Iceland Day 3. South Coast

Today was another last minute booking! I didn't get back to Reykjavik yesterday until 8pm so I just spent a few hours researching trips and things I could do on my own but I eventually settled on doing a tour as without a car I just couldn't get to most of the place! 

So Today I woke up bright and early, again, and caught my tour bus to do the South Coast. I really wanted to get onto a West Coast Tour but they're not as popular and so only run a handful of times a week and they were all fully booked for the next two weeks - I wasn't particularly disappointed though since I wanted to do the South Coast too!

 First stop outside the city was a service station… not the best start. As it was it was a good chance to grab some breakfast and a drink. They also had a stand for dried fish! It's a traditional Icelandic snack and it's apparently really nice with butter… I settled on a simple cheese sandwich though!

Also, once I sat down a guy calls to me saying 'who's following who!' I turn around and right next to me is the couple from the tour yesterday! Not only are we on the same tour, which is funny, but we got seated right next to each other!

 I'm just going to say I wasn't too impressed with the tour itself and I will be reviewing them online :p So I'm going to skip over my rants about the incompetence of the tour and focus on the incredibly beautiful landscape I got the chance to see! 

As we drove past the Seljalandsfoss waterfall - we'd be coming back to this later!

 We did see some beautiful things as we drove, including the dramatic southern mountains 

 Our first real stop was the Solheimajokull Glacier than you can just see here!

Walking unto the glacier 

 I wasn't sure whether to be bothered about seeing another glacier as I had an amazing experience flying in a helicopter over the Glaciers in New Zealand, but it is completely different walking up to the snout of a Glacier and seeing it's movements first hand!

 The landscape surrounding the glacier was really just surreal so I'm gonna leave the photos to talk for themselves as I can't begin to explain the surrealness of the white/blue ice and the rugged hills

 I still can't get over how blue the ice looked!

 I really loved the area as it's desolation was just so striking. Particularly with the melted ice water ceasing such still reflections!

 I wish I'd had longer as there's a few walks around these southern mountains that I'd have loved to do so next time I come back I'm definitely planning to do some hiking!

 I think I 'might' have been the last one on the bus since I was lingering and doing all the side walks!

oops

 After the glacier we went to the most southernly town in Iceland of Vik! I say town.. I think if it was in the UK we'd call it a hamlet it was so tiny! Most people from my bus jumped off and went to the cafe but I headed down to the beach with my fruit to make the most of the incredible setting!

 It was just a beautiful spot for lunch, to sit and enjoy the sea breeze!

 Little shot of me and the bay! I met a guy, who's name I can't for the life of me remember, from Germany who was really friendly and a little crazy! 

(on a vain note, the last two days have been so grey and drizzly I just threw on a silly tshirt as I figured I'd have my coat zipped up and no one would see it again - typical that the weather picks up the one day I don't make the effort to wear a pretty top!

 I really loved Vik. It was tiny but utterly charming - especially this lovely little church!

 This was the entirety of Vik! Just a scattering of buildings really… 

After an hour or so at Vik we headed around the mountain to see the Reynisdranger Cliffs - which I was definitely looking forward to

 and I wasn't dissapointed!

 I think that so far I've managed to escape getting the hoard of people that tumbled off my bus from being in my photos, but I just found this a bit funny. I'm in such an idilic location, and if I turn around I just see this mass of people! I truly hate doing such big tours and today's experience has definitely cemented my dislike of them - as well as my desire to return to iceland!

 But anyway, the cliffs were just incredible!

I don't think I've mentioned this before but everywhere in Iceland are rocks piled like this, sometime just little pebbles, sometimes massive boulders! 

 perched on the cliff formations!

 There was also a bit of a random photo shoot going on just around the corner too!

 All along these cliffs are puffins throughout the summer! I was coming at the very last week and as such there were barely any - luckily I did actually get to see one or two high up the cliffs! 

 After the cliffs (the name is ridiculously long to keep retyping!) we went to the Skogar Folk Museum which I thought was pretty interesting, as I really didn't know much about Iceland's history

 two side saddles! I just thought these were so interesting!

