Hallo Fjolskyldur og Vinir
Ahoj Rodinu a Pratele’
(Hello Family & Friends in Icelandic and Czech),
This is the first dispatch from our 40 day adventure which commenced on September 11, 2018 at 3 p.m., with a 7 hour+ flight to Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, covering our time there and in Prague, Czech Republic.
We landed at 5:15 a.m. Icelandic time on the 12th, encountering a temperature of 40 degrees Fahrenheit. No sleep since Seattle left us drained and we mustered some energy at a local coffee house, awaiting 8 a.m. to be able to drop our luggage at our small lodging at Butterfly Guest House, change clothes and be at the harbor pier by 9 a.m. to be picked up for a 9 hour excursion into the Icelandic countryside. The main attraction was snorkeling in the Silfra Fissure at Thingvellir which is situated between 2 continental plates, whose fresh waters were reading 34 degrees Fahrenheit, a contrast to having snorkeled in the warm waters of the Galapagos in February.
The Gray Line Bus left promptly at 6 a.m. for the 45 minute ride into Reykjavik, experiencing the dawning of the day over the desolate landscape, watching a video depicting key attractions in Iceland, including the role of Huldufolk (Elves) in the lore of this country, where the belief in the existence of ‘hidden’ people can alter building projects to prevent damaging rocks where they are believed to live. There is a government office devoted to this! Vegetative desolation soon gave way to trees as we neared the capital. We were able to discover Café Haiti on the docks of Old Harbour on the North Atlantic Ocean, as described by our lodging’s owner, John.
We donned our down vests, woolen hats, gloves and base layers (the upscale terminology for long underwear) and boarded the Arctic Adventure van, riding with another 12 folks who had signed up for this adventure. The early morning rain had finally ceased, the sun appearing, passing by a modern Viking ship ‘skeleton’ sculpture, onto the highway and passing lava fields bearing rich green lichen dripping off the sides of the jagged rocks. Billowing spires of steam in the distance were generated from Iceland’s 2nd largest geothermal power plant for making electricity. Icelandic horses were pointed out along the way. They are pony-sized, hardy, with double layer coats to protect them from the climate. They are inbred…no ‘outside’ horses allowed on the island!
Our first ‘touristy’ stop was at Gullfoss Waterfall (one of the world’s top 10). Disembarking the bus and hiking down to the base of this amazing force of nature, with the roar and mist encircling us. We then climbed above the first major waterfall to see the beginnings of the Hvita’ (White River) path to the 32 meters of drop which occurs in 2 stages of falls. Leaving this magnificent landmark at noon, we stopped briefly to see the horses first had with Maggie feeding one. The next attraction was the Strokkur Geysir (geyser), which erupts every 6-10 minutes to heights of 50-65 feet. We saw several before moving on to the snorkeling highlight, with a rainbow following us as there had been intermittent rainfall. We arrived at 2:30 to the Thingvellir National Park’s Silfra Fissure (a rift formed between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates) and received an orientation that only served to instill dread in both of us. This feeling was only intensified after donning the insulated jump suit followed by a dry suit (the polar answer to a wet suit) that had boxy, lead-like integrated boots attached, making us appear as either the Michelin Man/Woman. The trepidation only continued, as rubber wristlets to seal water coming in from lobster/claw-like gloves were added, as well as a necklet that tightened up against our Adams apples, to avoid water penetration into our torsos and effecting a constant choking feeling. The coup-de-grace was the neoprene hood and then an explanation of how to move in the fissure, something very different than the freedom in tropical waters, adding to the emotional buildup of this “can’t-go-back-now” adventure! Maggie and I have parachuted with a static line, pushing off while standing on the wing strut of a small plane and I have bungee-jumped 150 feet into the Nanaimo River and para-sailed in the Austrian Alps (with my co-pilot Peter), but this whole experience will go down as the most fearsome for me.
We all descended to a metal platform for entry with our snorkels and masks and flippers, to engage in traversing the 300-400 meters length and 10 foot wide channel, peering down at the rock formations within these pristine waters allowing crystal clear visibility to 80 meters. There were 4 of us being guided by Alex. Without going into details of my travails (embarrassing as they were), suffice it to say that by the end (after dead-ending into a wall of rock, as I had lost sight of Alex), both Maggie and I were at a depth shallow enough to pull ourselves toward the end, as madly as we could, to end this unique experience (and live to tell about it) and exit the fissure. Maggie and I were totally exhausted now (Maggie had a brain freeze headache) having had no sleep for over 30 hours. We had a short hike before returning to Reykjavik, which, at one point, had a magnificent view of this national park.
The balance of our time in Iceland, was spent wandering around the capital, amusing ourselves at the Phallological Museum, displaying whale, bear, walrus, etc. penises in jars (photos taken but not included in this dispatch), as well as charts comparing penis sizes of various species, including Homo Sapiens. We walked to the Hallgrimskirkja Lutheran Church, a modern structure of 244 feet in height intended to resemble mountains, glaciers and trap rocks, inside sporting a massive organ (5,275 pipes). Its construction took 41 years, ending in 1986. Noting street art and harbor activities were enjoyable and easy on our bodies and we were able to re-energize ourselves for the next adventure, Prague (Praha), where we would spend 3 nights. We never did see the Northern Lights, although Maggie sent me out of our room at 2 a.m. our last night to take a peek, in my night shorts, in 40 degree temperature!
