Amazing people

A beautiful sunny day in Reykjavik this morning.  I woke up with a sunburn this morning.  Leave it to me to get a sunburn in the land of ice.

Last evening, while walking around Reykjavik, I came across a young girl who was putting her bike away.  She must have been about 6 or so.  She had on her helmet and was at her backyard gate; when she saw me she beamed, waved and said Hello.  She is a shining example of how friendly Icelandic people are.  Or maybe she saw my red face and it amused her, oh well.  It's a small population, 320,000 for the whole island (that's about the population of Laval), with Reykjavik at about 120,000.

Today we will be checking out and getting our 4x4.  While Nick is finishing up his meetings, I'll be walking to the Pearl which is a domed revolving restaurant with a view by night and has an observation deck.  It sits atop 6 huge water containers...part of the geothermal system.  Apparently there's another geyser there.  Here's. A photo I took yesterday.

Evening walk around Reykjavik

If you want to see a live feed from where I was earlier, the Blue Lagoon, here's a link http://www.bluelagoon.com/Geothermal-spa/live-webcam/  Of course I'm no longer there and it may be closed for the night, but you get the idea.

Here are more photos in Reykjavik.

The skyline from a field of lupines (somebody tell Lia this photo is for her...Lia's lupines grow wild all over Iceland...reminds me of the Maritimes, Nova Scotia to be more precise).

Iceland's parliament, city hall Tjornin Lake and the park in the center of town.

Hallgrims Church in the middle of the city with a great view from the very tall bell tower.

The Sun Voyager sculpture of a viking ship along the city waterfront.  The sun shimmers with different highlights depending how it hits the sculpture.  It's said the best light is at sunset and sunrise...but right now that's not going to happen, right so we settle for 8 pm.

Blue Lagoon

I just got out of my first Icelandic hot spring in the Blue Lagoon.  The water is from a geothermal plant next to it which pumps up a mixture of fresh and seawater with so many minerals, it makes the water a beautiful turquoise.  Of course the water is cooled to a suitable temperature but it's still hot, up to 38-40 degrees C. The setup is similar to Le Spa Finlandais back home with saunas, steam baths, massaging showers, except that the water is weirdly blue and completely natural (no chlorine added).  Also you swim among lava rocks.  The silica in the water is what makes it such a light blue and coats the rocks with a white plastic-like substance (like a solid Elmer's school glue). See in the photo my foot is on the side in a beach-like area with lava sand.  Waiting for the bus back to Reykjavik.

Water in Iceland

Everywhere you go, you feel like you've walked into Ikea.  That's the decor pretty much everywhere...airport, hotel, restaurants.

That being said, while Nick was in his meetings, I went sightseeing outside of Reykjavik.  The theme of the day was WATER, whether it's spouting into the sky, rolling off the side of a cliff, raging over a powerful waterfall, babbling in a brook, or falling from the sky (yes it rained a little but nothing major). I thought we had lots of water in Canada, they have lots of clear, clean water in Iceland, naturally filtered by lava rock.

 Gullfoss or Golden Falls in English

 Strokkur Geysir (the word geyser actually comes from the Icelandic geysir)

Another thrill was standing where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates pull apart along the Atlantic Ridge.  The Atlantic Ridge lies under the Atlantic Ocean for the most part, except where it crosses Iceland diagonally.

Tomorrow more water...hot springs that I will be getting into.  Then off to explore the city of Reykjavik.

Land of the Midnight Sun

We are now in the land of the midnight sun.  No, really the picture was taken just after midnight after landing at the Keflavik Airport!

En Route to Iceland

On our way to Iceland.  Connecting flight in Boston.  Having a little lunch before we go on our way.  A quick snap of Boston from the airport.

Uruguay

Nick just got back from a 2-week business trip to South America.  He visited Buenos Aires, Montevideo.  In Montevideo he came across the most interesting thing, the Fountain of Locks.  Legend has it that a lovers place their initials in a lock and tie it to the Fountain, their love will be everlasting!  How romantic is that!  Something to prepare for next time we visit together, hopefully when it's summer in Uruguay as it's autumn right now.  Here are some photos taken in Uruguay..home of the best dolce de leche, mmmmm good.