Snæfellsnes Peninsula

Here are a few takeaways that I gleaned from today.
1) Even after viewing and/or hiking to numerous waterfalls, they never get old. Each one is unique, each one inspires awe. Which is good because there are so many falls running off the glaciers around Iceland.

2) If I ever develop the ability to travel through time, I hope I get a choice of time and place. I will most definitely NOT choose the Viking era. They were always mad at someone, locking a potential son-in-law in a sauna and boiling him to death, chopping off limbs, drowning someone in the ocean, or heaving them over cliffs. Every spot we stop has a story to tell.

3) Despite those depressing stories (are we better only by degrees?) the travel today around the Snæfellsness Peninsula and Snæfellsjökull National Park was good: climbing craters, hiking waterfalls, and eating fish soup and homemade bread on the terrace of a delightful (unassuming) cafe by the Atlantic Ocean, with kittiwakes and cormorants serenading us.

This is the back of the cafe, looking out over the basalt cliffs.

4) We all agreed that vacation officially begins with eating and drinking coffee at an outdoor cafe.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Road Trip

Image
Before we get to Iceland, we're driving to Seattle. Gilda Radner-Tortuga is going with us, riding in her tank on the back seat. Gilda will become a Seattle resident for the next phase of her life. The car ride raised her anxiety level a little and she tried to crawl under her water bowl. The view of Mt. Shasta is always worth noting, no matter how many times we've seen it. Our California landscape has so many amazing variations. From the volcanic remnants of home, we're off to see the volcanic landscape of Iceland. 
Read more

Tromso 2 -- Our Last Day

Image
Doug got up last night at midnight, hoping to see the midnight sun. It was daylight, but the sun was hiding behind the clouds. I didnt get up. He managed to take some pics to show the light. One more library, the Tromso Library and Archives. Talked to a librarian about local writers and enjoyed a few quiet moments. A museum of culture and history explored Sami culture, an Indigenous group spanning 4 countries: Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. Rounded out the day with an art museum and a troll museum -- a look at folklore and trolls in Norse culture and literature. A forest troll: Some other troll: And this is my final post. Tomorrow,  we fly back to Oslo, to spend a night near the airport before flying home Thursday. It will be good to see Barbara's smiling face Thursday night to welcome us back to Fresno.
Read more

Last Day in Oslo -- and Lilacs

Image
It was such a beautiful spring day here in Oslo, our last day here. We spent it all outdoors at two different amazing parks: the Vigeland Sculpture Park and Ekeberg Park. As we walked in other parts of the city, there were many lilacs blooming, in numerous colors. The path to the palace was lined with them. Lilacs and their scent always make me happy.  Vigeland Park is home to 200 sculptures, all by Gustav Vigeland (1869-1943). He didn't change his style at all over the years, but his sculptures certainly weren't boring. His most famous piece is The Angry Boy. It is rumored that he gave a child candy, then took it away, and created his sculpture from the kid's reaction. I was intrigued by the way he captured the movement of people. After looking at these sculptures, the rest of the day we both found ourselves hyper-aware of the way children on the sidewalks around us moved -- pulling, reaching, jumping, running, turning somersaults, etc. ...
Read more