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Friday, October 18, 2013
Arrival back in the USA at Logan international airport was awesome. Lines just moved, this was great!
Called the hotel shuttle to pick us up and right next to the place is an Uno pizza place. I love Boston!
After enjoying our pizza and returning to the hotel we noticed that it was raining in the bathroom. We are not sure what caused the water to drip from our ceiling but at 11pm we were changing hotel rooms.
Friday, October 18, 2013
Today we leave the land of the mighty vikings. Its been a fun stay, we have learned a lot about the country's history and culture. Mrs. Mcintosh never took us on a field trip like this in 7th grade history. Not sure what we wilk do in our final hours, perhaps trinket shopping and a photo safari.
Lunch was at fylgifiskar, a fish buffet recommended by our northern lights driver, Georg. The food was good and had a lot of local folks, so we knew it would be good.
After our delicious lunch of pan fried fish and fish stew, we went in search of photo ops of Reykjavik. Our first stop would be Pealan, an observatory overlooking the city. Took a few pics then we left for our own version of a city tour, "find the road to the airport".
After seeing many wonderful landmarks on our tour (KFC, Taco Bell, etc.) We manage to get on the road to the airport where we would have one stop before reaching the airport.
Our stop was the Blue Lagoon, where we had been the night before. We had to swing by and see the pools in the day light to appreciate them (and get photos). Look at the blue water!
Getting short on time we race out of the Blue Lagoon and towards the airport. With 1 1/2 hours before our flight we still have to turn in rental car. The "dude" at the rental car olace said it would be 10 minutes for the shuttle or we could walk it in 2 minutes.
We start the timer and start hiking to the airport. Where else could you walk in to the airport from off the street? I know we couldn't do it at hobby without being met by an escort.
Surprisingly we reached the terminal in 6 minutes. All that marathon training has paid off. Went through security, passport control, etc in plenty of time and still had time to shop for trinkets and onboard snack, in an hours time! Couldn't do that in a US airport.
As we settle in to our seats and finally taxi to runway, we bid farewell to Iceland as the wheels leave the ground and our honeymoon moves closer to an end.
Thursday, October 17, 2013
After much deliberation the night before we finally agreed to take a tour to see the glaciers instead of going ourselves. The tour will actually be able to drive us up to the glacier.
We arrive at the mountain that has the glacier, but we still have another 30 minutes to the glacier as we stop at the waterfall for a break and photo op.
The trek to the glacier looks like a wasteland. The volcano erupted in 2010 which partially melted the glacier and flooded the valley, leaving behind volcanic ash and rock. The experience and remoteless was awesome!
The drive back was difficult as a 2 1/2 hour drive left me sleepy and nodding off.
After arrival we immediately pack up and head out to the blue lagoon, a geothermal spa and pool. With the temperature outside at 38F, slipping into the warm pools outside was welcomely warm. The blue lagoon is situated next to the power plant that extracts the superheated steam from the earth to spin generators. The spent steam and water is pumped into the pools. Perfectly safe and wicked good fun.
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Today we are on our own as we drive the much acclaimed Golden Circle. I will let you know what that is as we discover it.
Pingvellir National Park (the "P" is pronounced "th")
Wonderful time at the national park as we viewed the mid-atlantic tetonic plates and where the first parliament convened in 920. These vikings kicked ass!
Fontana at Laugarvatn
We stopped here for lunch, this place actually had geo-thermal pools, but we decided to hold out for the famous blue lagoon pools later. Lunch was good and over due (tomato soup for us both).
Geysir
We stop at the information stop looking for the geiser, only to be looking in the wrong direction. We followed the people leaving the buses and found the geisars. This was amazing, as we walked up it went off three times. We waited again thinking it would go off again, but it took another twenty minutes to go off, we waited as the freezing wind turned our fingers blue.
Gullfoss
The last jewel on the Golden Circle circuit. This town or location played host to a wonderful waterfall which is about as amazing as I have ever seen. By now the wind had picked up and the temperature was 36F with the wind chill factor it could have easily been 28F.
As we left Gullfoss the sun started to go down and we had a 1 1/2 hour drive still ahead of us to get back to the hotel.
Back at the hotel we decided to dine in at the hotel restaurant. Brenda had reindeer and I had the local fish (plaice) a type of flounder. Both were delicious!
After dinner we decided to chase the lights. We finally found them as we trekked 30 minutes away from the city into more desserted wasteland.
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Reykjavik - After 18 hours of traveling we were not ready for Iceland. Arriving at the Hilton Nordica in Reykjavik at 7:30 am, we decided it was time to sleep so we could recharge from the traveling.
The sleep decision was a good one, five hours later we were ready to explore the city. The hotel clerk gave us some suggestions for getting to the waterfront district, and following his instructions we found downtown and embarked on our journey, finding food.
After some local Icelandic super food (sandwiches) we are off to explore down town and see the church in the middle of town, while doing some shopping along the way and taking in rhe city.
We make our way back to the hotel after our short day downtown. our search results on the internet didn't yield any interesting dining choices so we ordered room service.
After dinner we congregate in the hotel lobby until our tour guide arrives. A jeep adventure in search of the northern lights.
