Iceland and the Universe

This is just too good to be true:
Yesterday all three inhabitants of Framnesvegur 36 found the way together (a very rare occasion) into our kitchen to discuss a major problem: our internet seemed not to be working properly. Saga and me came to the same very odd conclusion. We could both only access Icelandic homepages. As we talked through it we thought that impossible - are there really national borders to the virtual world of internet?
Today I decided to pay a visit to the IT-service centre of the university that actually provides our house with a FREE internet connection (yes! it's great to be a student in Iceland!). After searching the campus for an hour I eventually found the office in some engineering building. I try to recapture the conversation:
Me: "Hi! Sorry, we seem to have trouble with our internet connection at home."
Assistant: "At home?"
Me: "Yes! This must sound ridiculous, but we seem to only be able to access Icelandic homepages."
Assistant (with a broad smile): "This is not ridiculous at all! We are having some trouble with cables to Europe."
Me (very astonished): "Wow! So this isn't a joke?! I thought there are no borders in the virual world."
Assistant: "Yeah, there is a big one between Iceland and the Universe."

She went on to tell me how I could reconfigure my connection at home and warned me that the connection might be rather slow untill the problem will be fixed.
A seemingly surreal story from a small island in the north Atlantic :o)

Akureyri - Ósar

Koosje and me still didn't want to give in and decided to visit Hrísey - an island in Eyjafjörður. Unfortunately we had a too good chat during breakfast and all we saw after hurrying to Árskógssandur was the ferry leaving the harbour. So we left slightly disappointed the area of Akureyri to drive to Skagafjörður and visit the famous site of Hólar.
On the way to Hólar we picked up two tourists from London who crashed their car on the extremely slippery road. Lucky them - we passed their way only 10min. after their crash in an area with no cell phone reception. We dropped them off at Varmahlíð and drove on to Hólar.
The northern bishopric of Hólar was the ecumenical and educational capital of northern Iceland between 1106 and the Reformation. Later we picked up the way to Ósar!

Mývatn

As Koosje has never been to the north we decided to have a look at the Mývatn area.
Mývatn is an experience in wintertime. NO TOURIST!!!! Just landscape and you! Beautiful! Koosje coming from Holland was amazed a) by the snow and b) by the mountains.
At that day the temperature dropped to -16 degrees!
Námaskarð - the hot spots with the steam give a great impression in winter time!

Reykjavík - Akureyri

The trip started very promissing! Instead of the booked Toyota Yaris we got a Toyota Corolla for the same price! We felt like queens!
Although icey the blue sky promissed nice road conditions!
As dawn set in our problem set in: our headlights were not working. At the petrol station in Varmahlíð the very grumpy mechanic didn't speak a work of English... he assured us everything was ok so we left again. 20min. later a snowstorm set in! Not very comfortable to drive through the darkness in a snowstorm with no lights... We somehow made it safely into Akureyri were we stopped again at a petrol station. This time the still unpolite mechanics at least spoke English. It took them an hour to fix 2 lights and they nearly took apart the whole motor. I kept praying they wouldn't break anything as it was not our car...

Travelling in Winter in Iceland

As my Dutch friend Koosje is leaving Iceland on Sunday 14th we decided to spend the last week of her stay travelling together. After our fantastic stay at the Vestmannaeyjar we decided that Greenland would be an experience. After checking the flight fares which would be over 1000Fr. we decided to drop this plan. Our next plan were the Faroe Islands. The flights were expensive but still payable. This time our problem was that there are only flights once a week! We did not have that much time to spare and frankly - there is not that much to see on the Faroe Islands. Our next hope was the ferry - this again only goes from Seyðisfjörður. Meaning: Bus from Reykjavík to Akureyri, from Akureyri to Egilsstaðir and from Eglisstaðir to Seyðisfjörður. I do not have to emphasis here that the winter schedule of the Icelandic buses is not the best off season. Even if, the ferry only goes once a week. The Faroe Islands seem to be the most isolated islands in Europe! With heavy hearts we droped our Faroe Island plan. What other islands were there to visit? Grímsey! A tiny little island in the north of Iceland - the only island that touches the arctic circle! Sounded like an adventure! Again we checked the ferry schedules and decided that apparently the Norse gods did not want us to travel... The ferry to Grímsey only goes on two days - not enough for us....
Ok! Our last plan. To rent a car and go to the beautiful Westfjords... Again we checked the internet to find out that most of the road up there are impassable! We started to be desperate.... Ok... final plan. Rent a car and go off to Akureyri. It sounded boring but it turned out to be quite adventurous :o)

Impressions from the islands

Particularities of the islands

Puffins (Lundinn) are considered a good feed! The eggs of sea birds are gathered from the thousands of cliff-side nests with the help of practised rock-climbing and abseiling skills. Puffin hunting is of major importance in Vestmannaeyjar, but an unwritten rule requires that only young or non-breeding puffins are to be taken. In August, after the adult puffins have stopped feeding them, the juveniles, driven by hunger, leave their rocky nests in seach of food. In Heimaey, thousands of the clumsy birds descend toward the lights of the town and land. On such evenings, the children of Heimaey hurry around with boxes gathering the unfortunate birds. They take them home and pamper them overnight to set them free the next morning.
Surtsey, 18km from Heimaey, was named for the Norse god Surtur, the one appointed to set fire to the earth the day the gods fall. Thanks to film, the world witnessed Surtsey's birth in 1963. Belching and spewing its way out of the sea, it sent a column of ash nearly 10'000m into the atmosphere. Eruptions continued and, by 1967, Surtsey had reached a height of 150m and an area of 3 sq km. Scientists currently studying colonisation of volcanic islands have placed the island off-limits to visitors. It's the far away island on the photo.

