Nicksmithworld of Adventure

Huge Organ!!

HallGrimskirkja Cathedral in Reykjavik.

A very modernist building, it acts as a useful reference point when navigating around the city.

posted by Nick Smith's World @ 2:17 PM

Photographs-timeless beauty of Iceland

well if a picture is worth a thousand words...here are a few thousand.. A wonderfully triangulated church on the snaefellsness peninsular, and a rainbow over 'Gullfoss' waterfalls. The ammount of spary generated by the weight and force of the water crashing down on the rocks below generated so much spray that rainbows are commonplace..( a small gathering of leprechauns leaning on shovels were laughing to themselves as they prepared to go to work) we even saw a double rainbow..(is this double time lads?)

posted by Nick Smith's World @ 4:37 AM

In conclusion

The blue lagoon was a sight to behold, the pools of impossibly powder-blue water fed by underground springs where visitor could bathe, wallow and partake of their legendary health-giving properties.

Well we've just return from the Iceland trip. It comprised of 2 days in reykjavik followed by 5 days of touring in a toyota landcruiser to the pre-booked hotel destinations dotted throughout the itinery. The landscape was amazing, Fjords and snow-topped mountains, waterfalls and glaciers, Geysers and hot springs which all contributed to an amazing adventure.

The driving was both taxing and exilerating due to the trecherous nature of some of the non-tarmaced' gravel based 'B'-roads. Hotels were nothing short of luxurious, in design and levels of hospitality. The hotel Glymur particularly had a hot-tub suite that overlooked a fjord and a backdrop of mountains. The hotel Ranga was a homage to 'Ronseal', a huge log cabin, who's interior was clad entirely in pale orangey-varnished pine. It was a cacoon of scandinavian splender...The Huge 8 ft tall stuffed polar bear completed the look.

Overall, a facinating place to visit. Expensive food and drink, Air is clean , lots of 'BIG sky', great waterfalls and nautal features if you appreciate the lanscape..People are friendly and speak perfect English with that wonderful scandinavian accent..highly recommended

posted by Nick Smith's World @ 4:24 AM

hotel Glymur

Awoke at 7.05 am!! well you would too if you´d drank as many carlsbergs. [they were out of viking beer). Got up and painted a watrcolour before breakfast (you wot? you fackin´ponce!)...no serously the view is amazing...will post photos eventually... Another great breakfast, fresh bread, meat, cheese etc..yoghurt.."Iceland is simply di-vine, sweetie!"- (Note to sell, do oilchange or similar on car on return before I lose plot completely).

They room was on two levels with it´s own staircase up to the sleeping area. Bathroom was a wetroom (drain in floor) very luxiourious..Mind you if you come from Wolverhampton....

off to see the geisers today...

posted by Nick Smith's World @ 2:02 AM

update -hotel budir

Eventually we found the hotel Budir which is the most isolated hotel that I have ever stayed at. The pictures which I will get around to posting will demonstrate. A beautiful white building next to a church with a road that was being built/ renovated whilst we were there.

http://www.budir.is/default2.asp?active_page_id=25

After checking in we decided to explore the Snaefellsness penisular which is where the hotel is located. Going anti-clockwise we first came to Hellnar. we were recommended by reception to go to a tiny restaurant called "Fjornhusio" which was supposed to serve the best homemade fish soup in iceland. Well we found it and the soup was good...but no cigar. Gordon (my brother who hasn't been introduced yet) had the quiche...as he...wait for it... hates seafood ( Iceland is a good destination choice then!). then on past 'Arnastapl' then 'Rif' and around to 'Olafsvik'. After that we took a right turn and up a mountain path which provided both the best view and the best 4x4 dring route of the trip so far. Over 600 metres above sea level - lots of trecherous crags and dubious roads. foggy and cold. But we did encounter the remains of a receding glacier. The first Ice in Iceland ´Hurray!´.

posted by Nick Smith's World @ 10:32 AM

pre-dated posts

O.k today is tuesday the 12th at 5.15 (great Who song). I'm going to have to post previous days now as the computer access has been limited.

