Iceland's amazing countryside full of natural wonders
The whole island was formed from volcanic activity, with different parts of the land in various stages of the natural process from lava rock to moss covered lava land mass to fertile soil that stays put. Aside from what we could see of this in Reykyavik, we decided to take a day trip out to see a few waterfalls (such as Gullfoss), a volcanic crater, Geysir (and other hotsprings
like Strokkur), and Thingvellir (Iceland's ancient parliament right on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge). It was a full day, to say the least.
Well, after a day like that how could we stop there? We rented a car - I know... driving in a foreign country... look out!! and went up the west coast to the
Snaefellsnes peninsula. It was, of course, beautiful and hard to describe. As Lonely Planet points out, it's no wonder that Jules Verne was inspired by the are for his Journey to the Centre of the Earth. We stayed with a great family at their
Guesthouse outside of a little village called Grundarfjorthur - where, coincidentally, they were celebrating a group of French sailboaters' arrival. Funny to see French flags everywhere in preparation for the welcoming festivites, but neat to get to overhear the military band's welcome.
Eventually we had to come back - again, as with everywhere, wishing we had more time but greatful for having had such a fantastic trip. I wish we could have found a spot to stop along the twisty mountain road on the way back - it was great - I don't know if I could ever get so used to this amazing nature as to take it for granted here... it seems to demand that you pay attention and recognize the control that nature has over mankind even now.
*sigh* eventually it all had to come to an end and we had to travel back to reality.... really a month wouldn't have been long enough for me and I am already mentally planning the next trip....
Reykjavik - the capital of cool with the charm of a fishing town
We really loved Reykjavik - it was nice and sunny with a cool sea breeze each of the days we were there. Although it was pricy (as islands seem to be) it was a great city. It was cool that it was a city in its own right with all the culture of a city but also keeps the feel of a small fishing town.
Something like 3/4 of the Icelandic population lives in or around the city of Reykjavik but we never saw it get that crowded. We both wished we had more energy for the nightlife, but after sightseeing all day it was tough.
After spending a few days drinking excellent and strong coffee (or hot chocolate, as the case may be) wandering aound the city and relaxing in the pool or
Blue Lagoon spa, we decided to head up the coast and see more of the country side. While we stayed in Reykjavik we took a day trip around to some amazing natural wonders nearby and wanted to sample some more.
I'll throw that in the next post.
July 4th - the Hermitage and Petrodvorets (peterhof)
well maybe everyone already knows the story by now... I'll start at the beginning of the day anyway. It was another perfect morning and we decided to do a little shopping and head over to the
Hermitage. The Hermitage museum has five buildings - one of which has 1057 rooms in it - and can still only display 10% of its collection at any one time - what more can be said about that!?! It's a crazy palace with not only art but all kinds of things and the rooms themselves are as interesting as anything in there. It's quite bedazzling.
several of the more over-the-top photos are in the July 4th album on Shutterfly.
After being stunned by the Hermitage and having a little ice cream in a park as a quick snack we decided to splurge and take the Hydrofoil over to
Petrodvorets (aka Peterhof), one of Peter the Great's summer palaces and a truly gorgeous place.
Little did I know...
In we went to get some photos of the fabulous fountains, sculpture, and gardens. We walked around for about half an hour and as it was already almost 5pm the fountains were gradually being shut off. The crowds began to thin and we found a noce quiet bench to sit on in front of the dragon waterfalls to relax and enjoy the gardens for a while.
As we're sitting there Jeff reaches into his camera bag and gets up and down on one knee - to propose to me. It was the best setting I can imagine and I totally didn't expect a thing. I guess I was onw of the few who didn't either expect it or actually know Jeff's plans.... it was really a magical moment and couldn't have been done better. The ring is gorgeous and just the type of thing I love, a beautiful Saphire ring with leaves along the side that Jeff had made for me at
Halloween in Philly. truly amazing..... oh, yes, even though I was quite speechless, I did say 'yes' obviously.
How can you top a day like that? only later did we realize that it was actually the 4th of July... go figure!
St Petersburg was next on the itinerary
Next we headed to St Petersburg by train. I'll split this bit of the trip up into the city.... the Hermitage.... and Peterhof (Petrodvorets) to get a few extra pictures on this websit but a lot more will be on the Shutterfly site again.... just a sampling since we haven't gotten the real film pictures back yet, only the digital.
So we start with the city itself. It's just as beautiful as it was 5 years ago with maybe a little bit more neon and a few changes in businesses. I love
Petersburg and I think Jeff got to see some of its magic on this quick white nights trip.
We stayed at a "minihotel" right off Nevskii which, although it looked humble, was probably the cleanest place we stayed during the whole trip. The women who worked there were very kind and watched over us to make sure all was well. The architecture in this ciry is so far the most amazing I have seen anywhere - quite over the top. Glad it survived so many political changes and upheavals.
We got to see a ton of the city and went almost nonstop most of our stay - those white nights can certainly extend your day! We didn't get to see it all but we did an amazing amount of things. We were especially lucky to get to see the Kirov Ballet company at the Marinskii theatre. Being here makes me miss Moscow and Russia a great deal and makes me wish we had more time here than we do this trip - but I knew that would happen before we came. We got to see most of the city on a surface level and got to go up to the top of
St. Issac's cathedral to see the whole city to boot. We'd really need a bit more time to get to explore everything though..... well, we'll be back.
For July 4th we went first to the Hermmitage and then Petrodvorets - both in another post here... talk about a trip I will always remember in detail!
We started in Helsinki for a day and a half or so...
So, we started our trip in Helskinki to catch ourselves up to the time change. This began the beautiful weather we had during the entire trip. We dropped our bags at Hotelli Ava and headed in for a brief start on the city touring - such a calm, nice, managable city. During our stay here we got to see the Tuomiokirkko (Lutheran Cathedral), the Uspenskii Cathedral, and the
Temppeliaukio (rock church) - three very different types of churches for sure.
We went to the Kauppatori market for some snacking and some gift buying, saw a great deal of ornate architecture and interesting detail, and got to sample some (I think) traditional Lappish cuisine.
All in all a great start to our trip. You can see more photos on my shutterfly web site.
