My Beach Week

Just in time for the cold weather, I had a week of fun in the sun.  My week began with a trip that had a long layover in St. Croix, in the U.S. Virgin Islands.  I had never been there before.  It was a beautiful island and our hotel was right on the beach.  I had a wonderful view while I was eating breakfast!

The layover was long enough to allow me a chance to walk around the property and enjoy some of the warm weather.

We spent the second night in Miami and while I was on that layover, I was able to pick up a Maui trip for later in the week.  The week started at one beach and ended 5,900 miles away at another.

In Maui, I was lucky enough to connect with some of my frequent travelers that I have had on my previous Maui flights.  A while back I had a nice lady named Lisa and her partner Debbie on my flight.  While chatting, Lisa and I discovered that we were both big Words With Friends addicts, so we started playing Scrabble together.  Lisa always said to let them know when I would be back on the Island and they would show me around.  When I told her I was coming, they immediately offered to come and take me to dinner, as their guest.  We went to Mama's Fish House, probably the nicest restaurant on Maui. I had Ahi Steak for dinner that was out of this world!

So while everyone was freezing in the colder weather at home, I was enjoying some warmer climes and getting to know new friends!

Occupy London

My first trip back after vacation was a London trip.  I needed to go to the Olympic store and get a few things and I was hoping to go to St. Paul's Cathedral.  They were having a service commemorating the 150th anniversary of Hymns Ancient and Modern.  Because of the Occupy Movement, St. Paul's was closed to services and the service had been moved to Southwark Cathedral.  After we got what we needed at the St. Pancras station Olympic Store, we headed over to St. Paul's to see the protestors.  

The whole set up was very clean and organized.  The tents were very orderly and there was designated fire lanes, a library, a prayer tent.  

After our visit with the protestors, we made our way over the Thames and down to Southwark Cathedral for the service.

While not as big as St. Paul's, the cathedral was still impressive and the music for the service was wonderful!

We tried to get in to see War Horse, but after waiting in the return queue, we did not have any luck so we went over to Covent Garden for a pub dinner.  It was a nice evening.  The next day, Melissa and I were the talk of the crew with our spiffy London 2012 Olympic Lanyards!

Spelunking and the Blue Lagoon

We left Sellfoss early the next morning and made our way back to Reykjavík.  Along the way we stopped at a greenhouse where we learned a little bit about the Icelandic flower industry from Axel, who's family runs the business.  It was kind of interesting to learn how they have used the greenhouses and artificial light to turn it into a year round growing season.

On our way back to Reykjavík, we stopped at a pseudo crater who's name I cannot recall, but I did get a photo with Steini and our Viking caps.  Original Viking hats did not have the horns sticking out of the side like we imagine.  That was a 19th century invention for the opera.

Once back at Reykjavík, we had the afternoon to go around town and do a little last minute gift shopping.  

Marty had a little shoe malfunction when the sole of her boot started to come apart.  The hotel in Sellfoss had tried to tape it back together for her, but with the rainy afternoon in Reykjavík it started to come apart.  We stopped at an art supply shop to buy some heavy duty tape, and Stu performed the necessary repair.

While our intentions were good, the tape only stayed on about 20 minutes.  At that point, it was really starting to rain so we made our way to the original Ice Bar, to drink some Brennivín in a sub zero room, but when we got their we learned that the bar had "melted" a few weeks before at the end of the high season for tourists.

Our alternative was an English pub that was playing Beatles music.  We left Stu and Marty there and went and did some more shopping.  We wanted to explore the possible venues for the Iceland Airwaves concerts, but all the "name" bands required a ticket.

We ate dinner at unique little diner called The Laundromat Cafe.  I had some chile con carne that was out of this world!  After making our way back in the rain, we soaked to the bone as you can see.

Because of the colder temps, there was not more white water rafting excursions after September, so we went to the Blue Mountains to go spelunking instead.

After signing all the necessary legal wavers, our guides took us down into a hollowed lava tube known as the "End of the Road Cave".  We only went about 10 to 15 meters below the surface during our hour long tour as the lava tubes do not sit that far down below ground.

