Day 6 - Our first day in the UK

Day 6, July 9, 2013:

Today we went into St Albans, a local town made up of parks, narrow streets, shops, homes and a stunning cathedral.  St. Albans is old, really old!  The Celts settled here first, and then the Romans built the city of Verulamium which was the second largest city in Roman Britain after Londinium along the river Ver.  After the Roman withdrawal, the town was called Verlamchester or Wæclingacaester by the Angles.  The mediaeval town grew up on the hill to the east of this around the Benedictine foundations of St. Albans Abbey.  This is the spot where St. Alban (the first Christian martyr) was beheaded some time before AD 324. The story has it that he a roman citizen harbored a Christian monk who was hiding from the Romans and converted to Christianity.  As Christianity was illegal, when confronted by the soldiers, St. Alban refused to betray the monk and he took his place for trial and refused to renounce his new faith in one god.  He was tried for being a Christian and beheaded on the hill overlooking the river.  The first executioner refused to do the job so a replacement was found.  The second executioner completed the beheading only to have St. Albans head roll down the hill into a well (Holy-well Hill, a major street running into St. Albans) and his eyeballs fall out of his head! (or so they say....)  St. Albans became the principal abbey in England and the first draft of the Magna Carta was drawn up there (upon which all British laws are based).  St. Albans Cathedral became the parish church in 1553 when it was bought by the local people and made a cathedral in 1877.  There has been a succession of abbeys on the site before the current building which was started in 1077 – almost a thousand years ago!

 

Pauline graciously acted as our tour guide today and ferried us all in to St. Albans.  We strolled through the narrow medieval streets, shopping and gawking.  This was the first stop over site on the main road to London and thus has a number of Tudor buildings, pubs and inns.  We stopped at the 15^th century clock tower which was used to sound the curfew until 1863 (it was closed) then on to the Cathedral proper.  What a magnificent building which represents many eras of construction and addition.  There are stunning carvings, century old frescos, wood carvings and a huge organ.  Unfortunately the boys stomachs would not allow us to linger so it was off to lunch at the “Two Fighting Cocks” which claims to be the oldest continuously operating inn/pub in England.  Apparently the foundations contain some workings from the 800’s but the building itself is Tudor with ceilings just over 2 meters high (we had to stoop under the beams).

After a great lunch in the garden in stunning sunshine we returned to our wanderings.  The boys went off to the local playground where they had outdoor workout equipment to work up a bit of a sweat while Mary Rose, Pauline and I trucked on over to the roman ruins that are in the middle of the park.  The park sits on top of a fairly extensive roman town; most of which is buried and will likely stay that way.  There is however a beautiful mosaic floor from a wealthy townhouse that has been unearthed and preserved in situ.  They were in the process of filming a BBC show on holy places so we got chased out but only after a good long look.  Well we wrapped up the day with a bit of shopping, then back to ‘Glen Iris’ – our digs for a proper outdoor grill, lots of wine and blessed sleep.  Tomorrow it is an early start as we are Paris bound!

Day 5 - The Blue Lagoon and on to London

Day 5, July 8, 2013:

