Iceland Part II

The last part of our golden tour was to visit Thingvellir National Park which is a site in Iceland of great historical and geological importance. It is the place where the Mid-Atlantic ridge crests and is the place where continental drift can clearly be seen as the North American and Eurasian plates meet. This was also a place where perhaps the worlds first and oldest Parliament gathered to discuss Icelandic governance. They met every year at this place and it was a site of great cultural exchange for people to gather from all around Iceland. The governing council met for nearly a thousand years and it was also essential to lay the groundwork for Iceland's unique culture.

After driving around to see the sites of the Golden Circle and a rough previous night on a plane we were exhausted. Crashing early and awaking around 8am gave us a new day to explore more countryside. We enjoyed a spacious breakfast at our accommodations before setting off on a drive north. Soon as we knew we were going to Iceland, I wanted to check out Mt. Snaefell- site of "A Journey to the Center of the Earth" by Jules Verne. So we embarked on a 2 hour scenic journey along the western Icelandic coast to Mt. Snaefells! Iceland is such a raw landscape, very young indeed!

This was a really neat area where the farmer had been able to get trees to grow beneath the waterfall!

Unfortunately for us, the summit of Mt Snaefells was shrouded in fog, but there was ample snow in many places! The mosses and lichens on the lava rocks look very uniform in color from afar, but up close they were immensely complex. Such a precarious existence vegetation has on the rocks and very cool to see soil forming!

Ashley and spent the better part of the day exploring the Mt. Snaefells area, it was full of really neat formations, small glacial streams and precarious loose rocky slopes. As the day was fading we begun our trip back to Reykjavik, and as luck would have it, the clouds lifting above and revealed the strata volcano from afar.

Along our drives we saw many sheep grazing comfortably in farmers fields. Ashley totally wanted to pet one, so we pulled over and she could feed it wildflower snacks. The fur was amazingly soft.

This last full adventurous day in Iceland wrapped up with a brief beer in downtown Reykjavik under rainy cloud cover and a cold breeze. We got up chipper Saturday morning in order to visit the infamous Blue Lagoon just before flying onward to Copenhagen. It was a pretty sweet spa-like experience and I think the hype about its skin-softening qualities are real! The Blue Lagoon totally put us into a nice vibe to continue to Denmark and mainland Europe.

Departure time and Iceland Part I

Our flight was on a Wednesday evening, August 22nd to be precise and the anticipation had been growing for weeks beforehand. Ashley and I were about to embark on an unforgettable adventure, truly. We had been planning it since booking flights many months ago.

We flew Icelandair and actually had a stop over on the way to northern Europe (I suppose it is implied in the airline name). One neat feature about Icelandair is the ability to take a free stay up to 7 days. For Ashley and I, this was a perfect opportunity to see the marvelous landscape of Iceland.

It was kind of a miserable flight from Washington D.C. to Reykjavik, luckily it was fairly short at 5 hours. It is basically the same time to fly to Iceland as it is to California from the east coast. However, our arrival in Iceland was quick enough of a shock in terms of cold, rain and rawness to snap us back from a stale world of cramped seats. Although the flight is only 5 hours, you actually gain 4 hours and arrive at 6am in the morning!

Upon arrival it felt very Scandinavian influenced- as far as the highways, cars and buildings were concerned. After picking up the rental car and driving into downtown Reykjavik we were exhausted. Having an opportunity to check into our room at 10am in the morning to nap for a short bit was excellent! We woke to chilly air and a brisk wind to tour the town. The highlight of the quick tour we took was definitely Hallgrimskirkja, the large Lutheran church which dominates the city for height. The architecture is a sort of expressionist and was said to have been the architects idea to show basalt lava flows. 

The inside of the church had a really neat 25 ton pipe organ which definitely bellowed!

Since the church is the highest structure in Iceland, it served as a marvelous viewing point to perch and view the city down to the harbor.

The 50F temperatures were a bit cold for us so we decided to drive to see the sights outside town. We knew we wanted to check out some parts of the Golden Circle tour, which sort of combines all the major sites near Reykjavik. Ashley and I did our own tour and saw what was to be the essence of Iceland. First though we had to navigate to the sites and the roadside tourist maps were all we had to make sense of! 

We decided to drive furthest first to see the geysers. Actually, this place is where the English word for geyser came from and (to the best of my knowledge) is the only Icelandic word which has made its way into English. On the way to Geysir the place and other geysers we stopped by a stream to take in the rugged landscape. Iceland is just such a young place, it feels like the soil is forming beneath you as you walk- perhaps because it is!

It felt like a scene from the movie Lord of the Rings, astonishingly beautiful.

