Back to Iceland - day 1

Today, is probably the second shortest day of all of the days in Iceland. In today and all other days in Iceland, we have two special guests with us. My sister, called Roberta and my mum, Sue.

Now the plan of our few days in Iceland was: the first day we were in a guesthouse and for the rest we rented a nice cottage. Today's plan: we went to the guesthouse first then bought our groceries for the cottage. After that we "explored" Keflavik, the city where the guesthouse was and finally, we went to a restaurant in Keflavik. And of course we also went to the hotel and slept.

The guesthouse was called Kef guesthouse and it was quite a nice guesthouse.We went in and looked around our room. We unpacked few of our things because if we unpacked all of the things it would take a lot of time to pack them again for the cottage. And goodness there were a lot of things we packed before going to Iceland.

Next up on our plan: groceries. We looked at all of the supermarkets and we found Bonus. Since we researched (Tonio mostly), Bonus is the cheapest supermarket by far. We got our groceries which had some things we didn't need since the cottage already had them but we bought them anyway because we didn't know.

Then, we looked around Keflavik's coast. It was nice with scenery of the sea and the coast. I thought on the GPS that black dots meant a passage or unpaved road so I said there is some sort of passage that we could go to. It actually looked promising because there was a title of a passage and everything but it was blocked so it must have been a coincidence because I discovered later that black dots are actually just a ten metre mark.

After that, we went to a restaurant. I forgot its name but the food was amazing. I won't say what we ate because one, it'll take too long and two, I'm not sure about the food that we ate and I don't have Roberta to ask but the food was still really good.

The view from the restaurant in Keflavik

And at last, we went back to Kef guesthouse, did our evening chores and slept a nice and deep sleep.


GianlucaDeGringu

Iceland Adventure Day 4

Today, in the morning we didn't stop (or we tried not to stop) because our biggest priority was Glacier Lagoon, a lagoon that touches the biggest glacier in Europe but the glacier made the lagoon by itself by melting. We took one or two pictures from the car but we made it to the lagoon without stopping.

The lagoon had lots and lots of ice chunks in it, almost as many as how many pictures we took! We took about 50 in all and there was a seal on one of the ice chunks in the glacier! It was a cute, yet elegant seal and we took a picture of it but it was small because we had to take a picture from a distance since it was a protected species here in Glacier Lagoon. We saw it because we went on a boat around the lagoon.

Today was really a Glacier Lagoon day. Yes we did see some different places but the view (or whatever makes it a tourist site was the glacier. I'm not saying that's a bad thing because the views were spectacular.

After the sightseeing of the boat, Tonio went to a a beach with black sand and ice chunks. I couldn't go because I was freezing cold and I really needed some warmth in the car. Apparently, Tonio said there were many ice chunks not only on the beach, but in the water too!

We went to a lake next to the glacier and it was beautiful. We were experimenting on a little part of the frozen river, cracking it with stones and putting some of our weight on it. We were going to continue experimenting when a crowd of about 40 tourists came so we decided to leave. We're not very fond of big crowds so we try to avoid them as much as we can.

Next up, a place with a great view of the glacier. It was a tad dangerous so we were very careful for every step we took. We came to a place where it was very steep and I really wanted to go but Tonio said no so we walked back to the car, still cautious about where we were going.

 

In the end though, we went back to Hotel Nupar and drifted off to sleep...

This was quite a short day compared to the other days we were in Iceland for one reason. Because half of the day, we had to go back through all of the sights because we had a road to go to and back. But still, did you have fun? If you did, make sure to check out the next and last day of the adventures in Iceland!

GianlucaDeGringu

Iceland adventure day 3

Today [Tonio: 1 November], we had a lot of things to do but little time. We woke up, did everything to do in the early morning, and went straight into adventure.

It was -2 degrees when we started off by going to an old farm from the 19th century but evidence showed that some building parts dated back to the 11th and 12th century. It was very cute with a cute chapel with cute houses and a cute graveyard. I don't know if you can call a graveyard cute but anything small is cute to me.

Then, we went to a big waterfall called Seljalandsfoss. It wasn't just one waterfall though. There were a group of waterfalls there and we saw all of them but one was unfortunately too dangerous for my arm but at least it was still visible from where we were. Tonio took a video because water was falling.

