waaaay cool Anx! thanks for posting your pics and stories

DAYS 3 and 4

Not a whole lot to report here. We spent the day hungover and in recovery from our evening of drunken Black Death swilling.

We went into town in search of a good ol' carb-packed greasy American breakfast, and finally came across a hipster hangout that served omelettes and "American-style pancakes". The food took forever and the restaurant was so cold that we had to keep our coats and hats on, but as many of you know, nothing can come between a hungover person and a nice, big, fat breakfast. Plus they were playing lots of Beatles and Beck music, so it was pleasant enough I guess. Icelanders aren't big on extravagent breakfasts, so I was told...so we were lucky to get any kind of omelette/pancake action at all.

I left my camera at the party, so no pics of this day (which, given the way we looked that day, is probably for the best ).

Spent the day lazing in our hotel rooms, drinking lots of water and listening to our music purchases from the day before. We had yummy Thai food for dinner and then hauled it to bed early.

The next day we went to the Blue Lagoon Health Spa, which is famous for its enormous geothermal pool. Even though it was a sunny day, it felt a little insane to be running around outside in 25 degree weather in nothing but swim trunks. It became far less insane when we got in the water, which was super warm - almost scalding hot in some areas of the pool - and extremely relaxing.

I didn't take this picture, but this is what Blue Lagoon looks like:



Endo had his camera with him that day, so hopefully he'll share some pics of us cavorting in the arctic sun.

I am amazed to say that we got some color at Blue Lagoon. That's right...we got Icelandic tans!

The place was amazing. They had troughs of silica mud that you could put on your face for mud masks, and parts of the pool had mud on the floor so you could massage your feet. There was a manmade waterfall you could stand under for a nice back massage, and it felt like thousands of tiny little fists pummelling all the knots out of my shoulders. It was better than any human massage I've ever had.

We had lunch at Blue Lagoon, then headed back for the hotel where I was reunited with my camera (thanks, guys!). Then we ATTEMPTED a late night tour to attempt a peek at the Northern Lights, but it was cancelled due to crappy weather. Ah well. It just gave us all the more time to rest up for our big shopping day, which would begin with a more detailed return trip to the Hallgrímskirkja:

Anx said:

Oh wow!

I am glad you guys had such an amazing trip

This is so beautiful! I cant wait to see and hear the rest!

Good GAWD Anx is hot.

No



Really!

Muse2NOPharaoh said:

You would have LOVED Blue Lagoon, though I'm not sure the kids at the party would have survived if you were there to start up a Hickory Dickory session.

This thread is like an emotional roller coaster for me. I've laughed, I've cried, I've gotten angry, all in a matter of days.

More pics from inside and outside the Hallgrímskirkja:

The pipe organ was playing while we were inside, and it was quite amazing...


We went to the top of the tower and saw the bells, which fortunately did not go off while we were up there. The wind in the belfry was insane enough...


Pretty church stuff:






This is probably my favorite of all the pictures I took in Iceland. It's a statue outside the church dedicated to Leif Ericksson:


Here's what the back of the statue says:

Icelandic folks and their obsession with Willie Nelson

Imago said:

Anx said:

That's my hint to shut up.

Anx said:

We have Lief Erickson park here in Duluth and a replica of his ship. It's a beautiful park right on Lake Superior along the Lakewalk.

Awesome awesome pics!!

As I wade thru 300 digital images I have a new found respect for the Muse's quick turn around in foto documenting the invasions.

I promise I will soon get thru my fotos so Anx or I can fill in the gaps when his camera was errr not with us.

But until then, here's a teaser. As requested Anx in the Blue Lagoon:

endorphin74 said:

Stuning!

Anx said:

Yes, It does strike me....

I think the session could be tailored for the initiate!

endorphin74 said:

awww

Anx said:

That is prize-worthy!

endorphin74 said:

I LOVE THIS PIC. At first all I could see was ANX's silhouette and then all of a sudden the person in the background starts coming into view. I can't wait for the rest.

M.

Imago said:

His eyes, readiating a blissful "Yes Master, Please!"

I love ALL of the pics. I love the joy that jumps off the pages.

endorphin74 said:

Ahemmm...

See, Muse, sleeping on the cough, while Herman uploads picture, after picture, while brandishing his cam....

I amsure she has minions ALL over the world. Learn to dominate, Endo. And that Anx in the hot spring pic is probably the BEST Org pic I have ever seen and when he is 85 and showing it to his grand children, he will call you from Miami and tell you "Remember that, You old wanka? That moment is a still in time."

DAY 5

...crap, now I have to follow Darin's Blue Lagoon shot and my pics are getting lamer and lamer.

Ok, well, we started our 5th day by going to the church (see above) and taking an elevator to the top to see the bells and look at Reykjavik from a bird's eye view. Then we headed back downstairs and explored the chapel, which was absolutely gorgeous - with one of the most stunning pipe organs I've ever seen in person. Really beautiful church, inside and out.

Ok, but enough of this beautiful church crap, IT'S TIME TO SHOP!!!