Sunday 10th September- after another excellent pumpkin bread and Yoghurt breakfast etc, we were picked up by the Avis representative and went to collect the rental car. It was a white Toyota landcruiser Reg MO333. Automatic. After checking out we got straight onto Highway 1 north to Arkanes, This turned out to be a tiny town where nothing was open. carried on through where highway 1 turned into the 51. Borganes was next, it+s quite big on the mapping but again nothing to see there particularly, just another fishing village tyle of place.

weather was cold and rainy, as you head out on the highways it´s all mountains, fjords and waterfalls. you cross lots of bridges (when you come to them), nearly all of which are single file, the vehicle first to approach getting right of way. Mainly sheep grazing but some horses\ponies etc.

posted by Nick Smith's World @ 10:19 AM

day 3

Spent saturday exploring reykjavik (damn that´s hard to spell). The city is relatively small, sort of like amsterdam, everything is within easy walking distance. beer is expensive and so is food and i thought the Uk was a rip-off!!. However the locals pay the same prices as the tourists so you can´t really complain.
www.discover-the-world.co.uk have done a great job with their choice of Hotels. It´s clean, smart, efficient and a couple of streets from the main entertainment quarter. I have lots of photos but the hotel internet access doesn´t have a usb port i can use..

the weather is moderate exactly like the UK and the 24 hour daylight darkness isn´t apparent yet as it´s only september. It was a bit drizzly yesterday but only for half an hour.

The town is pretty in that scandinavian way, red and yellow houses with equally colourful rooftops. lots of modernist statues all over the place, kind of elizabeth frink style, modigliani-esque etc.

there´s a lot of art shops but it all seems to be in the similar style, catering for the tourists..

everyone speaks perfect english and the hotel has BBC1 BBC2 and ITV3 so you can watch the news and repeats of óne foot in the grave!'

some letters they use but we don´t= ÖÆÐ (wonder if that´s a rude word?)

just waiting for the Avis rental car- supposed to be a toyota Landcruiser, but they´re half an hour late already. i´m typing this in the lobby killing time and that´s why it´s going on a bit!!

Woke up at 8.00am, had a breakfast of warm pumpkin bread with prawns, tuna and camembert. sounds wierd i know but it was excellent. followed by fresh yoghurt with melon. & Copious ammounts of tea of course... is this too boring?!..(answers on a postcard to:)

will be heading North just as soon as the vehicle arrives... Bbbyyyyeee--eeee!!!

posted by Nick Smith's World @ 2:19 AM

When push comes to shove

Arrived at hotel Odinsve at nearly 1.00 am. the receptionist said that the iceland ightlife begins at 3.00-7.00am!!! so we had a quick change of clothing and went out. found a Rock pub, all of the bars seem tiny. a round of 2 pints of viking beer was 1250 ISK which is about 8.00GBP. The music was weird- janis joplin for about half an hour then lots of 80´s rock. A weird characteristic we found is that everybody shoves to get anywhere, very odd at first as it appears no-one has any manners!! people barge into you to get past..I´ll post some pictures as and when..caio!!

posted by Nick Smith's World @ 2:41 AM

close-ups of the currency...hmmmm

is it me or does this bloke's beard just look like a huge scrotum?

Who is this? and why is he so proud of his reading skills?

Brynjólfur Sveinsson

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brynj%C3%B3lfur_Sveinsson

posted by Nick Smith's World @ 11:29 AM

Funny money

Toytown money or what? it's one of those currencies where it's really hard to do the conversion calculation in your head, still -hopefully they'll take credit cards in most places.

posted by Nick Smith's World @ 11:18 AM

packing for iceland

Just packing for Iceland. why is it that eveyone has to make a joke about 'iceland' the frozen food store (in u.k only i presume), like "pick me up some fish fingers while your there" or are they still doing 2-for-1 deals on frozen waffles?".

Bought some decent hiking boots and trainers for the trip, got to see all of the waterfalls and volcanic stuff whilst we're there. Apparently the entire population of the country is the same as wolverhampton! and their language is equally incomprehensable.

Bjork and Magnes Magnesson (mastermind) are the only icelanders that spring to mind, hopefully i'll learn more via this trip.

the currency is £1.00 to 131.244 ISK which has given me a huge wad of 1000 and 5000 ISK notes. nothing like obscure currency to make you feel rich, the downside is that the prices will make you feel poor!

posted by Nick Smith's World @ 6:11 AM