After the waterfalls we went into a glacier. We were driving on a road next to it when I told Tonio about this road cutting inito the glacier. Tonio said we had too little time but I insisted. Just as we were about to pass the road we saw a sign and it said something like this, "Glacier Tourism Hike just 2km away". Tonio read the sign and said that we should see what there was. We drove on that road and found out that it was a big attraction. Tonio said that if it wasn't for me, we wouldn't see this place but I think we would've still gone there without me saying anything. We walked until we could touch the ice of the glacier. We took many pictures there including us touching the ice. My fingers went numb touching the ice and I hate it when any part of my body goes numb.

Apart from the main places we went to there were many great views and little parking areas to take pictures from so we took many pictures of the mountains in the south coast and it was perfect for pictures because the sun was always opposite the mountains at a perfect angle that was low and lighting all the southern coast.

 

We went to a little place which I forgot its name and it was a little area where there were lots of stones piled up because there was a story where there used to be a farm but it was destroyed in the first recorded eruption of a volcano which I also forgot its name. Whenever a person passes by for the first time they need to add a stone to the piles of stones everywhere to give good luck but unfortunately I forgot why or who needed good luck and I hate myself for forgetting all these things that I should remember!

Lastly, we went to a hotel called Nupar. It was a very strange hotel with just one floor and the rooms like cabins but despite all the weirdness of the "hotel" it was very nice and they even had a list that if there are northern lights, they will knock on our door to wake us up and see them. We put ourselves on that list. We had dinner there and it was quite delicious. I had lamb soup and Tonio had pork fillet.

Finally, we settled down into our cabin room 29, crawled into bed and went to sleep...

Did you have fun? If you have then join us on our next adventure in Iceland!!!

GianlucaDeGringu

Iceland Adventure Day 2

Today, I found it quite hard to wake up because of yesterday but eventually, I woke up, did the usual early morning things, had breakfeast and set off into adventure.

The first thing we did was go to a place called Þingvellir, a place where the first parlament meeting was back in 930 AD! That is also the place where Iceland is splitting up into two! Not until a few million years or so but there is already a big crack in the ground. In Þingvellir, there is a park with many beautiful sights like a waterfall called Öxarárfoss. We went to Þingvellir and saw many of the attractions there.

After that, we went to Geysir, a place with lots of geysers everywhere. There are about 30 geysers in Geysir but only one of them is still spraying water out, Strokkur which is often confused with Geysir but Geysir isn't spraying water anymore because people threw too much money and garbage that blocked the water from the volcano so it can't spray out anymore. It's a real pity because it must have been bigger than Strokkur which made it really famous. But we still got a picture of Strokkur spraying out water and you can see how far it spreads the water out so I can't imagine how big Geysir's would have been.

Next up, Gulfoss, one of the biggest, or the biggest waterfall in Europe. Gulfoss had two drops. One 11 metres and one 20 metres down. Isn't that amazing! But whats even more amazing is that there is more than 2000 cubic metres of water falling down from the two drops every second! To me that is just unbelievable. The fact that so much water in one second falls down... wow. Anyways we went there and took a few pictures there and Tonio took a video because maybe he needs to take a video to show that water is falling and that it's not fake? I'm not sure I need to ask him.

In the end, we went to Hveragerði, where our hotel was. We checked in, went into our room (this was the average hotel) stayed there for a while and then went downstairs to have dinner. It was quite the same as last time we had dinner in Iceland. Great ratings but a little expensive. The food was really delicious. I had some pasta (surprisingly good for Iceland) and Tonio had some lamb. He said it was the best dish in Iceland so far. I had to have a try. It was mouthwatering but Tonio said the best part of the food was the salad but I'm not much into salads so I let Tonio eat his salad.

We went up to our room, did our evening things and drifted off to sleep... Did you enjoy our first full day? If you have, make sure to read all the other days coming up soon in Adventures In Iceland!!!

