Nagano

Leave a reply

I don’t care for one-night stays, but this stop was definitely worthwhile. (If on my own, I’d make this a two-night stop, time permitting). We made oyaki buns, toured an ancient temple and saw snow monkeys.

April 1 – Zenkō-ji Temple

I met Dori in the lobby in Tokyo and we walked for an hour, holding umbrellas, before meeting the rest of our group in the lobby. Our guide, Mari, had trouble with her ticket, so we barely made our bullet train. We jumped on the first open car and pulled our luggage through six moving cars to get to our seats.

After dropping our luggage at the hotel, we took a bus to the top of town, a short distance, where we stopped to make oyaki buns filled with bean paste and veggies, one of each. We rolled the dough and stuffed them, then took a 20-minute stroll while they cooked. Two rolls each with miso soup was a perfect lunch.

After lunch, we toured the Zenkoji temple, built in the 7th century before Buddhism in Japan split into different sects. It contains a hidden Buddha statue, believed to be the first Buddha statue brought to Japan. A replica is shown to the public every six years, but no one alive has seen the original. We took off our shoes and walked in a pitch-black tunnel beneath it, feeling our way along the smooth, well-worn wooden wall on our right. After wandering the grounds, we strolled back down to our hotel, enjoying being back in a human-scaled city.

We are in another hotel with a bathroom clearly assembled as a module offsite; I keep tripping over the step, especially confusing when one side is deeper than the other.

April 2 – Snow Monkey Park

Despite the blackout curtains, I woke up again at 5:30, sunrise; it’s a good thing we haven’t been staying out late. I looked out the window to see clear skies with snow-capped peaks in the distance. We had breakfast in the room; I had a rice patty filled with bits of veggies and meat, a banana, sold individually wrapped in a plastic bag, and a yogurt-like substance that I later learned was soy bean yogurt. (Raj’s phone app translated the label as “Act Love Struck, Bean’s Milk”; I’m guessing the former is the brand name).

We took a forty-minute ride to Snow Monkey Park, mountains visible to our left. The walk from the bus stop to the park is about a mile and a half uphill, a challenge for Nancy especially since the last 1.6 km was a muddy snow-lined trail. It felt good to hike and I was excited to see my first snow monkey along the way, possibly one of the males that live on their own most of the year. The females and youngsters live communally in their troop. The park was relatively small with a manmade pond along a thermal stream. These red-faced Japanese macaques are acclimatized to people; the monkeys frolicked about ignoring us.

We had lunch at a café just outside the stairway leading up to the park, then caught a bus and train back to Nagano. Our ticket covered transportation and entry fees, others arrived by car and had a shorter walk to the park. We then rolled our suitcases back to the JR (train) and headed to our next stop, about an hour away.

Back in Tokyo

Leave a reply

We returned to Tokyo and met with our travel group. The tour, Backroads of Japan, is offered through G adventures. It’s advertised as a twelve-day tour, but is really ten days, since nothing is planned for the first or last days.

March 29 – Met our Tour Group

When we returned from Mt Fuji, we took our first cab ride, from the bus station to our hotel, and shortly thereafter met our six fellow travelers: Dori and Marty, a retired couple from Chicago, Raj and Katy, a younger couple from Toronto, Laila, also from Toronto, and Alana, from Canberra, Australia, born the same year as my younger son. They have turned out to be a nice, fun group. We went out for a welcome dinner at a Japanese-style restaurant; we took off our shoes and sat on the floor, but there was a hole under the table where my feet were surprised to encounter a warm surface. We sampled a great variety of dishes. I’m not a vegetarian, but if you are, beware, the Japanese put meat in many dishes where you wouldn’t expect it, like green salads.

I could definitely get used to heated toilet seats, but I don’t like the one in our hotel that rushes water beneath me as soon as I sit down, not a water conscious invention, unlike some of the toilets we’ve encountered with water that flows above the tank for hand washing as it refills after flushing. Some toilets are quite complicated with buttons for multiple types of spray (bidet and shower), volume control for the spray, a stop button for the spray, music/sound effects, all labeled with Japanese characters. It can take a while to figure out which one to push to flush.

