First Day
Iceland. Whew! We are here, we are exhausted, we are done for the day!
Everything is a blur, my mind is fried with caffeine and fatigue. Frazzled to the point that a simple 'double yellow line' road with no other cars in sight, became a white knuckle driving experience. That is, no other cars but our second car which we rented because we could not reasonably rent one we all could fit into. Do they not have larger families over here?
At the moment it is hard for me to remember how we got here. The last few weeks were chaotically defined by putting red dots on the map of potential places to visit while we battled the red dots of acute Chicken Pox. The map of Europe and my kids backs look strangely similar. Even though they are long over the sickness, I almost hesitate to take them swimming in the Hot Springs. Speaking of which, I forgot my swimsuit! This is very annoying since I had a lovely new one to wear. Our first host, Louise, tells me that i can easily rent one, it is commonly done in these parts.
How odd is that?! Would you do that?
Back to the subject of driving. It was exceedingly difficult to concentrate on driving while trying to take in the exquisite scenery. Gorgeous land!! Moss everywhere. Mossy covered lava rocks, or at least I am guessing it is mostly lava by the contour and from what I have read about the island. Rock formations that easily conjure up visions of the bulging ground breaking open with hot lava, undulating into fissures and curves that jut and end abruptly. I kept expecting to see huge dinosaurs coming around the next corner. Now it would be a haven of play for children. I can easily envision playing house or hide-n-seek among the hills and out-croppings. There are many odd little towers of stones scattered over the western area of the island that we have seen so far. I wonder where they came from? Viking children building their own landmarks? Sacred sights to early people? Some guy with a backhoe having some fun in his normal work day? Or are they just fossified piles of dinosaur poop?
I was the first to get my rental car this morning so as I left the airport I picked a road that pointed toward Reykajvik, since that was a name I recognized. (The capital of Iceland) As I was driving along I triumphantly instructed Betsy to text dad that we were headed to Reykajvik on Route 90. This timid, unconfident lump of nerves was figuring this out! I won't bother to tell you what was a bit wounded when shortly it became evident the 90 was the speed limit, not a route number.
We eventually found an Icelandic bakery to eat breakfast at. We chose that over the Subway next door. Another triumph!
The lady behind the counter spoke limited English but we easily managed and enjoyed our croissants, orange juice and coffee. As we left I felt emboldened to put to good use the time spent watching Youtube videos of common Icelandic phrases and said "Takk fyrir" (Thank you very much, in English) She looked at me slightly incredulously and said, "You're welcome"
I remained undaunted and as that second cup of coffee percolated through me I became rather desperate to find a rest room so Al found a tiny gas station in a tiny town that Landon described as "Is this a junkyard?" in the middle of nowhere. As I rushed in the door and confronted the apathetic young lady sittling behind the counter, I decided to further practice my Icelandic and blurted out "Her er kloessited?"
Which my spelling of said phrase is as bad as how I said it apparently because she simply stared at me and said, "Huh?"
So in desperation I said, "Where is the bathroom?"
"Over there, but you have to pay for it"
It didn't even register in my brain what she said until the door was locked behind me.
My pride now is resting on the fact that I paid her after the use of the WC, because I am thoughtful that way.
We went grocery shopping today. Betsy found this in the refrigerated section. I think it is a fetal sized horse's head. Enough said on that subject.
It was a good day.
Good Night! Goda nott!
