Saturday, 4 February 2012
We didn’t book any tour this morning, having agreed to explore the city on our own instead of going on the half-day city tour. After a considerably late breakfast, we set off for Hallgrímskirkja, a Lutheran (Church of Iceland) parish church. At 74.5 metre, it is the largest church in Iceland. In front is a statue Leifur Eiríksson, the Norse explorer who sailed to North America in the 10th century, a gift from Uncle Sam in 1930, in honour of the 1,000th anniversary of the Alþingi, the Iceland parliament. Unfortunately, there is an admission to the church tower so we left after only a short while.
We returned to Laugavegur and joined the early Saturday morning shoppers. We hadn’t had much time to shop before so this was a good time for it. We moved from one store to another before walking to a white building behind a car park near Grayline office. A weekly flea market is held there and we thought we’d check it out. Alas, nothing caught my fancy so I left after a while, having agreed with my travel partner to meet again at the Grayline office. We had told the people at Grayline that we would not require hotel pick-up.
I walked to another area and found more shops and hotels. Really, Reykjavík is such a hip and funky compact city! If only I had more time to explore it fully...
We met at the Grayline office for our 12 noon pick-up and 1 pm departure for our whale watching tour. I didn’t understand why the pick-up was that early as we ended up waiting for our bus to take us to the harbour some 15-minute drive away.
Once aboard our boat, I joined a few others at the bar, requesting for anti-seasickness pills. Then I donned a special suit provided to all passengers. Blankets were also made available and I first wondered, ‘Why blankets? Might as well provide pillows too!’ but took one anyway. It was only when I got onto the deck that I understood the significance of the blanket because my, it was cold up there! Not freezing cold, but cold from the sea wind and I could feel my hands getting numb. (If I’m not mistaken, our guide told us the sea temperature in winter averages 6C, pretty mild for a Nordic country but then again, Iceland enjoys the warm North Atlantic current.) We were lucky to sight a humpback whale, some porpoises and a couple of seals in the distance.
We returned back to mainland at half-past three and boarded the bus back to the city. I browsed quickly through some stores before telling my friend that I wanted to hurry back to our room. I rushed back as fast as my achy breaky hurting legs could carry me... to find out the score at the Emirates. I had thought the match was still in progress but it had actually ended and we won! 7-up!!! I decided to rest for a bit – thighs and legs were still hurting (who knew horse riding would hurt so much??) – before venturing out again to buy last-minute souvenirs.
Our last tour for the day was the Northern Lights Mystery. (Actually, we had planned to go on this tour on Thursday evening but the tour was cancelled as it was very cloudy. No such luck on Friday evening either as the clouds were out again (in fact the weather on Friday evening was worse than Thursday evening). They really do have excellent meteorologists in Iceland.) I was feeling quite sleepy for some reason and dozed off on the bus.
We drove off finally and stopped at two places. One was by the beach I think as there were lighthouses. I got down and peered hard, squinting my eyes this way and that, but hard as I tried, I couldn’t sight anything and neither did the others. We next stopped at a road in the middle of nowhere. Again, I dutifully went down the bus and gazed upwards. I stared hard, blinked, rubbed my eyes, squinted again, but no such luck ;’( suffice to say, the Northern Lights Mystery will remain a mystery to me for now. I’m gutted, especially as it’s one of the main reasons why I wanted to go to Iceland so badly in winter. Oh, aurora is present all the time but you have better chances when the night is darkest and longest (i.e. winter months), away from light pollution. You can’t see it if the sky is overcast or too bright like in those short summer polar nights.
Gutted. No sign of aurora nor of the puffin, Iceland’s beloved bird
We finally decided to call it a day, or rather, night and drove back to Reykjavík. We reched our hotel after 2 am (!) and tomorrow, we had an early start...
Sunday, 5 February 2012
Woke up at a quarter to 5 and after a quick shower, zipped up my bag and left the room. We waited for the pick-up and it was at 5.40 am when the hotel staff told us (after looking at our vouchers) that our pick-up was actually at 5 am and not 5.30 am. (I had repeatedly asked my friend if the pick-up was at 5 or 5.30 and she told me it was 5.30 am). The lady told us to walk down to Grayline office to meet a pick-up who would take us to the meeting point so we quickly walked down. I was surprised to see quite a lot of people still on the streets, staggering around in their drunken stupor and weaving through the traffic in their inebriated state. We also had to be careful with the occasional broken glasses, the usual casualty in this example of hedonistic revelry.
Our pick-up promptly delivered us to the meeting place where we boarded another bus to the airport. We reached the airport at 6.40 am and joined the long check-in queue. I was assigned a seat in the very last row by the window. Blinking heck!
I dozed off on the plane and when I woke up an hour later, decided to finish my novel. We started descending about an hour later and we could see the white snow carpeting the ground below. I had feared that my flight the next day might be affected and was praying hard that it would not be the case.
We landed just after 11 at Terminal 1 of LHR. This time, the immigration process was swift. Unfortunately, it took a while for my bag to appear. Indeed, some of the bags came out coated with ice! I wondered what happened...