                                                                                    

GianlucaDeGringu

Iceland Day 1

Today, was a short day. We had to wake up at 6 am in the morning to go to Iceland. No your eyes aren't deceiving you, Iceland. Can you believe it! Last summer, we were asking each other to go to Iceland as a joke. It was all in our dreams and unexpectedly, we found a good price and went by aeroplane to Iceland!

Oh by the way, I dislodged my wristbone so I had a cast on every day and sometimes, a sling under it. It was very inconvenient because I'm left handed and I dislodged my left arm resulting that we couldn't go to some places that were too dangerous. I hate myself for fracturing my arm and even now, I'm typing with my right hand and it is easier said than done!

As we came off I was feeling quite tired since we woke up at early and also because of jet lag but I felt really excited at the same time because we were in Iceland! 

As I went outside I immediately felt the ice cold weather. Well, not really ice cold but you get the idea. Throughout all 6 days we stayed here the weather said that it would be 1 to 7 degrees but wherever we went it was about -2 to 5 degrees. To be honest, slightly warmer than I expected but still very, very cold. 

We rented our car, a long white car (we took a selfie with it) and drove off to our hotel, Grand Hotel. I wondered what this hotel would look like. Grand, majestic, lots of beautiful things you can see straight away and yet so many details all over the hotel. We checked in and went inside our room, 313. It was giant with three rooms, two televisions, a sofa, two beds a bathroom and even a cooker and a fridge with some eggs in it! I asked if we could fry them but Tonio said no. [Tonio: such a pity - no cooking oil available!]

We basically sat there until dinner time because in Reykjavik, there was a giant gust of wind and also a lot of rain. In the evening we went to a restaurant called Kol. A highly rated, yet a little pricey restaurant. Tonio had salmon and I had mussels that you can find in many places in Reykjavik. There were many beers to choose from but the driving laws are pretty strict in Iceland. Always keep your seatbelt on, always keep your lights on, you can't have more than one bottle of beer that has 2% alcohol in it and you still need to wait about half an hour.

Finally, after our relatively short day, we drove back to our hotel and went to sleep... Did you enjoy our day today? If you have, be sure to stay tuned for the upcoming days of our adventures in Iceland!!!

GianlucaDeGringu

De Doode Bemde

[Tonio: I'm writing this piece alone this time. Gianluca is excused as he has to do lots of homework...]

I had to look up this blog to check where we had done our last Dijleland adventure before today. Since then, we have done the 'special' Leuven day, Bucharest, a three-week stay in Malta... hence the long delay.

Today we returned to the standard Dijleland adventure walks with a beautiful walk, made all the more so by glorious sunny weather. This year the weather in Belgium seems like it's been delayed by one month. It was still awful throughout July, then summer, well and proper, came in August and has been regaling us with an extension close to the end September, within the official season of autumn.

Our walk today started from the same spot as our previous adventure from no. 101/100. This time we stopped at 101 and walked towards 107 in the opposite direction of the last section of our previous adventure. Walking in the opposite direction the perspective is different, so it seemed as if we were walking along this path for the first time, except that we did remember particular spots and episodes from our previous walk every now and then. We marveled at the way we were recalling totally trivial episodes for the first time since we experienced them so many weeks ago.

It seemed it was going to be an unremarkable walk. But, as usual, there was something unusual and then it hit me. It's rare, quite rare, that our walk is bathed in such glorious sunshine. The only exceptions were one or two walks at the peak of summer a year back, but then it was much too hot, not like today. The clockwise loop from 101 took us to nodes no. 107, 106, 105, 104, 103, 102 and back to 101. It was the first time, as far as I can recall, that I did not need to check the map at any moment. We walked through streets in Sint Joris Weert but mostly through fields and paths next to the Dijle river, a nature park named Doode Bemde. We were in the very heart of Dijleland and it was so beautiful.

Close to the end of our walk, Gianluca came up with a hypothesis about life. He compared the universe, our universe and our lives, to a soap bubble. This bubble, our universe, is situated inside a bathroom, which is in itself another universe, the latter being just a microcosm of yet a larger universe, and so on. And he isn't even reading Stephen Hawking and such stuff yet...

An hour after the end of the walk the weather bubble burst. The sky clouded over and it started to rain. The idyll couldn't last forever, but we've enjoyed it so much while it did.