 March 30 – Picnic in the Park

We were pleasantly surprised to find that our hotel included breakfast, a large Japanese buffet, filled with meats, salads, yogurt, miso, and numerous other choices. Yum. Our first day with our tour started with a train ride to the Shinjuku district, where Nancy and I started our trip. We returned to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building (what a mouthful); the line to get in was much shorter on a weekday morning than it was on Saturday evening, though the view was hazier. We walked through streets we hadn’t seen before, then using our one-day JR (Japan Rail) pass continued to the Shibuya station to see the famous dog statue and Shibuya Crossing, rumored to be the busiest intersection in the world with hundreds of people crossing at a time, coming from all directions at once, many of them tourists taking pictures with their cell phones.

We then backtracked to the Harajuku station and stopped to pick up food from one of the basement food markets beneath a department store (another delicious salad) on our way to Yoyogi Park for a picnic. The weather was perfect, one of our few sunny days. Mari surprised me with sparkling sake and the group sang Happy Birthday to me. Nancy and I sampled a white strawberry (milder than the red ones w/hint of pineapple). The Meiji Jingu Shrine was our next destination. Located in a peaceful forest, this shrine was rebuilt after its destruction in WWII. Much of it was covered in construction netting as it is undergoing restoration.

Raj and Katy had read about cat cafés becoming popular in Tokyo, so we all decided to check one out; they treated me. Unlike a few cat cafes that have opened recently in the Bay Area, these cats aren’t available for adoption. They live here and people pay to visit them. We washed our hands and put on slippers before entering the cat room. I’ve never seen a more mellow group of cats, which we petted and photographed while drinking tea.

March 31 – Ueno Park and an Art Exhibition

In the morning, half of us joined Mari for a walking tour of nearby Ueno Park, filled with temples, shrines, and fruit trees beginning to flower. Decorative cherry, plum, and peach are the most common.

Afterwards, Nancy and I took a subway to Nogizaka to see the Yayoi Kusama exhibition at the The National Art Center. A passageway from the station leads directly to the back entrance. It was a large fun exhibit with a large room of recent work. Kusama, famous for polka dots, is currently 88 years old and still painting. After being on our feet all morning, and standing more than a half hour in line at the gift shop (I bought a couple postcards), we only skimmed the exhibit of all twenty of Czech artist Alfrons Mucha’s “The Slav Epic”, large paintings of the history of the Slav people.

A light rain started when we arrived at the Uguisudani station. (I’m getting the hang of Tokyo’s huge subway and train system, but looking forward to leaving this crowded city). We rested for an hour, then headed out for an early dinner. What our hotel listed as a Japanese style bar turned out to be a shoes-off restaurant. We ordered a variety of items from a pictorial menu; our best meal yet, everything was delicious, especially the tuna sushi, which we reordered. This put sushi in a whole other league than I’ve had at home, much fresher with the best ginger I’ve tried. We got back early enough for me to finish sorting and post a few pictures from Mt. Fuji.

Mt Fuji

1 Reply

Wow, wow, wow, we got lucky and saw the snow-capped peak of Japan’s famous icon two days in a row!

March 28 – Mt. Fuji Boat Ride

We lugged our luggage to the Shinjuku Station, the busiest train station in the world, squeezed onto a rush hour train to the Tokyo Station, eighth busiest, where a very helpful man used a map app to escort us to the Tekko Building where we caught a non-stop bus to Fujikawaguchiko at the base of Mt. Fuji. (The non-stop buses from Shinjuku were sold out as we found out the prior afternoon). It was sunny when we started our two-hour ride, but rain/snow was forecast for the afternoon. As the sky darkened and a few drops hit the windshield, we worried that we wouldn’t be able to see the mountain. As we approached

It was sunny when we started our two-hour ride, but rain/snow was forecast for the afternoon. As the sky darkened and a few drops hit the windshield, we worried that we wouldn’t be able to see the mountain. As we approached our destination, we spotted its base shrouded on top. And then suddenly the clouds cleared. We beamed and grabbed our cameras.

