The long haul ride on the bus meant I found my eyes drifting closed and attempts at recouping some lost sleep.\u00a0 I missed some of the intro talk then but Mom tried to fill me in after the fact.\u00a0 Sadly, it was in one ear out the other on a lot of what Vigdis the guide told Mom and then she told me.\u00a0 That would be a recurrent theme throughout the day, perhaps because listing to Vigdis was like listening to the adults in Peanuts \u2013 you got kinda the feel and vibe of what was being said even if you didn\u2019t understand all the words.<\/p>\n
I originally meant to make a big list of the toughest words for me to make out (and this is not a diss on her English \u2013 I mean, jeez, I barely speak English and to be able to converse in another language is like black magic to me \u2013 beyond my comprehension.\u00a0 Good on all the folks who are fluent in more than their native tongues \u2013 that\u2019s a skill I really wish I had invested in).\u00a0 But ultimately the only one I could clearly remember was “meringue” \u2013 I can\u2019t do justice to what I heard her say but we eventually puzzled out that she was referring to the thing you spread over a cake to describe the moss consistency that grows so well over the Icelandic rocks.<\/p>\n
Iceland was settled in the 9th<\/sup> and and 10th<\/sup> centuries, and was fully settled by about 930.\u00a0 Lots of early settlers were from Norway but there were also plenty of people across Europe.\u00a0 This period was the Pagan period, the period of the Vikings.\u00a0 There was no written language, no reading of any kind, and runes felt like black magic.\u00a0 By the year 1000, Christianity reared its head and the Latin alphabet was introduced.\u00a0 Books rose, though they were the purview of the wealthy.\u00a0 One needed a lot of calves to have the calfskin to write down one\u2019s words.<\/p>\n The Viking period is usually viewed as beginning in 796 with the sacking of Cumberland wherein a band of rogues marauded and robbed the place.\u00a0 The last heathen King of the Viking was defeated in the Battle of Hastings and the Battle at Stamford Bridge\u00a0in 1066, marking the close of our Hagar-ian friends.<\/p>\n What followed was the Saga writing period, from approximately 1100 to 1350, a tale of epics and adventures.<\/p>\n A famed 13th<\/sup> Century Icelandic writer wrote books on Norwegian Kings and more importantly pagan beliefs.\u00a0 His \u201cHOW AM MULL (my best guess phonetic spelling of the thing\u2026 I\u2019ll google the proper name when I\u2019m back to internet connections) was filled with Viking quotes and sayings.\u00a0 It was essentially a Viking Guide To Life.\u00a0 As it\u2019s oft compared to the Chinese Book of Tao (or \u201cThe Way\u201d), a book colloquially known as the Wisdom of the East, the HO AM MULL is sometimes called the \u201cWisdom of the North.\u201d\u00a0 Game of Thrones fans will realize George R R Martin heavily sacked the Viking legends for the people of the North in his Song of Fire and Ice.<\/p>\n UPDATE: If my internet search is right, the writer is Snorri Sturluson and his book is called Heimskringla<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n As they say in the books (and on the HBO show\u2026 which has become the zeitgeistian de facto sword and sex spectacle), \u201cYou know nothing, Jon Snow.\u201d\u00a0 If that\u2019s true, you know less than nothing, Run Kevin Run.\u00a0 I tried to scribble down notes as Vigdis talked or as we visited places but it\u2019s a bit of a jumble and the Icelandic alphabet and writing is as incomprehensible to me as Egyptian hieroglyphics.\u00a0 I can\u2019t sound out the words even while looking at the text and when I hear the spoken word, well, phonetics are as off as my singing voice.\u00a0 But I\u2019ll try and do the best I can in summarizing what went down.\u00a0 I can tell you there was no running today.<\/p>\n The first stop was Seljalandsfoss, a 60 meter high waterfall that featured a walking path behind the falls themselves.\u00a0 The classic Jungle Cruise joke about seeing the backside of water came true.\u00a0 Amidst the swarm of tourists was a Japanese couple shooting wedding photos.\u00a0 Her white dress dragged through the mud as she stepped as gingerly she could and his efforts to help steady her were a reminder that chivalry isn\u2019t dead and the desire to get a decent Facebook shot extends well beyond selfie sticks.<\/p>\n The path behind the water had railings and steps\u2026 occasionally\u2026 and occasionally had no help whatsoever.\u00a0 The most treacherous parts in fact had us scampering over the rocks, climbing amidst slimy moss and slick surfaces as if we were Tom and Huck and Becky and all the other Twain kids off on some adventure.