Our tour guide shows up in this massive 4x4 jeep and we get going. IImmediately our guide takes us off road for some rock climbing in the jeep. We settle upon a plateau overlooking Reykjavik at night, awesome view!
With night having heavy cloud cover and a full moon our chances of finding some northern lights look bleek, I feel like a storm chaser as we travel back roads looking for clear black skies that will reveal our nights mission.
Okay three hours of driving around and the magic is gone. We were able to see the slightest bit of lights but not what we had hoped. We return home at 1:00 am tired and disappointed. the northern lights had eluded us this night.
Monday, October 14, 2013
Houston, Hobby Airport. Arrived at the airport ready to go. I have glowsticks in my hand bag to mess with the TSA, is it liquid or is it solid? Is it harmless glow material or glowing nuclear waste.
Oddly enough I got no reaction from the TSA in regards to glowsticks. Bummer. We will try something else next time.
Today is strictly a travel day, our first leg takes us to Nashville and our second leg to Boston and our final leg has us arriving tomorrow morning in Reykjavik, Iceland.
As luck would have it our flight to Nashville is delayed by 20 minutes, so what to do with the extra time? Eat of course. Brenda got us some ddelicious airport food (burger and fries) whilewe wait out the delay. While we are waiting we started discussing the TV program, the Amazing Race and how those travelers have to carry everything on their backs. This flight Brenda has chosen the backpack carry on instead of her normal checked roller. We wondered if they were provided clothing for cetain legs of the race, otherwise how could you pack for tropical to artic weather? A pondering thought as we sit and wait.
Nashville, International Airport. Guitars and Cadillacs, we are in Nashville or its airport as we wait to fly to "bawstin", one hour and counting.
Boston, Logan International. One more flight behind us and the longest one yet to travel. We are gonna grab some dinner in the airport then go wait at the gate. Then for the next 5 hours we will tey to get some sleep on the plane. This has been a very long travel day.
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Early start this morning so we would have time to shop at the L.L.Bean store in Freeport.
After grabbing some breakfast and an hour and s half of shopping we make our way to the jetport in Portland for the voyage home.
Its been a good trip, learned a lot about my fellow trip mates and had fun with them. I am ready to get home back to the family and my beautiful fiancee.
Saturday, October 5, 2013
A morning surprise at breakfast, a tour bus arrived some time yestarday and suddenly the inn has more residents. This was very noticeable as I fight for bacon at the buffet :-)
This morning we make the hour long drive to Camden, Maine. We easily find a place to park and our tour boat, the Lively Lady, with time to spare.
We board the Lively Lady and begin our day job of collecting lobsters. Before we embark on our new temp jobs the captain gives us a tour of camden harbor and coast line.
About 45 minutes into the tour we start hauling up lobster traps and getting educated on the tasty creatures (no lobster races).
We return to port and our lunch spot, the waterfront, and all pile in for a cozy lunch. Since I haven't yet had my fill of clam chowderor lobster yet, I order the clsm chowder and lobster roll. Delicious!
After lunch we stroll the town shopping and finally heading to camden hills state park for a birdseye view of camden harbor. After our day in camden we return to boothbay to prepare for our last dinner together.
Ports of Italy, our restaurant for the night. Arriving at 7:30 and closing the place down at 10:30. The food was wonderful and the company was great as everyone shared their stories and experiences from the trip.
Friday, October 4, 2013
9:00 am like clock work we leave for the Coastal Botanical Gardens, rated in the top 5, arriving at our destination in fifteen minutes.
Our guide, Becky, was actually a volunteer who called texas home. She gave us a breif history of the gardens before starting us on our hour long tour. After the guided portion of the tour we were left on our own to explore the gardens.
After an hour of self guided touring, it was time to round up the group and load up for our next destination, the schooner East Wind (www.schoonereastwind.com).
Arriving earlier than our departure time allowed us to walk the cozy downtown of Boothbay, with its charming small town shops.
Its time to board the boat and sail the bay area. With a four hour sail time we had plenty of time to see the Maine coast line, viewing lighthouses and lobster boats and learning about some history of Maine from Captain Bill and his first mate Jerry.
Returning from our sailing adventure we had an hour to recoup before setting for our evening entertainment, the Carousel Music Theater (www.carouselmusictheater.org).
The Carousel Music Theater was a charming place, serving a soup and sandwich meal while the wait staff also entertained with songs from Barry Manilow. After dinner was served, the cast continued the entertainment with a musical comedy which wrapped up the evenings entertainment with laughs.
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Today is a travel day; two planes, a car trip and nine hours arrival at Spruce Point Inn in Boothebay, Maine.
After settling in to our rooms its time for drinks and socializing at the the bar before going to dinner.
After drinks we travel to the Boathouse Bistro, across the lake from where we are staying. The restaurant is a nice cozy place, a tappas style restaurant also serving entree type fare. What's on the menu? Lobster of course, and good lobster it was; for me it was grilled lobster in basil oil with a corn sauce served on top. All followed by a trio of creme brulee; baileys, grand marinier and ameretta.
After dinner its cigars and story telling of trips past.
