I know the roads are awful - and really dangerous too! And you're right Mike - blind hæð (blind hill) means that you can't see oncoming traffic. They are everywhere as well as one lane bridges that are a real hazard. They've been working on making at least the bridges on higway 1 two lane - but they're not even close to completing that yet. On our trip to the Westfjords we got to try really hazardous roads - very steep and narrow and just a vertical drop off the edge - not much margin for error there. Wouldn't want to be driving those roads in winter. Actually we hardly go outside the Reykjavik area during winter.
The Radisson SAS is a nice hotel and I don't think it's really that expensive compared to gueshouses outside of Reykjavík - you get a lot more for your money at least.
Hope your heater will work well for you so you can enjoy your tropics! :-)
Hey! Where did summer go!
Answer to Fernadas question about where I lived in Brasil. I went to an American boarding school in Belem do Para and my parents lived in a little town called Cameta on the Rio Tocantines which I used to visit every holidays. Loved it (not boarding school) - we had our own private beach with propper sand (unusual in jungle rivers) The reason I am into tropical fruit growing is my way of recapturing the past. I still don't think I am going to be able to get my Acai palm to fruit though!!!! Oh but one can still try can't one....
Did visit Rio de Janeiro since becoming an adult and was very scared and felt unsafe but I still think it is tops for shear drama of a city scape - my heart skips a beat whenever I see that bay and the Corcovado and Pao de Acucar against the sky. Live there though - no way Jose!!!!
Do your parents still live there BTW?
Lizzy, how long did you live there? The setting around Rio de Janeiro is amazing - I'm sure it was a real treat to visit there. A shame that it's so unsafe - it's one of those places that I'd really like to see.
Rannveig - I was 3 months old when we went out there and apart from 2 trips back to the uk for holidays I was there until my 15th birthday. My entire childhood I guess. I think there's no better education than to live in another culture whilst growing up- it certainly gave me a different perspective on life.
Although I was always aware of my English roots, my parents did live amongst local brasilians and we got to know some of them as family. Even though I felt very different from my English school friends, and boy, what a culture shock the UK was in 1977!!!!!! -now that I've finally grown up (!) I wouldn't swap my childhood for anything.
I can believe that was quite a shock - since you'd lived in Brazil you're whole life! I lived in Florida from the age of 11 until I was 17 - and although I hated it the whole time we were there and just wanted to go home - I'm now thankful that I have that experience. :-)
I do believe you, Lizzy! It must have been quite an experience! And Belem do Para and surrounding area is by far a nicer place to live than Rio.
My parents came back to Portugal 33 yrs ago - I was a baby then, 2 yrs old. My father (they're divorced) went back to Rio this year, upon his retirement. He always loved it there. As for my mom, she has the fondest memories, but I think she never quite got used to the weather LOL!
I wouldn't live in Rio if they paid me! My dad's sisters never left and still live there, and they do complain about how dangerous it is, but I think they got used to it in a way. It doesn't feel as dangerous when you have to live there, I guess... but I can't conceive having to wonder if I'm too flashy to go out, if I look inconspicuous or not, if that neighbourhood is dangerous or not! Portugal is still a very safe place to live in, and you'd have to be in a seriously bad neighbourhood to be in any danger....
A private beach, wow!!!!!!!!!!!
Mike and Rannveig - how much per room at the Radisson?? The thought of those rough roads got me tinkling, what an adventure (wouldn't take my kid, though LOL)!!!
I wish I had more money to travel! :-(
Rannveig, Florida must really be a strange place to live in! But the experience of living abroad is always a plus, I think!
My SIL is living in Dublin with her husband and their 5 kids. They moved in August. Here in Lisbon he was underpaid and she was unemployed..... and in less than a month they both have decent jobs with acceptable salaries, a nice house with a little garden and good public schools for the kids... I think they were so right in making this decision. Of course the kids are still getting adjusted, it's all so different, but I'm sure it will be a wonderful experience for them.
We would have gone too, but our situation here is different - I work for a public institute, the money is ok (no more than ok, but that is saying much, already, as things go here in Portugal), and my DH is working his way up, got promoted last year and has good perspectives. We have a nice house (no garden though, LOL) and we just love my son's school! There would be quite a lot to leave behind.... but I haven't given up yet. Maybe later....!
I can't remmember exactly how much the rooms where and i suppose it depends where you go
http://www.radissonsas.com/ thats the website.
From an English point of view Icelanders are really friendly nice people but very shy. Its hard to get much conversation when you first meet. But well worth trying.
The Landscape is fantastic i went there first as a kid and it was those memories that made me return when i was older. I have loads of picture of Iceland but not sure i have them on digital format. I am really envious of anyone from there. Its so beautiful and i didn't think it felt as cold as it was, mainly because i think the humidity is lower than english cold weather.
Great to find a group of well travelled people. I keep finding people on here who have never left there country. I'm sure travelling gives you a greater understanding and broader knowledge.
MyHi room at the Radison is about 167 eur for two persons in standard room. There are lots of hotels and guesthouses in Reykjavík - you can find cheaper rooms than that, the Radison is a very good 4 star hotel.
