Sticky Apple Kisses

The wind is literally battering at the doors here in this place! We are next to the ocean and it is literally letting us know that we are small and feeble in comparison to it! The thing is I was always aware of such things and I did not need reminding!

Where are the days of this:

Cross your fingers for us that the weather is better tomorrow!

When we pulled into a gas station the other day we noticed that in the corner was a woman using the fruit machines, so gambling is alive and well in Iceland as well. But more than public venues it is increasingly becoming so that online casinos are where people are choosing to gamble.

The thing is, if gambling is illegal in your jurisdiction or area that you live, online gambling is also illegal. There is just no avoiding that. But if it is legal then there are online gambling portals that help you find reputable online gambling venues.

I myself just never got into the whole gambling thing. I don’t even like playing Poker, and the slots are something that I find not exciting but rather a boring drain. Although I have a lot of friends who see it as an exciting form of entertainment, and they seem to accept that the money they spend on gambling is the same for them as drinking and dancing. In other words, something that is fun for them, but when the money is gone it is gone, but they see it as the same type of loss as a couple of drinks on the dance floor. Both places you give out cash for something that may or may not last past that night.

Both, when done in moderation are ok, both when done in excess signal a larger problem.

I am a big fan of how friendly Icelanders are, especially in direct contrast to the tourists. You can be in the middle of nowhere, run into another tourist, and if you are lucky you get a snarl. Otherwise they just stomp right pass you. Gack.

However the Icelanders, or those people who live here, (like a Polish doctor we met, who answered a call he found in health care job listings to work here for a short time and has not left years later) are a wealth of smiles and friendly information, they can not do enough to help you.

Then why are the tourists so mean???? Not all of course, but A LOT.

I was hoping to get all my pictures from the last 2 weeks uploaded, including of the 3 waterfalls we have been to (not counting the countless mini ones we come across) but the internet is behaving super slow, and I doubt I will even get up to number 2 uploaded before we leave! Either way, enjoy a pic, and know that more on the way!

It really is beautiful here, even when the sun is hiding, but it is amazing what a difference that makes in regards to the pictures themselves!

Moody waterfall in Iceland:

Tomorrow we head towards what is known in Iceland as the golden circle, or a collection of tourist sites that no tourist in Iceland should miss, namely Geyser, Pingvellir, and the waterfall known as Gullfloss. We spent the day in Reykjavik, and except for making me a little homesick (it reminded me a lot of home!) the entire trip has been amazing. But I am starting to miss bed mattresses! Our Iceland camping card has meant that outside of the 100 Euros we paid for it we have not had to pay for accommodation since, and camping in Iceland means some very nice sites indeed. But sometimes a bed would be nice! But then I think of this and I think I can wait another 3 weeks for my bed!:

Cave hot springs:

and camping spots in Iceland:

Bit when I do get home Im spending an entire weekend in bed!

So up until last week when we entered the West fjords we have had no problems whatsoever finding internet or internet connections for free, they were everywhere including our campsites. A whole week in the west fjords however meant no internet, and that may have made us a little twitchy. SO much so that I am now sitting outside a museum in the rain to use their internet…

Iceland continues to astound me. On the one hand its natural beauty is what does it, on the other its the fact that this island is the only other one outside of Newfoundland where it can be sunny, rainy, hot and cold all at the same time (hot temperature but cold winds while being rained on while the sun beats down upon you!). Really unbelievable!

But I was hoping to do some Christmas shopping here, but seeing the prices I am thinking people need to accept German chocolate instead. And since my father loves cigars, maybe a more Cuban themed Christmas gift is in order!

I know that digital cameras slightly adjust the colors. But seriously, here there are 2 colors, cold and gray, or stunningly wonderful. Iceland looks like mother nature photoshop project whenever the sun comes out.

One of the reasons why we always try to take trips where time is not really a pressure is not just because we do not want to rush, which is of course a factor! But also because we like to be able to say that we like a place and we want some downtime. This is our vacation, and we want to be able to say when we get back that we do not want a vacation from our vacation!

At the moment however we are glad we have the extra time because it means that we have time to replace the tires that blew! (Yup, both bikes picked up nails in their back tires, total bad luck, but that is where lots of time comes into play!)

This means we can also upload new pics, the sad part is that our camera was not in top form when we went to Kverkfjöll. Maybe because it was rainy, but then the camera refused to work at all, and then only in fits and starts, so even with the cloudy weather, we really missed out on some awesome shots!

Then is the time you really wish you had buy.com coupons that you can use to purchase brand name camera equipment at a discounted rate! Iceland is not a cheap country!!!! Trust us, it costs 10 Euros for a burger, and that is the “cheap” food! Electronics, SOB! Now that everything is dried out its working again, but really, back up your back ups before coming, its cheaper in the long run!

Literally no where Iceland! We spent 2 days in the interior, and now we are staying at this camp site: http://www.fjalladyrd.is/, there is a rainbow outside, its warm inside, and after 2 days of wild camping and riding to Kverkfjöll and back, well, let us just that this now looks like a puddle to me:

and I laugh at that fact that on the first day here I thought it was worth photographing!