We arrived at the geyser spot after taking quite a few breaks to walk the terrain. The area around the infamous Geysir is flanked by other geysers which are more active. Some were photogenic and some were not. However, to view these geothermal features up close was very cool. The only large erupting geyser was saw was Strokkur, which means churn in Icelandic. On the whole it was a bit of a smelly place due to the sulphur gases.

The next stop was the infamous Gullfloss waterfall, it means golden falls in English. This is perhaps the most famous attraction in Iceland and it was a real crowd pleaser. The Hvita river turns abruptly and then falls into a crevice which is about a hundred feet deep and adjusts the flow of the river by 90 degrees. It was quite dramatic, the misting spray can actually be seen from the highway on the way in!

Iceland has several large glaciers, I believe the name of the one presented in the photo below in Langjokull. The sheer size of it is difficult to fathom, it is probably a half mile thick in places.

Back in the game!

Hello! I want to announce a new chapter for the Eric's Pursuits blog- from now on I will be blogging as a student from Sweden! The purpose of this blog is to document my travels and share experiences with friends and family all over. I am here in southern Sweden for a semester as a visiting Master student studying Swedish forest management practices. It already projects to be an action packed semester with tons to learn and absorb. As I write this, an epic 10 day adventure with my new fiancé is wrapping up with plenty of good material to post in the coming days. I hope you find my observations and writings insightful, inspirational and enjoyable.

First snow of the year

We got a real nice taste of winter today at Dolly Sods Wilderness. I had checked the forecast days before and knew we had to get up there for an appetizer. Ashley and I had a swell time taking in the crisp air and sugar coated landscape, as you can see below, all the best stuff happens at altitude:

We hiked for about 3 hours, doing a loop that took us alongside the red creek and many nice red spruce groves. The ecosystem recovery at Dolly Sods is still in full swing, meadows are slowly returning to forest and most of the trees are young. It sure is a tough area for tree regeneration, the seedlings are competing with a dense layer of sphagnum moss and vaccinium, plus the environmental constraints of a mountain top plateau. You can see the flagging that occurs on the top of the red spruces in the pano photo from the constant wind and frozen precipitation.

Snow makes any scene that much better, particularly at waters edge.


It clung to every tree limb and leaf, setting the tone for a nice time (:

Sweden

Most people know it as the land of meatballs, Abba and Volvos. I am here to tell you it is sooo much more than that! What started as a joke at a dinner party last March turned into the Scandinavian trip of a lifetime. Ashley was my lovely partner for the journey and we managed to fit 3 countries, 3 capital cities and tons of action into 12 days. This blog specializing in Sweden is the first of subsequent blogs detailing the trip. I hope you enjoy a few words about our Scandinavian adventure!

We arrived in Stockholm exactly 12 days ago, having a vague impression of Sweden and only knowing a few key phrases of the language. It was an overnight flight from Washington Dulles on Lufthansa- which was perhaps the easiest flights either of us had the pleasure of enjoying. I mean, on-demand TV, beer and wine with great German cooking, what else do you need for a trans-Atlantic flight! We had our first taste of public transport getting to our hotel in Sollentuna, Ashley was stoked about that and having packed so light, good job!

We arrived at our hotel, which was a Scandic (highly recommend them!) It was in a suburb of Stockholm and directly next to a shopping mall. First impressions of Sollentuna were exactly what we expected; very modern, clean and accessible. Our hotel:

The next morning we awoke to Ashley’s birthday and a magnificent breakfast buffet, one which would really set the tone for the rest of the trip. Continental Europe breakfasts are really the best! This one had an armada of different breads, sliced meats and cheeses, sliced cucumber and tomato, 6 kinds of marmalade, all sorts of yoghurt to dump over muesli and hot items like eggs and little sausages. It was a feast for more than just the tummy! After over-eating at the buffet (we learned quick how to eat conservatively!), we had to make way to downtown Stockholm- because that’s where our ferry boat would depart for Finland in the evening. Stockholm really is a beautiful city:

We caught a quick (but expensive) taxi to nearby Gamla Stan, which is the oldest part of Stockholm and where the city was founded. Carl Larsson was born there, but more on him later.

We had sweets and coffees at a nice little shop that was owned and run by a charitable organization. The photo below shows the side entrance to the old royal palace, where we happened to see the “changing of the guard”.

There are many bridges linking Gamla Stan to the modern city. I guess it needs to be mentioned that Stockholm is actually an archipelago and much of the city is surrounded by water. New architecture meets modern Swedish design here:

We got a really great view of it from our cruise and entering into the Baltic sea. Ashley and I:

The view from the top deck on the cruise ship was spectacular. Later, we had the seafood buffet for dinner andI think Ashley enjoyed it very much (it being her 25^th birthday). The sunset came quickly and the local folks were trying to get back there homes via ferry:

That night we slept kinda rough, I have never been on a cruise ship (and probably won’t go back). We were anxious to get off and walk around Helsinki. It worked out perfect our next Scandic hotel was right next to the ferry terminal and within walking distance of the downtown area. Helsinki is mentioned in further detail in another blog.

