Iceland Day 2

So on our second day in Iceland we woke up around 9 or so to get ready for a long day. We were getting picked up from our hotel to go on a 12 hour tour that would include some fun stuff. We got ready and headed down to breakfast , totally forgetting that breakfast ends at 10 each morning. Woops! Forgetting about the breakfast time restrictions seemed to be a recurring theme for us.

We decided to just eat as much as we could before they took the food away and I ended up with a pretty decent breakfast. No pictures, but I had some fruit, cold cuts, and a few different pastries (I love hotel croissants).

Around 11 we were picked up by Icelandic Mountain Guides in a little van. There were about 8 others in our group. I don’t know why I was so tired but I fell asleep anytime we were in the van (this happened during the whole trip – anytime we were in a moving vehicle I was asleep). We drove for a little while and then stopped at a gorgeous lookout point.

It was cold here!

We hopped back in the van and drove until it was time to stop for lunch. We ended up at a little rest stop and both TKO and I opted for some cheeseburgers, fries and coke light…which sucks. After lunch we got fitted for our crampons and I found some decent hiking boots since I came to Iceland unprepared. Then it was back into the van for just a bit more driving until the glacier.

After some really bumpy driving we finally arrived at the glacier! The van parked and we got all ready. I was scared of being too cold/wet so we wore lots of layers. When we started it was sunny and I was actually a little bit warm. We grabbed our ice picks, posed for a few pictures, then walked for about 20 minutes until we got to the foot of the glacier.

I felt like I was on a different planet! Seriously, they should film movies here. The whole thing was just really breathtaking..pictures don’t do it justice at all, but here are some anyway.

The hike itself lasted about 1.5-2 hours and wasn’t strenuous. Our guide made sure we stayed in a single file line so we didn’t fall in any surprise crevasses! We stopped a couple of times to pose in a little cave and to drink from a little pool that had formed in a valley. I didn’t actually drink because I was too cold to take my glove off. Someone’s a pansy.

While we were on the glacier it went from being sunny, to raining, to snowing and when we finished it was hailing. Iceland is so weird. So we were basically soaking wet when we finally returned to the van. Luckily there was extra room so we were able to drape our coats over every available space.

Next on the list for the tour was a lobster soup dinner! On the way to the restaurant we made a couple of stops at waterfalls – the first being Skogafoss.

One thing I really liked about Iceland is that I felt like they weren’t totally exploiting the natural phenomenons. Of course there were occasional guest shops, but this waterfall (and the other we stopped at) were both just in the middle of nowhere. This has a public restroom near it but that was it. There was no cost to see the waterfall, but I’m curious at how they pay to maintain the restrooms/walkways. It was a nice surprise

The next waterfall was so cool because we could actually walk up behind it—it was magical. Here we are in front of it and a shot from behind it.

And finally, it was time for dinner and Iceland’s famous lobster stew. We stopped at an adorable little restaurant outside the city. After being cold and wet for about 8 hours it was sooo nice to get inside someplace so cozy and warm. We sat at long wooden tables and they brought out baskets of bread and pots of stew. TKO and I pretty much dominated an entire pot and I easily took almost half of the bread on our side. We were hungry!

After dinner we went on a search for the Northern Lights. Although this is supposed to be a terrific year for solar activity, we just weren’t in luck. This was definitely one thing I was looking forward to the most, but you can predict a natural phenomenon so I wasn’t too upset. We were really hopeful because the night turned out to be semi-clear and there had been some solar activity. We ended up on a beach to look for them. It was SO dark you couldn’t see anything around you! I was afraid TKO was going to lead me into the ocean or some Icelandic sea creature was going to eat me. Even though we didn’t see the lights we saw some seriously gorgeous stars. So at least we got that. And now we have an excuse to go back!

We hopped back in the bus and drove back to the hotel for about an hour and a half. I’m sure I was asleep the whole time. Once inside we set an alarm for the morning and fell asleep to the sounds of the classic “Scary Movie 2”, which was the only thing on TV in English!

Stay tuned for day 3.