During our entire trip, we'd been trying to access ONE shop in specific, which seemed to NEVER be open, and which was taunting us with a shop window promising the KOOLEST T-SHIRTS EVER. Today, we decided we would do whatever we had to do to get into that damn store, even if it meant dressing like ninjas and stuffing ourselves through an air duct.

FORTUNATELY, it was open!



The place is called OSSOMA, and it specializes in a bunch of t-shirts, hoodies, jackets, etc. with their signature sheep character. Everything was just freakin' CUTE. I wanted to put the whole store in my bag. I wound up getting three t-shirts, which probably cost me as much as a month's groceries. Oh well - TRA LA LA!

Then we went back to Bad Taste so I could buy the fancy book I'd been drooling over all during the first half of my trip. While we were there, we posed for these jankity photos under a big Sigur Ros metal sculpture thingie:



We also went to a very cozy Icelandic wool shop, which proclaimed to be a (the?) official hand-knitted goods store. I got some woolen gifties to take home, and I got myself a pair of wool gloves which are probably the warmest gloves I've ever owned. Thinsulate, schminsulate! We went back to this store later in the day and all got Icelandic wool sweaters like good tourists.

There was also another SUPER yummy vegetarian cafe in the area, where we had lunch. In the guides I read about Reykjavik, they were saying the city is a harsh place for vegetarians because everything is meat, meat and more meat served in meat sauce with a side of meat on a meat plate and a big glass of meat juice to wash it all down with. FEH! Between the vegan restaurants, pizza, the Indian food and the Thai food we had, we three veggie boys weren't starving!

Also during the afternoon, we went to Cafe Cozy, where I wrote all my postcards which people should be getting sometime in the next month. Cafe Cozy is the only identifiable gay ANYthing I could see in Reykjavik, and that was only because it had a modest little rainbow flag sticker on the front window. It was a cute place - a combo cafe/pub kinda thing, with a hip chick working the bar.

Then we went to 12 Tonar wrecka stow:



This is one of the coolest record shops EVER. It's not so much because of the selection, which is impressive by local standards but still kinda modest based on what my bloated Chicago wrecka stow junkie self is used to...but it was the ATMOSPHERE of the shop that blew me away. The people who worked there weren't snotty or hipper-than-thou or aloof at all. They were...holy crap...NICE!

No, I mean, they offered us coffee!

It's kind of the vibe of the place. They have a couple of little dens where you can sit, have a cup of joe, and listen to potential purchases on discmans they provide. And they're happy to chat with you about whatever you're curious about...heck, they stopped what was playing in the store to put on a CD I was asking about. Very nice folks, those 12 Tonar people.



After all the shopping, we trudged through the icky rain and hung out at the hotel for a while, till our shopping afterglow wore off, then we went to the VOLCANO SHOW, which was supposed to be a super quirky night of film and demonstration, but it just ended up being us sitting in a little screening room with a big group of kids and no ventilation, watching a one-hour nature documentary. Kind of a let-down, but it was interesting for what it was.

After the Volcano Show, we found wacky graffiti:



It was no "Pussy and Drugs", but we had to make do with what we had!

We then had very yummy Indian/Pakistani food and then we hauled it to bed for the night before our big Golden Circle tour began the next morning...

HOORAY!!!!

It looks like you had an amazing time the photos are excellent...thanks for sharing them with us!

thanks for all the glowing reviews of my foto of Anx in the lagoon! I will say, that was a fluke. But a very good fluke.

Here's another good lagoon fluke:



now, nothing else I took turned out nearly as artistic or eeire. So yeah. there ya go.

And, Anx was toad right about OSSOMA, best shop and best shirts EVER! It may be all I ever wear again

Stymie said:[quote]

MIGUELGOMEZ said:

I'm falling over too!

wow, this thread has got me jonzin' for a trip to iceland!

it's nice to see a hometown friend Endo having fun overseas, and i'm happy to see Anx anxing, and everybody having fun.

many of those pics are amazing.
the foggy silhouette ones in the water, awesome.

EskomoKisses said:

That looks like something out of a dream. Not even real. Wow!

.
[Edited 3/28/07 11:34am]

I'm SLOWLY workin it out...here's a few more from camera


as Anx noted above, when it snowed, it REALLY snowed



the blue lagoon REALLY did feel like another planet



as noted, Anx REALLY didn't like the ice



Many people asked me before the vacation "WHY ARE YOU GOING TO ICELAND IN THE WINTER?" And I have to ask "DOESN'T THIS LOOK LIKE FUN?!!"




lastly, for whatever Anx may say about Bjork, he's a FUCKING fam

neeto pictures! the bjork fam pic might have been a little poorly timed, but that's just my own schadenfraude (or however you spell it)!

one thing i forgot to do in iceland that i can't believe i spaced - i forgot to ask david and the crazy drunken icelanders how to cuss in icelandic! DAMN it!

A touch of the Robert Carlyle with the shaven head.

PREDOMINANT said:

i don't think i bruise as easily!