Iceland I - Aug 11-12/26

Today we headed off to Iceland. I spent a lot of time planning out the (rather ambitious/busy) vacation program, a combination of advice from others, two guidebooks, and some blogs. I then polished and organized my plan with Claude AI (that I use at work) since it's better than other free AI models. I got Claude to do a lot of the grunt work.

Nancy is running the Reykjavik marathon on Aug 22 and I am strictly along for the ride. We had worried about delays due to the Westjet flight attendant strike, but the parties sorted it out in less than a day and well ahead of our departure. Had to change planes in Calgary but it was a short layover (~an hour). The flight from Calgary was about 7 hours. The total solar eclipse is on Aug 12 so the airport was rather busy and it took over an hour to get through customs (they had at least 50 automated check-in kiosks... none of which were operational) and the plane left about half an hour late as well. Still, no significant travel issues. 

We picked up our rental car at the airport (Kia Picanto). I don't really drive modern cars so it took some getting used to. For example, it does not have a parking gear; to park the car, you put it in neutral and use the parking brake. It seems to be in pretty good shape and only has 50K km on the odometer. It has also proved to be remarkably efficient - average fuel economy is in the 5L/100 km range in varied terrain. I hate that nobody sells subcompacts in Canada anymore. 

I drugged myself using zopiclone on the plane to minimize jetlag (plane to Iceland left at ~8:30 PM and arrived at 8:30 AM), which actually mostly worked. The somnolent Nancy handled this the old-fashioned way. We took off immediately for the "Golden Circle", a small ring of oft-visited sites near Reykjavik. 

The first stop was Thingvellir National Park. This is the site of Iceland's first parliament, which is really a rock where people gathered to vote on laws. Nearby there are also the sites of the corresponding punishments, such as the traditional place to hang or drown people. It also had a few more modern items such as an old church and the summer residence of the Prime Minister. It also had a waterfall and some interesting geological formations - the main one being a deep gorge where tectonic plates are shifting North America and Europe 2cm further apart a year. The site also contained a small waterfall (Oxarfoss).

The Gorge

Iceland's first Parliament Hill

Next we stopped for lunch at a tomato farm, Fridheimar, which was the only food thing I wanted to do the entire trip. The greenhouse, like most in Iceland, is heated using geothermal energy since otherwise they really can't grow much. Even in the old days they planted potatoes in the warm areas with lots of geothermal activity. Endless tomato soup and bread (a good variety!) was on offer. I also had a tomato beer. 

Tomato soup - free refills!

Bread buffet

Icelandic horse

Then it was a short drive to Geysir, which is the namesake of all geysers. There was a nice trail up to various hotpots, where water literally comes boiling out of the ground. The highlight is the active geyser, called Strokkur. It erupts every 7-8 minutes and I'm pleased to announce it was on schedule. Propelled by the acrid scent of sulphur (which reminded me of my summer at Ram River), we did the full hike to the top of the hill to see all of the hot spots despite constant drizzle (which appears to be the default weather in Iceland).

Strokkur

The next stop was Gullfoss, one of the most picturesque and largest waterfalls in the country. We were here when the solar eclipse passed over Iceland, with the path of totality going right over Reykyjavik. However, it was very cloudy, so all we saw was the sky get more dark for a few minutes. Our special eclipse sunglasses went unused in the backpack during this anticlimax. 

Godafoss

At this stage it was getting on towards 7 PM after a long 1-2 days of travel and sightseeing. We stopped off at the Secret Lagoon, which is a touristy hot spring pool using water from, quite literally, feet away from the pool (after mixing with cold water). We stayed for about an hour relaxing in the water and closed out the place. 

Our accomodations were suddenly cancelled while we are the plane. The company said there was a natural disaster that wiped our erstwhile glamping tent from the face of the earth. Iceland hotels typically book up well in advance but we were able to find something for the day of in a great location while having lunch in the greenhouse. It turned out for the better as it was charming, quiet, and had "free" breakfast. 

Hotel Bru Countryside

Overall we are accustomizing ourselves to Iceland - timezone, driving, etc. We are finding the tourist infrastructure outstanding.