Well, time to take our leave, we really regret that we didn’t have more time to circumnavigate the island but you really need a week to do so.  We decided to make our last stop before flying out the most popular tourist trap in Iceland the Blue Lagoon.  So here’s the deal, Iceland because it sits right on top of the Mid-Atlantic rift is volcanic, really volcanic, which means it has lots of heat.  Drill a hole down almost anywhere and pump down sea water and you make high pressure steam which you can use to generate electricity and heat your buildings.  But once you are done with the hot sea water, what do you do with it?  Well Iceland also has a lot of unused land (it is the most sparsely populated European country), lava fields with little else on it.  So just dump the left over water onto the surface where it will make a lagoon.  This is exactly what they did at the Svartsengi Geothermal Power station just outside of the main Airport into Iceland.  Here five power plants generate a quarter of all Iceland’s power simply by pumping sea water about a km down into an active fault line to generate high pressure steam.  Once they are done with the steam and the highly mineralized water has cooled they dump it into a huge holding pond or lagoon set in deep black volcanic basalts.  The warm waters – which average 37 degrees Celsius are rich in silica which precipitates our and coats all the surrounding rocks with a glassy white coating and makes the water in the lagoon look milky.  As well the year round warm water has blue green algae growing in it which gives the water a lovely powder blue colour.  Voila, a tourist mecca with beautiful warm ‘healing’ mineral waters in an other-worldly location. Once people reported skin ailments being cured by bathing in the waters you have the makings of a spa.  Now they call these public baths because anyone of course can go, provided you pay the fee to enter which, let me tell you, is steep! I suspect the lagoon brings in more money than the power plant ever will.  For the four of us to simply go in and steep for a couple of hours we paid 135 euros or about 200 dollars and that’s only because Duncan is still considered a child!  The place is filled with bus tours and unless you have really deep pockets to pay for the exclusive guest privileges it is crowded and you need to queue up in the locker rooms.  I will say though that the waters were soothing, although rough on any open cuts or unprotected hair (it feels like straw when you get out), and the silica mud which you can rub all over yourself was fun, but really I don’t get the attraction.  The public pools in Reykjavik and other towns are cheap, clean, well-managed and just wonderful for a swim or a soak and only cost a few bucks.  I wasn’t disappointed with the experience but the sticker shock places this attraction at the bottom of my list.  My advice, on your way in or out of Iceland, take the 15 minute detour from the airport, stop your car at the side of the road, take a couple of pictures because it really is a stunning sight and move on – this really is a tourist trap.

The rest of the day was uneventful - we returned our vehicle, boarded our Iceland Air flight and headed to London where we got to see something we hadn’t seen in almost a week – the setting sun.  We met Mary Rose’s cousin Martin who graciously ferried us from Heathrow to Glen Iris on Caddington Common where we will be based for the next couple of weeks.  We had a lovely late night supper in the garden complete with birthday cake for Steve and laughed and chatted until midnight.  We are really looking forward to a down day tomorrow to get sorted out then it is off to Paris for a mad 36 hour whirlwind tour!

Day 4 - Happy Birthday to Steve!

Day 4, July 7, 2013:

Well today I turn 55 and - while that qualifies me for the seniors discount at Denny’s - what did I do for my birthday?????  Why ride a pony and jump in a glacial river of course!  Today we were out early just after 8:00 on our only organized tour of Iceland.  Our first stop was a riding camp to tour the countryside on the sturdy Icelandic horse (I call them ponies because that’s what size they are).  The Icelandic horse is a breed unto itself and its genetic lineage is fiercely protected.  Their ancestors were brought over with the Vikings, experiments back in about 1000 AD to breed them with oriental horses (for speed and size) were disastrous and almost wiped out the breeding stock so a law was passed to keep the lineage untainted which has held for over a thousand years.  You cannot import any horse at all and all equipment, hooves, tack, etc. is scrupulously cleaned upon entry to the country (or simply taken away) to prevent disease.  The horse is small, 300-400 kg and only stands as tall as a grown man yet they are strong, sure footed and grow a shaggy coat in the winter allowing them to stay outside year round.  The ones we rode were also pretty patient because it was obvious we didn’t know what we were doing.  I brought up the rear on my white horse who I called Odin because he had a mind of his own and thunderous farts.  Duncan’s horse liked to snack and cuddle the other horses, Mary Rose’s mount liked to kick up her heels and run and Connor, well we called his horse Scrappy and he always had to be in the front (Connor actually traded with another rider when Scrappy refused to play nicely).  Amazing how we all got horses that suited our personality.  The weather gods favoured us and the rain which threatened all morning did not arrive, a couple of hours of riding the volcanic countryside left us hungry and we tucked in to a hearty lunch of mushroom soup and sandwiches before heading off to the second half of our adventure – white water rafting.

