Iceland part 1: 10/22/05-10/23/05

"Are you sure you want me to drop you off at the curb?" G asked.

"Yeah, that's fine," I said, leaning over and hugging him as best as I could. "I'm going to miss you."

"No, no, no, not allowed. You just go ride your pony and trek across the fjords and have a great time. I'll be here when you get back."

One last hug and kiss, and I stood on the curb with my suitcase, rubbing my eyes as I watched him pull away.

The flight to Minneapolis (for some reason, there are no direct flights from Los Angeles to Iceland) was completely uneventful. I arrived at the airport about five hours before my flight to Reykjavik was set to depart.

Joy.

I managed to keep myself busy, though. I had Burger King for lunch, read pretty much every magazine in the English language, and racked up over 160,000 points on Ms. Pac-Man before I trudged off to the Icelandair terminal, dragging my suitcase behind me like a balky pet. My brother arrived about fifteen minutes after I did, so at least I had someone to talk to.

The flight to Reykjavik was as sucktacular as the previous one was pleasant. I had the aisle seat, and the other two seats in my row were occupied by a little boy and his father. I had to keep getting up to allow the kid egress...once during meal service. During MEAL SERVICE, for chrissakes! I really enjoyed balancing my tray of food and "silverware" and can of Coke when I got up; that was a treat and a half. I don't know which was better, my constant game of musical chairs or the wet, hacking cough of his father.

When we (thankfully, blessedly) arrived in Iceland early Sunday morning, R and I took a shuttle bus to the Hotel Loftleider. Our room was small but serviceable, although it suffered from the same problem every European hotel room (all three of them) I've ever stayed in had:





Yes, this is what the Europeans consider two beds. True, there are indeed two separate mattresses, and they each have their own sheets and comforter, but they share a box spring and, as such, it might as well be a single bed. I guess they figure if you're close enough to someone to share a room with them, then you're close enough to share a bed with them. I regressed to childhood and pointed at the crack between the mattresses, saying "This is MY side. You can't cross over YOUR side!"

We had a little time before our first tour began, so we freshened up and then headed down to the lobby to catch the bus. Our first stop was the Kjarvalsstadir Art Museum, which wasn't exactly my cup of tea, followed by the Asmundur Sculpture Museum, which had some interesting works.





Hallgrimskirkja Church:













After the church, our tour bus took us on a ride around the center of Reykjavik before hitting our last stop, The Pearl. The Pearl has a little bit of everything: an extremely expensive restaurant, a snack bar, an artificial geyser in the lobby, and a museum.










Finally, the bus took us back to our hotel and we had just enough time to grab our swimsuits and towels for our next tour, which was taking us to the Blue Lagoon. The Blue Lagoon is a geothermal spot which is 100-110 degrees throughout the year. The water is filled with mineral salts, silica, and blue-green algae, and it's supposed to have healing properties. I don't know about that, but man, did it feel good. Of course, I didn't have my glasses on, so I staggered around blindly until I found a good spot to sit and squish my toes in the silica mud.

When it was time to get out, I went into the locker room and stripped off my swimsuit just in time for three of the most gorgeous women I've ever seen to walk by. Seriously, they were so perfect I think they were genetically engineered in a secret Umbrellaesque lab outside of Reykjavik. One of them regarded me with what I (in a fit of paranoia and low self-esteem) took as pity, and I wanted to fling my arms across my naughty bits and moan in a John Merrickesque voice, "Don't loooooooooook at meeeeeeeeeeeee!" I managed to refrain, though. I showered and got dressed and went outside to try to get a few pictures, but the steam fogged up my camera lens and this is honestly the best shot I could get:





I met up with R in the lobby and we took the tour bus back to the hotel, where I plunged headfirst into a deep, dreamless sleep.

[To be continued...]