Higher than God - Cold as an icy stream, lighter than everything, i thought that we were higher than God.
I hadn't slept that good in my room, it was tiny & there was no room to walk about, the bed wasn't even a full sized single, this meant that every time i turned over i either banged my elbow on the wall or on a desk on the opposite side of the bed. This also meant that my neighbours in the next room were doing the same & that i could hear banging through the wall from them. When i eventually surfaced i had a shower in a tiny cubicle which i defy even an emaciated "Mr Muscle" to comfortably use. I managed it however, met TK & we went for a Sunday afternoon stroll. I was looking forward to this as we had not had any time to find our bearings last night as Oddny was driving us around & most of this was done in the suburbs of Rejkyavik.
After a quick Subway we undertook the 25 minute walk into Rejkyavik town. As it was Sunday the shops were shut & there weren't that many people around which meant we could have a good trawl through the streets & take some photos. There were a few good statues & street art/sculptures but what really took my eye was the architecture. Each building looked unique, almost as though it had been designed by a different person. We saw in the distance a large church & it looked magnificent, i had seen it in an AA (Automobile Association) guide & remembered you could go to the top of it. After having the church obscured from our view for some time as well as being distracted by other things (or getting lost) we made it to Hallgrimskirkja.
Hallgrimskirkja was built in 1974 & is a magnificent spectacle, as we approached it started to snow again & this made it all the more beautiful. I took loads of photos of it & no matter from which angle or how near or far i was from it it was truly a great sight. I was gutted when my camera ran out of juice so rectified that by going to a nearby convenience store & in my best Icelandic (whilst showing the girl behind the counter my camera) said "Batteries please." Luckily it seemed this girl had dealt with ignorant tourists such as myself on many an occasion & instantly recognised my request.
Now that i was "batteried up" we made our way back to Hallgrimskirkja & went inside. Now, as i've said before on my blogs i am in no way religious but inside this church was a sight to see. The interior was quite plain but serene & quiet, it was almost as though if you added a few elves & men with shields that this could be a set from the Lord of the rings, such was its elegance. I half expected Aragorn to enter at any time & tell me off for taking photos of this magnificent hall. There was an old guy playing the organ & as we ventured inside i turned & saw the pipes, all 5,275 of them. My fantastic organ i thought. Anyway, you could travel to the top of the church tower for 400IKR so we did, we got in the lift & went to floor 8.
We got out of the lift and entered into a viewing area which, in the centre of it had a flight of stairs which would take us even higher. I took a look out of the window and saw the tops of the buildings of Rejkyavik town and all of a sudden i had a bit of turn for the worst. I should point out i am not the best at handling heights, im ok on a plane and usually ok in enclosed high places but for some reason when i looked out of window i thought the whole building was going to crumble into pieces & i would be a bloody mosaic on the streets of Rejkyavik, silly really. I said to TK i couldn't make the stairs to the top & was rooted to the spot. Anyway i had a word with myself & managed the stairs to the top & when up there i was ok. The view was impressive & we were about 73 metres high. After a minute or two the church bell struck 3 & i nearly jumped out of my skin, good job it didn't strike when i was halfway up the stairs i would have turned back there & then. It was time to descend after this high anxiety so we did & then went to find a bar in the town.
We settled on a sportsbar called Bjarni Fel which would become our "base camp" for the rest of the trip. We had a few beers/pitchers sat at the bar & as the day went on got increasingly drunk. It was here where we met Tim & Sean from San Diego who would become our drinking buddies from now on. These lads were good company & had been skiing in Switzerland before spending a night in London then flying to Iceland. It wasn't long before we were lining up the shots, all manner of drinks were consumed, Stroh, Jagermeister & something called Seamans shot! The drinks flowed then Oddny & Kristin arrived as we had a table booked at a tapas bar, another quick drink & we said goodbye to Tim & Sean & were on our way.
