"Don't worry me or hurry me/Blow me far away to the Northern Lights"

This story sure has taken some time to spit out; however, without further ado, the gory details of the Iceland trip!

Things certainly didn't begin well, as an Icelandair flight wasn't the only thing I caught that day. I also came down with a nasty case of the 24-hour flu. I was feeling so rotten that essentially my first day in Reykjavik was spent in my bed. But I did stay conscious enough to notice that the small town outside of the airport reminded me a lot of a small town in Northern Ontario. It really isn't until you make your way into Reykjavik itself that you begin to realise that this place is going to be really different than your typical getaway.

I woke up the next day feeling a little weak, and still not ready to eat anything, but the adrenaline was enough to get me up and ready to explore the town. We started by making our way down to Perlan (the Pearl), a modern glass building on top of a large hill that houses exhibitions for the city, but more importantly houses great views across the city and the surrounding countryside. It also contains the fab Saga Museum which depicts Iceland's Viking roots using excellent full scale models. We also took a walk down to Nautholsvik Beach, an artificial beach where a portion of the ocean is actually heated in the summer for swimming. We then made the trip into 101 Reykjavik, the oldest and hippest part of the city. It's absolutely beautiful, with funky shops, cafes and pubs and museums (including the Phallological Museum - unfortunately closed while we were there ensuring that we left half-cocked). Many of the houses are painted wild colours, summoning a picture of a Scottish seaside village. 101 is also next to the harbour, allowing for a lovely walk by fishing boats and rock beaches, and providing an excellent view of the mountains and the ocean. We also took a look inside the amazing Hallgrimskirkja, a huge modern church that was built to look like an erupting volcano.

By Day 3 I was fully good to go, and decided to not bother with the bus tours we were going to try and instead rent a car and do our own exploring. It was a bit of an ordeal finding a car with automatic transmission (should have learned to drive a stick shift before I came over to this part of the world) but we finally managed to get one - a cosy little Skoda. A type of car which has come a long way since last I rode in one (eh, Dad?). We first drove out to Pingvellir National Park, where we saw Logberg - the first Viking assembly site used from 930AD - and the massive rifts in the land where the North American tectonic plate is tearing away from the Eurasian plate. Very dramatic landscape. I really enjoyed the drive on the small Icelandic motorways, marveling at the countryside where you can see steam arising from cracks in the ground, Icelandic horses running across the plains, and the barrenness of the old lava fields. That night we took a night walk around 101, in particular to see the wonderful City Hall which is built so that it appears to be rising out of a lake. As I mentioned previously, I was quite excited to find out that we were in town to be able to catch part of the Iceland Airwaves music festival. That night we caught a show at the Art Museum where we saw three amazing bands - Tenderfoot, Gisli, and the Album Leaf. My only regret was that I wasn't feeling better on my first day as I could have caught Leaves and SKE, the latter in particular a great band from Reykjavik whose music I heard on the plane. Take a look through the website to hear some of the tunes from these bands.

Day 4 we took the car out to Geysir, the home of the famous water spouts that gives its name to similar spouts across the world. Words really don't do justice to the experience as we stood there for hours watching Strokkur (the most active geysir). First the water bubbles, than rises into one large blue blob before bursting forth into the air. Fantastic. We also drove down to Gullfoss, a massive waterfall equally as impressive as Niagara Falls minus the tourist tackiness, and well, the tourists. We shared the view with only a few other people, and were really able to appreciate the ferocity of nature as the water roared over the cliff. That night we went to the Red Rock Cinema where they show a quirky documentary on volcanoes. We were the only folk there that night, and were chatting away to the guy showing the film when we realised that the guy was in fact the volcano filmmaker Villi Knudson, who both shot and starred in the film.

On the last day we took our little Skoda down to Lake Kleifarvatn, a lake that used to be the deepest in Iceland but has since drained substantially after an earthquake. Nobody knows where the water went to. This drive was my absolute favourite as we literally drove for hours without seeing a single person, past bubbling mudpools, hotsprings, lava fields, ocean beaches, and old churches. Surreal. We finished the day by visiting the Blue Lagoon, which is the most famous hotspring in Iceland, situated near a geothermal powerplant. The water was incredibly warm and it was an amazing experience to be swimming outside on a day where the air temperature couldn't have been more than 3 degrees. We watched the sun go down while putting natural clay onto our faces and paddling about in the pool.

And yes, I finally did see the Northern Lights - albeit, faintly in the skies over Reykjavik. We jumped into the car, and drove as fast as we could to the countryside to get a better view. But by then, the skies had become cloudy. But it was still thrilling to see the eerie green clouds fly by overhead, if only for a moment.

Iceland - certainly not a typical getaway, but one that I'll never forget. Truly a magical experience, and I now better understand where the Icelandic reputation comes from for being a home for elves and pixies. Certainly if there is a place where such mythical creatures may still live, it must be here!