We rafted the Hvita (White River – pronounced “KWEET-ow”), which is a large glacial river originating from Iceland’s second largest glacier Langjokull (Long Glacier), tumbling over the Gullfoss (golden falls) waterfall which we saw a couple of days earlier.  We did not get the chance to raft the waterfall, instead we started downstream.  The river is not terribly challenging considered Class II with only a few exciting rapids but it cuts through really interesting volcanic formations including pyroclastic flows, massive vesicular basalts and columnar basalts – for the geologically inclined...  What it lacks in excitement it makes up for in frigidity, it was at its warmest of about eight degrees Celsius, but of course it was raining and only ten degrees outside – positively balmy!  The rafts are small, ours held nine people and a guide and we all geared up in neoprene wet suits just to look sexy and smell like rubber!  We rafted about two hours with a break in the middle to jump off the volcanic cliffs, Connor of course was first, then second and third, the rest of us took one look at the 8-10 meter drop, stuck our toes in the water and declined the pleasure, so far we have no regrets.  We had loads of fun splashing the other raft, bouncing up and down, racing and acting foolish all the while wet, freezing and having a blast.  Connor got to show off his steering skills in the last half hour and we all lived through it.  We ended the day with a lamb barbecue and a bus ride back to Reykjavik which of course everyone slept through.  Tomorrow is our last day and we plan to hit the Blue Lagoon before heading to London in the afternoon.

Day 3 - A Day in Reykjavik

Day 3, July 6, 2013:

Another beautiful day in Reykjavik, rainy, windy and cold, about 7 or 8 Celsius when I woke up but as the day wore on it became sunny, then cloudy again, then the wind rose and the clouds moved in, then it got sunny again but it always stayed below 10 degrees – you get the point, we dress for all weather here.  Again after a breakfast of pastries and coffee (there is a Baakari across the street) we finally staggered out to visit the local flea market on the harbour - crowded, lots of junk but a lot of fun as well.  The harbour is filled with all manner of craft from pleasure and fishing to coast guard cutters and naval vessels however Iceland does not have a navy and according to a local is under the protection of the US navy since world war II when it was used as a staging area by the Americans to supply the war effort.  Apparently the first beer (Polar Bear) in Iceland was brewed for the troops stationed on the island and brewing wasn’t legal for the locals until into the 1980’s – go figure.

After a visit to the flea market we stopped into the Reykjavik 871 +-2 exhibit.  It seems that while excavating Aoalstraeti (old street)in 2001 they came across the remnants of a longhouse or a hall which turned out to be the oldest evidence of human habitation in Iceland, from you guessed it 871 or there about.  They can date it accurately because it is surrounded by a layer of volcanic tephra (ash) that they know the exact date of eruption of.  They have built the building up around the foundations of the hall which are in the basement and it is pretty interesting to see how they lived.  They were mostly subsistence farmers and relied on fish and local sea birds including the great Auk which they hunted to extinction.  About 10 people lived in 85 square meters along with their animals in a hut with basaltic foundations and a wood supported sod/hide roof.  It must have been dark, dank and smelly but it held up over the winter.  When Reykjavik was founded there was abundant birch forest which again was quickly decimated for fire wood, building and charcoal.  The land was cleared for grain farming and the soil was gradually depleted of nutrients so eventually most of Iceland that was habitable became grassland good for herding and not much else.  It is interesting to note that at its peak about 60,000 people lived this way on Iceland because that was about all it could support on fishing and herding.

Connor and Duncan tolerated about an hour of cultural history then it was back outside to eat a Pylsur or local hot dog from the cart of Baejarins Bestu who according to the timeline published beside his stand has been selling the dogs for over 73 years.  They serve these traditional cased wieners with brown mustard, remoulade (sweet mayo) and fried onions – to quote Quinn YUMM!  We were still hungry so off we went to Café Babalu, a little roof top café to have crepes – kind of Kensington market style and of course drink coffee – again yumm! or in Icelandic yummi!.

