Glymur

Last weekend, we decided to go for a short hike and to take a look at the Glymur waterfall. It has the biggest vertical drop off of any waterfall in Iceland, however it is not as impressive as other waterfalls because the river itself is quite small.

The waterfall is found near the base of Hvalfjörður. Which meant that for the first time we drove on the edge of that fjord instead of taking the Akranes tunnel.

When we got to the end of the road, we started hiking. Unfortunately we had no map and no real idea of where the waterfall should be, so we wandered around aimlessly for a while until we found the right river. We were not able to see the waterfall since we ended up at a point quite downstream from it (it's a well hidden waterfall) and the sun was starting to set. So we'll have to go again later and find the damn thing next time :). But it was a nice little hike anyway, and the weather was quite nice. Here are some pics!

Uphill skiing?

Small stream

Jó sinking into the hay

The waterfall is somewhere along that ravine to the right

Looking down onto the river

Some basaltic columns

Hvalfjörður, before sunset

Páskaegg 2008

In a similar vein to this post from last year, here is the deconstruction of 2008's Páskaegg.

Just like last year, I got a Páskaegg at work. A páskaegg is a chocolate easter egg, which is hollow and filled with various candies inside. Once more, I got the Nr.7 Nói Síríus behemoth, with 750 grams of sugary goodness. The egg also comes with a málsháttur, which is a proverb or saying. Think of a Chinese fortune cookie, except that in this case adding "in bed" at the end makes no sense.

We're over 2/3rds done with the egg and candy. Luckily the dentist's appointment is in a few weeks, and we are currently are going to the gym, so that should mitigate the effects somewhat.

Cutting the egg open

A look inside

An emerging chicken... Wouldn't it be cool if they maybe had a chocolate dinosaur inside, just like in a dinosaur egg? No?

The sugary innards

The saying: "The river stops at its mouth". Sounds pretty obvious to me.

More Northern lights!

Last week we got another SMS notification alerting us to the appearance of the Northern lights :). This time we drove to the Western end of the city, near the Grótta lighthouse. Since there are no houses in that area we had a better view. And indeed there were already several cars parked there and people watching the lights!

Unfortunately when we got there the lights were starting to dim, but we still got a couple of shots.

Filling up the sky

A view of Esja at night, thanks to the long exposure

Hamborgarabúlla Tómasar

Hamborgarabúlla Tómasar is a small (or even tiny) burger place by the harbor, about a 10 minute walk from our apartment. Whenever I feel like having a burger, that's where I go. In contrast to the usual international fast food chains, that place has a lot of personality. And good burgers!

The decor is very eclectic, with random signs, children's drawings, movie posters and whatnot pinned all through the place. Plus it has its own street sign, "Burgerjoint"!

Seen from outside

This is where you place your order. Notice all the signs.

Kids' drawings

This is my favorite one: "Bonbon" is on the left and he is lost; an endless rainbow is in the middle (complete with the infinity symbol) and a dog is on the right. The arrow pointing to the dog simply says, "You"

The big table, with a view of the boats

"Dish of the day"

The restaurant opened in this location on April 10th 2004, which happens to be the exact day Jó and I got together! We're a match made in ground beef heaven.
A burger, a few bites in. Notice that the meat is a bit undercooked. It's always the way there, which makes it a bit tastier and also gives an added small thrill as you risk illness for the burger

Yep, it's still snowing...

Last weekend, we were invited by friends to a "Summerhouse". A summerhouse is basically a house in a non-urban area outside of Reykjavík, with a distinct 'wooden' look, and includes all standard amenities such as a working kitchen, a TV... And a hot tub! Many people own such homes, but work unions also do, and they rent them out to union members for cheap.

We enjoyed the stay very much, and socialized and soaked in the hot tub at night for a couple of hours while the snow was falling softly on us. Classic Icelandic stuff :).

On our way back, we decided to stop by Gullfoss since it was quite close to the summerhouse. It looked quite nice, with the snow and ice on the sides. As you can see from the rest of the pictures, the dominant color here is white. That's because it's been snowing quite a bit this winter, and we're getting a bit tired from that... Anyway, on to the pictures:

Maybe I should Photoshop these tourists out...

Closer

And even closer

A very bundled up Jó

I could make this my secret lair

Snow covered lava fields

The sun managed to pierce through the cloud cover at times

Lots of horses

The wind was pushing the snow over the road, making for a cool effect


Reminds me of a chocolate cake covered in powdered sugar...

Northern lights!

Well, I had to wait until the end of January, but I finally got to see the Northern lights in Iceland. I had seen them in Tromso, Norway in October but not in Iceland... I was considering filing a formal complaint to the tourist office in Reykjavík for false advertising.


But last weekend, as we got clear weather and the coldest temperatures yet this winter (it dropped slightly under -10 at some point in Rekjavík, I believe), I finally saw them! I got a phone call from a friend alerting me to the appearance of the lights (yes, I am on a call-when-Northern-lights-appear list) and I managed to take a few pictures as we were on our way out of the house. You'll have to excuse the blurriness because I did not use a tripod, and it takes a long exposure to get a picture of the lights. Note that the lights appear a bit brighter in the pictures than they do in real life, but not by that much.


They might look still in the pictures, but they move pretty quickly, like sheets or curtains. They can change in intensity quite quickly also, so if you know they're out there, don't wait :).

We also saw them the next day on the drive back from Stokkseyri (45 minutes SE of Reykjavík, with the best lobster restaurant in the nation!). We had the advantage of the open sky and very little ambient light, so it was great seeing them playing around in the sky. According to Inuit beliefs, the Northern lights represent your ancestors playing with a ball of yarn. I like that interpretation. Although I think I would substitute giant invisible metaphysical cats instead of the ancestors, but that's just me.

Þorrabloated

One of the famous Icelandic events is Þorrablot, a tradition from viking times, where people eat "old-time" food. However "old-time" food in Iceland, is, well... hmm...

Let's just say that it's a good thing this country has evolved :).

We got some of that food at work (in celebration of Bóndadagur aka farmers' day or men's day). We also got invited to Jó's aunt's, who introduced us to some more of that food.

Here are some of the foods:

• Svið: singed sheep's head, blow torched to burn the hair before being cooked. The food that looks you back in the eye.
• Sviðsulta: bits of meat from the svid, pressed together, in gelatin.
• Súrt slátur (lifrarpylsa and blóðmör): two types of soured sausage, one made out of liver and the other a blood sausage kind of thing.
• Hrútspungar: soured sheep testicles, pressed in a gelationous matter. Was available at work but not at the dinner, so no pics unfortunately.
• Hákarl: shark meat buried raw in the ground for several month, then hung to dry. Smells like stale urine because of all the ammonia in it. The smell sticks to your clothes for a long time too. Hence the closed box in the picture.
• Lundabaggar: roll of lamb meat, soured.
• Saltkjöt: salted lamb. Very salty, but quite nice.

And here are the pictures...

Clockwise, from the top left: lifrarpylsa, lundabaggar, sviðsulta, more lifrarpylsa, hákarl, and blóðmör

Saltkjöt

Svið. The tongue tastes Ok. You eat the skin too.

Baked brains with peanuts, and ice cream. Ok, ok, so that's just an apple bake :)

Many thanks to Jó's aunt for providing us with this food :)