We learnt all about traditional icelandic culture as well as the history and reason behind a lot of their traditions! Including the fact a man must be able to make a good spoon before a woman would consider marrying him… clearly good spoon making is the secret to every happy marriage!

 The Museum, like the rest of the country, was a unique blend of modern simplistic design and traditional detail and history 

 Just outside they had traditional homes too! 

 Although the entry way was tiny and a little claustrophobic they opened out a fair bit once you got in!

 After the museum was went to the incredibly powerful Skogarfoss Waterfall! 

 We only got 25 minutes here (don't get me started on that rant) but I opted to do the walk which was meant to take 20. All I can say is I hate climbing steps, I'd much rather just have a steep cliff… any who I climbed up the endless staircase!

 and the view down to the waterfall was pretty cool!

 After Skorgarfoss it was up to Seljalandsfoss (try saying any of these names 3 times fast!)

 I can't even put into words can amazing it was to finish the day here! There was constantly rainbows appearing in the waterfall and it was, quite simply, beautiful!

 I obviously needed a photo of me in front of the rainbow in the waterfall!

 The main attractions of Seljalandsfoss is that although its a waterfall, you can walk behind it!

 It was so, so, so cool to look out from behind the waterfall to the incredibly flat south lands and I spent alot time navigating the slippery, muddy path and just taking it all in!

 I fell in love even more with Iceland today, both with the people, and with the stunning landscape! I can't believe I only have one more day in iceland! Scrap that, I can't believe I only have one more day before I go home and my summer is over!! 

Where has this summer gone!? It definitely feels like the end of an era as once I'm back to the UK I know it's going to feel like coming back to reality with a bump!

Travelling Day 68. To Iceland!

So I'm not really sure where to start todays post from, but I'm going to go from spending an hour going through security again in Reykjavik. On the plus side since I have an EU passport they barely glanced at me and just ushered me through

I had a bit of a nasty shock when my suitcase came out though. Complete. State.

I'm actually a little (more than just a little) mortified to be pushing/dragging it around.

So to recap: It's missing a wheel. As in the wheel just isn't there anymore. Another wheel doesn't do what it's told and makes terrible squeaky noises. The front is massive frayed from NZ. The edges are coming away from the frame after LA. The are several little tears from San Francisco.

And now, there is a massive rip in the back from Iceland!

I'm so glad it only has to survive one more trip because honestly I don't think it can make any more.

Aside from that… I found the bus booth and booked my return bus ticket and then I hopped on the bus to my hostel. I arrived at about 9am (having landed at 6am) so I couldn't check in yet but that was fine, and expected, so after rummaging round in my suitcase and getting a change of clothes I headed into Reykjavik centre to explore the city a little bit.

Canada Day 12. On the Road Again

I woke up bright and early (ish) in my room all to myself (which is seriously a novel luxury right now) and after getting my free breakfast (which led me to the conclusion that all things artificially sweetened before midday makes me nauseous) I checked out and stored my luggage in the storage room so I could head out and enjoy my last few hours in Canada!

The view from my window this morning!

I had a few 'errands' I wanted to run before leaving North America but they were all done and dusted within half an hour. But the Busker's fair was still on so I ended up spending a few hours wandering up and down the stalls and watching the crazy performers!

I did originally plan to head down to the lakefront but I was enjoying the fair too much I decided to stay and make the most of it instead!

There were ton of acts you could watch, from dancers to magicians to singers as well as a few acrobatic performances - most of them were really good too!

I also had my eye on one of these onion things! Think Onion rings but better - much better!

 I couldn't resist popping into Tim Horton's for the last time since it's such a Canadian thing to do!

So, at about 4 I went back to the hostel, picked up my suitcase and caught a taxi to the airport. Now the driver told me my airline was at Terminal 1 so that's where he left me. Quick look at the board showed no mention of my flight, a phone call at the information desk later, and I realised I was at the wrong Terminal. Cue an hours walk, a train ride, 3 escalators and 2 lifts, I was at the right Terminal!

I was at the front of the queue (eager beaver) but they weren't checking anyone in until after the 3hr recommended time slot (talking to the other people int he queue who had flown with them before, we think this is down to the orange alert for the Volcano). Once I checked in I bought a ridiculously expensive sandwich (don't even ask how much) and pottered around the pitiful duty free selection

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

Now it's standard airplane etiquette that if you're sat in the aisle seat and your partner the middle, and the person allocated the window seat comes down with a big bag, you stand up and set out of the way so they can sit down… Apparently the two people on my row didn't get the memo.

