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| Sculpture in Reykjavit Harbour |
Homeward Bound
On our way to the Keflavik International airport we stopped at the Reykjavit Cathedral. From the steeple we took photos of the city looking in 5 directions:
Some Iceland Observations:
Although there are KFCs, Taco Bells, Subways and Dominos, there is not one McDonalds in Iceland.
Everyone speaks English, most without any accent.
There are more Icelanders living in Canada than in any other country. The people we met were cordial and confident. I asked the man who set up our car and tour if there were any aboriginals in Iceland. He said he was (of Norwegian background) and there were a few descendants of the Irish that boated over in the first century. Land claims and race were not issues; the Irish and Scandinavians have assimilated well producing an amazing number of drop-dead beautiful blondes who all look to be about 19 years old.
In Iceland thermal power plants produce electricity (with a hot water by product) with no raw material cost and no pollution. Hot water is piped to every household at no cost to citizens. This low cost power is used by manufacturing plants (such as aluminum) that require a lot of electricity and thus Iceland is able to export its natural resources as aluminum (or other high energy products). Consequently education and health care are provided at no cost to the consumer. It looks like a win-win scenario beyond any possible controversy. But no! Environmentalists are concerned about the sight of high voltage power lines stretching across the vast lava fields, destroying the natural scenic view. They want no more power plants nor industry.
The North American and Eurasian tectonic plates meet (and run north/south) in Iceland forming a beautiful rift valley that moves measurably annually. So one can stand with one foot in North America and one in Europe and generally view a waterfall at the same time.
In Iceland thermal power plants produce electricity (with a hot water by product) with no raw material cost and no pollution. Hot water is piped to every household at no cost to citizens. This low cost power is used by manufacturing plants (such as aluminum) that require a lot of electricity and thus Iceland is able to export its natural resources as aluminum (or other high energy products). Consequently education and health care are provided at no cost to the consumer. It looks like a win-win scenario beyond any possible controversy. But no! Environmentalists are concerned about the sight of high voltage power lines stretching across the vast lava fields, destroying the natural scenic view. They want no more power plants nor industry.
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| Thermal Power Plant and Blue Lagoon - near Reykjavit |
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| Waterfall to the right: Europe |
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| Escarpment to the left: North America |
Before the currency collapsed in 2008-10 the exchange rate about 1500Kronas to the dollar. That rate is now 125. However, many items that were priced in 2010 still have the same price tag on today. Thus an item that once cost 35 dollars now costs over $300 - as we found out by accident.
The cheapest one-draft beer Happy Hour habit cost 1400 Kronas or about $11 Canadian and that was after the 40% Happy Hour discount.
Gasoline is only 95 octane and costs 245 Kr/liter ($1.97CDN)
The Iceland self drive tour was arranged by Kathy at Uniglobe Travel in Cranbrook: kathy@uniglobebakerstreet.com
Our Suzuki Swift was equipped with a Garmin GPS pre-set to the nine Guest Houses, B&Bs and hotels in the 9 different locations that we visited.
The travel kit included a 3g iPad loaded with videos telling about the significant sites along the way. It also included a cell phone with the phone numbers of the tour company and an emergency number. And a bunch of maps with the route well marked. A geezer-proof travel equation and, as we observed, far better than any guided bus tour.
Farewell from the Icelandair Lounge where Happy Hour started an hour ago:
Farewell from the Icelandair Lounge where Happy Hour started an hour ago:
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| Happy Hour(s) |
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