Ágætis Byrjun

Back in RVK, so much to say...

2008-06-09T14:11:00.000-07:00

While there has been a shortage of WiFi spots, there has been no shortage of adventure with Team Strikelberger since we last checked in. We’ll try to be as brief and illustrious as possible, but please know that (without exaggeration) our experiences are incredibly hard to verbalize or capture on film (even in the 1000+ pictures we’ve taken!), and it has been non-stop action and jaw-dropping awe from the moment we wake to the moment we (try to) sleep. Here’s been some of the last week...thanks for reading, we love sharing!!

June 5: Reykjavík to Arnastapi

We drove from Iceland’s capital city up the west coast and out on the Snæfellnes peninsula to our first farmhouse stay in a tiny coastal town (they’re all coastal towns) called Arnastapi. The 4 hour drive was really amazing. Every 5 minutes the landscape completely changed, from giant majestic sea-side mountains to small communities the views were always exciting. One especially memorable stop was at the town of Buðir, where we found this amazing tiny church.

And when we say town, we mean there were two buildings there. In Iceland, a city of 2500 is considered a major metropolitan center. We arrived in Arnastapi in time to eat at the small dining hall in our farmhouse before taking a long walk among some glorious cliffs beside the ocean.

At this point, we became somewhat euphoric in our enjoyment of this unbelievably unique experience, and explored for what seemed to be hours, taking pictures of any special snapshot we happened upon. Glory! Again, it’s difficult to describe how massive all of this is, but it is BIG. While exploring the cliffs, the wind was howling, and every step was treacherous as we climbed across the 100 foot walls whiile the Atlantic roared below us.

We slept well that night after watching an episode of southpark and taking care of a couple bags of candy.

June 6: Snæfellsjökull, Ferry Baldur, and Flatey Island

We awoke in Arnastapi to the sound of builders pounding sheet metal to the roof of our guesthouse at 8am. Rude awakening. But always worth it for a European breakfast. We threw back some meat and cheese sandwiches, cups of juice and coffee, and hit the rowad. We sensed a tinge of ambition in our souls, so we headed toward the “shortcut” road that ascended the mountain Snæfellsjökull, the giant glacier-covered ... uh ... mountain ... whose ominous treks are typically only braved by those owning SUVs. We blew past a sign that read “Ófært” (actually, it was translated to English in all caps “IMPASSABLE” for fools like us) and began to ascend the monster.

[Hi, Lisa here, and for the record, we did not “blow” past the sign. We stopped while Brian slowly deliberated whether or not it was such a good idea to ignore the warning. I convinced him everything would be ok, and we trugged on. Later, I was given the nickname “eve”] The weather was inclement at best, but probably most accurately described as catastrophic: high winds blowing icy fog across the rugged and ambiguous dirt trail.

“Trail” might be a generous moniker for the path: it was remote, all we were following were the tire tracks of the few SUVs who had ascended the mountain in the previous weeks. We reached several points of decision where, upon stopping and examining the terrain, we decided to continue. One was a sheet of ice, which we circumvented by discovering an alternate trail. The other was an unavoidable trench forged by the melting ice above.

As you can see, we didn’t make it. We planted the face of our Hyundai Getz into the earth, and we were stuck.

No pushing, pulling, or lifting was going to change that. After the initial panic took its course, the McGuyver instinct set in. We removed the luggage from the car, found the jack, and placed it under the left side of the car. As the car was raised, we chiseled at the rocky earth with a screwdriver and wrench, and with cold-numbed hands, shoveled it from under the front bumper. After we got the left side mostly clear, we jacked up the right side and did it again. We were able to clear enough of the ground to push the car forward from the trench. To our disbelief, we had averted the devastation of being stranded, and humbly drove back down the way we came.

After this mess, the jarring dirt road we drove on to our next destination was heaven. We stopped and took pictures of an old abandoned farmhouse, (Which, later we came to find were not so uncommon.) sitting on a hill overlooking the sea, surrounded by tall grass with a swift little stream running through. It was picturesque. After this jaunt and a coffee in Ólafsvík, we sprinted to Stykkishólmur, with just enough time to board the small ferry. We learned that cars were restricted from the island of Flatey, so we reluctantly gave up the keys of our most trusty Icelandic friend, "Getzie", and boarded the ferry.

The hour and a half ferry ride brought us to Flatey Island, a tiny antique and romantique enclave that has no more than a dozen homes, one hotel, and a campground.

Only 4 people live on the island year-round. We hopped off the ferry carrying our one giant bag containing all of our camping gear. Aided by a woman called Etta who owned a summerhome on the island, we wheelbarrowed our bag to the campsite, set up our sexy new tent, and took a deep breath.

We explored the island, including meeting some friends at the hotel who made us the best dinner of our trip! Fishcakes made of cod and potato, and a dish of fried cod with "shrimps" and bluecheese.

We took tons of pictures and just relaxed, enjoying the mild sunshine and gentle grassy hills, surrounded by vast oceans. We headed back to the tent tired and ready for a night of rest...

Talarðu ensku?