I would like to continue with Sweden because after visiting Finland and then Denmark we arrived once again. We picked up the rental car and the next day paid a very important visit to a Swedish icon- Volvo! Ashley and I both drive Volvos, so it only seemed right to visit the factory. Let me just mentioned that in Sweden there are Volvos everywhere, even pimp-daddy Volvo S60 limos:

The parking lot was full of Volvos, and Ashley was pretty stoked!

I enrolled us in the Blue Train factory tour , which was more than an hour and was just what it sounds like; a small train that wound through the actual Volvo assembly plant. Volvo owns other assembly plants around the world, but this one in Torslanda is the origin for much of the vehicle models, including S60s (Ashley!) and S70 (me!). It was a shame we couldn’t take photos inside the plant (to protect trade secrets), because there were some really cool parts like the “Marriage Point” where the chassis is mated to the car body. This assembly plant was a mechanical engineers dream; mechanized processes were everywhere- including robots doing welding, raising/lowering work surfaces and patented features to make assembly like workers jobs a little easier. Ashley just getting on the Blue Train:

After the tour ended, and we exhausted from our search for sweet Volvo streetwear (we never did find cool Volvo t-shirts, like the one that says “Everything is better with a Volvo”), we headed north along the Bohuslän Coast. Our next destination was Stromstad, a beautiful little town on Sweden’s northwest coast and just south of the Norwegian border. We booked a neat little hotel called Hotell Krabben, which had nautical themes and was run by a nice family.

Stromstad was so quaint, we ate dinner right by the water at a Thai restaurant:

The harbour seen from a rocky perch above town:

The sun set nicely as a few last sailboats trickled into the harbour:

The next day, after yet another scrumptious Swedish style breakfast, we headed further north. Our destination was Lake Siljan, a favorite vacation spot for Swedes and some cool attractions. The drive up was super scenic:

Lake Siljan, seen from the shores of Mora:

The north part of Lake SIljan:

Sweden is unbelievably forested, everywhere there are spruce, pine, paper birch and the occasional larch. It was especially neat to see how much active forestry is going there too. Just from the highway I could spot different silvicultural treatments, clearcuts, tree planting and tons of natural regeneration. The landscape could be compared to northern New England or the Pacific northwest, with well-worn mountains interspaced with lakes and rivers.

We took an excursion about a hundred kilometers north to Sweden’s smallest national park. It is called Hamra and contains a thousand hectares of forest that date to the 17^th century! It was a mix of low-lying sites and clearings, containing all kinds of organic matter, the club mosses were particularly colorful:

A 450 year old forest is quite a diverse one if you look closely. There are living things everywhere, filling it in every nook, every cranny and every niche. It is amazing to see how well intended nature is. The vegetation here was characteristic of many of the high mountainscapes I’ve visited, this is likely due to the northerly latitude, very cool!

This shot came out so well it is now the background for my computer:

We returned south to stay at our favorite B&B of the trip, the Langshyttans Brukshotell. The host couple of the place were so lovely and accommodating, I wish we had gotten a photo with them. They had a restaurant formerly in the Stockholm harbor on a boat, but the boat sank and the insurance company told them they had no water damage. So they took the opportunity to move out to the country and start a very cool, small B&B. The husband is the chef and he prepared a quick salmon plate for each of us that was splendid. I think Ashley and I were REALLY spoilt by all the salmon the entire trip!

The lovely little inn:

It was sad to leave our new friends at the Brukshotell, but we had more of Sweden to see! Our next stop was the Carl Larsson (pronounced Carlarsson) residence. For those who don’t know him, he was a very influential Swedish artist. During his time in the late 19^th and early 20^th century he pioneered new ways of family life and believed in people living productive/fulfilling lives.

We got a tour of his house, the interior design was quite far ahead of its time! Carl put personal touches on everything and we were able to see his wife’s wonderful tapestries she made, his handwriting on things and even his reading room full of books from the period. Sorry no pictures from the inside of the house, but outside was just as nice:

After getting our fix at Carl Larssons, we drifted south to Stockholm. Everyone knows of Ikea, but who has been to one in Ikeas country of origin? The third Ikea to open is south of Stockholm, and also happens to be the biggest one in the world, opened in the 1960s. We didn't buy anything home furnishings because it was all the same as at home! We did however eat at the restaurant, cheap and delicious Swedish cuisine. On the way north to our hotel, we made a quick pit-stop in downtown Stockholm, just in time to see a romantic sunset set over the old city. Look for those photos and more (I don't have them at this moment) in an update to this blog shortly. I also have a few concluding words about the wonderful Scandinavian country that is Sweden.