Iceland

 You would think that living in Scotland it was cold enough in wintertime but Fiona decided to take her Mum and Dad to Iceland obviously because they like cold weather. A wee spoiler alert, I am not a fan of the cold and wet and miserable and neither is Fiona so we weren't sure how it would go. Iceland is billed as a great place to see unspoiled wilderness but then again so is Alaska and Patagonia but then Iceland is only a 2 1/2 hour flight away. Fiona and I had one "Must do" and that was a Snowmobile ride so that was in itself worth the trip.

We arrived in Iceland on a cold and damp Thursday Morning, it looked a lot like a dreich day in the North of Scotland but maybe a bit even more depressing. A bus took us into Reykjavik  and Fi and I booked the tour the next day for the Glacier Snowmobile ride which also included a stop at a fault line and at a geyser and waterfall. I'm not sure if I mentioned it but I am not a fan of Busses, unfortunately a Bus is the only way to get around if you don't want to break the bank but at least the Bus to the Glacier was very cool, much like some buses we saw in Patagonia so that was OK. 

Reykjavik is a nice and interesting place to spend a day or two but to be honest after that you would be bored just aimlessly wandering around which is what I saw most people doing. I would recommend a trip but go for the maximum things to see in a day, Iceland is big and it takes a while to get around things so maximise on things to see and minimise on sitting on a bus. 

We were there for 4 days which in Wintertime is enough in my opinion, we saw what we wanted (except for the Northern lights as it was cloudy) We didn't sample the delights of Puffin or Reindeer , Fish and chips to eat out is good and only £20 each, (I won't complain about the prices in a chippy in Scotland again) Everywhere you go inside its warm, very warm, which suited me, the geothermal springs supply copious amounts of hot water for heating, funnily enough everybody has the windows open to let the heat out! And they grow their own vegetables and fruit in huge greenhouses which is weird considering we are in a dire shortage at the moment.

So Iceland, wrap up well, take plenty money, enjoy the nature and when you are on the plane home enjoy what seems to be very cheap prices. Our pilot did a 360 degree loop to let us see the Northern Lights which was good (I still didn't see them) and I have to say Easyjet was a nice experience!

Back on 2 wheels now and avoiding bus trips for a long long long time, enjoy the pictures which tell the story better than I do!

Not the shop!

The focal point of Reykjavik

Buildings are painted in bright colours

Art

The bay

Snow on the hills

Reykjavik , a modern town

Out in the country

A fault line

A small Geyser

And a big one, if the sky had been blue it would have been better

Spectacular waterfall

Proof we were there

Cool bus

On the Glacier

Tea break

glad we done this 

Cold

Getting colder

very cold

Some famous guy

The town

Lunchtime on Saturday, dreich

Danny posing for a photo

Rainbow street?

Almost time to go home and the sun comes out

Art

Street view

Remember when our shops had these

near our house

Also near where we stayed

Fi posing

The church could do with some ornate windows at least

The fire Hydrants are cool

Fi captured this out of the plane window!

And finally, I thought this was rude!