Quick Note on Northern Lights

Recently I got to see the northern lights, and they were every bit as magical as I had hoped. I’d seen the northern lights once before, but they weren’t very bright, and since I was in downtown Reykjavík, the artificial lighting detracted from their magnificence. This time, I was able to see them under a darker sky and to take pictures. At about 8 pm one day last week, I went outside because I heard the northern lights would be out. Initially, I couldn’t see anything, and I was disappointed. Suddenly, I spotted a green glow hiding behind the room of a building. It turned out to be what I was hoping for! I wandered down to the harbour and I was able to see the northern lights much better. They were a pale greenish glow that glided slowly across the night sky. The northern lights can’t be properly explained until you see them in person – there’s nothing quite like them. I stayed out for an hour just watching the northern lights dance above my head. I saw them two nights ago as well, although I didn’t get to take a picture. Winter is long and cold in Iceland, but the darkness brings out the northern lights, which is one great advantage of the season.

Visit to Vestmannaeyjar

I’m really far behind on my blogging, but I’ll try to post when I can. Everything is moving so fast here that it’s hard to keep up. I have less than a month left in Iceland this semester – in fact, less than three weeks– and I’m trying to make each one count. I’ll be back in January, but almost all of my friends will be gone, so we’re trying to make the most of our remaining time.

Two weeks ago, I went on a trip to Vestmannaeyjar (the Westman Islands) off the southern coast of Iceland. A couple of friends and I packed into a car bright and early, and headed down to the port to Vestmannaeyjar. On the way, we stopped by a waterfall. The seasons have definitely changed, and the waterfall was very icy. . The strong winds had blown the falling water all over the surroundings, so all the grass and rocks around the waterfall were frozen. It was hard to reach because the rocks were so slippery, but this was one of the tallest waterfalls I’ve seen and it was worth the perilous walk. 

I enjoyed the ferry to Heimaey (the main island, and the only populated one), although some of the other people onboard got seasick. As we approached Heimaey, we went outside to watch. The islands have dramatic high peaks and sharp cliffs with sheep grazing at improbable heights. Back in the 1970s, the volcano on Heimaey erupted, and the entire island was evacuated. Fortunately, people came back and island life returned to normal. Still, forty years later, a huge portion of the island is covered in lava rocks from the explosion. 

The cliffs of Heimaey

Heimaey from the lava field

After arriving at the harbour, we headed up to the lava area which covers perhaps a third of the island. There are no buildings here, just rocks. They’ve placed some road signs to mark where streets used to be before the eruption, which was a spooky reminder of the island’s past. It’s hard to believe that below where I stood, there used to be houses, and today there’s nothing but barren rock.

We walked around the town for a while. Vestmannaeyjar is quite isolated, and we didn’t see too many people outside, but it seems like a pleasant town. We spent a large portion of the afternoon at the local pool and hot pots. Despite its size, Heimaey had a really nice pool, and three excellent hot pots. The best part was the slide. When I told Icelanders at my university that I was going to Vestmannaeyjar, they all told me I had to try the slide at the pool. Well, they were right! When we got there, the water slide was turned off. We asked the pool attendant if he could turn it on, and he told us that he could, but the water in the outside pool was a brisk 9 degrees. We didn’t let that stop us – the slide was turned on and we all went down it. At the bottom of the slide there was a trampoline-like section where you could stand up or bounce. We weren’t very good at standing up, but a local boy had no problem, so I guess it takes practice. I knew going down the slide would be chilly, and it was. The water in the pool was so freezing cold that each of us gasped from shock when we landed. We had to run out of the pool as fast as possible and jump into the hot pot to warm up. It was so much fun that we each went a total of eleven times (except the girls, who are clearly more sane that the rest of us)! Normally Icelandic pools are very strict about the use of cell phones and cameras, but the attendant let us bring out our cameras and take pictures of the slide because we liked it so much. I highly recommend the pool at Vestmannaeyjar, especially the slide! 

The slide at the pool

After that, we took the ferry back and went downtown for some delicious sushi. Perfect day!

Iceland Airwaves

It's been an eternity since I've updated, but that's because I've been doing all sorts of exciting things. Fortunately, I don't have any major projects due this coming week, so I'm able to relax a bit today. We currently have snow in Reykjavik and it's beginning to feel like Christmas. Icelanders began the Christmas celebrations back in late October, and by now the grocery store is full of Christmas-themed products and many houses have Christmas lights up. Today the sun came out after an absence of about a week, so I took a walk up to Perlan. There were great views of the city and it was happily less windy than normal. I'm not sure we'll get another nice day before the end of the year, so I made sure to spend all afternoon outside.