2008-06-04T11:43:00.000-07:00

Yo! Day 4 of marriage, and we decided we’re gonna stay together. And we’re having a great time in Reykjavík. And we’re still having a serious battle with the jet lag. And our stomachs have been adjusting to eating 2 small icelandic meals a day, rather than 3 large American meals...especially Brian...(he’s got gruesome case of the butt piss). Fortunately, our toilet is in our shower, so...

Let’s see, since our last blog, we hopped on the plane to Reykjavík, retrieved our sweet little rental car, and started hitting some beautiful spots on the Reykjanes peninsula. We started in Garður at an impressive lighthouse and park...we knew we had made the right choice for our honeymoon destination! Check out some

of our sweet photos!

We then headed east and south to make a visit at the Blue Lagoon...it was rather spectacular to see the white-blue mineral-rich water! We decided not to take a dip (price was around $35 US), but hung out for awhile and enjoyed the environment. We’ve were amazed at how much of the earth here is dark, volcanic rock and soil.

We’ve done quite a bit of laying around our hotel room, and walking around the streets in a bit of a sleepy haze. The weather is amazing, low 60s and sunny!! Sunny days here are rare, so it’s quite a treat! There are SO MANY young children here...it seems that one out of three women is either pushing a child in an old-fashioned buggy or carrying one in belly. We ate dinner last night at a mid-scale restaurant...kept our choices pretty small (thin-sliced tuna appetizer, 4 small scallops, bowl of soup, “shrimps” risotto), but still ended up spending 6.900 Icelandic Kronur...about $85. Prices are ridiculous...we knew it before we came, but it really is hard to believe! It stayed light pretty much all night.

When we woke this morning around 6am, we gorged ourselves on breakfast again...we’re pro-Euro-breakfast...meats, cheeses, breads. We planned some of our next few days, then did a bit of shopping this afternoon.

The Icelandic language is so beautiful and complex, we wish we were able to learn. But we haven’t spoken to anyone here who doesn’t speak English well.

Tomorrow we leave Reykjavík for the Snæfellnes peninsula for our first farmhouse stay! Word...

Sorry for the crappy formatting with these photos, we'll figure this junk out sometime when we want to...

Ágætis Byrjun (a good start)...

2008-06-03T09:07:00.000-07:00

Hello friends! We are pleased to greet you from Jessheim, Norway. After a crazy couple of days, we are excited to take a minute to tell you of our travel adventures! We are tired, but so thrilled to be enjoying this sweet trip together.

Sunday, Beth picked us up and whisked us to the airport just in time to make our flight to Frankfurt. The flight was a relatively painless 9 and a half hours. Time flies when you watch “Step Up 2 The Streets”, “La Vie en Rose”, “Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who”; then try doing your own laundry and learning two new languages. We also did an impromptu photo shoot with our new Nikon D40, which produced some pretty artful and humorous pieces.

We arrived in Frankfurt extremely tired, and wishing we could spend more than an hour in Germany. We picked up some Famous Grouse whiskey and Haribo gummy bears duty free (I hate the phrase “duty free”!!) and hopped on our plane to Oslo, Norway. We have been hesitant to leave our basic conversational German in Germany, and are delighted when we learn phrases and words in Norwegian or Icelandic that are similar to their German translation.

Upon arrival in Oslo, we had some time to sit in the sun outside the airport and consume a tasty “winner lang” and a beer. It is gorgeous here...sunny and in the upper 70s. Between 2 bottles of water, a hot dog, and a beer, we spend $50 at the airport, then hopped on the $10/person shuttle that took us 2 miles to our hotel. We got to the hotel, pleased with the clean Scandinavian vibe, but disappointed that there was seriously nothing to do anywhere in walking distance, and the only public transportation was the $10/person shuttle back to the airport.

We headed to our room (our two tiny twin beds were a far cry from our glorious honeymoon suite in Bellevue!!), cleaned up, and prepared ourselves for a little walk around the heavily wooded and sporatically developed area. We took a shot (or two, or three) of the Famous Grouse, grabbed the D40, and took to the trails.

After testing our trusty new lens in the mossy woods, we continued on....stumbled on, anticipating a rather boring walk to the next hotel. We were soon surprised to see, looming suspiciously above the treetops, a great star. As we followed the giant star, we were led to what appeared to be an extraterrestrial outreach cafeteria. These Scandies must really be on to something in the search for intelligent life beyond. After realizing the effects of cheap whiskey on our undernourished and sleep-deprived bodies, we were forced to a short nap on a grassy knoll nearby.

We awoke dehydrated and understood our need for food. Unfortunately, there were no eateries to be found, other than the trusty, ubiquitous golden arches. Yep. Our first meal on European soil was at McDonalds! Eesh. We vowed to keep better tabs on our drinking and headed to sleep around 6pm.

After a solid 12+ hours of sleep (those twin beds weren’t so bad, after all) and a solid breakfast meal in the hotel lobby, we feel rested, energized, and ready to take on Iceland! Our plane leaves in a few hours...

We've had a few days now to reflect on the great celebration that our wedding was on Saturday, and we are exceedingly grateful to you, our friends, for working so hard and partying so hard with us. It was a very joyous and memorable time for us. Thank you!