Iceland

August 18, 2015August 18, 2015

Thank You

As a traveler I think the most important phrase is “Thank you.” That was what I learned to say before each country we traveled to. Even if you can't speak the local language and talk in English or gestures, it is nice to be able to thank someone in their native language. Second most important for me is “I'm sorry” or “excuse me”. That is very useful when on crowded buses or trains and you have to push by someone to get off. Third is probably “where is the bathroom?” or simply “toilet?” which gets the message across.

Anyway, here is how to say “Thank you”, in every country we visited, at least how it sounded to me. Please don't get too offended if I mangled your native language, I was trying 🙂 :

Taiwan (mandarin), China: Shi-shi

Korea: Gamsameeda

Egypt (Arabic): Shockram

Zurich – Switzerland, Vienna – Austria (German): Danke

Geneva – Switzerland (French), France: Merci

Spain: Gracias

Italy, Vatican City: Gratzie

Hungary: Kusonome

Czech Republic: Dekuji

Poland: Dziekuji (very similar to Czech)

Norway: Takk (pronounced like talk)

Denmark: Tack (like tact)

Iceland: this is the one I didn't learn. Supposedly it is similar to Danish (tack) but they add several syllables to differentiate from Denmark. Just saying “tack” is frowned upon, so I went with “Thank you” which everyone understood.

Canada, U.S.A.: Thanks.

-David

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July 7, 2015July 7, 2015

Iceland 2

I just realized I haven't mentioned the temperature in Iceland yet. For most of our trip it was 12-15C (54-60F). So not cold, but cool enough that I finally wore the jeans I've been lugging around for the first time on the trip. In retrospect I should not have packed those jeans.

For our last day we planned to relax at the Blue Lagoon, which is a natural geothermal spa about 40 minutes outside of Reykjavik. It is called that because the minerals make the water very blue. It was a bit of a tourist trap, but they limit the number of tickets so at least it doesn't get too overcrowded.

The water temperature was 38-40C or 100-104F, so very pleasant and warm. The spa is open year round, although I'm not sure how pleasant it would be in subzero temperatures, they did have an indoor entrance though.

We spent quite a bit of time there. This time Yanmei drank lots of water to avoid getting dehydrated. By the time we left it was after 6pm, but it was our last day and we had basically unlimited daylight, so why not take a road trip? We headed out to the Stokkur geyser.

What an amazing place! Steam rising from the ground everywhere. It smelled of sulfur as well, although it wasn't too strong. Unfortunately it was raining when we were there.

Main geyser pool before eruption, you can see some people next to it for scale

After that we drove back to Reykjavik. It was incredibly scenic, maybe even more so than the helicopter ride. At one point I said to Yanmei “Hey, we're entering a national park” and she replied “The whole country is like a national park.”

Iceland is where the North America and European plates are pulling apart, which causes the geothermal activity, and these huge crevices to form.

Icelandic horses are quite prized as sturdy riding horses

Yanmei said imagine if we had done this drive the previous night after sunset when the clouds were alight with reds and oranges. It would have somehow been even more spectacular. That is a great idea, and we both want to return to Iceland to see more.

Amazing finish to our trip.

-David

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July 7, 2015July 7, 2015

The second day we slept in a bit. After breakfast we went to the penis museum.

In the afternoon we'd booked a helicopter tour. I thought it would be a great way to see more in our limited time.

Yanmei forgot her sunglasses so she borrowed a pair.

Geothermal plant. Iceland has such an abundance of cheap energy that they heat their roads in Reykjavik in the winter to keep them free of snow and ice.

Glacier melt river winding through farmland

The weather was good so we got to land on top of Eyjafjallajökull which is the volcano that erupted in 2010.

Another helicopter on the edge of the crater

Caught in the rotor wash of the departing chopper. The pilot in front of me had his hat blown about 50 feet away, and I got a face full of snow particles.

Crater, no lava now, but there is a bit of steam rising from a few spots

Two hikers climbing the mountain and glacier

Unfortunately Yanmei got a little airsick towards the end of the flight, however she didn't need to use the barfbag. Earlier she took a few nice videos with her phone, which capture the experience better than photos do. Next time we travel we will bring a real video camera. Maybe a GoPro or something like that.

That evening I decided to give the sunset another try. Even as I was driving down to the sea wall I could tell it was going to be good.

I actually left too early. The sky kept changing colors well past this. The sun doesn't go that far down beyond the horizon so basically the whole night is just one long sunset/sunrise. Yanmei was up at 2am and she said the clouds were still red and orange.

-David

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