Now then, backing up two weeks, Reykjavik recently hosted the Iceland Airwaves music festival! Iceland Airwaves is a busy time in Reykjavik, and thousands of people come from Iceland and abroad to listen to music in a variety of venues over a few days. I was visited by my brother and we had a jam-packed week. We got to hear lots of music, both on-venue and off-venue. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see all the bands we wanted to see. There was a free Of Monsters And Men show that we waited an hour and a half in line to see, but we never got in. I liked best going to shows at Harpa, the new concert hall, because we could wait in line indoors :p. Some of the music was a little too experimental for me, but I liked some of the bands, like Tilbury and Samaris.

The greatest part was of course the Sigur Rós concert we attended on Sunday night. Sigur Rós is one of our favourite bands, and we saw them live this past summer in Montreal, so I knew they'd be great. Sigur Rós played in a big arena I've never been to before, and their show was just as spectacular as last time. It was extra special to see Sigur Rós play in their home country - I believe it was their first show here in 4 years, so it was a big deal! We had a great time at Aiwaves.

I must mention that the week of Iceland Airwaves, Reykjavik experienced crazy wind. It's been windy here before, but this was a real Icelandic gale that was the strongest that's occurred while I've been here. Apparently the winds were even stronger than Hurricane Sandy. It was hard to walk outside without being blown into a street, and we had to cover our faces to prevent leaves and rocks from flying into our eyes. By the harbour, the roads were washed by the waves, and a roof blew off a building on Laugavegur. Pretty intense.

I was happy that my brother was able to bring me a suitcase full of Canadian products. I'm doing pretty well despite the lack of Tim Hortons here, but I was still craving a pumpkin pie. My family sent over pumpkin puree, and lots of other stuff too, like Halloween candy, clothes and games. I was very pleased! I made a pumpkin pie a few nights ago with 3 friends from Germany, Austria and Italy, and although they were hesitant to eat pumpkin at first, they liked it a lot more than expected. I thought it was delicious, and since I have some more pumpkin left, I'm planning on making another pie with my American friend for American Thanksgiving.

Sam and I had a crazy time at the Hallgrímskirkja, the main cathedral downtown and a tourist attraction. We went into the cathedral at around 4:45 in the afternoon. Tourists can take an elevator to the top of the cathedral where there are great views of the city. I wasn't sure if we could still go up the tower at that point in the day, but the woman working in the gift shop told me the cathedral was still open, so we went up to the top. We spent about 20 minutes taking pictures up there, then decided to leave. We took the elevator down to the first floor, but when the door opened, something was wrong: the building was pitch black, and no one else was in sight. As we stepped out of the elevator, an alarm began blaring at a trillion decibels. We tried to go out the front door, but it was locked shut. They had closed the Hallgrímskirkja for the day - we were trapped inside!

Sam and I tried going to another floor, but we had no luck. At the top of the tower, there was an emergency exit, but it was inconveniently locked, and the emergency phone was missing -_-. I spent several minutes frantically trying to decide which friend I should call to help us break out of the Hallgrímskirkja before we went back down to the first floor and felt around in the darkness for an alternate exit. The alarm just kept ringing but clearly the Icelandic authorities weren't very concerned about us since no one had come yet to investigate. At last, Sam found a door to the outside world and we ran through it into the brisk outside air. We were free at last! It was truly a nervewracking experience and we had to get delicious frozen yogurt to calm our nerves.

We also went on a trip to Þórsmörk (Thor's Valley) through the international office of the University of Iceland. The trip was great - we visited a part of Iceland I've never seen before. It was very rugged terrain, and we travelled in a vehicle that could drive through rivers. We visited Eyjafjallajökull, which erupted two years ago, and the glacier there was impressive. Afterwards, our group visited a section of the valley wedged between very tall mountains on either side. It was one of the most memorable places I've seen in Iceland. We had a great week!

At the edge of Eyjafjallajökull

Inside Þórsmörk 

East Fjords, Part 2

Now for the second part of the East Fjords trip! On Sunday we woke up in Eskifjörður and were greeted by an incredible sunrise. Eskifjörður is a very isolated, tiny place, but it seems like a nice town, and was one of my favourites that we visited. It was very much winter already in this part of Iceland – the mountains and the valleys were covered in white snow, which made traveling the rural roads an interesting experience. We barely saw any other vehicles, except when half a dozen buses traveling in the opposite direction randomly passed us all at once.

