Days 27-30

Last I chatted, Emily and I had just moved into Julius' (our couchsurfing host). Lots has happened since then! Later that night I said goodbye to a number of people (I can't remember who all left when) after a communal dinner at downtown hostel.

Monday (day 27?)
I went scuba diving with Dive.is out in Thingvellir National Park (a UNESCO World Heritage site for beauty and being the site of the first parliment) on the rift between the European and American continental plates! The two dives were amazing - we dove down to ~18m to swim between two ridges of volcanic rock.  The visibility was endless, and though the water was cold (~3-4C), my drysuit and thermals kept me warm enough!  Unfortunately half-way through the first 30min dive, I got a leg cramp, and while I was stretching it out, all the air got into my feet. If you've ever drysuit dived, you'll know how annoying this is. I pulled off some underwater acrobatics to get my feet under me (and the air out of them), but one of my feet came out of the boot - making the fin useless. I was overweighted, and couldn't control my buoyancy while I was struggling with my boot. By the time I surfaced, I'd royally fucked up my sinuses meaning I couldn't equalise my ears to descend again; I had to spend the remainder of the first and all of the second dive at the surface (aka - really bubbly snorkelling): The sights were still amazing though! And, much of the dive avoided any great depth, so I didn't miss all that much by way of seeing things. I did, however, miss the feeling of being weightless - of "flying" through the underwater canyons! Oh well. I have some great pictures from the second dive! (I'm at the surface always)

Once back in town, I Skyped my parents, took a nap and met up with Emily at the Loft (our old hostel). Stacy, Riley, Emily and I headed to the Laundro Mat Cafe for dinner. I had brazed lamb on bread (like a steak sandwich, but waaaaay better!) with salsa and sour cream - odd combination, but delicious! And a fresh juice with mango, apple and mint!  We headed to chill upstairs from the kitchen in the Downtown hostel (where I lived when I first arrived here). After Stacy turned in, Emily, Riley and I headed for YoYo (like menchies) behind Hellmigrakirk (not the right name...It's the big church that dominates the downtown skyline here). From there Riley headed back to his hostel and Emily and I to Julius' (he had given us a key).

This night, Emmanuel, a Portuguese guy from London joined us at Julius'. He was just starting a trip around the world! Funded, I think, by his own record company. He was really into punk music, but seemed to love all music in general, and he'd published a friend's book, a fanzine (underground punk magazine) - and had plans to make his own book over the course of or following his travels using Amazon's CreateSpace (I think - I have to verify website).  Julius' went out again this night, but we didnt' hear him come in this time.

Tuesday (May 21, Day 28)
This was an early morning also. Emily and I got up an left Julius' by 745 to be at the Loft early enough for a pick up from El Hestar for horsebackridding! My horse (pony!) was a brown (mare/gelding? I didn't check) named Mercure (or as close as I can pronounce). The ride took us through various farmers' fields (they have a law here allowing anyone to travel anywhere, so long as they close the gates behind them), and multiple sun/rain/sun/rain iterations, out to a view point over the river where Gabriella (our Swedish guide) told us a story of a horse who would attract children and carry them out into the river where the water would claim their lives. There was a Swedish character, a man with a harp, that paralleled this story - and I though of harpies - who would also lure their victims out for drowning (I think that's the right creature). We didn't go as fast as I would have liked on the ride, but we did spend a significant amount of time tolting! This is one of the extra gaits the Icelandic horse has that others do not - it's a very smooth gait where each side moves in unison.  There's another gait that appears in some horses here - the flying ___, which I still have to look up - apparently it can be faster than a gallop! The tour really made me want to take up ridding again! Maybe I can work it into my post grad budget!

The ridding only lasted the morning, and we were back at the stables before long. There was a mix up that delayed our bus, but meant we got free coffee and cookies before heading back to town! On the bus, we met a German family who were planning to go whale watching and were looking for activity suggestions.

We were dropped off back at the Loft, and after some wandering, met up there with Stacy and Riley again. The four of us headed to the City hostel (out by the awesomest pool) about a 40 min walk away. Riley and I cooked a communal dinner for us and Stacy, then I ran off (literally!) to go check our Eríal (a pole dancing studio!). The class was really fun because we learnt on spin poles (very dampered compared to the ones at Tantra), and we worked on handsprings from upsidedown rather than standing! It was a good way for me to try something new! Ava, the instructor, didn't seem to speak much English, and because I was kinda nervous/awkward I was mumbling and speaking quickly - not a good combo, but in the end everything worked out, and I even got a picture with her!  I'd left most of my stuff with the group at City, and had agreed to meet them at Laugardalslaug (an awesome outdoor pool just around the corner from CIty).  The pools here are awesome! I've been to a few - they're all outdoors, heated with geothermal water (I'm pretty sure), cheap - 550ISK! (<5$), with free lockers and super clean (and dry! because you can't be wet went you enter) change rooms.  We swam till just before 10pm (when it closes). We left Riley and walked back to the city centre, said goodbye to Stacy (who headed off to Norway early the next morning) and climbed the 3 flights of stairs up to Julius' flat.

