Iceland was calling, aka This is not Africa....

[suze2000]

I had the impression there were trees - in the past, but they had been chopped down to build houses, boats, firewood etc.

 

[love_the_life]

Have you seen the Icelandic sheep around? They always reminded me of cotton balls with toothpicks for legs. Their wool is amazing - almost like cashmere.

 

[Denali]

I had the impression there were trees - in the past, but they had been chopped down to build houses, boats, firewood etc.

I was thinking that as well, what little there was was removed for building and farming. There are some but the lava fields just don't make it possible.

Fun fact. Introduced lupine for topsoil protection is now a noxious weed. There are fields of the stuff that look beautiful in summer but eradication is in place

Have you seen the Icelandic sheep around? They always reminded me of cotton balls with toothpicks for legs. Their wool is amazing - almost like cashmere.

Saw some yesterday but the roads here are near impossible to pull over unless there's a driveway or occasional stop area. So many times you want to stop but it's just not safe

 

[nanook00]

I was thinking that as well, what little there was was removed for building and farming. There are some but the lava fields just don't make it possible.

Iceland was once extensively forested (1000 or so years ago, when the vikings arrived). The climate was much warmer back then. And yes, the viking settlers had a huge impacts on these forests.

 

[Denali]

Rain day in Reykjavik, thinking of dragging hubby to the old wharf area or the Perlan for our last day in town

 

[love_the_life]

Rain day in Reykjavik, thinking of dragging hubby to the old wharf area or the Perlan for our last day in town

Or just loll around.

 

[Denali]

Last day in Reykjavik and the wind is howling so went to Perlan to stay indoors

Quite good, enjoyed the planetarium but skipped the observation deck because my 6ft/90kg husband literally was blown backwards by the wind so we bailed. It actually was a bit scary

Walked through their ice cave, it was fun. Watched some time-lapse on the shrinking glaciers and global warming, not so much fun

There is a free bus shuttle from/to Harpa so enjoyed fish and chips in the old wharf area but again, almost blown off our feet so walked back to our accom

If I knew now what I know about Iceland, we would be staying at least another week for all the things we didn't get to do


View attachment 160174

 

[Denali]

Icelandic playgrounds are more like kiddy boot camp or ninja warrior training

Just look at the swings

 

[RooFlyer]

Here's a weird one:

Iceland wins EU trademark battle against United Kingdom-based supermarket chain (now can use its own name!)

 

[Denali]

Iceland music seems to be stuck in 80-90s. Shops, restaurants, taxis, music being played is old school and fun to hear.

 

[love_the_life]

Iceland music seems to be stuck in 80-90s. Shops, restaurants, taxis, music being played is old school and fun to hear.

You'll have to get into Trapped (2 seasons) on SBS on Demand - Icelandic police show/Nordic noir.
Iceland is a fascinating country - would love to go back.
Tell me, did you try the Hakari? Go on, you've still got time I'm sure

 

[Denali]

High winds and lots of cancellations yesterday and today, mostly US flights it seems.

Just met a barista from Griffith.

 

[Denali]

You know the movie, The Castle, when they're wheeling their bags from the airport to the house.... Imagine that in Iceland but two middle agers trying not to get blown sideways by the winds.... And failing.

I said to Let's go through the carpark but hubby took a different path and there we were, walking down airport roads to our airport hotel like idiots.

 

[Denali]

Current view

To be honest, a bit too fancy for us and thinking Blue Lagoon is the way to go as you would have more fun. Here's too serious and deathly quite

 

[Denali]

How bad is the wind today?

You know those old movies where someone is standing on the bow of a boat and off camera someone is throwing buckets of water.... that windy.

There's waves in the Retreat lagoon. It's literally like this and I can't stop laughing and we're the only one one's in the water


We're about to break out to the main Blue Lagoon and be among my bogan people.

I have to smuggle my phone across the disposable income border as you're not allowed to use it in the Retreat.

 

[Denali]

So The Retreat. This is part of the mega expensive hotel with private pools and it seems about six staff per person and about one hundred security cameras.

No phones allowed although our "lifeguard" will take photos on the Retreat phone and email them to you. Never saw the lifeguard, unless he was in the security room laughing at the crazy Aussies, so no photos.

Why the crazy Aussies, because winds are so strong the airport is closed, buses are no longer driving to Blue Lagoon and our taxi was being battered like it was a super Mario cart.

Current winds


What you get at the Retreat was a private change room and access to all the spa goodies for 4hrs and you get to use the foodie restaurant while wearing a robe.

The usual tranquil "Lagoon" was throwing waves like a Bali pro surfing comp with added tornado of steam. The wind was so strong it literally was throwing water towards the sky and all we could do was laugh - we were the only people in the water because I was going to get my overpriced spa experience dammit!



At the Retreat there is also steam room, sauna, quite room, mineral room (scrubs and masks) but every time you checked something out, two or three members would pop up. So I was over it pretty quickly, but then I started to change my mind...

Sent hubby off to a in water massage so I visited the relaxation nest of hanging hammock couple seat things that overlooked the pools and it was while I was sitting in one of these things, contemplating the engineering to hold my weight, did I start appreciating the Retreat and it's no phone policy.

During those thirty minutes I got to relax and do absolutely nothing. Mainly because I was pretty sure I was stuck in the damn thing and concerned sudden movement will bring me crashing to the ground, but this was when I started to enjoy my Retreat experience

But eventually hubby came back to save me and we broke out to the Blue Lagoon side. Could only see about ten mtrs as the steam vapor was horizontal





Bondi Rescue have nothing on these lifeguards


Retreat sneaky pic









If I was to do this again, I would book the nearby Silica hotel and get spa access and visit the Blue Lagoon often.

 

[get me outta here]

Here’s an interesting article on the difficulties caused by tree clearing, desertification, sand storms and trying to replant:

Vikings Razed the Forests. Can Iceland Regrow Them? (Published 2017)

The country lost most of its trees long ago. Despite years of replanting, it isn’t making much progress.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Denali]

After a sleepless night due to high winds, about 1am started watching arrivals and departures for a clue and it seemed planes were coming and going.

Check in, if you're in Y, was an absolute mess but thankfully the J (Saga) queue was only a five min wait and after terrible security, we're now in the Saga lounge

 

[Denali]

Don't usually plane watch but it is pretty

 

[Denali]

I've read many times that boarding at Keflavik is a free for all with Icelandair so let's test this out for ourselves