ICELAND SAGA: Even More Puffins!!

Even more amazing than the beach at sunset was the beach at sunrise the next morning.  We strolled along the coast at 7 a.m., seeing only one other person--and she was at the other end of the beach.

A view of the farm from the beach:

The sheep that roamed the farm.  Those ladies have the life.

This was the view from our room.

In order to leave Breidavik, we had to take a bus that only comes once on Monday, once on Wednesday, and once on Saturday (this was a Wednesday).  We were relying on the owners of the farm to call the bus driver and have him pick us up from the guesthouse.  Upon checking with the woman at the front desk the day before, we were told the bus driver had not yet answered his phone.  If he didn't pick us up we were basically stuck, so this was a bit nerve racking.  By morning the bus driver had apparently been reached, as we were told he was coming to pick us up later that day.  We waiting in the eating area, finishing up post cards and reading books over coffee and tea.  Really good coffee.

There was a refrigerator of drinks to buy, like this orange drink.

  

Joe hopes the bus comes.  Joe sees the bus.  Joe is relieved to be on the bus.

To our delight, the bus route involved going back to the bird cliffs so everyone could walk around for 90 minutes and look at the puffins before moving on to the next town.  The SEVERAL pictures are all about the puffins.  They are just cute as the dickens!

Oh, hello!  Have you been here this whole time?

Aw, nuzzling.  The third puffin looks on with approval.

Be seeing you!

Hey, wait for me!

Feeding.  Mmmm, regurgitated food...

I know this is totally gross, but I just HAD to show this.  So, to reiterate, we were on a cliff in remote Iceland.  Tourists were around, but we saw only a couple dogs, and they were small.  And there were poops this large EVERYWHERE!!  Everywhere.  WHERE did they come from??  I can't imagine it all being from dogs.  Who would bring large dogs to the top of a cliff around hundreds of adorable and vulnerable puffins?  I have no explanation.

Ok, back to the puffins.

This is my Why did I did I have the camera turned vertical?! picture.  Aaargh!!

I brought you a flower.

I brought you several flowers.

I brought YOU a bunch of flowers!

It started to rain, but this little guy decided to tough it out.

This one was not happy about the rain.  Sir, it was just sprinkling!

So, those are the puffins!  I hope it was worth the wait.  I can easily say that our two days in Breidavik spent on the farm, the beach, and with puffins were my two favorite days of the trip.  On to Isafjodur!

ICELAND SAGA: The Puffin Post!

The wait is over, and the puffins are here for the first of two puffin posts!  This post is going to be uncommonly light on words, but I've been so busy, and I feel like I've been keeping you in puffin suspense long enough.  Without any further ado, the puffins (and pictures of our trip along the way)!

On Monday morning Joe and I left the Salvation Army Guesthouse to start our trip to the Westfjords. Thanks Salvation Army Guesthouse!

Stikkisholmur: the town we traveled to by bus in order to catch a ferry to the Westfjords.

In the Westfjords, we stayed in Breidavik (that d gets a slash again, so it's pronounced "Breithavik), which consists of a working farm, the guesthouse where we stayed, and a super old church.  Behold, the entire town of Breidavik:

About 6 miles away was the town of Latrabjarg, home to Iceland's best bird cliffs, where many many puffins nest during the summer.  Look, puffins!

We saw two other species of birds at the cliffs, as well.  Is this the Common Guillemot?  I think, yes?  Or this just a gull.  Either way, look how fuzzy the babies are!

The cliffs themselves are quite spectacular to look at.  There are four tiers.  Due to time constraints, we only walked along the first.  Like an old man, my knees were really bothering me from all the walking we had done so far in the trip, so one cliff was plenty for me.

See that rectangular building?  Apparently that is Europe's western most pizza hut.  We never saw anyone walking around with slices, though, so I don't know if it's still in operation.  I don't remember what the building next to it is.  Bathroom??  Doesn't matter, because I just go in the trees.

Yes, that is a puffin behind Joe.

Yes, that is a puffin behind me.

Once we got back from the cliffs, Joe and I walked on the beach at sunset.  As you can see from the picture of Breidavik, the guesthouse is only a few hundred yards away from the beach.  Sigh, how romantic.  

The water was CHILLY!

Awwwww...

I'm the one who drew the heart.  I had no idea I could draw hearts so boxy.

We were really surprised at how big the waves got.  We figured that because we were on a small beach stuck between two fjords that the water became more intense and choppy.

Ok, these aren't that big.

That was your puffin and beach introduction.  The next post will be much more puffin heavy.  Toodle-oo!

ICELAND SAGA: Tjornin and the Metal Viking Boat

I know, I know, I'm not churning out my Iceland posts fast enough.  We got back three weeks ago and I'm only on day 4 here!

Very near our hostel was a small park featuring a man made lake called Tjornin ("tjorn" meaning "pond").

It was one of our favorite places in Reykjavik to walk around.  There were always ducks, seagulls, and geese around, and it was fun to see them go about their business.  Watching the ducks casually motor themselves around the water provided endless entertainment for us, especially when they put their heads under water to look for a snack, and their little butts popped up.  We broke into giggles as their little feet kept paddling in mid air.  It's the simple things I tell you!  The small lake is located at the edge of the city and provides a lovely view of the southern skyline.

During the afternoons at Tjornin the seagulls get quite disorderly.  We never fed them ourselves, but we did witness on more than one occasion people feeding the gulls and then trying to get up and walk away.  As they walked along the lake the seagulls followed them, flying around their heads looking for more hand outs.  I snapped a picture of a little boy and his mom unsuccessfully trying to escape.  I think a couple of the birds actually grabbed the boys' shirt.

There are just a ton of them!

A seagull and a duck are having an argument, and the duck is chasing the gull off.

This was our last day in Reykjavik before moving on to the Westfjords, so we decided to hit up the museums.  Before going to the National Gallery and the National Museum (where there were some really awesome large black and white prints of children working on fishing boats in the early 20th century), we visited the Saga Museum.  This is a fairly new museum in which there are incredibly life-like human replicas decorated to portray the history of Iceland.  Again, I didn't take pictures of these because I wouldn't hang them on my wall, and again, I'm kicking myself.  There are some pretty neat pictures here.   The building that the museum is housed in is really cool.  It's called Perlan ("The Pearl" in English).  The building is a glass dome which sits on 4 huge water heaters.

In the evening we planned on going on "The Original Haunted Walking Tour of Reykjavik," which sounds cheesy but I was totally excited about it.  Unfortunately, the guide only took cash, which we did not have, but he was NOT very nice about it and it was like $20 a person.  We've decided that the tour is a novelty scam.  Instead we went to a co-op cafe/bar where we each had a beer that tasted like a tortilla chip.  There were pig tails painted on the bathroom mirror, as shown in this totally unsuccessful photograph.  I guess I should have held the camera above my head.

Random building in Reykjavik that looks like art.   

Also that evening, we walked to the waterfront to see SunCraft, a metal sculpture of a viking ship.  Perhaps these images will better illustrate how light it stays in Iceland than the picture of the trees I peed in.  The images were snapped at 10:30 p.m.

Statue at the center of the city.

Statue down by the waterfront.  It's like the Immigrants on The Hill!

Stay tuned!  The next post to come is about puffins!