I bade farewell to my friend and set off for the tube. It being a Sunday, and a snowy one at that, there were reduced trains but I was happy that the trains were running at all. I rode the train to Hammersmith where I got down and walked to my hotel. There was ice and snow on the pavements and it was so difficult to not only walk but also drag my bag on the pavement (I had to be careful not to slip myself and had to be extra careful with my heavy bag) so much so after a while, I abandoned the pavement and walked on the road. Good thing it was a snowy Sunday which meant less vehicles on the road.
After checking in and having a light meal, I left and made my way to the tube station and took a train heading east. Yes, I’m visiting the Emirates again! From Arsenal station all the way to the stadium, I walked gingerly on the snow.
I walked across the Ken Friar Bridge and walked around the stadium, meeting Tony, Titi and Herbert along the way. I also detoured and visited The Armoury where there was still a clearance sale. I spent a happy half-hour there browsing through the merchandise.
We didn’t book any tour this morning, having agreed to explore the city on our own instead of going on the half-day city tour. After a considerably late breakfast, we set off for Hallgrímskirkja, a Lutheran (Church of Iceland) parish church. At 74.5 metre, it is the largest church in Iceland. In front is a statue Leifur Eiríksson, the Norse explorer who sailed to North America in the 10th century, a gift from Uncle Sam in 1930, in honour of the 1,000th anniversary of the Alþingi, the Iceland parliament. Unfortunately, there is an admission to the church tower so we left after only a short while.
We returned to Laugavegur and joined the early Saturday morning shoppers. We hadn’t had much time to shop before so this was a good time for it. We moved from one store to another before walking to a white building behind a car park near Grayline office. A weekly flea market is held there and we thought we’d check it out. Alas, nothing caught my fancy so I left after a while, having agreed with my travel partner to meet again at the Grayline office. We had told the people at Grayline that we would not require hotel pick-up.
I walked to another area and found more shops and hotels. Really, Reykjavík is such a hip and funky compact city! If only I had more time to explore it fully...
We met at the Grayline office for our 12 noon pick-up and 1 pm departure for our whale watching tour. I didn’t understand why the pick-up was that early as we ended up waiting for our bus to take us to the harbour some 15-minute drive away.
Once aboard our boat, I joined a few others at the bar, requesting for anti-seasickness pills. Then I donned a special suit provided to all passengers. Blankets were also made available and I first wondered, ‘Why blankets? Might as well provide pillows too!’ but took one anyway. It was only when I got onto the deck that I understood the significance of the blanket because my, it was cold up there! Not freezing cold, but cold from the sea wind and I could feel my hands getting numb. (If I’m not mistaken, our guide told us the sea temperature in winter averages 6C, pretty mild for a Nordic country but then again, Iceland enjoys the warm North Atlantic current.) We were lucky to sight a humpback whale, some porpoises and a couple of seals in the distance.
We returned back to mainland at half-past three and boarded the bus back to the city. I browsed quickly through some stores before telling my friend that I wanted to hurry back to our room. I rushed back as fast as my achy breaky hurting legs could carry me... to find out the score at the Emirates. I had thought the match was still in progress but it had actually ended and we won! 7-up!!! I decided to rest for a bit – thighs and legs were still hurting (who knew horse riding would hurt so much??) – before venturing out again to buy last-minute souvenirs.
Our last tour for the day was the Northern Lights Mystery. (Actually, we had planned to go on this tour on Thursday evening but the tour was cancelled as it was very cloudy. No such luck on Friday evening either as the clouds were out again (in fact the weather on Friday evening was worse than Thursday evening). They really do have excellent meteorologists in Iceland.) I was feeling quite sleepy for some reason and dozed off on the bus.
We drove off finally and stopped at two places. One was by the beach I think as there were lighthouses. I got down and peered hard, squinting my eyes this way and that, but hard as I tried, I couldn’t sight anything and neither did the others. We next stopped at a road in the middle of nowhere. Again, I dutifully went down the bus and gazed upwards. I stared hard, blinked, rubbed my eyes, squinted again, but no such luck ;’( suffice to say, the Northern Lights Mystery will remain a mystery to me for now. I’m gutted, especially as it’s one of the main reasons why I wanted to go to Iceland so badly in winter. Oh, aurora is present all the time but you have better chances when the night is darkest and longest (i.e. winter months), away from light pollution. You can’t see it if the sky is overcast or too bright like in those short summer polar nights.
Gutted. No sign of aurora nor of the puffin, Iceland’s beloved birdWe finally decided to call it a day, or rather, night and drove back to Reykjavík. We reched our hotel after 2 am (!) and tomorrow, we had an early start...
Sunday, 5 February 2012
Woke up at a quarter to 5 and after a quick shower, zipped up my bag and left the room. We waited for the pick-up and it was at 5.40 am when the hotel staff told us (after looking at our vouchers) that our pick-up was actually at 5 am and not 5.30 am. (I had repeatedly asked my friend if the pick-up was at 5 or 5.30 and she told me it was 5.30 am). The lady told us to walk down to Grayline office to meet a pick-up who would take us to the meeting point so we quickly walked down. I was surprised to see quite a lot of people still on the streets, staggering around in their drunken stupor and weaving through the traffic in their inebriated state. We also had to be careful with the occasional broken glasses, the usual casualty in this example of hedonistic revelry.