Just to give you an idea of our rough roads here's a photo from one of our trips this summer - it's taken June 5th and as you can see it's not really summer yet .... This is not a normal road though - this is what to expect from tracks marked with a dotted line on a map :-)
MyHi and Mike you posted while I was typing!
Florida was VERY different from Iceland - I felt the summer heat was suffocating - such high humidity. I think you're right Mike the humidity here is generally lower I think so it might not feel as cold. I remeber when it got chilly in Florida it felt really cold because of the high humidity. We were shivering in what would be normal summer temps here!
Oh wow!!!!!!!!!
What a scenery! 167€ is not that much, Rannveig.. It doesn't come out as a budget trip, of course, but I expected worse... Maybe in two yrs I'll make it - planning for a new child for next year so we probably won't have a lot of time/money on my hands then... LOL!
You are right, Mike. Getting to know other countries and people can gve you a completely different perspective of things. I can't imagine what it would be like to be confined to a never changing, always familiar reality!
That wouldn't be quite possible here in Lisbon, though. Even if you don't travel, other cultures travel to you, LOL! My son has school mates from China, Ucrania, Angola, Goa.... It's all very multicultural! I love it that he has this opportunity to get to know people from all over!
He even speaks a little mandarin, learned it on his own from school friends and waitresses in Chinese restaurants - I think for some reason he identifies with them, heaven knows why!
We are all here at once, this is fun!
Yes, I also think humidity makes all the difference - here in Lisbon the temps are hardly ever very low (-1ºC, at the lowest), but it feels a lot colder than -8º further north in Portugal, where the air so much drier. I love that sizzling cold! It makes your skin tinkle, but never gets to your bones!
Compared to Copenhagen and London I don't think that's very steep. We're planning a trip to Copenhagen next week and hotels there are about the same or more expensive.
MyHi your son is very lucky to get to know people from other cultures! There are some neighbourhoods in Reykjavik that are becoming quite multicultural (at least by icelandic standards) but not so here in Hafnarfjordur.
I also think he is really lucky! But I believe the most important thing is to have an open heart, and I know you Icelanders do!
Found my Iceland pictures. There not great quality as there from the early days of digital cameras and have been changed in format a couple of times.
But still i love them.
Another my dream icelandic home heheh
From the roof of the water tower. (i think thats where it is!??!!)
Nice photos Mike! The first one is Seljalandsfoss and the last one is taken from the former water towers- now restaurant and history museum Perlan (The Pearl). The mountain is named Esja and is one of the most loved mountains in Iceland (at least by those who live in Reykjavik ;-)) - judging from the snowcap and lack of green it seems you were here during winter or spring? For the last 5 or 6 years all the snow in mt. Esja has melted and I just noticed when I was driving my daughter to her music lesson in Reykjavik today that it's actually turning green! Hadn't noticed that before ..... Nice house, somewhere in downtown Reykjavik I'm sure :-)
great photos Mike, makes me even more determined to visit at some stage, there and Greenland also.
Think i could bore you all to death with those pics! i have loads so i wont post them all Lol..
You are right we where there in spring time end of feb i think. And the house was down town somewhere near a university or school i think with a water feature thing outside. We walked past it most days when we went into town.
Is the restaurant still in the water tower? My memory of that was the geese everywhere. Heheh Big scary geese!
whoops that pic was supposed to be of a goose!! Silly man.
silly goose!
Ok I think I know where it is - is the water feature you refer to the duck pond? (Tjörnin) Lots of geese everywhere around there! The university is located on the way from the hotel to downtown so you probably walked past there everyday. And by the way - february is never springtime here - it's usually when we can expect our worst winter weather! From 21. jan - 20. feb is the old norse month called Thorri - that and the following month Góa, were the toughest months of the year to endure. Did you go to a Thorrablót - feast while you were there? I'm not much of a fan of traditional Icelandic "thorra - quisine" but they are still very popular - probably just a good excuse to get drunk. But for me it's just spoiled food that people had to eat way back when 'cause otherwise they'd starve to death - but now that we got plenty of food year round - and refrigerators to keep it fresh - there's no reason to eat it! :-) Icelanders love to get visitors to try it just to see the look on their faces when they get a sheep head (svið), pickled ram testicles and spoiled shark ;-) The smoked lamb and dried fish (harðfiskur) is really good though! And I loved "svið" as a kid - but after my 6 years in Florida I couldn't eat them anymore for some reason ...... don't taste bad, just really unappetising!
Geese are wild, LOL!
By the way: IT RAINED YESTERDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Lord above has decided to do the watering for me, finally LOLOl!
I'm delighted at the weather right now - smooth 25º, fresh breeze, juuuuuust lovely!
Could it be.... autumn??????
Wow, I'm happy! ;-)
I'm really pleased i can talk about nice things like holidays cause i'm so bored!!!! I want to go outside but its raining again.
rannveig You are probably right i have a pic of the duck pond as you call it. hehe Its been a few years since i was last there so my memory is a bit sketchy. I think i have been to one of those banquets years ago. We had shark whale and pony pluss a few things i'm not sure about! Lol (dont shoot me about the whale thing)
If it makes the animal lovers feel better i ate dog once in Hong Kong!