And even after asking them if they could let me through, all I got was the man moving his book and jacket off my seat…

And after asked a third time, explicitly, for them to get up so I could get in, I got nothing more than a shuffling of knees… Now we were in the exit row. Which generally means more leg room so that wouldn't be a problem. But we were on a tiny flight so the leg room was perhaps an inch more than everyone else. And I knew they could stand up, and i knew they could understand because you have to be capable of them to sit in an exit row… not the best start.

And to keep this short, I proceeded to get elbowed and kicked most of the flight because the guy decided he not only wanted the entire armrest to himself but he wanted a good couple of inches on my seat too. Oh and the leg room clearly wasn't enough for him (despite him being shorter than me) so he constantly stretched out his legs into my leg space.

Needless to say what was meant to be a relaxing 6hours flight where I could sleep turned into an awful flight with absolutely no sleep.

Canada Day 11. CN Tower

So, I managed to get to the bus stop in time (although I gave up attempting to drag my suitcase and caught a taxi which isn't ideal..) and started my 6hr drive back to Toronto!

 Luckily the bus actually drove down the road with my hostel so I realised it was actually a bit too far to drag my suitcase (which was the plan) especially as there was a street market/fair going on! So I had to catch a taxi again, which my arms were glad about since they didn't have to lug my stuff but my wallet would have preferred the walk :p

 When I got to the hostel itself (which is student accommodation that's rented out during the summer) they'd made a mistake and put me down for staying the night before - so I'd been charged despite not spending the night there! And all the female dorms were fully booked.

So they asked if I minded staying in a mixed dorm and they'd refund me the extra (which was like $3). But I'd actually just overheard another lady saying they still had a few single rooms full.. So I said I didn't really want a mixed room if possible (I was very polite about it) and they said that was no trouble and upgraded me to a single room all to myself! 

Its weird how having a room all to yourself becomes such a novelty! I unpacked everything and got dressed in the room and just pottered about without worrying about bothering anyone else!

 After embracing the solitude of my own room I set out hunting down the nights activities! And I ended up walking through the street fair which was really nice but completely packed!

 So packed intact that it was kinda annoying - people just didn't move!

 But I eventually got the target in sight!

 I've heard this a few times but there's a phrase that Canada only has two seasons, winter and construction! And that certainly seems to be true the more I see of Canada! 

 After many a detour I eventually found my way to the CN Tower! I'd saved it for my last night in Canada and I was planning to time it with the sunset so I could see the city during the day and evening

 From queuing up to get the ticket to actually getting up the the platform it took an hour… which isn't as bad as it could have been but still - an hour! I also got pulled aside for drug and explosive testing, I don't know why I'm surprised I always, always, get pulled aside! I obviously look suspicious!

Anyway, I think I timed it pretty well! 

 The view was lovely as since the tower is by far the tallest building in Toronto the view over the rooftops is unparalleled. 

 the fact Toronto itself and the surrounding area is so flat also helps to give the impression your looking right to the horizon!

 After spending a little time on the upper observation deck (which is all enclosed with glass windows) I headed down to the glass floor

 because it's just one of those things you have to do before you leave the tower!

 From here i ventured outside to the 'open' section where it very windy!

 I managed to get a photo where it wasn't 'too' windy!

 looking down at the great view (also they let you sit down if you were waiting for the sunset which they don't let you do at the empire state building)

 This was by far the windiest direction but the view was amazing as the sun set and the lights appeared

 I just love how cities look at night!

 And after pottering about at the top for a while I headed back to my room. I cut through the festival and because it was a little quieter (still pretty busy though) I bought myself a 'funnel cake' since I've wanted to try one for a while. It wasn't what I was expecting, and it was massive, and it was also covered in a layer of icing sugar which meant I ended up with dusted with icing sugar all along my front.. definitely a classy look!

I can't believe I'm leaving canada tomorrow! Luckily I still have a little more time since I get most of tomorrow here in Toronto but my time here truly has flown by!