After stowing our luggage at the bus station and locating our lodging (too early for check-in), we walked down to the lake and took a boat ride beyond the wires and buildings which blocked our view. Rain hit our backsides as we admired the peak bathed in sunshine. I was glad to be wearing my new warm clothes. High fives, followed by a delicious tempura dinner, with several unidentifiable vegetables, and an Asahi beer. 🙂

March 29 – Mt. Fuji Bus Tour

A thin futon on a hard wooden platform does not make for comfortable sleeping. That was soon forgotten when I slid open the opaque window and was thrilled to see sun once again striking the famous volcanic peak. I ignored the blast of snow-chilled air and started snapping. We grazed for breakfast, put our luggage back in the bus station lockers, and boarded a hop-on-hop-off bus (the Red Line) along the lake. We only hopped off at the end of the line, a gorgeous spot which will clearly be even more scenic in a few weeks when the buds on the fruit trees open. After absorbing the view, we enjoyed a blueberry swirl ice cream cone, despite the cold, temped by the large statue of one in from of the visitor center. We then took a short walk to a temple and a shrine, and returned to our starting point, getting off early to walk up from the lake and stop for lunch (beef bowl) along the way. I napped a bit on our way back to Tokyo.

A Couple Days in Tokyo

3 Replies

I’m in Japan with Nancy, using up the travel credit we received after our ship broke down in the Galapagos a few years ago. Our tour will take us from Tokyo to Kyoto. We’ve added a few extra days, starting in Tokyo, the world’s largest city, twice as populous as NYC. Rivers of people fill the veins of this mega-metropolis – sidewalks, trains, subways, and buses. Only childrens voices are heard on the trains, faces buried in cell phones, many with masks. Walk on the left and keep moving or get shoved. Beauty and ugliness, and let’s not forget cute. Delicate cherry blossoms against soulless buildings. Elevators silent and smooth. Surprise temples and shrines dwarfed by tall buildings, expanding endlessly in all directions. Bold, bright, flashing neon, the parks a treasured respite. Enough people speak English for us to get by, most friendly and helpful.

March 24-25, 2017 – Getting There

The Lyft ride arrived so quickly after my 4:00 a.m. request that we got to the airport a half hour before the ticket counter opened. Other than a couple short naps on the plane, we remained awake for just over 24 hours before getting to bed in our Tokyo airbnb. Fortunately, I was more comfortable in a middle seat on Singapore Airlines than on the domestic and discount airlines I’ve traveled with recently.

When we arrived, we took a train to the Shinjuku station and walked to our lodging using a series of pictures provided by our host. This is my first trip to a country that labels everything in characters (kanji) that have no meaning to me. After dropping our luggage off in our tiny efficiency apartment, we walked about a mile to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, slowly due to Nancy’s recent leg injury, and waited in line for an elevator ride up to the free observation deck. A nice view, in spite of the overcast. On our way, in the overheated airport and train, I worried that I had packed too many warm clothes, but as the sun dropped behind the tall buildings, I worried the opposite. We topped off our day with a yummy thin-crust pizza and Asahi beer.

March 26 (Sunday) – A Pleasant Drizzly Day

Up a bit early due to jetlag, I took a stroll through the quiet, wet street of the Shinjuku district where we are staying. Breakfast consisted of a delicious donut-like pastry filled with bean paste, yogurt, and powdered green tea (matcha). Nancy and I then spent a couple hours strolling through lovely Shinjuku park, very close to our lodging. The cherry blossoms are just starting, a bit later than usual due to the unseasonably cold weather. Next, we took a train across town to the Edo-Tokyo museum, dedicated to the history of Tokyo during the Edo period with a life-size replica of Nihonbashi bridge, a kabuki theater, and scale models of towns, plus more recent history through the 1964 Olympics. A nice place to visit on a rain day.

