Land of ice and fire
Jan. 14th, 2012 11:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
starseverywhereI've been back from Iceland now for nearly a week, and have been putting off this post as I'm really not sure how to articulate my feelings, and once it's down, it's really over.
I had such a wonderful time with the marvellous![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
emily_shore and makioka that I really didn't want to come home, and usually, however much I enjoyed myself, by the end of the trip I am ready for my own house.
Things I learned:
1) When it gets to -15C, all your fingernails will snap off at the slightest provocation
2) Grinning everytime Strokkur explodes is obligatory
3) Icelandic horses are awesome
4) Icelandic firework displays are a terrifying display of natural selection and the Darwin awards would have their work cut out for them there
5a) If you are properly dressed, then spending hours outside kneeling on snow and rock in -15C with windchill isn't a problem at all
5b) Until you take off gloves to fiddle with camera settings. Then it takes about 3 seconds to lose all sensation in your fingers
6) If you do 5a&b then people stare at you strangely
7) Jokulsarlon is the most heartrendingly beautiful place on Earth
8) Always stop to let geese cross the road
9) The Blue Lagoon is magic
10) Icelandic petrol station attendants are amazing
11) Standing at the top of a church tower just underneath the bells as they ring for the Sunday service is pretty special
12) Drinking tea at 1am and watching everyone else bar crawling is also awesome
13) Cambridge spies are in Reykjavik
14) Spending time with like-minded people and the giggling that ensues makes for a perfect trip
15) Reindeer has an unbelievably pervasive odour
16) Taking 56GB of photos in 6 days isn't really that hard
17) Iceland steals your heart.
If anyone can be bothered, I've put many of my favourite pictures up on flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/gengen/sets/72157628827699579/ with bonus horses, aurora borealis, lots of snowy landscapes and exploding jets of water.
I had such a wonderful time with the marvellous
emily_shore and makioka that I really didn't want to come home, and usually, however much I enjoyed myself, by the end of the trip I am ready for my own house. Things I learned:
1) When it gets to -15C, all your fingernails will snap off at the slightest provocation
2) Grinning everytime Strokkur explodes is obligatory
3) Icelandic horses are awesome
4) Icelandic firework displays are a terrifying display of natural selection and the Darwin awards would have their work cut out for them there
5a) If you are properly dressed, then spending hours outside kneeling on snow and rock in -15C with windchill isn't a problem at all
5b) Until you take off gloves to fiddle with camera settings. Then it takes about 3 seconds to lose all sensation in your fingers
6) If you do 5a&b then people stare at you strangely
7) Jokulsarlon is the most heartrendingly beautiful place on Earth
8) Always stop to let geese cross the road
9) The Blue Lagoon is magic
10) Icelandic petrol station attendants are amazing
11) Standing at the top of a church tower just underneath the bells as they ring for the Sunday service is pretty special
12) Drinking tea at 1am and watching everyone else bar crawling is also awesome
13) Cambridge spies are in Reykjavik
14) Spending time with like-minded people and the giggling that ensues makes for a perfect trip
15) Reindeer has an unbelievably pervasive odour
16) Taking 56GB of photos in 6 days isn't really that hard
17) Iceland steals your heart.
If anyone can be bothered, I've put many of my favourite pictures up on flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/gengen/sets/72157628827699579/ with bonus horses, aurora borealis, lots of snowy landscapes and exploding jets of water.