Eskifjörður 

We went on a hike beside the lake Lagarfljót to see Hengifoss, one of the tallest waterfalls in the country. We saw two waterfalls, and I enjoyed it, although to be honest, Icelandic waterfalls begin to lose their charm once you’ve seen several dozen of them in a single weekend. We met some French Canadians who had recently arrived to work at the Aluminum plant in nearby Reyðarfjörður. I asked them if they missed Tim Hortons yet and we shared a hearty laugh, much to the confusion of the Europeans.

One of the waterfalls we saw.

After the hike we drove to Seyðisfjörður, a tiny town on one of the fjords. It was a tough drive through a snow-covered mountain pass. We took a walk around the town while a few of us drove further out along the fjord. Seyðisfjörður only has a few hundred people and life here can barely be compared to in Reykjavík. The only place that seemed to be open was a gas station, and we crossed the entire town in a short amount of time. It felt a lot more isolated here than in the other towns, and I’m not sure I could live in such a small, dark, cold place. I can definitely understand why the rural populations of Iceland are mostly in decline as people move to Reykjavík. Nonetheless, there was a beautiful sunset, and though it sounds strange for October, after nightfall the town was a perfect Christmas scene.

The road to Seyðisfjörður

Seyðisfjörður at sunset

We stayed that night in Egilsstaðir, the largest town in Eastern Iceland with a massive population of…slightly over 2000 people. :P Again, we stayed in a great spot, and we woke up early with a long drive back to Reykjavík ahead of us. We passed even more snowy valleys, and saw some of the most breathtaking views of the whole trip. Outside of the windswept mountains, the weather was great, and I took massive amounts of pictures. Our soundtrack for the trip was Pirates of the Caribbean, plus a strange 15-minute medley called “The Macarena Christmas” I somehow acquired years ago for when it was snowy. It was a looong drive and we didn’t stop until the afternoon, when we visited Skaftafell Park to see Svartifoss waterfall. I was feeling a bit blasé about waterfalls, but this one was great! It was surrounded by basalt columns, which were long hexagonal or rectangular strands of rock hanging down. Also, it’s a small country: I ran into one of my friends from Reykjavík here.

Driving through the mountains.

Svartifoss waterfall.

After that, we had a short stop at the beach at Vík to see more basalt columns and some caves. The beach at Vík is famous for its black sand, and the columns here were more impressive than at the waterfall. We then had a couple more hours of nonstop driving until we finally returned home to Reykjavík. It was strange to come back to civilization after being away from the city for so long, and although I was happy to be back, it was a fantastic weekend.

East Fjords, Part 1

It’s been a while since I've written anything, but that’s because I haven’t had time to sit down and think for five minutes. Finally, things have settled down (temporarily), so I’m getting caught up! Aside from constant school projects, the two main events in the past two weeks have been my trip to the East Fjords and my brother Sam visiting for Iceland Airwaves.

Last Friday, I headed out east with eight other people from a bunch of countries: Austria, Germany, Sweden, Italy, Denmark, Spain, and another from Canada. We went to Bónus and stocked up on groceries, then drove out to Kirkjubæjarklaustur for the first night. We left around 5, and the sun was already setting, so we didn't get to see too much that day, although we did stop by a big waterfall which was conveniently lit up. We stayed in two cabins in the countryside which were great. I’m so glad I brought Apples to Apples from home – we played it that night, and it’s always a hit whenever it gets played. There was lots of snow outside, and we were able to have a fast-paced snowball fight! It was surprising to me because Reykjavík has barely had any snow, yet the countryside is already covered in a white layer. Most of it melted by morning, though.

Our cabin

In the morning we left Kirkjubæjarklaustur and began the long drive to the east coast. I saw vast parts of Iceland I've never seen before. As I've already said several times, Iceland is breathtakingly beautiful, and the area we passed on Saturday was no exception. Because there were almost no trees, I could see for miles at any given moment, and there was a constant backdrop of snow-capped mountains. At home I have a book about Iceland with a strange title – “When You Travel in Iceland You See a Lot of Water.” After having crossed the country I can understand the title: we were constantly crossing rivers, the ocean was always nearby, and there were waterfalls cascading down the mountains. Plus, it rained on and off while we were driving. It’s a wet place!

