Iceland
Like I mentioned before, Iceland has been on Andy’s bucket list for as long as I’ve known him, so we had pretty high expectations going into it – and I would say that for the most part, they were totally met. If you love to travel, you need to add Iceland to the list. It’s unlike any place we have ever been before: it almost looks like you’re on another planet. There are very few trees, and instead of grass, everything is rocky and covered in moss. It stays pretty gray and cloudy, but the sun also doesn’t go down until quite late, so it’s kind of weirdly half-light outside for a very long time. All of this makes it so strangely beautiful.
Icelandic horses - they look like really furry ponies.
We arrived in Reykjavik super late on a Friday night and went straight to our hotel/apartment. Pro tip: Book your transfer from the airport to your accommodations ahead of time. The public transportation system in Iceland is practically non-existent, but there are shuttles and transfer services that are much cheaper than the taxis.
We used this one: http://grayline.is/airport-transfer/
And we stayed here: http://downtownreykjavikapartments.is/
These “apartments” are nothing fancy – kitchenette, very small bathroom, and a bed. But it was certainly all we needed, very clean, good location reasonably close to downtown, and 24-hour check-in, so it worked for us.
Our first full day in Iceland, we did the “Golden Circle” – it’s basically a driving route through some of the more popular sites in Iceland, including a geyser/hot springs area, a gorgeous waterfall, and a national park. Lots of people rent cars and drive the route themselves, but we chose to do a tour; I think you can really enjoy it either way, I just prefer the commentary from a tour guide. Renting a car in Iceland is very easy, and there are also tons of tour companies who will take you on the Golden Circle.
That night we also did a Northern Lights tour, which was the highlight of the trip for me. There are all kinds of tour companies offering different ways/locations to see the lights (Jeeps, buses, boats, etc). We did a boat tour that took us just a few kilometers off the coast to get away from the lights of the city. The tour left at about 11 pm, so it was FREEZING – but they provided these awesome snowsuits that made it super comfortable.
And then we saw them! It was amazing. April is a tricky time to go to Iceland, because it’s right at the end of the winter tourist season (when your chances of seeing the lights are best) and right at the beginning of the spring/summer season (when it’s best for hiking), so we were very fortunate to see them so well.
The next day, as Andy’s birthday present, I had hired a fishing guide for the day. You can do all kinds of fishing in Iceland – deep sea, fly fishing in the rivers, and ice fishing – our guide (we’ll call him Chris for the purposes of this story) took us to a river to catch arctic char and trout. Chris picked us up at our hotel at 8:30 am and drove us about an hour away to the river.
Chris was a very nice guy: had been a fishing guide for about 10 years, lived in Iceland his whole life, and was very friendly during the car ride. When we got to the river, he quickly got our rods set up and showed us where to start.
We casted. And casted. And casted. Every 20 minutes or so, Chris would point us in a different direction, or change our lure, or switch out our rod. We fished for 3 hours before stopping for lunch, and neither of us had a single bite. And strangely, Chris wasn’t fishing with us. At one point, Andy half joking/mostly serious told him, “You know, my wife really just wants to take a picture of a fish, so if you catch one and she doesn’t, she won’t be upset if you just let her take a picture of it.” i.e., somebody needs to catch a fish here, and if it isn’t going to be us, then you need to. Chris didn’t take the hint though, and switched out Andy’s lure.
Chris dropped us off at a local restaurant for lunch, and I was so frustrated and grouchy. Andy of course had a great attitude and was just happy that we were spending the day outside fishing…probably because he didn’t know how much we were paying this guy. But when Chris came back to pick us up, I was resolved to have a good attitude and catch at least one fish.
After about thirty minutes of fishing, Andy had a fish on, a decent-sized arctic char. Chris ran over with his net slung over his shoulder, and as Andy had just about reeled it in, Chris decided to stop and snap a picture. Interesting choice, but whatever. After he got the picture he wanted, Chris bent over to net the fish – HAD THE FISH IN THE NET - and in the process of standing back up, tripped over himself, fumbled the net, and lost the fish. I had dropped my rod and run over with my camera just in time to get a picture myself, and I didn’t really see what happened:
Me: Wait, where is it?
Andy: It’s gone.
Me: What do you mean it’s gone?
Andy: It got away.
Me: I thought he was netting it? (Chris walks away, embarrassed.)
Andy: Yeah, me too.
And from that moment on, Chris was forevermore known as Tipless.
(Not to his face or anything, we aren’t that mean.)