March 27 – An Unpleasant Cold Day

We took a train to the Ryogoku station to visit the Tsukiji Fish Market, not a good choice for a cold, rainy, windy day. Though fascinating, we were thoroughly miserable after a couple hours, mostly outdoors, umbrellas bumping against each other. The best part was eating a delicious strawberry coated with bean paste and a rice flour layer (mochi). We skipped the other sights we had planned and returned to our room for a short rest before venturing out again, after the rain stopped. It took us a couple hours to score bus tickets to our next destination; we had to take a train across town to another station to get them. We then went on a shopping binge. I bought warm clothes and Nancy unsuccessfully tried to find a rice cooker for her husband, Steve; they don’t sell the correct voltage.

 

 

Caribbean – Underwater

Leave a reply

Nov 27 to Dec 2

As usual, it was a a challenge to find time to sort photos once I returned home to my normal life, so it’s taken a while to select a few from the hundreds I took with a waterproof camera on my recent Caribbean trip.  I never missed an opportunity to go snorkeling; I love watching life beneath the surface. As I bobbed, I tried to steady my camera and take pictures of moving fishes, most turned out blurry. Twice I donned a BCD, buoyancy compensator device, a vest which keeps a tank of air firmly attached to my back, and I descended fifty feet to the sea floor, once to a sunken tug boat and once to a beautiful coral garden, where I was mesmerized by the sea life.

Caribbean – St. Maarten

4 Replies

I spent an amazing week cruising around St. Maarten in the Caribbean on a 52’ catamaran, with seven fellow passengers, Harley, Nancy and their friends, with a crew of two.  I almost had to pinch myself to confirm I really was in the land of turquoise waters depicted in so many advertisements, a place I’d dreamed of getting to, maybe, someday.

As the week progressed, the warm moist air, rhythmic rocking, and frequent swims, washed my tensions, and psoriasis, away. I landed more relaxed than I’ve been since I spent three weeks on the Big Island in Hawaii a half dozen years ago. That feeling is fading, now that my cell phone is back on, but I’m savoring the memory.

Nov 26, 2016

I flew with Harley and Nancy from Fort Lauderdale to Philipsburg, on the Dutch side of Sint Maarten/Saint Martin, where we met our fellow passengers and got a ride to Marigot, on the French side of the island, where our ship was docked.

 Nov 27 to Dec 2 – At Sea

My cabin was entered via a DeLorean-type hatch adjacent to the dining area on the port side of the ship and I was awakened just before dawn each morning to the click of dishes being set on the table. (I remember that left is port because both words have four letters, and since port is reddish, I remember that the lights on that side of a ship are red, making the other side starboard and green.) About half the space in my cabin was taken up by a double bed, surrounded on three and a half sides by walls and a couple cabinets, one containing a life jacket, though I’m not sure I’d want to run back down the stairs to retrieve it if the ship was sinking. The other half of the cabin was comprised of more cabinets, a few square feet of floor, and a tiny, smelly head, a.k.a. bathroom, so small that water fell on the toilet when the shower was on. I only use it once all week, instead rinsing off with a sprayer on deck each time I climb out of the very salty sea.

When the dishes clicked, I coated my body in sealife-safe sunblock; one day I missed and acquired a streak of red on my back. I put on shorts and a sleeveless top, something I own only because of prior vacations to warm locations, and ascended to the aft deck, i.e. the back of the boat. My feet stayed bare, better to grip the textured surface of the ship. I enjoyed a cup of tea and watched the sunrise. After breakfast, we received a short briefing from our captain about the day’s activities – typically sail-or-motor, snorkel, lunch, sail-or-motor, snorkel, watch sunset, eat dinner, and if the sky is clear, watch stars; the sequence varied daily. Though on a sailboat, we motored more than sailed, usually due to the wind – too much, too little, or wrong direction.

Soon after we reached each destination, the steps were lowered, a floating line dropped, and the “pool” was open. I snorkeled often and dove a couple times – see next blog post for underwater pictures. Sometimes I floated on a noodle at the end of the swim line, drinking tropical cocktails, and conversing with fellow passengers, new friends.

I spent much of my time on the top deck, sometimes remembering to duck when walking beneath the boom. I downloaded pictures and keyworded them daily, otherwise I’d lose track of all our stops. One day I learn to play Farkle, a game with six dice. Meals were yummy, grilled fish, crispy Caribbean salads, and fruity or chocolate surprises for dessert. Once we ate dinner on shore and the sounds of the sea were replaced by noisy frogs, who outnumbered the crickets, and my body swayed as if it was still on the boat.