Þrettándag

The 13th day of Christmas, traditionally a festive day in Vestmannaeyjar. A torch-lit parade of fascinating creatures: The ancient Icelandic ogress Grýla and her less than lovely husband and sons, as well as elfs, fairies, demons and trolls join the locals at a huge bonfire and splendid fireworks.
This is a very nice tradition on Heimaey. At 18h the 13 Yulelads come down from the mountain with torches followed by trolls and elves. There is a parade to the main square where a huge fire is lit and all the children are dancing around and everyone from the village is found there. Fireworks and music - a nice tradition!

Travel compagnions

Koosje slightly seasick on the rather rough sea way to Heimaey. The ferry takes 2h45.

We were able to use the fancy flat of Þórkatla's uncle :o)
Our candles - we had soooo much fun!
Kristrún, Þórkatla's 11 year old sister came with us. Her English is AMAZING!!!

Vestmannaeyjar I

The Westman Islands were named after the Irish slaves who unwittingly bacame their first inhabitants. Most of these islands were formed by submarine volanoes between 10'000 and 5'000 years ago, making them one of the world´s youngest archipelagos. In 1963, the world witnessed the birth of its newest island, Surtsey, which continued erupting until 1967.
Most of the 16 islands are rocky and steepsided affairs. Only Heimaey, the "Home Island", supports a permanent human population. Other islands only have temporary huts of puffin hunters and egg collectors.
In 1973 Helgafell exploded, and over the next five months, spewed out over 30 million tonnes of lava and tephra to create a new mountain, Eldfell. The island grew by 15%. Overnight, Heimaey's 5000 inhabitants were evacuated to the mainland.
In September 1998, Keiko the killer whale (who starred as Free Willy) arrived in a US Air Force C17 cargo aircraft and was confined to a northern part of the harbour while progressively being trained for a release which was never successfully realized. He used to hide in this cave.

Persia in Reykjavík

Back in Reykjavík we were invited by Máni and Elham to have a Persian dinner. Máni has moved to Iceland 20 years ago and Elham, his niece came 6 years ago. Now she is a food science student at the Háskóla Islands. She is also the president of ÍSA (International Student Association).
We had a delicious dinner with great company. Not only did we meet another Icelandic friend from Elham but also Halla who is a journalist for Morgunblaðið and her boyfriend. A very nice and interesting evening with interesting people! A nice way for my mother to spend her last evening!

Icelandic hospitality

My days at Ósar always count as the most happy ones. Dedda and Knútur gave my mother and me the warmest welcome. Dedda made my favourite dish - fiskubollur (fish balls).
Knútur and me traditionally playing chess - and I traditionally lost all three games in a row. I have no chance against his genius mind!

Ósar

Very importantly I had to show my mother my favourite place on earth which is doubtlessly Ósar. I took her down to the beach to see the stone troll Hvítserkur. Seals, curious as always, were following us along the beach.
My true companion Krummi as always by my side!
My mother - trained from the Swiss alps - now climbing Icelandic hills :o)

Snæfellnes

To show my mother the beauties of Icelandic nature we went on a trip to the Snæfellsnes peninsula. It is an area characterised by rugged mountains rising between a broad coastal plain on the south coast and a narrower one in the north.
In the field by the former fishing village Arnarstapi is a rough stone representation of demigod Barður Snæfellsás who, according to local legend, makes his home in Snæfellsjökull and serves as its appointed protector.
Due to beautiful but cold weather we had very slippery roads. In Ólafsvík our car made an unwanted 180 degree turn :oS

New year's eve

During the day we enjoyed calmness and did not really do much except having some good coffee. In the evening my mother and me had a terrific dinner with salmon, plokkfiskur (an Icelandic dish) and a bottle of good red wine. The famous fire works were rather disappointing. As they started already at 10pm and continued to go on untill 2 am nobody realized when exactly the "new year" started. But that is all a matter of opinions - I personally prefer a quiet night with friends or family!

Mamma mín í Reykjavík

Finally on December 28th my world travelling mother has managed to find her way to the small island called Iceland. She arrived in storm and wind at Keflavík airport, where I happily picked her up! The first evening I took my mother to Hereford where she met most of my friends: Gunni and Þórkatla were working, Hjalti and Margrét had dinner at the table next to us. The first three days we spend in the capital, doing some shopping at Kringlan, going to the swimming pool at Laugadalur, doing the Golden Circle tour. Due to the heavy fog we did not really see anything at Þingvellir, due to the freezing cold at Geysir we did not spend too much time there either and due to the heavy rain at Gullfoss we did not manage to see the waterfall in all its beauty. BUT this is Iceland and the weather is unpredictable! Back in Reykjavík the weather was amazingly beautiful so we stayed in the city enjoying nice cafes, such as one of my favourites called Svarta kaffið. We also did some sightseeing - such as the Höfði house, which is used for ofiicial receptions and city social functions. It was catapulted to dubious fame as the official meeting-place of the superpowers in the non-eventful 1986 Reagan-Gorbatschev summit. The building is also reputedly haunted by ghosts of the Icelandic past.