Seen on a t-shirt: "We may not have cash, but we do have ash!"
So, I'm back from Iceland. And I had a marvellous time! Maybe I'll do a full update, maybe I'll post more pictures, but let's not hold our breath. I really liked the country - it's similar to the UK, but different in subtle ways, like, um, the language, and how they drive on the other side of the road, and get 99% of their energy from geothermal sources, and oh yes, there are only 320,000 people in the whole country. (For comparison, Greater Manchester has a population of 2.6 million.)
Reykjavik was great, but quite small and it didn't take us long to feel like we'd seen the main tourist attractions in the centre, so if we'd stayed there for more than two days we would have needed lots of day trips to fill the time. Instead, we hired a car and spent seven days driving the Iceland Ring Road (Route One) and seeing more of the country. This was my favourite part of the trip and I'm really like we did it. We saw fjords, waterfalls, hot springs, volcanoes, rainbows, glaciers, icebergs, and even a few seals. James did all the driving (because I don't have a licence) and I know he was worried about driving in a foreign country, but once we'd left Reykjavik it was really straight forward, mostly because we hardly saw any other cars on the road. Passing more than one car in an hour counted as a busy section of road, seriously. So we could stop where we wanted and go at the speed we wanted, and generally enjoy the view, when it wasn't raining. The countryside in Iceland is fantastic - so dramatic, and ever changing. I loved the mountains, and I loved the coastline, and I loved the rivers and waterfalls and the sea pounding on the black sand beaches.
We stayed somewhere different nearly every night, from empty hostels next to a northern fjord with no shops or restaurants closer than a half hour drive away, to a gorgeous guest house on the east coast, to a homely hostel in the southernmost village in Iceland with chickens pecking around the garden. We self-catered during the trip, partly to save money and partly because there was no guarantee that we would pass any restaurants on the day's drive, so I did the cooking to make up for not helping out with the driving. There was one evening when we thought we'd bought lamb chops but they definitely weren't lamb chops and it might have been horse we never found out what it was, so after that we stuck to simple, student-type meals like pasta and tomato sauce, and ready-made soup. I also had sandwiches for lunch every day for a week, which is not like me as I rarely buy pasta or bread at home, so I came back feeling very bloated and have been on a wheat-free diet ever since.
The weather ranged from sun-with-clouds to torrential, all-day rain, but I think we were mostly lucky with the weather as there were only two days of non-stop rain whereas it could have rained all day. On our first day with the car, James wagered that it would rain at least once every day of our trip. I didn't want to take the bet - I agreed with him! - but he cajoled me into it and the stakes were very low (10 kronar, about 2p) so I agreed. We then had two days of lovely weather, interrupted only by very very short showers when we drove under a rain cloud. I think this was why we saw so many rainbows - we had sunshine and rain in quick succession, sometimes at the same time. (On our last day in Reykjavik the sun shone all day, and I finally won our bet, but by that time James had spent all his Icelandic money so I didn't collect my winnings, dammit.) I was colder than the UK by several degrees, but not too bad as long as you kept moving. The hardest part of the climate was the wind - it never stopped! Even when it was sunny, it was so windy I had trouble opening the car door!
The highlight of the trip, for me, was the day we spent on the South coast, first visiting a glacial lagoon filled with icebergs from the glacier, then spending the afternoon at Skaftafell National Park and going on a walk to see a waterfall called Svartifoss and a viewpoint over a glacial tongue. I also really liked visiting Þingvellir, which is the site of the ancient Icelandic Parliament and a beautiful National Park as well, but we didn't really have enough time to fully appreciate it. That was true of most things though - I would have liked to do a little less driving and a bit more walking, but time and money meant that we only had a short time to see everything. I think I would go back though - not necessarily to Reykjavik, but to the rest of the country definitely.
Since we got back home on Wednesday, I have been rather lazy and not done many of the things that I'd planned to in my remaining days off. I have done a LOT of laundry, of course, and sorted through the 1,100 photos I took on the trip (putting them on Facebook took hours, and I haven't even finished yet), and I've been to the doctor, and met my landlord for the first time when he came over to paint the bathroom ceiling. I also cooked dinner for James on Thursday as he had to go back to work, and yesterday saw my brother for a quick drink as he was in Manchester to see a gig, and I've washed the floors, cleaned the bathroom, dusted and cleaned behind the sofas - but I haven't been for a walk, or the gym, or even left the house unless I had to.
Last night, though, I performed with a few other line dancers at the Midland Hotel for the Manchester Law Society Annual Charity Ball.
I was quite nervous about it actually. We only performed three dances, and Dawn taught two easy dances to the drunk lawyers in their fancy suits and dresses, but one of the dances was quite tricky and I only learnt it the week before I went away. I practised in my living room! Thankfully, I didn't make any mistakes, and I remembered to smile at the audience while dancing.
After the performance we all went down to the Village as one of the other line dancers was having a party for his 50th birthday. It was nearly midnight by the time we got there and some people had already been and gone, so I didn't stay that long. I didn't go to bed until nearly 2am though, which is NOT like me.
Today I've been tired, but not as bad as James who spent the evening at a friend's gig and got so drunk he threw up when he got home. (I was not exactly sympathetic - I just cleaned the bathroom yesterday!) I made yummy Italian bean and pancetta soup for lunch in work this week and am now about to make shepherd's pie for dinner. I planned all this cold-weather food thinking that it would be getting colder now it's October, but today has been as hot as June!
And tomorrow it's back to work after two weeks' off. I have that old Sunday evening "better do my homework" feeling. I'll be fine once I've had a good chat with my colleagues, but right now I really don't want to go back to work - back to getting up early, and eating only at set meal times, and trying to fit in exercise, cooking, cleaning and socialising every evening, and being tired all the time, etc. I want another holiday!