Back To Winter….
Day 3:
When was the
last time you had a ¨day to remember¨??
I had one
today and it was entirely due to the kindness of Eric, his wife Helga and Eric´s
family.
After a lazy
morning, having slept (oops, sorry!) …. We drove to Eric´s childhood home in the
suburbs of Reykjavik and there I met his Mum, brothers and sister and some of
their children.
I saw the room
where Eric came into the world and generally learned a lot about Iceland and the
people.
It was a
really beautiful day and we all decided to go up into the mountains for an
afternoon drive. Along came the neighbour with a tricked-out Ford Van with a
huge motor and even huger tyres, this apparently the vehicle he uses to show
tourists the parts of Iceland they would normally miss.
And if you
come to Iceland you should insist on taking one of these trips, I´ll tell you
why.
Iceland is a
place of breathtaking beauty. Once you get out of Reykjavik you are quickly up
and into the foothills (you have to go seriously off road to do this,
occasionally taking the dirt roads first built by English and US troops during
WW 2 when they were invited by Iceland to occupy it and protect it from the
nazis and the russians).
The views from
higher up are spectacular and totally unique. I have been to and seen many
beautiful places in the world and they are all special in their own way but this
being a volcanic island, the scenery and the landscape is unlike anything I´ve
ever seen before.
The island get
all of its hot water from the earth! We visited the geo-thermal sites where they
drill 2 kilometres down to release super hot gases which are then harnessed to
heat the water.
The water is
then pumped and piped to the city through 38 kilometres of piping during which
time it loses virtually none of its heat. Any water overflow simply flows back
into the lake, providing a genuinely renewable and sustainable resource.
Next we went
to the site of the Viking´s 9th century parliament and this placed us exactly
inside the divide between the European and American continents which is like a
giant split in the land. You have to see this to believe it so I´ll try and send
a picture for Rod to drop in here.
I seem to be
suffering an attack of National Geographic here so I´ll change subjects!
Although I
will have to leave these good memories behind, it will be good to have a day off
in Frankfurt tomorrow.
