Today was another adventurous day for us. We took advantage of our hotel's breakfast and then boarded the van to take us to the Reykjavik Excursions terminal, where we boarded a larger bus for our Walk on the Ice Slide tour. RE actually contracts Moutain Guides for this tour. The RE terminal is a bit chaotic because numerous small vans arrive from the various hotels, and then people are having to search for their larger bus for their given tour.
After a few minutes of riding on the bus, I started feeling nauseous. Luckily we made stop at a gas station to buy food for our lunch. I was able to walk around, and then I took some Bonine (motion sickness med). Billy and I picked up some cookies, pretzels, pepperoni, ginger ale and juice at a small grocery store across the street from the gas station. I felt somewhat better once we got back on the bus aside from the annoying French tour guide who kept pointing out random things. I guess this is why we usually don't do mass tour group outings on our trips.
We arrived at the glacier, and then we were equipped with our ice ax and crampons. We began our trek up the glacier. Of course me being the scaredy cat that I am, I started getting nervous. Luckily, one of the tour guides walked beside me and reassured me that I would be safe. She even told me that all of the stories I read about adventures gone wrong are not true...yeah right, but thanks for making me feel better. In spite of me being scared, I was amazed about the beautiful surroundings. I couldn't even imagine the blue colors formed in the glacier. As we got higher, we have a wonderful view of the ocean along the southern shore of Iceland. Billy was a ice walking champ, but he made sure to keep me close by. Once I finally got the hang of walking up the glacier it was time to go down. This is where I got nervous again, but it quickly subsided as a I watched the view and sat into my walk. I would absolutely recommend this tour even if you are nervous about heights or other issues. The experience of walking on a glacier and the views definitely outweigh the apprehension. Once again, Billy had a great time!
We headed back to the bus after taking off our gear and rinsing it in the glacial runoff. We ate some of our snacks while we waited for one of the other groups to come back to the bus. On our ride back to Reykjavik, we stopped at Skógafoss and Seljalandsfoss waterfalls. Both waterfalls are beautiful! It was beginning to get dark as we make our stops, so we quickly got on and off the bus to see these sights. I would like to have had more time at both locations, but it was great to see them nonetheless.
We arrived back in Reykjavik looking forward to the New Year's Eve celebrations. Billy and I took showers and rested for a little bit. I went to the front desk of our hotel to book the Golden Circle tour for January 1. While I was there, I asked where to find a bonfire (many Icelanders have bonfires with family and friends, and supposedly people come up and join them). The person at the front desk was not helpful because she referred me to some apartment building down the street, but I did not get any directions better than that. So Billy and I began our journey to find a restaurant to eat at. Many restaurants are closed on NYE because most people spend it at home with their family and friends. We stopped in two restaurants and were told that they did not have any openings. They did not have waiting lists either.
We finally found a restaurant that was willing to take us, Tabasco's Mexican Restaurant. We got there just in time because soon after we arrived they started turning people away even though they had open tables. It took about 15 minutes before anybody came to our table. We placed our order and began the wait for our food. It was amusing to see the number of people they turned away. I guess I would turn people away too if I was still earning my paycheck and was not going to earn tips. Yay for socialist practices at restaurants! The food was subpar, but it was something to eat. We eventually paid and left to walk around town.Billy and I walked around Reykjavik looking for the famous NYE bonfires. As we walked around, we began seeing fireworks shooting up at various locations. After not finding much action, we decided to head back tot he room. Luckily, we brought some DVDs with us. We watched a few episodes of Weeds. Around midnight, more and more fireworks began to go off. All of the fireworks are put off my individuals. We watched the show from our window. Then it was time to go to bed so we wouldn't miss our Golden Circle Tour. As we went to sleep, we heard fireworks continuing to go off.
Reviews for the DayReykjavik Excursions - Walk on the Ice Slide Tour - 3 stars for the actual tour, 5+ stars for the experience
Pros: priceless experience to walk on a glacier, views from the glacier, stops at the waterfalls
Cons: large tour group, annoying tour guide
Tabasco's - 1 star (this is being generous)
Pros: I'll get back to you when I think of some. Don't wait around
Cons: wait time, no chips & salsa even though there were some on a table just sitting there, food
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