rice and turkey breast. Chuck joined us too so we all got caught up. After the meal, we went around to Mike’s for a few hours but we soon faded and headed back to sleep. As we’d flown westward, the whole journey was in daylight so that night was the first time we’d seen darkness since Paris. We felt ready for a good 10 hours’ sleep but our jet-lag had other plans: by 4:30 am we were up and about. We had a list of chores to attend to, so it was good to get an early start. We booked haircuts for that afternoon, went to the shops, then Matt got a copy of his birth certificate.
Our trip from here on out largely revolved around meals, the first of which was lunch that afternoon with Matt’s grandmother Marj and his aunt Mimi. This was at a restaurant / deli called Crossroads, and was both excellent and copious. We had a few hours round Mike’s place that afternoon and then got back to Jan’s to get ready for our evening activity.
This was to be services at the synagogue where Bradley’s Bar Mitzvah was due to take place the next day. There was a large family meal planned afterwards at an Italian restaurant and so we got dressed up for the occasion. Unfortunately, we never made it to services as we had an accident en route. The freeway (freeway = a multi-lane dual carriageway) we were on was under construction and the right-hand lane was blocked off by a stretch of bollards. These were confusingly spaced very far apart and as we neared our exit, Jan moved right through a gap between them to leave the freeway. This was a bit too soon for the exit and before we knew what was happening, we drove over a large hole in the road that was at least a foot deep. The impact of this took out all four tyres and cracked the front wind-screen. We kept going until we went over a second hole, coming to rest directly over it. The shock of the impact had caused all the car’s airbags to deploy, which along with the tyres, had made quite a bang.
Luckily, no-one was badly hurt. Jan had a cut and some bruises on her arm, and Matt’s knees were bruised from the glove-box. I was in the rear and escaped unscathed, but with my ears, especially my left one, blocked and ringing. Jan’s car has fared less well and looks to be a write-off. A very lovely chap called Ben had seen the accident and stopped to make sure we were ok. He hung around with us while we waited for the tow-truck. This took about an hour to arrive and in that time, we saw close to 10 other vehicles all turn off too early to take the exit. Luckily, none of them ran over the holes, but a few had to swerve to avoid barriers.
Matt’s brother in law Steve came to collect us and take us on to the restaurant as we had by this point missed services (we couldn’t claim to be too upset about this). We were a little shaken but it could have been far worse. My hearing has since improved, though I still have tinnitus. The meal was at an Italian restaurant and in attendance were Matt’s gran Marj, Mimi, Suzy, Steve and the girls, Ben & Ione and the boys, Chuck, Jan and us so we were quite a crowd.
After the meal, we went back to Jan’s, taking Chuck’s car and dropping him off en route. It was close to 11pm by this point, so we decided against seeing Mike and instead grabbed an early night. And I am not going any further because this is already a tome. Tune back in for the exciting conclusion soon!