And So It Begins

It's 8:45 PM on Sunday in Iceland, which means it's 3:45 PM at home, which means we left for the airport 24 hours ago. I've probably slept a total of three hours since then - not consecutively and mostly not in a bed. It was still a great day.

We stopped in Reykjavik on the way to Paris a few years ago, and the airport was just as I remembered it - reminiscent of an IKEA store. Clean lines, lots of wood, and chocolate for sale. We retrieved our luggage (eventually) and got a rental car (eventually) and headed into the city for breakfast.

Reykjavik is about 45 minutes from the airport. Our glimpse of the city was breathtaking: mountains and ocean, modern architecture and simple old structures, glossy office buildings and small churches. We found a cozy café for breakfast and then headed for Þingvellir, about 45 minutes away from Reykjavik.

The Anglicized name of the national park is Thingvellir. The park contains a large lake created by the mid-Atlantic rift zone, where the Eurasia and North American tectonic plates are separating from each other. Iceland exists because of the volcanoes created by the rift zone. The Althing, Iceland's Parliament, was founded here as a meeting of chieftains in 930 CE, making it the oldest existing governmental body in the world.

This was a great place to start our trip. The visitor's center has a high-tech display that explains the history of the country and the geology of the region, all of which was new to me. David knows the geology, of course, but he enjoyed the exhibits anyway. We ate lunch in the visitor's center and I had my first experience of Icelandic yogurt. Yum. After lunch, we spent the afternoon hiking around the park.

In his natural habitat

Panorama of the area near the Visitor's Center

Rift valley with mountains in the distance

You will see a lot of waterfalls this week.

We finally tore ourselves away and drove another 40 minutes to our hotel. We're staying in a different place every night and the others will have a hard time living up to the Ion Adventure Hotel. The Ion sits on the flank of the rift zone, right next to a geothermal plant that takes advantage of the hot springs. It's a small hotel - only two floors of rooms - and again everything is clean and fresh with lots of wood and stone and Scandinavian design. We checked in and took our complementary glasses of sparkling wine down to our room. Given the effects of the wine, the travel, and the lack of sleep, the next order of business was a nap. The king bed is made up with two twin-sized down comforters laid crosswise over a bottom sheet with one additional blanket. Interesting. Also comfortable.

We roused ourselves and went downstairs to the hot tub (also taking advantage of the local hot springs) and had a nice soak. We started our evening in the bar for cocktails, which we sipped while we gazed at the mountains through the walls of glass. We took the drinks with us to the restaurant for dinner, also within view of the mountains. We shared an appetizer plate that included smoked trout mousse, chicken liver paté, olives, and flatbread with a red pepper dip. Yum. David had arctic char for dinner that was perfectly cooked, and I had an appetizer-sized portion of glazed pork belly. Also yum. We lingered over herbal tea. It was a the perfect end to our first day.

I am tired - the very good kind of tired that comes from a lot of physical exertion and great contentment. It's time for bed. Tomorrow: more hiking! More waterfalls! More food! If you don't like waterfalls, you may not want to read the rest of my entries.