At night, in my cabin, I read one page of my book and fall asleep. Though the ship is partially powered by solar energy, the generators kick in each evening primarily to convert salt water to fresh. I blessed the quiet when they turned off, but missed the air conditioning. My feet cooled quickly one night when rain fell on them, followed by the sound of footsteps along the deck and the snap snap snapping down of the hatches. I used a blanket that night and slept soundly until the dishes clicked and I arose to another day in paradise.

December 3

I got up early to catch a 9:00 a.m. flight which was delayed an hour and a half while we waited for a part to be delivered from Puerto Rico. The flight to Miami took three hours. I had just enough time to clear customs, use the restroom, buy food, and board my next plane, for a six-and-a-half hour flight back to San Fran. This is my first trip since my dog, Zelda, died and I missed her welcome home greeting. I also missed the warm weather; we had a cold spell (by S.F. standards) and I shivered for a couple days.

Fort Lauderdale

Leave a reply

I spent three days in Florida with Harley and Nancy, whom I met in Cuba last year, before departing on a Caribbean cruise.

Nov 22 – Flight to Florida

I enjoyed seeing the diversity of the geography across our country on a non-stop flight to Fort Lauderdale. Harley and Nancy picked me up and took me to Mai Kai, a historic bar-restaurant filled with Polynesian themed artifacts; it felt a bit like the Tiki Room at Disneyland and I kept expecting the totem poles to break out in song.

Nov 23-25 – Thanksgiving in Florida

 Each day we toured part of Fort Lauderdale and the surrounding the area, including Hollywood, named after the city in California where a few of the old seaside bungalows still remain, though high-rises are rapidly approaching, and the gardens of the Bonnet House, it’s remaining 35 acres now surrounded by Fort Lauderdale; we glimpsed one of the small moneys that live in the trees.

We celebrated Thanksgiving in Lauderdale by the Sea, a town of human-scaled buildings with a darling beachfront. I joined a large gathering of Nancy and Harley’s friends in a backyard under a sprawling mango tree, my first Thanksgiving in shorts and sandals. In addition to turkey with all the fixings, there were plenty of side dishes and, for me, unusual desserts, such pumpkin bread pudding with rum sauce and mango key lime pie.

South Iceland

1 Reply

I’m covering our last week in Iceland all at once because there was little time to sort photos. The amazing sights and activities kept us on the go, plus the Northern lights shortened our sleep. Enjoy the pics; I definitely enjoyed taking them.

8/30/16 – Skaftafell

 Towards the end of our drive from Seydisfjordur (covered in East Iceland post), we stopped at Jokulsarion, a glacial lagoon. By then it was cold and raining (winter gear would have been perfect), so we didn’t stay long. See 9/1 for an amazing return visit. We checked into Hótel Skaftafell, our nicest, and most expensive lodging, and had dinner at their restaurant.

 8/31/16 – Hike before rain and a nice Sunset

The surprise breakfast item of the day was curried eggs. We looked for this yummy item the next two mornings, but it did not reappear. The Skaftafell region of Vatnajökull National Park was only a few minutes away so we headed over for a hike under gray skies and drizzle. We took the S1 trail to Skaftafellsjökull, the giant tongue of a glacier and enjoyed walking along the lagoon with floating icebergs.

We timed it just right; a downpour started just after we returned to visitor center and it rained all afternoon. I used the time to download, keyword, and sort photos, a time consuming task. We went up to the bar at happy hour and enjoyed a half-priced glass of wine, and then ate a backpacker meal in our room (saving a few dollars in this expensive country).

We were thrilled to see the sun come out early in the evening and went for a stroll on a nearby path where we watched a beautiful sunset.

9/1/16 – Wow! Glaciers, Waterfalls, Icebergs and Northern Lights

The weather gods graced us today. In the morning, we took a four-hour hike in Skaftafell, with glacier views, waterfalls, and a visit to Sel, a restored traditional turf-roofed farmhouse.

