365-4 | Peaches Prattlings

{November 10, 2016} Day 4…Iceland… Waterfalls, waterfalls, more waterfalls and puffins, oh my!

Today was a day of discovery. What would we discover on our travels?

We started off by picking Victor’s brain on where to go and what to see when we go south. First, picked up a rental car, ahh…five speed, I’ve missed you. We headed south towards the city of Vik.

Our first stop, Hveragerði, the surrounding area is part of the Hengillcentral volcano, and is geothermally active and experiences very frequent (usually minor) earthquakes. The town is known for its greenhouses, which are heated by hot water from volcanic hot springs.

We were trying to find the thermal pools, turns out you can only get to them on a hike up the mountain with a guide. So, we took a nice little stroll around the block and down Mud Alley.

Back in the car for our next port of call was to be a town known for its greenhouses and tomatoes, our gps got a little confused and we missed the turn. Not to worry friends, our next stop made up for it.

Seljalandsfoss, an amazing waterfall. Seljalandsfoss is one of the best known waterfalls in Iceland. The waterfall is one of the most popular waterfalls and natural wonders in Iceland. The waterfall drops 60 m (197 ft) and is part of the Seljalands River that has its origin in the volcano glacier Eyjafjallajökull. One of the interesting things about this waterfall is that visitors can walk behind it into a small cave.
It was amazing and breathtaking and inspirational and awesome and… we walked up and around the back of the waterfall, looked through it, felt the awesome power behind it.

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After our tour of the waterfall, we strolled down to the next one. This one was in a cave, PSM braved it and walked through the cave. The photos are fuzzy due to the water spraying on my phone.

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It was a lovely stop, so powerful, a perfect reason to stop.

We got back into the car to look at the black lake and then on to our next place of awe and wonder, Skógafoss.

Skógafoss (pronounced [ˈskou.aˌfɔs]) is a waterfall situated on the Skógá River in the south of Iceland at the cliffs of the former coastline. After the coastline had receded seaward (it is now at a distance of about 5 kilometres (3.1 miles) from Skógar), the former sea cliffs remained, parallel to the coast over hundreds of kilometres, creating together with some mountains a clear border between the coastal lowlands and the Highlands of Iceland.

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Was that amazing or what?!

One of the main reasons for coming to Iceland, which I just found out, was PSM wanted to find Opus, and all his puffin friends. Alas, as it turns out, the puffins have all migrated for the winter, apparently we need to go to Ireland..sounds good to me!

We still went up, drove the very curvy road until we reached the pinnacle. oh my word! The view, the splendor, the black sand beach below, the cliff, the arch, the bluffs.

When we had our full, if that’s even possible, we drove back down the mountain, into the town of Vik and found a place to stay and then in search of food. We found a nice, homey place to eat some dinner, it was definitely cozy and popular.

Now, at the hotel, warm and cozy and ready for what awaits us tomorrow!

{November 9, 2016} Day 3…Iceland… The Blue Lagoon!

What do you do in Iceland? Lots of stuff, but today… The Blue Lagoon!

Our reservation for The Blue Lagoon was for 1pm, we got up leisurely and moved from the air bnb to hotel, I’ll tell you about the hotel later, yum!

We went to breakfast at a fun place called The Laundromat, good breakfast, fun atmosphere and decoration. And the sun peaked through! Even a rainbow on the walk back, stunning. What an amazing and beautiful city.

We got our stuff together and waited for the bus. The bus that took us to the bus station for another bus, go figure. We drove about 45 minutes to our destination.

The Blue Lagoon (Icelandic: Bláa lónið) geothermal spa is one of the most visited attractions in Iceland. The spa is located in a lava field in Grindavík on the Reykjanes Peninsula, southwestern Iceland.
We got checked in, received our towels and wristbands. The wristbands were cool, all charges would go to it, instead of having to carry money or a wallet and when you hold it over the sensor it locks and unlocks a locker in the dressing room.

We met outside changing rooms, hung up or towels and stepped into the warm water. After a bit we waded over to the bar and applied silica masks and later algae masks, smoothing the skin and supposedly make your skin look 10 years younger.

We spent a few hours enjoying the lagoon, the sauna and waterfall. Then took showers and went to dinner in a wide open room with windows looking out onto the lagoon. We dined on reindeer, celery root and poached pears.

Then it was time to head back to town, drinks and pots of tea until it was time to head to our room and plan our next adventure!

Keep you posted!

