Iceland, Geymur

Before heading out for the day, I fueled up on skyr. It's actually a soft cheese, but basically, it's yogurt. The texture was so creamy! I love it more than Greek yogurt.

The day was off to a good start with stops along the way to check out nature.

This would be the beginning of the hike before I died! We hiked to Glymur which is Iceland's tallest waterfall with a 643 foot drop. It was over 6 miles hiking roundtrip.

 

The hike was labeled "demanding". It consisted of several vertical climbs, CROSSING A RIVER, and squatting through a cave. We had some drizzle along the way which made for a few fuzzy spots on my camera :(

On the way back from the hike, we saw some gorgeous Icelandic horses. Look at that hair! It blew in the wind so beautifully... I'm rather jealous. I'd like to come back in my next life as one of these things.

Selfie time!

 

 

We stopped by the Hraunfossar waterfall which is believed to have been formed around 800 AD.

Then it was time for some food. We stopped into a little roadside restaurant and I got a hotdog! If it ain't Icelandic, I ain't eating it! The hot dog contains lamb which makes it unique from any other hot dog I've had. It had fried onions, remoulade, and sweet brown mustard. So amazing!

I wanted to try some candy for dessert. Icelandic people love their licorice. I am not the biggest fan of licorice, but I gave it a go.

Draumur was two strips of black licorice coated in chocolate, Rís was awesome! It was like puffs of Captain Crunch cereal covered in chocolate. Hraun was also very tasty and wafery like a Kit-Kat.


Oh Iceland, so mysterious.

We stayed at a place with a black sand beach in the backyard. It was the coolest thing!... Second to the water temperature.

 

 

Then I came upon some Ice.. can you believe?!

 

Velkomið to Iceland!

Have you ever wanted to go to Iceland so badly, and then you get the opportunity to go, and your flight is delayed for an hour, but you don't even care because you're going to Iceland, and then you finally land in Iceland, and you're like... "This is it. This is where I'm meant to be", and then you walk through the airport and spot countless tall, blonde, beautiful Scandinavian fellas, and you're like "Oh my gosh I have hit the jackpot", and then you walk outside of the airport, and you're like...

...Oh.

So we had a bit of a monsoon meet us in Iceland, but it was the best monsoon I've been in! Whipping winds and drizzle in all directions! GOOOOOD AFTERNOON!

We got all checked in to our first stop in Reykjavík (ray-kyuh-veek), which is the capital of Iceland. Under 150,000 people live there!

We walked around downtown Reykjavík and I had my eyes open for all the sights I've been dreaming about.

 

This is the inside of the church, Hallgrímskirkja (the very first picture is the outside of the church). It is the largest church in Iceland standing at almost 240 feet tall.

It's such an amazing feeling to see something in real life instead of just pictures.

 

 

I bought a beautiful hand knitted lopapeysa, which is a traditional Icelandic sweater. It was over 21,000 krónur which made my lungs collapse, but a coke is around 300 krónur so it's no big deal. They just use bigger bills here!

After walking around, I was determined to find authentic Icelandic food. AND I DID!!!

This here is a nice bowl of Kjötsúpa which is lamb soup with root vegetables. It was so tasty. But the real winner was the rye bread, rúgbrauð. I read all about the bread! Honestly, it was the most delicious piece of bread I've ever eaten. The texture was kind of dense, and there was a hint of sweetness to it as well... maybe some molasses is in there. Absolutely wonderful smeared with Icelandic butter.

It's official. I fit in. I'm pale, and I love the food. I have spent less than a day here and I am ready to book my next trip.

Lets learn some íslensku shall we? The first word I wanted to learn was thanks, as a southern belle should. Thanks in Icelandic is takk. You say it more like "tahk"! When somebody brings you some rye bread you say TAKK!!!!!

P.S. I've actually had the courage to say takk when I'm checking out and it's super exciting and usually I receive "you're welcome" in Icelandic but I haven't learned that word yet, but it's still really exciting.

Villers Abbey

Saturday we took a little drive over to Villers Abbey for a browse about.

This place was founded in 1146, and was home to monks. They had a garden, prayer areas, and even prisons. Monks... Stay out of trouble!

 It just so happens that we went on the perfect day! There was a beer tasting going on, so we went to check it out. I tried a beer called Pink Killer which is a grapefruit flavored beer and it is the first beer I've enjoyed! Plus it's pink.

 

People would come around with little nibbles of petite quiches, and toasted baguettes with saucisson et fromage. Talk about tay-stay.

 

It was a really fun day. High-five to Mike who snuck out with a beer glass... I'm going to bring it home!

 

Hi from Hallerbos

Bojour from Belgium!

But actually, Goeiendag from the Flemish side of Belgium!

Did you know that Belgium is divided into a Flemish-speaking area, as well as a French-speaking area? I wasn't aware! The 1/37 of my brain that knows French was thinking, Why are all of these streets written in "HoogenFloogen"?! But now it all makes sense!

In other news, I'm eating a chocolate croissant.

Today, which is my "real" first day in Belgium, has been spectacular so far! It started out with the most beautiful cup of Community Coffee for a taste of home, mixed with a sausage roll from Belgium. Can you feel the pounds packing on? Me too...

After Steffy-poo and I got ready, we headed to Hallerbos, which is "The Blue Forest."

 

To all the Twilight enthusiasts... I know what you're thinking!

 

I love sunshine glitter!

Unfortunately my arrival was not in time for the fullest bloom of the bluebells, but look at the cutie above!

There was a really big windstorm that uprooted some gigantic trees. The fallen trees get cut into fire wood for the community to buy!

Do you need just one more taste of HoogenFloogen? OH, STOP IT! You're silly.

No really.

Now I'm off to meet more people and Joe is cooking shrimp creole! Again... I feel the pounds coming... Maybe I can exchange them in England for some dollars :)