The next few days at moms were mostly spent packing, and repacking as bags had to be whittled down to 50pounds each. A few items had to be left behind, nothing that can’t be easily replaced. Packing up your life into a hiking backpack and a suitcase is not a small matter. We did however manage to fit in a walk up one of the nearby mountains with Greg, Sue and Frances – as well as the ever unruly Oswald to keep things interesting –  which was quite nice. Then an early start on the 28th down to the airport to take an early morning flight. I realized after checking in bags that I hadn’t put a luggage tag on them, and that I didn’t know my sisters address anyways. So, got that from Mom to put on when I was in Seattle on layover. (Forgot to get her phone number in case anything went wrong though, classic). A quick coffee and then more tears in the airport as I said goodbye to Mom, Alex and Jess.

Sitting on the floor while reading allows for stretching and sitting in odd positions that get you weird looks.

Then it was back on the plane and off to Iceland! I managed to dose off through most of the flight which was good. Even though it was my daytime it was going to be my new night so I was trying to counteract some of the jetlag effects, to questionable success. I arrived at Keflavik airport at the early hour of 6:45 local time. 

They really have set things up well in Iceland to encourage people to go and explore the country a bit on their layovers. Your luggage stays checked through so you don’t have to collect it at all, they have busses heading out after every flight going to Reykjavik or the Blue Lagoon and then a huge number of tours branching off from that. You can also switch your flight so that you stay in the country for up to 7 days with no penalty for the change. Well done tourism Iceland. Also everyone speaks English very well so that also makes things easier.

With 10 hours to kill I thought it would be to much time to just go to the Blue Lagoon and not quite enough time to head to both the city and the lagoon so I opted to just to the later. A 40 minute bus ride into the city and it was time to explore…although it was still pitch dark out even though it was 9am. Even though I knew it wasn’t far into the city from the bus depot I decided to grab a cab in just to ensure I didn’t wander off in the wrong direction. The cabbie dropped me off infront of a cafe he recommended for breakfast which was just opening up as we got there. Lovely place called Cafe Paris where I got some Eggs and Bacon – not to be confused with Bacon and Eggs – the bacon literally took up half the plate, completely ridiculous, good though.

Cafe Paris

Sufficiently filled up with food and coffee I wrapped myself up, put on my fur hat and struck out to walk around the city as the first light of dawn was beginning to tinge the sky.  The rest of the time was really just spent walking around looking at the houses and occasionally stopping in somewhere to warm up for a bit before moving on. I went and checked out the National Gallery of Iceland which had a few interesting exhibitions on featuring Icelandic artists. The primary exhibition titled Creation featured the work of the artist Kristín Gunnlaugsdóttir consisting of large hand stitched tapestries and egg tempura paintings. Fairly graphic content for sure but quite interesting. 

Following are some of the photos I took around Reykjavik. I apologize for the poor quality, I was too cold and tired to take out my nice camera so it is all just iphone and I was probably shaking a bit while taking them. 

Being dark so much of the time they definitely light their buildings nicely. Because it was Sunday the bells had just started to chime all over the city.

Cold weather requires some bundling up! It was only -2 but it was WINDY

Panorama of the Solfar (Sun Voyager) sculpture down at the waterfront (I would recommend clicking on this and looking at it bigger)

Love the design of the houses and all the Christmas lights everywhere.

Colourful streets and sidewalks that haven’t been shoveled. Often it was worth walking on the salted roads rather than the sidewalks. Unless you were on the main two shopping streets they were pretty dicey going.

View of some houses across from the National Gallery. Big pond in between that was completely frozen over minus a small corner cleared for ducks and swans to use. A few people out on the ice with sleds sliding about.

Steam coming out in the main square. Only evidence of the geothermal heating going on.

Very cool cathedral that dominates the city scape high on a hill in the middle of the city.

After all the exploring was done it was back on the plane and off to England. I landed safely at London Gatwick, gathered my things and headed to the bus which had me arrive in Bristol at 12:15am where Michelle and Adam live (or did live as I spent the next day helping them move out of their flat). They arrived at 12:25 thinking I had said I was arriving at 12:30, just enough time for me to worry a little that there may be two bus stations and that I didn’t have Michelle’s phone number!

The last several days have been spent at Adams mums in South Wales. The family was all here for the first day/night thanks to it being Christmas so it was a full house and they all have made me feel very welcome.

New Years was spent in Birmingham at a friends house part – 1920’s themed – which was quite a lot of fun. Everyone went all out with costumes and a good time was had by all, even if everyone else was coupled off. I had one entertaining conversation with a guy that went something like this.
     Him: So where is your boyfriend then?
     Me: Don’t have one.
     Him: Really? Whats wrong with you? Are you a terribly awkward?
     Me: I don’t think particularly…..
Finally called it a night at around 4:30/5 am and slept in the livingroom. Next day had an epic group breakfast and cleaning effort (Adams dad had provided two giant poppers that were amazing but meant that there was sparkly bits of paper everywhere) A walk along an old railway line and a late lunch/early supper at the local pub completed a very enjoyable time in Birmingham. The drive back to Monmouth was pretty dicey with torrential rain and some flooding on the roads however Adams driving was top notch and we arrived home safely. 

Faux bob, greased hair and an amazing flapper dress.

Here is hoping that you all had a fabulous New Years! I’m excited for what 2014 has in store.