Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Graffiti and a broken door

As planned we headed out this morning back towards Hveragerdisbar for a hike up into the hills where there is a hot spring you can take a swim in. Along the way we decided to stop at a sight seeing spot just at the crest of the hill overlooking Hveragerdisbar. It's a fantastic spot, the sun was rising, snow covered mountains in the distance, the winding road down and the village below with steam puffing from the thermal pools in the countryside

We stopped the car, pointing towards the ocean, Liz popped out and the door flew forward (looking back I should have seen this as a sign), the wind was staggering. Thinking nothing of it, I opened the door to get out and immediately it was ripped from my grasp, the door was caught by the stop, not a big deal I thought and then I tried to close the door....what followed was that distinctive metal on metal binding sound (that i'm all too familiar with). The door had shifted a good cm forward and was pressing on the front fender. Liz took her photos and we headed down the road to the rest stop at the bottom to inspect the damage.

Fearing the worst we pulled into the car park and upon trying to exit i find the door won't open, I hop out the passenger side and see the full extent. Nothing we can do, the wind is still blowing harder than I've ever felt, we decide to skip the hike, return to the hotel, empty the car and return it early so we can deal with the rental insurance.

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Done returning the car we ventured back into Reykjavik's core again, Liz armed with the camera and dressed for anything the weather can muster we began to wonder. A coffee here, browse a shop there, we stumbled on a courtyard covered in graffiti and art. The photo above is actually one of 2 canvas's hanging overtop a tagged wall, quite the statement considering all the signs we've seen for cctv cameras around. We ended our day out with a lunch at what we thought was a hotdog stand (these people LOVE hotdogs) but turned out to be a hoagie place. Aaamazing, 20 or so different types, I had some sort of minced beef in spicy paprika sauce and cheese, Liz tried one with lamb and cabbage.

With lunch done, we wondered back to the hotel through the surrounding suburbs, the wind still blowing as strong as it did on the top of the mountain pass. Rosy cheeked and wind blown we arrived back and are just now getting all packed back up, ready for our shuttle to the airport at 5am. Tomorrow Copenhagen and mainland Europe.

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Some last thoughts on Iceland; come when it's either colder or warmer, beer is cheap in cans but expensive in pints, country hotels are expensive, rent a proper 4x4 or befriend somebody that has one of the jacked up Toyota's running around, oh and always get the optional insurance.

1 comment:

  1. have enjoyed reading about all the great adventures in iceland. the door problem made dad and i howl. sorry that had to happen, but you described it so well, it could only happen to you matthew and thank goodness you took out insurance. looking forward to hearing about the adventures in europe. safe flight. xoxo

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