We had a 4 hour layover at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, arriving in Prague early evening at our lodging in Nove Mesto (New Town section of Praha) and quickly getting out into the nightlife, as it was a Friday and honing our map reading skills by finding the Be Bop Lobby Bar at the Radisson Blue Akron Hotel. The atmosphere was “hip”, offering alcohol beverages with a “BE” theme, e.g., “Be Refueled” and “Be Stressless”. We dined on goulash soup with potatoes and paprika and grilled goat cheese with beets and then strolled back to our abode through a seedy scene of sex-based businesses, which drew loud and drunken males by the scores, most appeared to be British and not impressing Maggie whatsoever!
Our first morning in Prague, we luxuariated in our huge 375 square feet room, eventually going downstairs for the full breakfast that came with our stay, being delighted with a young woman playing classical music on the piano…a very civil way to dine so early in the day. She would be there every morning as it turned out. Being fans of the Old Town sections of foreign cities, we targeted, Stare’ Mesto (Czech for Old Town), which is on the east side of the Vitaka River which flows through Praha. One can stroll westward over the infamous Karluv Most (Charles Bridge) into Mala’ Strana (Czech for Lesser Town…I wonder how the dwellers there feel about the name). It turns out our internal directional radar was way off, going north instead of west, but it led to discoveries that we would not have made otherwise, like the restorative work going on around the National Museum, passing by serene parks, the Jubilee (Jerusalem Synagogue), the Jewish Quarter, workers repairing the trolley system tracks with welding sparks flying around us and overhead cranes lowering equipment, etc.
Church steeples and domes of every possible configuration were everywhere and we ended up at the northern tip of Old Town and the Stefanikuv Most, where we then followed the Vitava River west and southward on the bricked path and cobblestones (real ankle twisters), passing by barges, bevies of swans atop the waters. As with most of our hikes, we started out with a purpose and destination, here, it was a 1 p.m. concert at the Lobkowiez Palace, part of the month long Dvorak Prague International Music Festival of 2018. We never did locate it, having crossed the Vitava at Manes Bridge (Manesuv Most), winding our way down toward the western end of the Charles Bridge, getting a full dose of the quaintness of Lesser Town, with its one lane narrow cobbled streets and lively outdoor cafes on a beautiful and warm sunny day. Tourists abounded, predominantly Asian, some being driven around in vintage and colorful Czech sports cars. We came across the Lennon Wall (a political and sentimental iconic symbol) and John Lennon Café. We espied a small bridge over a 30 foot wide canal, toward which we gravitated, discovering a picturesque setting at Piknik Park Restaurant, a young male soloist with guitar singing in English and Czech. After a lazy hour there, we crossed eastward over the Charles Bridge, which was jammed with Saturday tourists, selfie sticks flying in faces everywhere, a dozen young people garbed in traditional peasant clothing, singing.
Earlier this day, we had purchased tickets for a performance by a string quartet (2 violins, a viola and a cello), entitled “A. Vivaldi, The Four Seasons” and included works by Bach, Mozart, Dvorak, Ravel, Verdi and Bizet, all a part of the Dvorak Festival mentioned above. This took place at what used to be St. Michael’s Monastery (now the Baroque Library Hall), on the 3rd floor, in a room probably 800 square feet, with folding chairs, the performers raised up 2 feet from the floor on a wooden stage, playing with an energy and enthusiasm that electrified the audience of 40-50 people. Afterwards, we engaged with 2 women who happened to be from Seattle (small world!), one of whom has season tickets to Benaroya Hall (thereby having more taste than Maggie and me), who exclaimed that this performance was ‘better than Benaroya’, with the emotion and perfection of this intimate performance. We were in the 1st row and felt that we had witnessed something very special. It was only a 1 hour performance, now being 7 p.m. and we walked back toward our hotel, at the beginning of Wenceslas Square, where we met ‘Mishka’, an 11 foot tall Polar Bear with whom I was photographed kissing this big bear by Maggie to send to our grandsons, Moses & Wilds.
The next day we decided we wanted to have a different perspective of Praha, from the Vitava, so we proceeded to walk the river, looking for the perfect vessel for us, as we don’t care for large boats, masses of people, etc. but we do care about character. Lo-and-behold, we stumbled on the “Elbis”, a 27 passenger wooden vessel, which made a special stop to pick us up with their Italian party of 25. Since most of the seating was already taken up, Maggie and I sat up front in the bow section of 20 square feet, along with a portable generator, plastic container of petrol and the anchor, enjoying the privacy and breezes…not very classy and we loved it! We had an hour ride, half with the Italians in the cabin, half with a new batch of folks picked up on the banks of the Lesser Town side of the Vitava. After being dropped off near the Wenceslas Square in Old Town, we discovered the themed Alchemist Bar (“Choose Your Fate”). Drinks had names like “Chaos After Osiris” and “Death By Penicillin”. Each of these had an adjoining statement, e.g. “The Philosopher’s work do not begin Till all things be pure without and within”.
Our last supper in Praha, took place in our neighborhood at Husinec, sitting outside in what looked like a vacant lot looking up at tenement-like structures, dilapidated and cheap looking. That being said, the food was divine: pork ribs, potatoes, garlic soup and on our way back, stopping in across the street from our hotel at the Blah Blah Bar, sitting downstairs in this cellar-based establishment and its dark and cozy ambience, readying ourselves for the upcoming 2 weeks in France which will be the focus of our next dispatch.
Cheers, Stan & Maggie