We had the second half of our lunch in our hotel room, then Ingrid and I returned to Jokulsarion Lagoon, 40 minutes away. We spent hours admiring the incredible blue icebergs, whose shapes included tyrannosaurus, a dolphin, and a crashed star ship Enterprise. I made the classic mistake of looking at the view while walking and tripped on a rock, bruising my knee and both hands. My lens has a scar from where it hit the ground, but miraculously both my camera and I are still functioning.

On our way back to our room, we stopped at the N1 and had dinner at the gas station, a hamburger and red wine for me.

Though tired, we put in a wake-up call in case the Northern Lights came out. We were sound asleep when the phone rang an hour later and I knocked over several items trying to answer it in the dark. I was immediately energized when we got outside; green lights were visible in all directions.

9/2/16 – Another Driving Day

We made our way slowly from Skaftafell to Hrauneyjar (in the middle of nowhere), stopping at many interesting sights along the way, including a sheer-walled narrow canyon filled with fascinating rocks, a moss-covered lava field, several waterfalls, and Vik, the small town serves as a hub for southern Iceland; the gas station market was mobbed with tourists.

Following the advice of the Highland Center, where we stayed, we took road #26 from Hella. The sealed road ended and we slowly drove for many kilometers on a gravel road. In hindsight, a longer paved route is available, which I would recommend instead.

9/3/16 – Multicolored Mountains

I’ve never seen so many types of breads and crackers offered at a buffet breakfast and at this point never want to see bread again. I was excited by another one-day variation in the menu: cubes of feta.

Once again, we were blessed with perfect weather. We took an hour-long bus ride over a rough F-road, complete with river crossing, to Landmannalaugar. We took a loop hike through an obsidian-filled lava field, along a meadow at the base of colorful folded mountains, up a very steep trail to Brennisteinsalda, then back down to another section of lava. Listed as 2-3 hours, this hike took us just over four with a couple detours, lunch, and stops for photos. The last hour was a rush down from the peak to make the 15:30 bus back to our hotel. (Thank you Ingrid for sprinting the last few minutes and convincing the driver to wait while we ran to use the WC). We didn’t want to wait for the next bus at 20:00, so we skipped the thermal springs.

9/4/16 – Flat Tyre  

Today was a reminder that flexibility is essential for travel, and life in general, because inevitably not everything will go according to plan.

Shortly after we departed the Highland Center, I pulled over onto a gravel patch to get out my sunglasses and didn’t notice the black lava rocks along the edge causing a flat tire. We spent three and a half hours on the side of the road. Amy led our unsuccessful attempt to put on the spare temporary tire while I made numerous phone calls to figure out our options. In the end we paid $300 for road service (later reimbursed by the insurance we purchased before departure). After this experience, I can’t recommend Thrifty. The lug nuts were over tightened and rusted in place, the lug wrench was bent, and the service repairman told us that the thread was low and all four tires should be replaced. Fortunately, it was mostly sunny, we were stuck on a safe stretch of road, and had no specific plans for the day. Axel and his wife were terrific; we followed them for miles to confirm that the patch was holding.

We stopped in Selfoss for an awful late lunch and brief grocery store stop where I found some dark chocolate (a rarity in this land of milk chocolate lovers). It was late afternoon by the time we reached Grindavik, a location selected for it’s proximity to the airport and the Blue Lagoon. After unpacking at the modern Mar Guesthouse, in an industrial part of town near a harbor smelling of fish, Amy, Ginny, and I drove over to the lagoon only to find that it was totally sold out. Our pre-trip research warned us to avoid mid-day crowds, but I don’t recall needing advance tickets. Instead of soaking in a hot pool near a geothermal power plant, we joined Ingrid at Bruin, a friendly bar/cafe across the street from our hotel.

I know I’m traveling with the right group of women when everything goes wrong and no one gets upset.

9/5/15 – Home Again

 We headed out early to drop Ingrid at the airport, then returned to our hotel for breakfast. There was an even smaller selection than unusual with the unexpected addition of carrot sticks. We then took walks to stretch our legs before our flight. I wandered around exploring the area around the harbor, and walked out to the orange lighthouse, passing many shipwrecks along the way.

