Living the Dream, Day 2

DAY 2

The next morning, we ate the complimentary breakfast at the guesthouse. There is definitely a breakfast food protocol at the guesthouses in Iceland, as we would come to find. It went very much like this: Three cereals, one of which was muesli; plus toast, a couple of jellies, and butter. To drink, there was orange juice, apple juice and coffee. Then there was a tray of meats and cheeses and a tray of veggies (sliced cucumber and sliced tomatoes). Sometimes there was yogurt and/or granola. If I was lucky, there was hazelnut spread. That's the sign of a good day if I ever saw one.

So our plan for the day was to get our rental car and get started on our tour around Iceland. There is one main road that circles the country, aptly named the "Ring Road." (There are other roads that lead into the mountainous interior, called the "Highlands," but trying to be budget travelers, we didn't allow ourselves to rent the grade of car we needed to traverse this territory, so we kept to the main roads.) While reading my travel guides, I came across the option of using Icelandic Farm Holidays. This company maps out different self-driving itineraries, based on what sort of trip you want and how many days of travel you can swing. There is a network of farms that has space on its grounds (either in the main farm house or in a separate building) for lodging. This is a clever way to help farmers make a livelihood beyond their crops and livestock. So our car rental, travel itinerary, and lodging for our trip around Iceland was literally all mapped out and waiting for us. For a fee, of course.

After breakfast, we waited out front for our pick-up service to take us to the car rental place. It was chilly, but tolerable when we stood in the sun. A young twenty-something was our driver. He told us that he was going on his first trip to New York City with his girlfriend soon, primarily to go shopping. On his shopping list was Nikes, which are apparently much cheaper in the U.S. than they are once they are imported to Iceland. He also told us about a friend who goes to New York every so often. The guy first throws away all of the clothes in his closet, and then he brings back an entire new wardrobe when he returns.

We got the rental car rundown at Europcar, including a vouchers for three free cups of coffee if we should get tired. I was about to learn that N1 petrol stations were my friend, and would be quite beloved on our journey. After getting turned around a couple of times, getting acquainted with our VW Polo (which was stick shift, and that meant I'd never be driving), and stopping for my first N1 cup of coffee, we were on our way and off to a late start.

My view to the left for most of the trip. Good thing I like him.

We spent the better part of the day touring the Golden Circle route, a very popular day tour for travelers, seeing Geysir (which is, yes, a geyser, like Old Faithful in Yellowstone) and the Gulfoss waterfall. I bought yet another wool hat (my second), much to Greg's chagrin ("Didn't you just buy a hat!?"). I rationalized it by noting that I wouldn't be buying a $200 Icelandic wool sweater, the fair isle style that was in all of the stores. Of course, now I really want one.

at Geysir - Or the nearby geysir that actually has some activity these days.

Gulfoss waterfall

We also checked out the site of Iceland's first government meet-up, Thingvellir (loosely spelled, since like most words in the native Icelandic language, it contains letters that don't exist in English). This is the part where I admit the unfortunate -- especially since I live in steps away from Colonial Williamsburg, of all places: I am NOT a history person. Greg still laughs about how he and I went on an audio car tour of the Gettysburg battlefields with his parents, and I slept soundly throughout the whole tour...Even the "exciting parts." (In my defense, it was the perfect sleep sabotage: We had just eaten a diner-style breakfast and it was cold outside, but the car was so comfortably warm...) So I got as excited about this sort of thing as I could get. If nothing else, it was pretty, scenic, and had some interesting geography going on, so picture-taking made it worth the trip.

Thingvellir thingie thing thingerton.

More of the same Thing(vellir.)

We stopped at a number of waterfalls on the way to our farm lodging. These served as nice breaks to stretch our legs and check the temperature. It was not warm, and it was not un-cold, so that made it "pleasantly not cold," an endearing term Icelanders apparently use to describe summer weather.

...Just stretching my legs. And arms.

We accidentally passed by our farm stay lodging and went on to the next town, Vik i Myrdal, where our travel guidebook promised restaurants. And then we had trouble finding the restaurant we were looking for, in spite of the town being extremely small. We thought we found it, but we ended up eating at the town's other restaurant next door. It was tasty, even at the wrong place. I had cod fried in a delicious sauce, a darn good salad, and roasted new potatoes. I was corrected on my pronunciation of "Viking" when I ordered the popular brand of beer (and a popular brand of people, around these parts); apparently it should be "VICK-eeng." As in, the short /i/ vowel, I think. I love that the waitress who corrected me wasn't from Iceland, either. Double-whammy.

Our first glacier sighting!

We arrived late to our farm. Way-late, apparently, but this whole sun-out-at-all-hours issue makes it confusing to comprehend what time it is. (Why, it's sun o'clock, still!) We were greeted by a grandmotherly woman, and we were most apologetic about our tardiness. Grandma seemed okay or at least outwardly polite about it, but the younger woman who showed us to our room was giving off some vibes that she was annoyed with us and our late-arriving selves. We sensed hostility.

We did some mingling with our housemates (Greg's idea; I would have been content to keep to ourselves. Plus, I was seriously tired and, thus, the weak link in the conversation.) We chatted up the other European travelers staying with us, and one man tried to convince us that Albania is a surprisingly great travel destination. Not long after that, we excused ourselves and went to bed. In the daylight. Again. Still weird!