After being acclimated to Iceland for a couple of days, we finally got
to the part we're looking forward to. Although original plans to go to Vik fell
through, we were going to explore acronis, the town we called him for the past
couple of days. We started our day by going to a steampunk coffee shop down the
street, taking pictures of the church and other local attractions nearby along
the way. We sat and chatted with a local Icelandic and his friends for about an
hour and a half, sipping are espresso drinks before heading to the old rusty
boat followed by the lighthouse.
A local tourist attraction and not much else, the rusty boat is exactly
what it sounds like... A rusty boat. There wasn't much to see, besides a
dangerous climb through and active Shipyard to get to it, a ladder that we
could climb to the top of an unsteady looking deck, and a couple of broken down
ship parts that laid next to it. We took plenty of pictures along the way,
stopping to admire the quaint but small houses of the town, the grocery store
where we first encountered and Icelandic local that didn't speak English, and
the Myriad of yogurts that lines the windows of people's houses.
We then descended upon the lighthouse, a beacon of light and hope for
the next most populous town to Reykjavik. A lot of people and left memorials
here if their loved ones. After admiring the towers, we went to find a path to
ography all to go hiking, only to discover that it was locked. There was to be
no hiking after the sun had set. Plus, it was a three-hour hike through the
cold of winter anyhow. We swung by longest Saunder, The Rock Beach on acronis
where a lot of Wildlife and humans alike congregate during the summer, and
admired the beauty of the waves and the boardwalk, and then departed for a New Year's
celebration and Reykjavik.
If you intend to eat any sort of food when you go to Reykjavik, account
for your mail to cost at least 30 American dollars. We ate at an Indian
restaurant called shoveler, eating the vegetarian and vegan options, the cheapest
thing on the menu. Both of our bills still came out to about 38 American
dollars. The next cheapest restaurant we found that was opened past 7 that do
not require reservations had a couple of pasta dishes for about $25, although
neither of us were in the mood for pasta. We met a couple from Washington DC,
who would come to see the Northern Lights and the New Year in Reykjavik. After
getting a bite to eat, we headed to Hogan's kurkure, the biggest church in
Reykjavik, and also the site of the New Year's fireworks.
When Americans think of fireworks, they tend to think of people in fire
or hazmat suits in a properly secured environment setting off tubes worth of
otherwise illegal firework mortars. Throw this notion out the window when you
go to celebrate New Years in Reykjavik. All saw kids ages 6 & 7 wearing
nothing more than parkas with military flares setting off fireworks alongside
equally ill-equipped atolls. The fireworks started around midnight the day
before New Year's Eve, and continued well until 2 in the morning of New Year's
Day, covering Reykjavik in a thick cloud of smog. We met several people who
would come from far and wide simply to experience Icelandic New Year. When the
Clock Struck 12, the church bells rang, it's Hirata fireworks lit up every
corner of the sky, drones from every Media company around the world shot
footage for the New Year celebration, and I tried to avoid getting hit by
fireworks. Prize of floodlit night are, or happy New Year in Icelandic, rang
out throughout the crowd.
When we got back to the Airbnb, our new host from America had just
situated himself. He had come all the way from Kansas to experience Reykjavik
for 3 months, and plus a prize, the other host had invited some old Icelandic
friends over. We were going to go to bed, until I overheard them talking about us
being lame and going back to Pennsylvania anyhow. After my eavesdropping, I
decided that it was time to go up and check out the situation for myself. To be
continued in the next post.
No comments:
Post a Comment