{November 8, 2016} Day 2 Iceland…Let’s go see… stuff

Is it wrong to set your alarm on vacation? not if you’re going to see the geysir from which all geysers are named!

The sun doesn’t rise until 9am in Iceland during this time of the year, a little unsettling, like going to work while it’s still dark.

We took a bus to another bus, which was our tour bus for the day. It was a nice coach with charging ports at each seat and, very clever, each passenger gets a tablet withmultiple language options. the tables are connected to the bus’ gps so that it played information about certain areas while we were passing.

The guide was decent, bad jokes and all. I’ll tell you one later. The guide was Icelandic and the driver Polish, interesting combination.

The first stop was,Þingvallavatn, anglicised as Thingvallavatn, the largest natural lake in Iceland. The cracks and faults around it, of which the Almannagjá ravine is the largest, is where the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates meet. So, as our guide said, we drove from America to Europe! Who knew you could do that?

The wind…that was something!

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The next stop was Lögberg, or Law Rock, was a rocky outcrop in south west Iceland, at the location for the assembly of the country’s Althing parliament.

The exact location of the Lögberg is unknown, because of the changing geography of the rift valley over 1000 years.

This was also one of Iceland UNESCO sites, beautiful. Interestingly enough, this was also the site of the death pools, where people would be put to death for committing what would have been considered a crime at the time.

Back on the bus to our third stop, to see the grandaddy of all geysers.

Geysir (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈgeːisɪr̥]), sometimes known as The Great Geysir, is a geyser in southwestern Iceland. It was the first geyser described in a printed source and the first known to modern Europeans.

It erupts every seven minutes, we weren’t sure if we’d catch it! ha ha

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Then, there were the mini or little “Litli Geysir” continously bubbling.

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How do you top that? With an amazing and spectacular waterfall!

Gullfoss (“Golden Falls”;
Icelandic pronunciation ) is a waterfall located in the canyon of the Hvítá river in southwest Iceland.

The waterfall is attached to the legend of Sigríður Tómasdóttir. She was the daughter of Tómas Tómasson, was determined to preserve the waterfall’s condition and even threatened to throw herself down. She is considered one of Iceland first environmentalists.

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After the waterfall, we went into the shop/restaurant for lunch. Winner for PSM, I’ll be looking for food when wet get back to Reykjavik! the vanilla muffin I did have was great!

Back to the bus for our next stop, Bláskógabyggð. Bláskógabyggð is a municipality located in western Iceland. Its major settlements are Laugarás and Laugarvatn. The municipality was formed in 2002 after the merger of Laugardalshreppur, Biskupstungnahreppur and Þingvallahreppur.

This was a cool site as there was a staircase built into the side of the waterfall for the trout to swim upstream.

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Our last stop was a volcanic crater lake. Kerið (occasionally Anglicized as Kerith or Kerid) is a volcanic crater lake located in the Grímsnes area in south Iceland, on the popular tourist route known as the Golden Circle.
This was an amazing site, the color of the water, the depth of the crater, what Mother Nature can do!

Back to Reykjavik in search of food, drink, conversation and good times.

The most interesting…the fermented shark bites. This happens to be a traditional Icelandic thing…we asked our server how this came about and it’s the older generation that started it and has kept it going. Think about something your grandparents do and you think is gross…there you go!
After the nasty shark bites, which was accompanied by Brennivin, “the black death” schnapps, we went in search of dinner and I was in the mood for soup, rain and cold will do that to you, we found a Vietnamese restaurant with vegan soup! whew! it was great and just what I needed/wanted!

We walked in the rain a bit more and headed back to the bnb to crash. Amazingly, we were still sleepy after having fallen asleep almost every time we were on the bus! it was so warm and cozy, how could we not!

Tomorrow…more adventure!

{November 7, 2016} Welcome to Iceland! Day one

We’re in Iceland! Can you believe it!

We arrived in Iceland at 445am local time, 1045pm for those of you on the east coast. We grabbed a bus to the bus station in Reykjavik, stored our bags since we wouldn’t be able to get into our air bnb until about noon. We walked to the city center and found the Hilton and had a sit down, coffee, tea and bagels. things don’t start waking up until about 9am.

It was nice and relaxing, I know I dozed off for a minute while PSM booked some excursions for us for the next few days. can’t wait!
About 930 we headed out to first tour the Hallgrimskirkja church, an amazing structure that is at the heart of the city. it was founded in 1945 and consecrated in 1986. It really is an impressive monument, high ceilings, massive organ and pipes, very little stain glass, just take it all in.