The cave gets it's name because of the dead end of the lava tube.  At the end of the cave are the remains of a baby sheep that probably wandered into the cave or was chased in by a predator, and was trapped.  They estimate the remains are several hundred years old.

The spelunking was a bit stressful for me, with it's small closed-in environment.  After the traumatic experience, what better way to unwind than at the Blue Lagoon, the famous geo-thermal spa located outside Reykjavík.

The waters contain both sulfur and silica and many people go to the lagoon because it helps people with skin ailments.  Water temperatures average between 98 and 102 degrees.  The lagoon is fed by the water output of the nearby geothermal power plant and is renewed every 2 days. Superheated water is vented from the ground near a lava flow and used to run turbines that generate electricity. After going through the turbines, the steam and hot water passes through a heat exchanger to provide heat for a municipal hot water heating system. Then the water is fed into the lagoon for recreational and medicinal users to bathe in.

We spent our last morning in Iceland with a visit to the National Museum.  Susan, Rocky, Paul and I stole away for an hour to have one last hot dog at the famous hot dog stand.  When we made it back to the museum, we had some amazing hot chocolate and saw some of the exhibits before heading to the airport.

After some drama with the VAT refunds, we boarded our flight for New York and a mere six hours later, we were back in the United States.  We spent the night near JFK and then made our connection home the next morning.

The trip to Iceland was an amazing experience and definitely in my top 5 of places I have been in the world.  We were pretty lucky with the weather for the most part.  There was only a few rain days and while it was cold, we were dressed appropriately, so we were comfortable.  The scenery was amazing and the people couldn't have been friendlier.  I suggest that anyone interested make the journey!

Eyjafjallajökull

As we made our way east from Sellfoss, we made our way thru some of the highlights of Southern Iceland.  As we drove along the coast, we had a decent view of the Westman Islands, located off the southern coast.

Our first stop was at the farm that sits in front of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano.  This was the volcano that shut down air travel to and in Europe for two weeks back in 2010.  I shook my fist at volcano to express my anger at my cancelled trips.

Just beyond Eyjafjallajökull likes Katla, another volcano, which usually erupts shortly after the former.  Many people think that when it does, it will put the chaos of last year to shame.  Katla has the potential to really wreak havoc on the planet.

After leaving Eyjafjallajökull, we made our way to Mýrdalsjökull, Icelandic for "mire valley of the glacier".  The top of the glacier is just under 5,000 feet and covers the Katla volcano.

One thing that was surprising was how quickly the glacier has retreated in recent years.  Steini told us that the point where we took this picture was the end of the glacier only 20 years ago.  The warming of the planet has caused the ice to melt at a faster pace.

After a brief stop in Vík where I purchased a woolen cap, we made our way to the beach head at Dyrhólaey.  It's the southern most part of Iceland and is a popular nesting area for puffins during the summer time.  By the time we got there in October they had already moved on though.

The name Dyrhólaey means "door hole" and gets it's name from the hole created by the erosion of the cliff.  A stunt pilot named Tommy Taylor flew thru the arch as part of a daredevil act.

The first waterfall we visited that day was Skógafoss.  It's one of the larger falls in the country, with a width of over 82 feet and a drop of over 200 feet.  Because of the height of the falls and the direction it faces, on clear days a rainbow is visible.

According to legend, a Viking by the name of Þrasi Þórólfsson buried a treasure in a cave behind the waterfall. A local boy found the chest years later, but was only able to grasp the ring on the side of the chest before it disappeared again

We left Skógafoss and made our way towards the town of Skógar, which means "forrest" in Icelandic.  The town has a population of roughly 25 and the main attraction is the folk museum.

Almost the entire collection was amassed by one man, named Þórður Tómasson.  Now in his 90's, Þórður started collecting when he was 14 years old.

He was a curmudgeonly old man who would enter and leave at various points in our tour and either give us a lecture or sit down and play us a song.  

At the end of the tour, we joined Þórður at the old church and he led us in the singing of several hymns.

The final stop of the day was to Seljalandsfoss.  It gained some notoriety after appearing as the starting point of the Amazing Race in season six.  Because of the unique position, it is possible to walk behind the falls, which fall over 200 feet from the top.

As we were leaving Seljalandsfoss, the sun was setting, creating a spectacular view.