 

We ambled our way back to our apartment where Mary Rose and I dumped the boys and headed off across the City to the National Museum of Iceland.  For a country of only 319,000, Icelanders have an amazing number of museums and cultural venues, all of which I wanted to visit but faced significant familial resistance to this idea so I had to settle for one.  What can I say – beautiful building, stunning setting, lots of cool old stuff and silver, lots of silver.  Gold was only used for religious objects it seems (gold wash) but silver was the metal of choice.  It was used for money, jewellery (as well as bronze), filigree and thread.  You displayed wealth and power with silver.  I loved the place but I’m glad I left the kids behind.  Back to the eating thing and we played it safe and went for burgers – as Duncan says, they were burgers – meh.  We watched Johnny Depp in Dark Shadows, a horrible yet entertaining film (think the rocky horror picture show with a big budget) and hit the sack – tomorrow it is ponies, cliffs, white water and pain……..

 

Day 2 - Touring the Golden Circle

Day 2, July 5, 2013:

While I would like to say we got off to an early start, 11:00 was the best we could manage.  Thanks to our GPS we made it out of the City and headed north to do the classic ‘Golden Circle’ tour which seems to be a tourist must do and really is worth the trip.  The weather gods dealt us a typical Icelandic hand, rain, wind and fog which somehow seemed just perfect for the sites we visited.  Our first stop about an hour out of Reykjavik was Pingvellir which just happens to be in the rift valley that crosses Iceland where new continent is being made.  One side of the rift is travelling east (the Eurasian plate) and the other is travelling west (the American plate) as new oceanic crust pushes oozes up and fills the widening gap.  The valley has grown approximately 70 meters over the past ten thousand years; cool ... a place where new land is being made!  This area was also named a UNESCO world heritage site in 2004.

This is also one of Iceland’s most important cultural sites as this is where the Alpingi or general assembly first came together around 930 AD.  This was Iceland’s first legislature and court and every summer representatives from each chiefdom would travel overland to settle disputes and make laws.  Everything occurred around the Logberg or law rock.  Because the laws were not initially recorded in writing, the Law Speaker would stand on the law rock and recite the laws aloud for all to hear at the start of each session.  This was a highly respected position (the only paid one) and because there were a lot of laws the law speaker was elected for a three year term and recited a third of the laws each session – from memory.  The Logberg was open to all and everyone had the right to address the council from the law rock.  This was also the only form of court in Iceland where the Logretta (the chiefs and later bishops) ruled on legal disputes.  Punishments were harsh and incest was considered one of the greatest crimes (worse than murder) because it brought sin and misfortune to all in the village.  Punishments included branding, whipping and execution by drowning (women mostly), hanging and burning at the stake but the worst punishment of all was banishment for up to three years from Iceland.  Seems to me that execution was kind of final, but go figure.  In 1944 Iceland declared independence and the republic was formed at the ancient law rock – in the pouring rain of course!   When we visited, the weather did not disappoint it was foggy, rainy windy and cold, even so, the rift is beautiful and the history fascinating.  Connor had to climb everything, Duncan’s shoes had holes and so he suffered with wet feet all day but we had a great time.

Our next stop was Geysir where you guessed there were geysers, as a matter of fact this is where our English word came from (from the Icelandic word meaning to erupt) The Great Geysir (which no longer erupts by the way, it just sort of steams) awoke after an earthquake in 1630, it had been dormant for about 40 years before that.  It is the oldest recorded geyser in the world and has been the most consistent.  The Strokkur or The Churn currently erupts every few minutes and is fascinating to watch.  The water in the basin rises and falls like slow breaths until a great water dome signals eruption and she blows 10 to 30 meters high.  Unlike other geyser fields, you can get so close that you are showered with the water as it falls – whoppeee!  Iceland has loads of thermal areas and everywhere there are steam vents but only a few places where the water forms a geyser, these are the only geysers in Europe.  Again Connor had to climb the mountain behind the geyser field and came back triumphant and covered in rust red mud.

 

Our last stop for the day was Gullfloss where the Hvita River roars and I do mean roars over the cliffs into the canyon below on its path from the glacial interior of Iceland to the sea.  This is sort of the Niagara Falls of Iceland and spectacular – pictures don’t do it justice.  We will be rafting this river in two days’ time, but I’m pretty sure we do so, downstream of the falls.

 

Well that was a full day, we were damp, tired and headed home to Reykjavik where the sun finally broke through the clouds at 8:00 and it looked like noon outside.  This really is the land of the midnight sun.