Our pick-up promptly delivered us to the meeting place where we boarded another bus to the airport. We reached the airport at 6.40 am and joined the long check-in queue. I was assigned a seat in the very last row by the window. Blinking heck!
I dozed off on the plane and when I woke up an hour later, decided to finish my novel. We started descending about an hour later and we could see the white snow carpeting the ground below. I had feared that my flight the next day might be affected and was praying hard that it would not be the case.
We landed just after 11 at Terminal 1 of LHR. This time, the immigration process was swift. Unfortunately, it took a while for my bag to appear. Indeed, some of the bags came out coated with ice! I wondered what happened...
I bade farewell to my friend and set off for the tube. It being a Sunday, and a snowy one at that, there were reduced trains but I was happy that the trains were running at all. I rode the train to Hammersmith where I got down and walked to my hotel. There was ice and snow on the pavements and it was so difficult to not only walk but also drag my bag on the pavement (I had to be careful not to slip myself and had to be extra careful with my heavy bag) so much so after a while, I abandoned the pavement and walked on the road. Good thing it was a snowy Sunday which meant less vehicles on the road.
After checking in and having a light meal, I left and made my way to the tube station and took a train heading east. Yes, I’m visiting the Emirates again! From Arsenal station all the way to the stadium, I walked gingerly on the snow.
I walked across the Ken Friar Bridge and walked around the stadium, meeting Tony, Titi and Herbert along the way. I also detoured and visited The Armoury where there was still a clearance sale. I spent a happy half-hour there browsing through the merchandise.
Keep calm, I’m a shopaholic Gooner. The Armoury, Emirates Stadium, February 2012
I left just before 5 and took the tube to Knightsbridge (since I was on the Piccadilly line anyway) and went to Harrods. My, Harrods was just too hot; if you enter in from the cold like I did, that’s how global warming would feel like. No more sales so I left for Harvey Nichols. Harvey Nichols was warm too but not as sweltering. No more sale items either so I left. Dithered on whether I should head for Oxford Street but it was nearing six pm and most shops would be closed anyway by the time I reached there so I headed back to the hotel instead where I had dinner and read my novel.
Monday, 6 February 2012
It was time to head home today. After breakfast, I set off for nearby Kings Mall (of course I just realised I was still short of souvenirs...). I came back at 10.30 am, checked out and headed for the tube station.
I was so happy that there was no queue at all at the Etihad counter (unlike MAS with its ‘snake’ queue). After checking in, I went in (to avoid the long queue at the security check). Alas, the flight to Abu Dhabi was delayed. In the end, we took off well after 3 pm (schedule was 1.50 pm), which meant we only reached Abu Dhabi at 0130. Again, I only had an hour to make the connecting flight.
Tuesday, 7 February 2012
We landed at KLIA at 1.40 pm. I got my bag at 2.16 pm and sprinted to catch the 2.20 pm train back to KL Sentral. I reached home at 3.30 pm and was finished with unpacking and cleaning the kitchen by 5. Having arrived from long-haul flights in the afternoon for the second time now, I now prefer it to arriving in the morning as I don’t suffer from jetlag as bad as a morning arrival. Alhamdulillah.
~~~~~~~~
I love Iceland. There’s no traffic jam, hence no pollution. You’re always surrounded by a mountain or a river or a glacier which means the air is so pure. You can even drink water straight off the tap; in fact, one of our guides said the tap water is purer than bottled water! I would love to return again, yes, I highly recommend this destination. Go, before everyone else descends on it, before it’s spoiled, before it’s ruined.
Monday, 6 February 2012
It was time to head home today. After breakfast, I set off for nearby Kings Mall (of course I just realised I was still short of souvenirs...). I came back at 10.30 am, checked out and headed for the tube station.
I was so happy that there was no queue at all at the Etihad counter (unlike MAS with its ‘snake’ queue). After checking in, I went in (to avoid the long queue at the security check). Alas, the flight to Abu Dhabi was delayed. In the end, we took off well after 3 pm (schedule was 1.50 pm), which meant we only reached Abu Dhabi at 0130. Again, I only had an hour to make the connecting flight.
Tuesday, 7 February 2012
We landed at KLIA at 1.40 pm. I got my bag at 2.16 pm and sprinted to catch the 2.20 pm train back to KL Sentral. I reached home at 3.30 pm and was finished with unpacking and cleaning the kitchen by 5. Having arrived from long-haul flights in the afternoon for the second time now, I now prefer it to arriving in the morning as I don’t suffer from jetlag as bad as a morning arrival. Alhamdulillah.
~~~~~~~~
I love Iceland. There’s no traffic jam, hence no pollution. You’re always surrounded by a mountain or a river or a glacier which means the air is so pure. You can even drink water straight off the tap; in fact, one of our guides said the tap water is purer than bottled water! I would love to return again, yes, I highly recommend this destination. Go, before everyone else descends on it, before it’s spoiled, before it’s ruined.
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