The tapas bar was nice inside & we all had "Lobster fiesta" & drank 3 bottles of red wine, by this time i was getting rather drunk. Kristin & Oddny then treated me, TK & the whole restaurant to the sounds of their opera singing, opera is not my thing but they have tremendous voices & the other patrons were impressed. We were the last to leave the restaurant & then went to bar "Zimsen" for a couple of late drinks before taking our leave back to the "Cabin". After a couple of beers in the hotel bar it was bed time, so at 3am i went to sleep. We needed to be up at 8am to go on the "Golden Circle" tour which i hoped to be a highlight of our trip. It did not disappoint but ill tell you about it in part 3.
Things i learned today:
1 - The icelandic for batteries is batteries.
2 - Drinking pitchers of lager, followed by cocktails, shorts, red wine then more lager gets you very drunk indeed.
Al Sithees' Big Generator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Farewell my little star, we wish you well. What about love i hear you say, but this is the bottom line, its over, i dont love you anymore. We had 100 nights of fun and games but here, in my time of dying, in this house of broken love, lies a better man.
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
Friday, 12 March 2010
Operation "Bamboozle" Part 1
The immigrant song - We come from the land of the ice and snow from the midnight sun to the hot springs blow.
I wanted to visit Iceland about 6 years ago but circumstances & other stuff prohibited at the time. I decided to make the trip this year & asked my good mate TK if he like to come, "yes" he said so we booked it, simple. TK had a couple of friends of there so we would be able to meet them & also we booked a couple of trips online beforehand.
TK arrived at mine at 7.30am on saturday 6th March & had actually forgotten his coat! Might be needing that mate so we went back to his, picked it up & set off to Heathrow airport. We arrived there, checked in, had a quick sandwich & pint of lager before boarding our Icelandair flight & setting off. The flight lasted about 3 hours, i watched "Max Payne" a film adaptation of a video game starring Mark Wahlberg. The film looked great but the plot was as thin as chrome plating on a window, i give it 6 on 10. Anyway i digress, we landed at Keflavik airport & got a transferring coach to Rejkyavik, where it was beginning to snow heavily.
I should point out that TK is a well travelled chap, he's been all over the world, Mexico, USA, Borneo, Sweden, Thailand, Milton Keynes to name but a few. I therefore decided that i would get off the plane & enter onto Icelandic soil before him. For the first time in my life i had been somewhere TK hadn't been, even if it was for only 3 seconds until he crossed the Icelandic threshold himself! Still, that is my claim to fame & i never let him forget it whole the whole trip!
We tipped up at "Hotel Cabin" and checked in, we had a room each & upon entering mine was amazed at how small it was, the shower was also tiny & i'd have had a better chance of cleaning my ample frame in a telephone box. I went downstairs & TK was in the bar our icelandic friend Oddny, we had a couple of lagers then Oddny drove us to her house picking up her friend Jenny on the way. Oddny's driving was terrible & i have never been so scared in a car before, the snow didnt help & we were all crammed into a tiny Daewoo, possibly not ideal conditions for safe driving. Anyway, by a large miracle (or a series of smaller ones) we reached our destination.
Oddny's house was very nice with a kitchen that was bigger than my living room & kitchen combined. She cooked us a great meal comprising of lobster, pasta, mushrooms, icelandic haggis, dried fish, lamb terrine & much more besides, it was a massive spread and there was enough to feed about 10 people! We combined this with wine & various shots/shorts of the like i have never heard of before, let alone tasted. I stood outside Oddnys house & noticed how incredibly quiet it was, i could see car highlights some distance away but couldn't hear them it was pretty much silent, excellent, i could live in a place like this.
After this Oddny drove us (still badly) to a bar for a few more drinks before taking us to her friend Kristins flat where we drank more wine & shorts. Following this me & TK got a taxi back to the "Cabin" where we had a couple of beers & met an Icelandic couple at the bar, Rakel & John aka "Ivan the Terrible". I was amazed to learn that Rakel had heard of my mate "Vlad the Impalers" ninja metal band called "Sudoku", small world. We finally made it to bed at about 5 am.