We took the elevator up the to eighth floor and then climbed the rest of the way to the top of the tower for the beautiful view.

We then headed outside and waited for the hop on/hop off bus, it was about an hour around the city and let’s just day, we couldn’t see much since the windows were wet from the rain and our eyes kept closing! The scenery was great in between our little cat naps!

We hopped off the bus at the bus station, collected our bags, hopped in a taxi and went to the bnb. It’s cozy and small, two beds, a bathroom and teeny kitchenette, what more do we need? The beds looked so inviting, we decided to try them out, I think it was a wise decision!

We napped for about two hours, ahhhh…

Then it was time to head out for more adventure and eventually, some food. we walked along the water, met some water fowl along the way and admired the charm of the city.

We stopped for a pastry, tea and coffee and a chat, then looked for the Viking ship we saw on the bus, that was one thing we remembered!

Kept walking and found some night life, well the beginning of the nightlife. A lot more people on the streets, the rain didn’t stop us or anyone else!

We stopped in Koffin, PSM’s first beer of the trip, I had some tea with fresh mint leaves, yum. It was nice just relaxing in the bar and talking and being together. One of my favorite things about Europe traveling out of the country is that I can go into a pub and get a pot of tea!

We got a recommendation for the Islenki Barinn for dinner. We started with cod skin chips, exactly what it sounds like… they took the skin from a cod fish and fried them and yes, as my friend KC said… like pork rinds, it was an experience, one I probably won’t be having again. Then it was fish and chips, I went all out and now I’m good.

Well, I went all out one last time, we found a French restaurant for dessert, I thought they had crepes, rice pudding it was. Let’s just say… not happening again! but it was good!!

It was raining pretty hard and we were a bit zoned, taxi back to the bnb, we probably should have walked, the driver’s gps had finding the place!

We are now settled in, warm, dry and toasty , what adventures await us tomorrow? I’ll keep you posted!

{November 6, 2016} Vacation!!! We’re going to…

Iceland!

I have been promising to tell you where for a few weeks now and now you know!

Iceland has been on our bucket lists for years and last year while we were in Nova Scotia, I asked PSM where he wanted to go for his birthday next year, his answer, without hesitation…Iceland! Done!

The only drawback, since he moved to Hawaii in January, not as easy to get to from Hawaii. We postponed our big trip to the fall, worked it with Thanksgiving, perfect!

We are on WOW Air, $99 one way, can you beat that?! and as of this moment, we have our flight there and a place to stay for the first two nights. Sounds just like us!
We have a list of suggestions from people, apps download and the travel spirit. What more do we need? Oh, and PSM started with his traditional bloody mary.

The plane is pink and flight attendants match and aren’t the seats inviting?

Keep watching, you know I’ll be posting every day our adventures! see you in a few hours!!

{November 5, 2016} A first meeting and a wedding!

What a day! Let me tell you about it!

First thing, well, laundry doesn’t count so forget that! But a grandson and a wedding does!

I met my grandson!!!! I drove out to see TYL and my almost one month old grandson, CDL! Oh friends, I wish I could share his photo, but aren’t those teeny little feet the best?!

He was dozing when I got there, so i just stared at him for a while, touching his feet, legs, head, oh that full head of hair!! as he was waking up, it was time to eat so I help him while TYL went to get his bottle. Then I got to feed him, the boy can eat! then some burping, more snuggling, talking. oh, we talked , about what the world has to offer, the places we’ll go, the trips we’ll take. what fun we’ll have!

I was there for a few hours, we went through two diaper changes and one and a half bottles and good conversation, memories and good family time. JL, TYL’s husband, came in at some point, we caught up and then he was outside working on Granny’s car, he’s a good kid.

It was finally time to leave, sigh, and on my way out I got to meet Granny and her sister, lovely people.

Next… I have a feeling you won’t be surprised that I changed into my dress for the wedding while I was driving!

I made it to the wedding, whew! I went in and found friends! RJS has invited and included me in many celebrations with her friends and family that I know quote a few of them, so this was even more special.

This day was 15 years in the making. when I met RJS on a project they had been together about 7 years and here we are 8 years later.

The entire wedding took place at The Variety Works, with a wonderful open barn feel, exposed beams, high rafters, rustic light fixtures and chandeliers. We were on the first level for the ceremony and reception. The tables were already set on the outside of the room, the center had the chairs set up with the aisle down the middle.