The countryside around Kirkjubæjarklaustur

We drove by Eyjafjallajökull, the glacier whose volcano was responsible for the infamous 2010 eruption. We kept driving until we reached Svínafellsjökull, an arm of Vatnajökull, the largest glacier in Iceland and Europe. Here we got out and walked along the edge of the glacier, although we didn't walk on the glacier itself. It’s interesting how different glaciers look up close. Far away, they look like clean white sheets, but up close, their texture and composition are completely different – there’s more dirt and jagged sections. Vatnajökull covers over 8% of Iceland, and we kept seeing it in the background all day. It’s a big glacier!

One item of interest I brought on the trip was…my snuggie! I know how embarrassing it is to own a Snuggie but I enjoy it and it proved to be a big hit with everyone on the trip. Snuggies don’t seem to be as well-known in Europe, but most people wound up wearing the Snuggie at one point or another – in the cabins, while driving, and while standing by the ocean. We even brought the Snuggie when we went to the glacier! I have some ridiculous pictures involving the Snuggie in exotic Icelandic locales.

At the edge of Vatnajökull

The next stop we made was at Jökulsárlón – the Glacier Lagoon. This lagoon is full of icebergs that have broken off of Vatnajökull’s edges and are drifting out to sea. We climbed onto one of the icebergs, which was slippery but memorable. The lagoon was unlike anywhere I’d been before, and it was a stunning sight that I really enjoyed. We drove onward to Höfn and quickly replenished our food stocks before finally reaching the East Fjords. Suddenly the landscape became very dramatic, and we were on a road clinging to the edge of a cliff beside the ocean. We saw a lot of fallen rocks on the road, and I can’t imagine trying to navigate this part of Iceland in the dead of winter. Fortunately for us, it wasn't too snowy when we passed, and the views were fantastic.

Jökulsárlón

The road along one of the fjords.

However, in the late afternoon Iceland turned back into a winter wonderland. We drove into the night and it was dark and cold when we arrived at Eskifjörður. Again, we stayed in two cabins on the fringe of the town. There was a hot tub fashioned out of a boat, along with a sauna. We enjoyed jumping out of the hot tub into the snow, then running into the sauna to warm up once we were covered in snow. It was great!

One of the cottages

The hot tub facing the fjord

I realize this entry is getting very long, so I’ll split the rest of the trip into another post. :P

I don't have much to report. It seems like I have a ton of schoolwork all of a sudden, and I'm spending almost all my free time at the library trying to catch up. :s I'm still enjoying it here, though, even as the weather gets colder. Tjörnin, the pond in the city centre, froze over the other day. I spent a few moments watching the ducks land on the ice. It was funny because they skidded, flailing their legs wildly as they slid along the ice, before finally plopping into the water. I'm not a fan of the swans, though. They look elegant but they're so noisy and always gang up on the poor ducks.

For October, the bar Faktory is hosting free concerts at least once a week, so I've been going there on Wednesdays. I think they're hosting some Airwaves events there, too. Everyone is excited about Airwaves, even the people without tickets, because there will be so much happening in Reykjavik that week! I'm looking forward to it.

Tomorrow I'm leaving on a trip out east! Friday night we're driving to Kirkjubæjarklaustur (don't even try to figure out how to pronounce it). Then we'll be heading to the East Fjords and staying in Eskifjörður for a night. Finally, we'll go to Egilsstaðir and see the Hengifoss waterfall. I'm really looking forward to it! I've never been to that part of Iceland before and I expect it'll be very different from "cosmopolitan" Reykjavik.

The main thing that happened in the past week was my whale-watching trip! ESN, the Erasmus Student Network, was able to get us discount tickets for a whale-watching tour this weekend, so on Saturday I went to the harbour with three of my friends and we boarded a boat to go see some whales.

I was sceptical about our chances of seeing a whale, and for the first little while, we didn't see anything besides a solitary fishing boat in the distance. Eventually, though, we started to see a couple of whales! The whales were hard to spot. They only surfaced for a few seconds before vanishing back into the water, so if you weren't quick and attentive, you wouldn't catch them. Altogether we saw about 15 or so. I was pleased that we were able to see some, but I wouldn't have paid full price for the tour, because the sightings were so sporadic. Still, I enjoyed seeing some whales.

One other thing I did this week was visit one of the Reykjavik pools for the first time. The city has a number of different pools (all geothermally heated, I believe) and on Thursday I went to one near the Hallgrímskirkja with some friends. The pool was nice, but the best part was the hot tub outside. It's quite a contrast to have the frigid Icelandic air and the warm water, and I liked it a lot. I'm hoping to go back.

Here are a couple of whale pictures. The whales are the black blobs in the water. It was tough to get a good picture!