We gladly surrendered our rental car. We put 2000 km (1200 miles) on it and were glad three of us shared the driving. At the airport, I had one of my favorite meals in Iceland, a chicken sandwich on thin bread with tasty extras, like avocado and pesto, and a fresh juice combo, all for a reasonable price at Joe & the Juice. Yum. I’m glad we ate that downstairs before heading through security to the mob scene upstairs, where I purchased chocolate at the Duty Free shop (here’s where they’ve been hiding dark chocolate!) and food for the plane before heading into the long line for passport control, and yet another pathway through a duty free shop. For a country with plenty of water, they are stingy with it at the airport. The only way to fill a water bottle is to plead with a café employee and see if they’ll fill it at the sink. (The bathroom water is warm). Someone obviously cares more about making money than protecting the environment from a flood of plastic bottles.

Our flight was delayed about an hour, but was otherwise uneventful. At home, I was greeted by a prancing dog, two curious cats (sniffing my luggage), and warmer weather. In Iceland, daytime temperatures reported on our car display ranged from 4-14 oC (39-57 o F). My first day back it was in the 70’s. I also noticed a huge drop in air quality and visibility, probably from the fires still burning in California, and the water isn’t as tasty or cold.

Travel Insurance warning: though baggage and personal effects are covered, buried in a 30-page description of coverage is an exclusion for eyeglasses. Apparently this unfair practice is common in the industry.

East Iceland

2 Replies

We all loved the eastern fjords and wonderful hikes we had in Seydisfjordur.

8/28/16 – Seydisfjordur

 On our drive to one of the easternmost towns in Iceland, we expanded on our list of descriptors for the landscape: vast, stark, barren, patches of brilliant green surrounded by black and hints of yellow, sprinkled with cairns. The temperature dropped to 4oC (39oF). It rained along the way and the fog was thick, obscuring the view, as we descended down into town.

The skies remained grey, but the rain subsided shortly after arrival, so we took a lovely hike to a couple of the numerous waterfalls surrounding this small port town. We enjoyed a beer at the bistro and then checked into Hótel Snæfell, an old building with a difficult to open entry door. Ingrid and I shared the smallest hotel room I’ve ever been in, fortunately on the third floor so we couldn’t hear anyone above us. We had to step out of each other’s way to navigate the small space between our twin beds.

We returned to the bistro for dinner; I split a small pizza and veggie lasagna with Ingrid. We were excited by the small salad that was included; fresh vegetables seem to be rare here. We’ve learned to ask what vegetables are included when indicated on a menu; they might be something as simple as onions in the sauce.

8/29/16 – Waterfall Lane

This breakfast included a welcome surprise from the usual: hummus and an olive tapenade. It was cloudy, but not raining, so we split up and wandered around town for a while before hiking up to Tvisongur, a sound installation on the hillside above town. The five chambers echoed nicely. It was dry enough to eat outdoors at a picnic table. The two vegetarians, Ingrid and Ginny, ordered take-out veggie burgers, while Amy and I munched on items gathered from breakfast and the grocery store.

Slowly the sun came out and in the afternoon we were blessed with beautiful weather for our hike up waterfall lane, obviously named after the countless waterfalls encountered along the way. The only downside was the loss of my prescription glasses. I switched to sunglasses mid-hike and the case must have fallen out of my pack afterwards. Fortunately I had a spare pair in my suitcase and purchased trip insurance.

We hiked directly to the bar and I had another good Porter. After a quick shower, we walked over to dinner, at Hótel Aldan, one of only three places serving food. The cod fish was good, though expensive and a bit bland (a common occurrence in Iceland).

8/30/16 – Lots of Driving

We departed Seydisfjordur under cloudy skies with only slightly more visibility than when we arrived. It was a long day on the road with several stops to stretch our legs and take pics of sheep and other sights. We stopped at a Vinbudin in Djupivogur where we each bought a bottle of wine for less than we’ve been paying for a glass. These stores are the only place to buy alcohol, besides restaurants, and they often have short hours, e.g. 16:00-18:00. The highlight of our day, or should I say the hot spot of our day, was the hot tubs in Hoffel, where we soaked a bit before continuing on to Skaftafell.