Wednesday (May 22, Day 29)
Early morning again - left Julius' before 8, headed to drop our bags at the Loft (because it was Emily's departure day, and I was moving to a new host), then sat in Kaffitar accross from the Loft till Riley arrived. The day was beautifully sunny, so we wandered for a bit before stopping to chill/climb around/suntan in the graffity-ed skatepark. I mailed some postcards, and then we wandered some more before returning to the Loft to get our things. Emily and Riley eat lunch there while I said goodbye and took off to meet Anna at her place near the Downtown hostel (where I stayed on arrival!) for 13h00. I at lunch at Anna's while chatting with her till she left for work, then i headed off to 871 +/- 2 - an excavation site of a Viking long house. They had a really cool 3d map where you could touch the lables to pull up more information on that topic. Eventually, I ended up at fish. (a yummy restaurant!) again for cheap coconut curry fish soup and really good braud with pesto while I finished writing up the remainder of the postcards (for people who'd sent me their addresses on facebook). When I asked, the woman recommended Ten Drops for Skyrcake which I decided I needed to try before I left. I went there and had wine with my ramekin of skyrcake with raspberry sauce (deeeeeeliicious mini skyr cheese cake with a cookie/crumble bottom! - second best thing after Kent's Crème Brulé!).  The wine made me tired, so I hiked back to Anna's (took about 25 min - distances here are difficult to estimate because the maps make them look way farther than they are!) to repack my stuff for the flight and to skype Colin. Anna got home from work around midnight, and I headed to bed shortly after a chat with her.

Thursday (May 23, Day 30 - Last day)
I'm on my second cup of coffee. Well, the first was a frap from Te + Kaffi (Pippo - mint chocolate!), now I'm in Stofan's drinking a latte (which has free refills! I'm so gonna miss the self serve refills offered at just about every coffee house here!) It's raining. The rain started just as I left Anna's. Then it was just a drizzle, now its heavier. I'm glad I went back for my raincoat when I had the chance... I'm sitting on a green vellour chair at a coffee table typing with my keyboard on my lap. Not the most comfy, but I like it. There are 2 other women at the table. They are both dressed impecably. (One has on a suit jacket, fedora, and tight pinstripe jeans(?), the other a velvet forest green dress).  It makes me feel so gruby in my tee and lulus. I'm excited to wear normal person clothes pretty soon!

I think I've had too much kaffi... It's getting harder to concentrate....that or the fact that I need to catch a bus in 2 hours... I always get a lil anxiety before I leave a country. Ok - deep breath, keep writing... (I'm writing today entry concurrently with the parts above - if you hadn't noticed...)

whooof that was long winded....i think I need to go run around a lil now...

See you on the plane!
Laura out.

Day Three

The lightness of the sky at all hours is confusing. I didn't go to bed last night until late (after 12) because I was chatting in the lobby of my hostel till midnight - you could hardly tell it was that late because the sun had only set around 21h30/22h00.  So, naturally, I slept in this morning! One of my roommates (of which there were 2, in a 10 person dorm) left at 4am to catch a flight, the other disappeared before I was awake. I slept with a mask last night, so I think that partly why I slept so late - I didn't get woken up by the sun! (which I gather rises not long after 5...)

This time I headed right when I left the hostel, same as the first day, but I walked along the waterfront this time, past the Iceland Photography Museum (which was closed ): and proceeded along the water until I couldn't take the realllllly strong winds anymore, and I headed inland past a KFC (ewwww), through an industrial park, past a really cool museum/house with metal sculptures,  the HI City, a waterpark - year-round outdoors! (I think, and there were lots of people there!),  through the Reykjavik bus station, the Perlan (Pearl in Icelandic, a nifty building that has a museum, a restaurant and a 360 deck! The latter part was pretty cool because there's good visibility in every direction!)  then back towards my hostel via primarily residential streets. The latter inspired some of today's shots!

(again, probably more or less listed from the bottom up)
The initial image is of a container ship, and was taken from near the metalworks/museum area (in the industrial park), the second is a statue I saw on the metalworks property.
The third image is of the historical Icelandic church Hallgrimskirkja, taken from on top of the Perlan.
oh, did I mention it snowed?! and that today was a national holiday? Its the first day of spring, so the children weren't in school, and most shops were closed.

Day one

Ok, so I'm finding it hard picking one image... This post has three, future ones will have...I don't know how many, but it's probably gonna vary based on the day.  I'm back at the hostel now, typing on a keyboard rather than the screen (thank goodness! so much more comfortable!) I just work up from a nap - I know, first day here, its a no-no, but I was desperate! and it was only ~40 min.  Now that I'm more or less a normal functioning being (after having slept) I'm starting to realise my packing was rather flawed, and I'm a bit miffed at myself. I should have stuck with just the backpack, and I've over-packed somethings while over-looking others (such as my combo lock!). Oh well, guess I'll just have to stock up on a few extra things when I head for groceries after this. And now onto the good stuff: (listed from the bottom up, cause apparently that how they uploaded...)

The first image was taken from the bus on the way into Reykjavik from Keflavik (where the international airport is located)

The second was taken in town while I was wondering around. I found a playground/skate park of sorts, and it was a graffity oasis within a (fairly) clean city. There were other walls, but this dumpster struck me the most at the time.

The last image is taken at Harpa (I think it's a conference centre). It struck me that none of these bikes are tethered!  I could just grab one an roll away...

-Laura

Ps. Katriina O'Kane's website is as follows: http://katriinaokane.com/ (I couldn't find the 365 of 23 website again, but I'll keep looking, in the mean time, check out her work!)