When we arrived, we were escorted by RJS’ nephews to our seats along with handing us a packet of tissues! they look so handsome, the boys, not the tissues! I saw her brother, JS, and he looked so very happy, it was nice to catch up with him before the ceremony. He is the reason RJS was working where we met, so I’ve known him just as long, wow.

The ceremony began and oh my, she looked just like she felt, a princess. Her dress was beautiful, hair perfect, the bejelewed earrings and headband sparkled almost as much as she did. And the pop of red of her shoes, loved it! KS looked so handsome in his suit and maroon bow tie and when he saw her, sigh.

The ceremony was brief but sweet, meaningful and full of so much joy, not just from the bride and groom, but from everyone in the room. One of my favorite parts was when the minister asked if they would take each other and would we, the friends and family, support them in their choice to join their lives forever. We all replied with a resounding “We will!”

After the ceremony the happy couple and the family went outside for photos while the guests had drinks and hors d’oeuvres. More catching up with friends old and making new ones, RJS has a way of bringing the most wonderful people together.

There was eating, drinking, dancing, laughing, glass clinking for kisses from the bride and groom. There were 45 guests, a perfect number to have a crowd and be intimate at the same time.

As we left, on the table were keychains with glass beads that RJS had made for everyone. Beautiful.

I’m so very honored that I was included in this very special day, I would not have missed it for the world. I wish you so much happiness and Mazel for your lives together. Congratulations RJS and KS, I love you both!

{November 4, 2016} Seriously? Oh Delta…

Terrific, now what?

I checked two bags, left Springfield and got on the jet plane. I’ve got two bags again, one for work and one for our trip, wasn’t sure when I’d get home again.

When I picked up my bag from the carousel, which changed and no one told us…the zipper was ripped, really? so I call Delta, they send me back into the terminal to the baggage office.

After a long back and forth, my choices are get it fixed myself and submit the receipt or send my bag in to be repaired, um, what should I use as a bag?

They ended up giving me a bag, I divided my stuff between the two bags and got a label to send the broken bag to UPS.

How/where do I turn the bag back in? I’m here for about 36 hours, then I fly back to Boston for a few hours then vacation. not coming back here until Christmas. finally said I could drop it off at a Delta counter somewhere. Ok..I wonder how long all this will take.

At least they’re doing something about it and not just saying “sorry”.

{November 4, 2016} AirBnB.. I’m in!

I booked my first air bnb for our trip!

Nope, not telling you where we’re going just yet, you’ll find out soon enough!

We were looking at hotels on different sites, including Hilton and then I got an email from Delta about air bnb, I could get sky miles, bonus, let’s check it out!

I have heard about air bnbs from a few different people, even some friends who advertise their own places as an air bnb.

I looked at a few with PSM on the phone and we discussed. We decided on one that had quite a few good reviews and we only booked for 2 nights. Let’s see how we like it and go from there.

Cross this off the list of new things to try. Who knows, maybe some day I’ll have a place I can turn into an air bnb.

Adventure awaits!

{November 3, 2016} O M G… CUBS WIN!!!

Congratulations to the Chicago Cubs!

The steak is over! 108 years since they won the World Series and tonight they did it!

I’m not a sports fan, as you know, but I have enjoyed going to sporting events. The crowd, the excitement, the energy. when it comes to the championship, I’m all about watching a game or two, and that’s what I’ve been doing during the World Series, Chicago Cubs vs Cleveland Indians.

It was down to the wire! 3- 0, 6- 3, 6- 6 bottom of the 9th, 10th inning… Cubs pull it out, 8- 6! Cubs win!

It’s fun to be in the city, let alone state where the team wins the race! Chicago needed this, one hundred and eight years.

No words… well, two words…

GO CUBS!!

{November 2, 2016} A perfect fortune

Tonight I was feeling like a Chinese takeaway for dinner.

The food was alright, the fortune…well that was pure perfection and just what I needed to hear/read.

“Long life with blessings of family & friends is yours”

I am truly lucky in my life with the family and friends who have come into my life and remained.

I am an aunt to so many amazing children, my sisters children and my amazing friends who have given me the honorary title. I am a grandmother! to six fabulous children, I can’t tell you what that means to me, maybe you have an idea…

My close friends, who I call family, luckily accept me for who I am, faults and all.

My immediate family and our friends, who are like extended family. I have moms, dads, sisters, brothers, could I be any luckier?

And most recently… PSM and his friends and family have taken me in as one of their own.

Could you burst from so much love, family, friends and awesomeness! I might!

So…fortune accurate? I would say so. I love you all!

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