We stayed out there for about 3 more hours and didn’t have another single bite. My mood steadily declined with each cast, so I eventually stopped and just talked to Andy while he fished. The ride back to the apartment was quiet to say the least, and I was happy to say goodbye to Tipless.
Not catching fish
Also not catching fish
Our last day in Iceland, we rented a car to drive around a bit and go for a hike. We drove about an hour to get to this place: https://guidetoiceland.is/connect-with-locals/jorunnsg/hiking-to-icelands-highest-waterfall---glymur
It was a great hike and absolutely beautiful. Hindsight, we wished we had rented the car for two days to do some more hiking; there are countless hikes to waterfalls and hot springs all over Iceland.
That evening, we drove to the Blue Lagoon: http://www.bluelagoon.com/ This place is so weird, so cool, and a must-see in Iceland. It’s basically a really huge geothermal pool that they’ve built a spa around. Because it’s located in the middle of a lava field, the water is full of sulfur and silica, which is what gives the water the cloudy-blue color and is supposed to be really good for your skin. We only went to soak in the water, but you can also purchase all sorts of spa treatments and skin care products.
The fishing trip aside, Iceland was a really incredible experience. You should go!
Tuscany
The last weekend in April, we met my aunt and uncle in Montepulciano, Italy for the weekend. Aunt Anne, my mom’s sister, and my Uncle Eric were in Italy for something like 2 weeks, visiting all of the best places, and graciously invited Andy and I to meet up with them wherever our schedule permitted.
The plan was to fly to Florence pretty early Friday morning and get to Montepulciano around lunch time – but when we got to the airport, we were informed that our flight had been canceled, due to “operational issues.” The line at the Swiss Airlines helpdesk was incredibly long with all the people trying to get on different flights, so I called the helpline phone number instead and had this conversation:
Me: Hi, our flight to Florence was canceled, so I need to get on a different flight. Our booking reference is blah blah blah.
Swiss Airlines rep: Of course, hello Mrs. Giblin. Actually, we have already proactively rebooked you on another flight; you are scheduled to fly out tomorrow afternoon, Geneva to Rome.
Me: …Um. Thank you for proactively doing that. But I don’t need to go to Rome, I need to get to Florence. And I need to get there today, as we are returning to Geneva on Sunday.
The only flight that would get us to Florence that day was a connection through Frankfurt. After considering renting a car and driving to Montepulciano, and seeing how long it would take to get there by train, we decided it was still best to take the flight.
We got to Montepulciano just in time to drop our bags off at the bed & breakfast and join Anne and Eric for a glass of wine before dinner. The place we stayed was great - charming, great view, and the cutest little old couple running it: http://www.ilriccio.net/en/index.html
We spent the next day exploring the Tuscan countryside by car and visiting three wineries:
Montemercurio: http://www.montemercurio.com/ The first winery was the smallest of the three that we visited. The property is beautiful, and we had a private tasting to ourselves. The Vin Santo (Italian dessert wine) here was really delicious.
Castiglion del Bosco: http://wine.castigliondelbosco.com/ This was my favorite. The winery is owned by the Ferragamo family (pretty famous Italian designer) and is just really, really pretty. Their wine was my favorite too.
Altesino: http://www.altesino.it/eng/azienda.php I thought the Super Tuscan here (http://www.altesino.it/eng/prodotti/alte.php) was delicious and also super affordable.
In between wineries, we did a bit of exploring in neighboring towns Montalcino and Pienza before heading back to Montepulciano for dinner.
The next morning, we headed to Florence early in the morning to spend a few hours there before our flight back. We didn’t have enough time to formally tour anything, but we had a really nice morning just walking around in the sunshine and looking at all the beautiful architecture. Florence was the next stop on Anne and Eric’s travel itinerary, so we were also able to have lunch and gelato with them before heading to the airport.
I think I could easily spend a couple weeks in this region, but there are a couple of things in particular that made this one of my favorite weekends we’ve had in a while:
- A lot of our traveling lately has been to large cities, which generally means city tours, exploring on foot, museums, etc. We love it, but it was nice to switch it up and do something kind of different.
- I love red wine.
- Anne and Eric had rented a car, and it was definitely the perfect way to get around this area. Andy and I are so used to being dependent on public transportation and train schedules for our travels, we really appreciated the convenience of being able to just hop in a car. Shout-out to Uncle Eric for being the DD for the group!
- We don’t get to see family and friends nearly enough living over here. It was so nice and refreshing to spend some time with people who (i) we’ve known longer than 8 months, (ii) are from “home,” and (iii) we love so much!