North Iceland

2 Replies

I finished the first segment of my clockwise journey around Iceland with my fellow “Ring Roadies”: Amy, Ginny, and Ingrid. We drove up along the west coast in beautiful sunny weather, and then encountered more typical rain as we headed east.

8/24/16 – Sunny Skies

My friends joined me this morning. It took us a while to get our rental car, a Citroen, thanks to a faulty printer at Thrifty and new fangled features, such as an automatic parking break and temperamental push button start that took us a while to master, after first figuring out how to switch the control menus to English.

It didn’t take us long to drive up to Saelingsdalur on the west side, in spite of stops along the way to admire the views. We stayed at Hotel Edda, a former boarding school now used for field trips during the school year. We dropped our bags in our dorm rooms, took a stroll through the grass-covered hillside, and had a delicious vegetarian dinner in the dining room.

8/25/16 – Whale Watching

Ingrid and I headed to the hot pool as soon as we woke up and had it to ourselves. It was the perfect spot to watch the sun rise over the hills; we ignored the organic matter that rose up as we walked on the mossy bottom. We met Amy and Ginny at breakfast, which included what I’ve since learned is typical: hard boiled eggs, several types of bread (sometimes homemade), yellow cheese, sliced ham, yogurt, granola, cottage cheese (delicious), homemade jam (raspberry, rhubarb, and/or marmalade), sliced cucumbers and tomatoes, sliced fruit (apples, oranges, and/or bananas).

We stopped in Blonduos on our way to Akureyri and enjoyed a damp stroll through this small town on a fjord. We had a picnic lunch and took pictures of amazing mushrooms.

Our room wasn’t ready, so we left our bags at the front desk and headed over to the dock to find our rib boat for a whale-watching trip that far exceeded our expectations. The narrow boat can take twelve passengers and there was only one other besides the four of us, a man from Kuwait (quite a weather change for him). Geared up in floatation suits, which helped protect us from the chilly wind, we sped about 20 km out through the fjord, towards the Greenland Sea, and saw about a dozen Humpback whales. It was an exhilarating ride and we were all beaming afterwards while enjoying a Thai restaurant, where I negotiated extra veggies in my curry.

8/26/16 – Geothermal Wonders

It took us all day to reach our next destination, Lake Myvatn, because we made a variety of stops along the way – Goðafoss (beautiful waterfall), pseudo craters, Icelandic horses, Hofdi (fantastical landscape), lava fields, and Namafjall with lots of smelly steam and mud pots. It rained lightly on and off throughout the day. We’re staying in a great place, Eldá Guesthouse in Reykjahlid, luckily in one of the buildings with a guest kitchen and common area. The air in the whole town is sulfur scented; it subsides from my awareness until I turn on the faucet.

We walked over to a nearby café where I had an expensive salmon burger – all food is expensive in Iceland, it’s hard to find any entrée for less than $25 and it’s easy to pay much more.

8/27/16 – Waterfalls and Hot Springs

After breakfast, we drove northeast to see Dettifoss, considered to be the most powerful waterfall in Europe (one in Norway has greater average water flow, but is half the height). Our 2.5 km loop, over black lava paths in the rain, included Selifoss, a smaller, scenic waterfall.

We had lunch, mostly leftovers from breakfast, in the deserted common room at our hotel, then took a short drive to the Myvatn Nature Baths (Jardbodin). There we enjoyed a relaxing few hours in the silky blue water wandering from hot spot to hot spot. I felt totally renewed, especially after my first good beer in this country: Einstök Icelandic Toasted Porter.

After a welcome break at our hotel, we fixed backpacking food for dinner, supplemented with fresh spinach, then took a walk over to the Reykjahlid hotel for a glass of wine. (Alcohol is only sold in special stores – far and few between outside major cities – and restaurants). Ingrid and I also ordered desert: rhubarb pie and ice cream. The pie was more like a delicate rhubarb newton, but delicious.