Things i learned today:
- The Icelandic for "Exit" is "Utgangur"
- Taxis in Iceland are extremely expensive.
Oh, before i finish this part of the blog i should raise some awareness about Vlad. He was working as a trowel monkey in Iceland last year & will no doubt have much to say about my blogs. I suspect he may even try to dispute some of the facts i write & which will follow shortly. DO NOT pay him any heed whatsoever, he has a physical human form but is actually an alien lizard wearing fake skin who eats live rodents whole & is actually on earth so that he & his cohorts can steal our entire water supply.
I wanted to visit Iceland about 6 years ago but circumstances & other stuff prohibited at the time. I decided to make the trip this year & asked my good mate TK if he like to come, "yes" he said so we booked it, simple. TK had a couple of friends of there so we would be able to meet them & also we booked a couple of trips online beforehand.
TK arrived at mine at 7.30am on saturday 6th March & had actually forgotten his coat! Might be needing that mate so we went back to his, picked it up & set off to Heathrow airport. We arrived there, checked in, had a quick sandwich & pint of lager before boarding our Icelandair flight & setting off. The flight lasted about 3 hours, i watched "Max Payne" a film adaptation of a video game starring Mark Wahlberg. The film looked great but the plot was as thin as chrome plating on a window, i give it 6 on 10. Anyway i digress, we landed at Keflavik airport & got a transferring coach to Rejkyavik, where it was beginning to snow heavily.
I should point out that TK is a well travelled chap, he's been all over the world, Mexico, USA, Borneo, Sweden, Thailand, Milton Keynes to name but a few. I therefore decided that i would get off the plane & enter onto Icelandic soil before him. For the first time in my life i had been somewhere TK hadn't been, even if it was for only 3 seconds until he crossed the Icelandic threshold himself! Still, that is my claim to fame & i never let him forget it whole the whole trip!
We tipped up at "Hotel Cabin" and checked in, we had a room each & upon entering mine was amazed at how small it was, the shower was also tiny & i'd have had a better chance of cleaning my ample frame in a telephone box. I went downstairs & TK was in the bar our icelandic friend Oddny, we had a couple of lagers then Oddny drove us to her house picking up her friend Jenny on the way. Oddny's driving was terrible & i have never been so scared in a car before, the snow didnt help & we were all crammed into a tiny Daewoo, possibly not ideal conditions for safe driving. Anyway, by a large miracle (or a series of smaller ones) we reached our destination.
Oddny's house was very nice with a kitchen that was bigger than my living room & kitchen combined. She cooked us a great meal comprising of lobster, pasta, mushrooms, icelandic haggis, dried fish, lamb terrine & much more besides, it was a massive spread and there was enough to feed about 10 people! We combined this with wine & various shots/shorts of the like i have never heard of before, let alone tasted. I stood outside Oddnys house & noticed how incredibly quiet it was, i could see car highlights some distance away but couldn't hear them it was pretty much silent, excellent, i could live in a place like this.
After this Oddny drove us (still badly) to a bar for a few more drinks before taking us to her friend Kristins flat where we drank more wine & shorts. Following this me & TK got a taxi back to the "Cabin" where we had a couple of beers & met an Icelandic couple at the bar, Rakel & John aka "Ivan the Terrible". I was amazed to learn that Rakel had heard of my mate "Vlad the Impalers" ninja metal band called "Sudoku", small world. We finally made it to bed at about 5 am.
Things i learned today:
- The Icelandic for "Exit" is "Utgangur"
- Taxis in Iceland are extremely expensive.
Oh, before i finish this part of the blog i should raise some awareness about Vlad. He was working as a trowel monkey in Iceland last year & will no doubt have much to say about my blogs. I suspect he may even try to dispute some of the facts i write & which will follow shortly. DO NOT pay him any heed whatsoever, he has a physical human form but is actually an alien lizard wearing fake skin who eats live rodents whole & is actually on earth so that he & his cohorts can steal our entire water supply.
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