Just checked it was the end of feb when we went there. I thought it was quite warm Lol.
I'm not a fan of the hard fish its in all the Icelandic shops like the "7-11" but looks odd. I love the skier if thats what its called its like yogurt but some how nicer!
Here is a pic of me when we got lost and ended up finding this lake. I can still hear the noise of the ice clacking together as the waves move them.
My God i need to go back there now.
Rannveig do you have any pics you can post?
Do I have pics? Do I ever! Loads and loads of them - might post a few in the photos forum:-) Nice photo - seems warmer than all that ice on the lake suggests considering what you're not wearing :-)
Raining here too - well on and off - really nice out in between the showers, warm 14C and calm. Summertemps. still :-) Which is good for my roses although I'm not sure they like all this rain and wind we've been having the past days. It's such a relief to get a break from the wind ...... :-)
I guess the hard fish is an aquired taste but it IS good! And the skyr is ever popular they've even started exporting it to somewhere - Denmark I think ... And the whale - did you get the white stuff or the meat? There's been a lot of discussion the past few days about whaling - the ones that want to start commercial whaling again say that there has been such an increase in the past years that they're eating all the fish! The ones that are against it say that it'll ruin the whale whatching industry and damage the turist industry in Iceland on the whole .... it's a never ending debate ....
I'll go and see if I can dig up a few photos ;-)
Once i went to watch what went on at a whaling station got to say i don't really have an opinion either way. But that was pretty disturbing. I have a really old picture of me with my hand next to the whales eye. It was bigger than my hand. The shark and whale was a long time ago so not sure.
It could have been only a couple of degrees above freezing by the lake, but i'm odd, i could have been in shorts and t shirt. Lol
Think we have hijacked this thread but not sure the original person has replied to any of this. heheh
Hey i have another house picture not sure i'd live in this one.
You showing those pics, and talking about the geese remineded me of when we were on Spitzbergen, there were loads of geese there also (Brent?) and these other birds that continuosly dive-bombed everyone (breeding season)maybe skewers.
But the best bit was the signs everywhere warning people about the polar bears. Hubby went off for a bit of a wander, next thing I know is that a truck went hurtling down the track that he and a few others had taken.Apparently a polar bear had been spotted there earlier, and I think they were a bit worried that maybe it might be hungry .....
Unfortunately mu photos from that hol are on the other computer, and as of yet I haven't taken them off (still trying to figure how to do it...)
I loved the remoteness and harshness of the place, guess it's not so great when you have to live there permenantly. In the store was a metal gun cabinet, so the locals took the risks of polar bears seriously.They told us that a couple of years earlier, one had ambled into town and entered where the playgroup was, someone had to go in and kill it.
Makes my fear of coming accross spiders seem wimpish...when it could be something a bit bigger!!...
I'm glad we don't have to worry about polar bears! There have been a few unlucky strays that floated over on icebergs from Greenland - but we haven't had any icebergs close to land in decades I think it's safe to say, since the 1960's I think.
Sadly there are a few good things to come from global warming. Polar bears floating in while your lying naked on the beach might be a bit of a shock!!!
Heard the other day that Englands rainfall will drop by 50% in the next 10 years. How they work that out i'm not sure but it sounds good for growing more mediteranian plants!
See no rain no polar bears eating people , quick crank up the heating!
LOL Mike - that would be a shock! Ofcourse it's never warm enough to lay on the beach here except fully clothed ;-) Reg. the sod house on your pic I forgot to post my reply earlier- that's what people lived in for centuries past up to the 20th century. Bad ventilation, really bad air in them, dirt floors - wouldn't want to live in one either! Yay for progress!
OK I said I'd look for some photos - here's one from our trip this summer to the Westfjords - if any of you ever travel to Iceland I highly recommend going there. Our first time there and it was amazing.
One of many gorgeous sandy beaches in the southern part of the Westfjords - this one is in Patreksfjörður. All that's missing is the 25°C+ warm weather and sunshine :-)
And one photo of my girls on that lovely beach - this is standard beach wear on Icelandic beaches ;-)
Just started a thread in the Photos forum with photos from the Westfjords :-)
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/651028/#new
Beautiful photos and beautiful girls, I never think of Iceland as having beaches, don't know why ...what time of year was that taken?
Thanks sueone. We were there in early July. I don't think that great beaches is the first thing that pops into peoples minds when they think of Iceland and the climate doesn't really allow for swimming and sunbathing :-) There is one very famous beach on the westfjords that we'd heard of called Rauðisandur (red sand) and we were determined to go there because we thought it was the only beach like that - but then they were everywhere around that area! I'm sure we'll go back someday we had such a great time and there's so much left to explore!
There is however a heated beach in Reykjavík that's man made and it's very popular on sunny warm days in the summer. Hate to admit that I've never been there..... yet.