Mini Horses in Snaefellnes

Our Icelandic roadtrip took us to to the Snaefellnes Peninsula countryside, where the landscape was as dramatic as it was deserted.

Sometimes our little VW Golf seemed like the only vehicle for miles...

But we found some friends along the way.

Julie's friend had told her that the Icelandic horses in paddocks along the road were so friendly that you could go up and pet them. The whole trip, Julie had wanted to pull over and test out this theory, but we were concerned that the Golf would get stuck in a ditch. Finally, we found gravel patch near the highway, parked the car and made a beeline for a horse hanging out near the fence. Sure enough, he let us pet him, even though we didn't have any food to share. Some other horses even came over to meet us too and see what was up.

The sheep wanted no part of it, however. They walked off into the sunset.

We took the hiking trail from Arnarstapi to Hellnar along the gorgeous coastline, with jagged rocks and natural arches. These pictures don't capture how pretty it was there.

At the end of the 1.5 mile trail, I rewarded myself with a Swiss mocha at the adorable little cafe, with an Ikea-chic interior.

We thought this was the church on the cover of our guidebook, but no, it's just another picturesque Icelandic church.

The next day was set aside for horseback riding on the beach, but the weather did not cooperate. How moody are these clouds?

Bummer! But if it hadn't rained, we wouldn't have seen so many beautiful rainbows. Silver lining, as they say.

PS - Julie bought some Icelandic donuts to fortify us for our hike. How did they taste? Eh, I must say I like American donuts better. USA! USA!

The Long and Winding Road... In Iceland

Justin Bieber, Come to Iceland!

On our very first day in Iceland, fresh from a red-eye flight and unsatisfying naps on hostel couches, we ventured out to explore downtown Reykjavik.  After walking around for a bit near a deserted square, Julie and I ducked into a shop to buy some groceries for dinner.  When we came out of the store no more than 10 minutes later, this is what we saw:

Three hundred tweens, flash mob style.  This square was empty only minutes before!  Now it was full of singing tweens, and what did they want?  Justin Bieber to visit Iceland.

At first I didn't understand what was going on, and thought perhaps Justin was in the crowd and it was a Beatles-style freakout.  But no, this was a highly organized rally to bring him here for a concert.  Icelandic tweens, I tip my hat to you.  You clearly thought this out.

 I love that there was not one but two news cameras covering this event.  Oh, to live in a country where there is so little violence and crime that this probably makes the top of the news hour.

Julie realizes that she is wearing purple, Bieber's favorite color.

She gets in the spirit.

I get into the spirit too!  The number of Bieber songs playing on the loud speakers that I recognized actually surprised me (ok, scared me).  How is that possible? They don't even play his songs on Top 40 radio, do they?  Yet somehow they've seeped into my subconscious.   "Never say never... Shorty is an eenie, meenie, miny, mo lover... There's going to be one less lonely girl."  Did I just ruin all my indie cred there?  I don't know how this happened, I swear.

 It was all pretty cute.  Look at this little moppet.  Her friend is rightly skeptical of us.  Non-tween intruders!

After this experience, I noticed Bieber's angelic face plastered on merchandise all over Iceland.  He is popular.

Justin, dear, if you are out there reading this, get on your private jet and fly to Iceland.  It's the least you can do!  You have some loyal, loyal fans there.  You could probably take over the country if you wanted to.

OK, if you have any interest left in Icelandic Bieber, you need to watch the short video I made of the rally!  So you can get the full effect.  Icelandic tweens are too cute.

Reykjavic Travel Photos: For Sigur Rós Fans Only

For our Iceland week, we spent two days in Reykjavik when we first arrived and about 3 days at the end of the trip.  That was a perfect ratio of city to countryside.  Hopefully these pictures will give you a good idea of how charming it is in the land of Sigur Rós.

Lookout point towards the harbor

I tried to look Icelandic with Viking/Heidi-inspired braids.  One cashier spoke to me first in Icelandic, then switched to English after seeing my "Uh, wuh..." expression.  Yes, success!

Julie's Viking accessories were less subtle.

Let's be European and sit outside a cafe for 8 hours.

The cuteness just won't quit.

 We went to the giant Kolaportið Flea Market and I thought about buying an Icelandic sweater, but my heart just wasn't in it.  Instead, I bought a cool 1960s era postcard at the flea market and later, dozens of spools of Icelandic yarn for future knitting projects.  It was around $4 a skein, very affordable compared to knitting shops here.  I had so much yarn, I was shoving it into every pocket of my suitcase and then the zipper kept getting tangled in yarn, oy vey.

I went a little crazy with the shopping at the end of the trip, and I actually bought a bowtie similar to this one at an awesome vintage shop.  Only it is tie-dye.  A tie-dye bowtie.  OH YES.  This is happening.

I was able to resist buying this charming flask though.  Girliest flask ever!

Some letters are tragically missing here.

If you go to Reyjkavik, you can not leave without going to the Sea Baron, a little hole in the wall restaurant with lobster soup so good that it's been written up by Mark Bittman in the NY Times.  We got ourselves a smorgasbord with the freshest grilled fish ever, and the fisherman owner kept giving us freebies too, like this little waffle.

Struggling to finish our feast.

We didn't end up trying any scary Icelandic food, like rotten shark, puffin, whale or these sheep heads.  I just gawked and took pictures.  This photo was taken at a cafe, but I saw the same shrink-wrapped split-in-half lamb faces sold at a convenience store.

This is one of the major grocery stores.  I dig the logo.  Like Julie said, "Demented pig.  A brand you can trust."

Did you know that hot dogs are the national food of Iceland?  We went to  Baejarins Beztu Pylsur, a famous hot dog stand and plunked down 350 kroners.  OK, we went twice actually. 

There is a french fried onion topping underneath the hot dog.  Genius.  Also topped with a brown sauce.  Brown sauce is very important here.

Tallboy Diet Coke, where have you been all my life?

Fun graffiti everywhere!

Home of the blondies...

The first step is a doozy... (write your own caption here).

Colorful Doorways in Reykjavik

Iceland Bound!

Hey there!  I'm going to Iceland for a vacation with my friend, the wonderful Julie of San Francisco!  See you kids in a week! Check back for Icelandic photos, won't you?  Here's some that inspired us to make the trip.

This is what I packed for my week-long stay.  Joe asked,"Why are you packing 15 shirts?"

So I may have packed every long-sleeve shirt I own.  It's cold there!  OK, maybe three hats was overkill.