Cooper & Spicy's Kingdom : Iceland, Day Two and Three

Thursday, 14 September 2017

Iceland, Day Two and Three

Hello everyone,

It is now late afternoon and we're putting our feet up until dinner time. The past two days have been busy and wonderful. Here's a little recap.

Wednesday was our first photography tour in West Iceland, Snaefellsnes Peninsula. We got picked up at 9:15 am and off we went. The drive to the beginning of the West Coast was about two hours. Once we got there, we started touring the Peninsula, with many photographic stops along the way.

The West Coast offers, amongst other things, amazing terrain, lava fields, waterfalls and black beaches. One would think that once you've seen a waterfall, you've seen them all...not quite. Each and everyone is unique and such a natural wonder. Russell took hundreds of photos and was guided, at times, by our tour guide, a photographer himself. He gave Russell some good advice on the use of filters, lenses and aperture.

We stopped at a little road side restaurant for lunch. On the menu, Plokkfiskur, an Icelandic fish stew. Very delicious. We were able to eat outside and take in the beautiful scenery. Our weather was very good, with temperatures around 13 celsius.

Everywhere we went, the sheep were around us, in the farmers fields. Cute little creatures. We didn't see birds, which was a bit of a surprise. It looks like they may have already migrated for the season.

After a day filled with photographic moments, we stopped at another little village for dinner. The plan then was to "chase the sunset" but unfortunately, the sun didn't cooperate. Next, came the second plan of action: slowly drive back to Reykjavik to try and catch a glimpse of the Northern Lights. Our tour guide, Jon, had already picked the perfect spot to park and wait. By then, it was 10 pm. The "aurora forecast" had looked good all day...unfortunately, the Northern Lights didn't make an appearance, despite a clear sky. It's one of those things. Having said this, we saw them from our balcony on Tuesday night, not the best display, but saw them nonetheless, so below is a photo that Russell took. We hope to see them again before we leave...maybe tonight, another clear night.

So, it's been a great trip so far. No surprises and the weather has been very good. We quickly figured out the best places to eat and how to get the best value for our money. The food has been very good and the Icelandic people are very friendly.

Tomorrow, we will do like today, and continue to explore the city. It's quite easy to walk everywhere and very safe. Saturday, we have another full day tour, this time on the South Coast.

That's it for now. I include a few pics that Russell downloaded. More will be posted when we return home. I hope you enjoy them. Until my next update, have a good evening!