Bad idea to start posting again...

Well, I thought I'd actually start updating this again. I figured it was a great way to keep a record of what I've been up to if nothing else. And then I spent ages typing up stuff about Iceland last week, then it disappeared, never to be seen again - great! And then I typed it all again and it disappeared again! So, here goes again!Wednesday 19th April:The alarm went off at 4.15am - so not nice! The drive to the airport was uneventful - thankfully! We were met as planned by the car people and we checked our bags in and went through. The flight was more or less on time. It was only a 3 hour flight, so that was great. Once we landed in Iceland, we got the bags, collected the car (Hyundai Getz) and heaed into Reykjavik. We found our hotel, which was pretty nice - all that we needed! We had lunch in the hotel - had some lovely fish! I was determined to have some seafood whole I was there so i was pleased with myself! Then we headed out to try the swimming pools! Apparently the geothermal pools are to Icelanders what coffee shops are to Americans - they go there to meet up and have a gossip. You have to shower before entering the pool as they have a low chlorine content. There is a scary woman making sure you shower without your swimsuit on - she tells you off if you don't, as Val found out! They even have posters showing you which body parts to wash - yes really! Once that ordeal was out of the way we headed outside for our swim. It's so relaxing and you totally forget you are in an outdoor pool and it's about 3 degrees out! After a couple of hours we headed out for dinner and then had an early night - we were pooped!The view from our hotel:Thursday 20th April:Up relatively early, breakfast at the hotel, then on the road to do the Golden Circle Tour. First stop was Pingvellir - the original site of the oldest exisiting parliament in the world! It's also "lies within a belt of volcanic activity and fissures which passes across Iceland, a part of the mid-Atlantic Ridge, the junction of the American and Eurasian tectonic plates". it also has a church and a lake. We thre coins in the "wishing well" and had a nice little walk round.Pingvellir:The wishing well:The flag represents where the head of Parliament used to stand:After that we headed to the geysir area. This is where the original geysir that all geysirs were named after is. But Geysir no longer works - people used to throw things into it trying to get it to blow so now it's blocked. But there is Strokkur - a slightly smaller but still active geysir.Strokkur the geysir:Then it was on to Gullfoss - the Golden Waterfall. Absolutely amazing - the sight and sounds of it were unbelievable. I can't remember the name of this church, but it was the next stop. Apparently there is a tomb of some bishop down in the cellar, but we weren't brave enough to go down the creepy stairs!We went to a lovely little restaurant for dinner and then headed back to the hotel for the night.Friday 21st April:We were going to go snowmobiling, but we could only find trips that were all day and we didn't want to waste a whole day on one thing. So then we thought about dog sledding - but that finished the day before! So we went to the mall to see what Iceland shopping was like - pretty much the same as ours! Then we wandered down the main shopping street looking for some souvenirs before we went to the zoo. It was a tiny little place, but we got to see seals and reindeers!We had a quick walk round the botanical gardens then went to the Hallgrimskirkja Tower. We wanted to go up the tower, but it was closed as there was a funeral in the church. So we went to Cafe Paris - I got my soup free as it took so long - tomato soup with an egg in it! Weird, but nice! Then we headed out to Hafnafjorour for some horse riding! The Icelandic horses are supposed to be small - they didn't feel very small up there! It was a lovely ride though, all through the lava fields and down to the lake. We were riding for about 2 hours. We even got them going at a fair old trot!Saturday 22nd April:Breakfast at the hotel again, then drove to the Blue Lagoon. That was amazing! Had a lovely relaxing massage in the lagoon and we joined everyone else in smearing the while silica stuff over our faces - apparently it's good for the skin! The sun was out and it was quite a nice, but chilly day. Then all of a sudden there wasa huge black cloud above us, it got a bit windy, the water got choppy and the hail started. It was quite eerie, especially with all the steam fromt he water. But after about 10 minutes it passed and the sun came out again. We spent a couple of hours relaxing, before we got out, had lunch and headed back to town. The Blue Lagoon:We decided to try the tower again - and this time it was open. We had just got to the top when the bells started to ring - right above us! it was deafening! The views were amazing! Although it was a bit cold up there!The Hallgrimskirkja Tower:View from the tower:We had about an hour to kill before the footie, so we drove up the coast road a bit and found a nice little area with a beach and a lighthouse. We got out and took a few photos before heading back to town to the Sports Bar.A lighthouse we found:The football - what was Jose thinking - Geremi?! With Cole, Duff and Robben on the bench?! We were very poor in the first hald, although their goal was ridiculous! No way was that a free kick! But our wall crumbled too easily. Shame JT's goal was ruled out, but I knew it wasn't going to be our day. If only we had played the whole game like we played the last 20 minutes or so, we would have cruised into the final. So, that's one dream I won't be fulfilling this year! Ah well, there's always next year!After the football we went back to the hotel for a bit before heading out to dinner and then down to the sea road to take a few last pictures. Then it was back to the hotel for bed.A viking boat along the sea road.Sunday 23rd April:No time for breakfast at the hotel, had to get to the airport. Got there in plenty of time in the end. We bought our souvenirs, had something to eat and drink then boarded the plane. Flight was good, London rain felt warm when we got home! I was pooped by the time we got home, but had to do loads of washing and cook dinner for us, so didn't get to relax until quite late. All in all, a great few days. Would recommend Iceland to anyone - apart from the girls at work who find the office too cold and set the heating to 90 degrees!