\u00a0 I think Mom made the right choice in skipping it and I appreciate her supporting me bushwhacking the trail to see the falls derriere.<\/p>\n Just down the road from the 60 meter falls was an even more impressive but a bit less accessible 70 meter one.\u00a0 I think it was called Sqogar or Squagasfass or if google is right Sk\u00f3gafoss.\u00a0 Whatever the name, its plummeting, misty water provided some great visions of rainbows, including the ever more popular \u201cdouble rainbow\u201d of internet meme fame.\u00a0 A switchback staircase of varying degrees and steps lead to the top of the falls for a nice overhead shot.\u00a0 It was no Niagara Falls but it was still cool to be looking down on the cascading shower of H20.<\/p>\n Again, Mom wisely opted to skip the climb.\u00a0 I was winded going up the thing and the uneven pitch, height, and design of the steps reminded me of my Great Wall of China days. \u00a0I tried to keep up with fellow Travelling Fit client Kelvin but that guy is part mountain goat.\u00a0 I suspect he\u2019ll be a fast runner in the Marathon on Saturday.\u00a0 He\u2019s a great guy and has the speech patterns and inflections of Andrew Scott, perhaps most famous as BBC\u2019s Moriarty\u2026 only Kelvin is less sinister.<\/p>\n Lunch at this locale was a set menu of trout salad and leg of lamb. \u00a0Not my top pics for food but, hey, when in Iceland\u2026 my one main complaint is I wish they sold a drinking Viking Horn that offered unlimited free refills of soda everywhere you go in the country.\u00a0 I really think this is a marketing gap that could easily be filled.\u00a0 Wouldn\u2019t YOU buy a horn with a shoulder strap that you could get your grog on anywhere in the land of Ice?\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that REALLY what we want out of life?\u00a0 I\u2019ll have to buy a copy of the HOW AM MULL as I suspect on page 4 there\u2019s a section entitled \u201cThe Secret to Viking Happiness Lies In A Bottomless Horn of Drink.\u201d<\/p>\n After lunch, it was a drive out to the Reynafajaris Black Pebble Sand Beach.\u00a0 Anoop and Priya told us this and many of the stops along today\u2019s tour were recently featured in a Bollywood movie\u2019s dance number set in Iceland.\u00a0 Wandering the shoreline, I can see why this was a location scout\u2019s dream assignment.<\/p>\n Update: A search for \u201cBollywood Iceland Dance Number\u201d yielded this choice youtube clip.\u00a0 It\u2019s apparently from the movie Diwale (2015).<\/p>\n http:\/\/icelandreview.com\/news\/2015\/11\/19\/bollywood-film-clip-shot-iceland-released<\/a><\/p>\n Back on the bus, somebody asked if we were going to the southernmost town in Iceland.\u00a0 Vigdis told us we were going to Vik and while technically correct \u2013 we did go THROUGH Vik \u2013 we didn\u2019t stop at Vik.\u00a0 We drove by it.\u00a0 I suppose had I gotten a blueberry muffin from Vigdis it would have only had a single blueberry as technically, yes, that would make it a blueberry muffin despite my expectations that it would in fact be a \u201cblueberries\u201d muffin.\u00a0 (This is a long standing issue with me as I\u2019ve purchased no less than three (3!!) single blueberry muffins in my lifetime.\u00a0 Will the outrages never cease?!).<\/p>\n This is written in my notes app on my iPhone.\u00a0 I have no idea what it means.\u00a0 I\u2019ll google it later but for now this is like \u201c<\/em>CROATOAN\u201d and the Lost Colony tree trunk scratches in Roanoke: \u201cLakia Eruption?\u00a0 Hardship Mist?\u00a0 Drop in local temperature.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Or maybe it\u2019s more like the Nazi dispatches that so intrigue Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark.<\/em><\/p>\n A quick internet search would indicate these scribblings refer to the continuous volcanic eruption in Iceland from 1783 \u2013 1785, the volcanic ash creating mist hardships that altered climate conditions and wiped out 20% of the population.\u00a0 Cheery thought.\u00a0 I assume this was part and parcel of the discussion of the 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallaj\u00f6kull that grounded air travel and stranded me in the UK at the time.<\/em><\/p>\n But the highlight of the long road trip along the southwestern coast was probably the far flung largest glacier in Iceland and in Europe.\u00a0 Our final destination was the J\u00f6kuls\u00e1rl\u00f3n Glacier Lagoon Park, used in such Hollywood productions as A View To A Kill, Die Another Day, and Game of Thrones.