Last week we sent intrepid producer Vanessa White Wolf to Iceland for a slew of reports on the land that helped set the scene for the upcoming "Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D." Yes, we're jealous too.
Thursday started kind of slowly and ended up being completely incredible. We woke up early – again – and after breakfast, headed out for the Hraunfossar waterfalls and some nearby caves. We then drove on literally the bumpiest road ever, a Kaldidalur mountain road between two huge glaciers.
At one point, we heard a loud pop and could have sworn a tire just blew, but the bus kept rolling for another hour. When we pulled up to the Hotel Valhalla for lunch, the bus driver discovered that we were right – he had blown a tire. I have no idea what would have happened to us in the middle of nowhere, in between glaciers, if our bus would have broken down. It’s been an incredibly lucky week. Read more...
We've sent intrepid producer Vanessa White Wolf to Iceland this week for a slew of reports on the land that helped set the scene for the upcoming "Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D." Yes, we're jealous too.
Today was so incredible – and barely any of it was spent in Reykjavik. We left the hotel early (not until I had another helping of Skyr, obvs) and headed west for the Snaefellsness area. Our first stop was the Snorrastadir horsefarm where half the group rode Icelandic horses around the area. One of the noteworthy traits of the Icelandic horse is their ability to move each of their legs independently of each other – I didn’t see this so I’m still not sure exactly what that means. I tapped into my Native American heritage and rode a horse, but was alarmed to see the photos afterwards. Like, my helmet didn’t really fit and I was easily twice the size of my horse. I actually looked like a crazy person.
After our ride we headed inside for snacks of smoked lamb and dried fish, while we learned about Iceland’s volcanic landscape from geologist Oddur Sigurdsson. We headed out to our lunch destination, theHotel Hellnar, which features an Italian chef who was living in Scotland. After filling up, we were ready to tackle the truly breathtaking Snaefellsnes glacier. Everyone suited up in overalls and boots – and while most of the group jumped into a snowcrawler to make the trek up to the top, I was one of the few who braved it on a snowmobile. After a 20-minute ride up, at times at a 45-degree angle, we were at the very top and could look out over the land and ocean. It was unbelievable. Read more...
We've sent intrepid producer Vanessa White Wolf to Iceland this week for a slew of reports on the land that helped set the scene for the upcoming "Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D." Yes, we're jealous too.
It’s 12:30 a.m. and outside it’s barely sunset. Summers in Iceland mean almost nonstop sunshine -- which I had read about but am still totally surprised by. I'm back at the Hilton Nordica after a completely exhausting but incredible day. I can’t believe I landed in Iceland just 17 hours ago!
Those of us on the “Journey” tour quickly made friends and sped through customs and baggage together. We then met our tour guide -- and now my personal hero -- Thor. (I mean, of course he’s named Thor.) Born in Iceland, spent a decade in Denmark and then several years in Red Bank, NJ. He played keyboards in a rock band, people. He’s amazing.
Today happens to be Iceland’s Independence Day, so the streets were virtually empty -- luckily for us that meant it took no time at all to arrive at the hotel, where we checked in and gorged on the breakfast buffet. I’m now currently obsessed with this weird Icelandic yogurty thing called Skyr. After crashing for a few hours, we regrouped and headed to Iceland’s National Centre for Cultural Heritage for a quick study of ancient Icelandic manuscripts and medieval sagas -- interesting stuff, but really important to know since Icelandic history plays a huge part in “Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D.” Read more...