\u00a0 Apparently 31 families own land abutting the glacier area and to get anything done on infrastructure or development beyond what is currently there the government needs to get consensus from those folks.\u00a0 Good luck with that \u2013 there\u2019s a reason then that there are only two toilets at the place.<\/p>\n We boarded the duck boat Jokull and cruised around the Lagoon.\u00a0 We had unusually spectacular weather.\u00a0 We could even see through the clouds the tallest peak in all of Iceland, Hvannadalshn\u00fakur, rising to a height of 2110 meters.\u00a0 I\u2019m a bit spoiled on icebergs and glacier views thanks to my recent Antarctica trip<\/a> but it was great fun being with the Travelling Fit folks and especially with my Mom as we sailed the seas of the Glacier Lagoon.<\/p>\n Our skipper and his first mate told us the temperature was approximately 2 degrees Celsius.\u00a0 As an Antarctic Polar Plunge veteran of tenths of degrees waters, I scoffed at such figures.\u00a0 But I was still glad to have a life vest, just in case.\u00a0 The vests enabled us to safely maneuver around each other on the teeny tiny ship deck; we were human bumper cars, careening and crashing into each other vying for a photo of frozen water.\u00a0 It was a fun sail.<\/p>\n Back on dry land, we finished up the day with a few shoreline pics and headed home.\u00a0 A dinner break at a National Park proved, um, ill timed.\u00a0 We had an hour and fifteen minutes at the place, with Vigdis telling us we could walk to the glacier if we wanted to.\u00a0 It was about a 45 minute return trip she said.\u00a0 Some people rushed off from the bus but Mom and I thought we\u2019d get some food first.\u00a0 The first bit of rain was falling and it seemed silly to brave the elements if we could have a meal and see this supposedly great Icelandic Volcano Overview movie at the visitors\u2019 center.\u00a0 Unfortunately, we arrived at about 6:45 PM and the caf\u00e9 was closing at 7.\u00a0 They struggled to feed us all as best they could; the young man who had been essentially left alone to run the place as both server and cashier did his very best and was nothing but professional.\u00a0 Finally his lumbering boss came out to help and Mom and I split a sandwich.<\/p>\n The rain had let up and I might have been able to rush to the glacier and back but thought the movie sounded more interesting \u2013 besides I could hang with Mom which was kind of a key selling point of the trip.\u00a0 Mom encouraged me to go but instead we got to chatting with one of our Travelling Fit companions as she finished her soup and then decided the movie was the better option anyway.<\/p>\n So post-dinner conversation we tried the door to the visitors center.\u00a0 It was about 7:20 now\u2026 and we discovered the visitors\u2019 center closed at 7 as well.\u00a0 This all felt like details that our tour guide might have been able to share with us earlier in the stop but, hey ho, that\u2019s just one way to go.\u00a0 We told Mari Mar at the lagoon we didn\u2019t realize we were taking a boat tour and she said that was good \u2013 she liked to surprise people.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure this is exactly the type of surprise she envisioned but it\u2019s all part of the experience and the adventure of traveling.<\/p>\n Besides, isn\u2019t there an old riddle about what\u2019s the best thing in the world and the answer is that it\u2019s the one thing you can never have?\u00a0 Some sort of grass is always greener maxim or some such.\u00a0 In any case, I can only assume this 7-minute video on Iceland\u2019s volcanos and the history of their eruptions and impact on the world is the single greatest 420 seconds ever projected.\u00a0 It\u2019s no doubt much more impressive in my head than it could ever be on screen.\u00a0 So there\u2019s that.<\/p>\n And then there were the 3 and a half hour ride back to the hotel.\u00a0 A comfort stop at the same convenience store we stopped at on the way out meant I could confirm the Donald Duck joke book hadn\u2019t been sold.\u00a0 I can\u2019t believe nobody bought that thing.\u00a0 Knock knock jokes are ALWAYS funnier in their original Icelandic!<\/p>\n It was a long, long day with many adventures.\u00a0 No running but plenty of miles covered.\u00a0 I hope Mom had a good time; I did, despite any hiccups.<\/p>\n I close this post with what I think is a hilarious comic panel I put together using official Icelandic butter at lunch: SJMOR butter (say it aloud before viewing the comic):<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"http:\/\/www.runkevinrun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/image-68-300x225.jpeg\")
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