The Golden Circle

The drive to the Golden Circle was short but pretty scary, as we got out of the city and a little bit higher the road was completely iced over. We took it slowly and safely so we arrived in the dark but safe! Sam definitely got thrown in the deep end on the driving front!

We stayed in a small snow covered camping area in a small town called Laugarvatn. It was really nice and we were able to get up reasonably early to get around to each part of the Golden Circle. Although it is quite difficult to get up early when it’s pitch black until about 9:30!

The Golden Circle consists of Geysir, a huge two tier waterfall and a National Park that showcases the rift zone where the European and American continental plates meet and are drifting apart.

Our first stop was at Geysir, where the volcanic activity in the area creates huge geyser eruptions regularly. Geysir is the second largest geyser in the world and it’s 80m high eruptions happen very irregularly every (they can be days or years apart), unfortunately we didn’t see this one erupt but we did see a smaller one. The smaller one has eruptions that go about 20-30m high and they occur every 3-7 minutes. The water in the geysers is about 100 degrees and the ground surrounding them is frozen and snowy.

It’s amazing to watch them erupt, especially so frequently. They really are huge; I can’t imagine what it would be like to see Geysir go off!

Next we headed to Gullfoss, which is a huge waterfall about 20 minutes from Geysir. We had to make our way down some very treacherous stairs but the viewing area was incredible. There was so much water coming down over the falls, it much be so huge in summer.

It has two tiers and then the water disappears through a deep valley, it really was amazing to see and probably just about as spectacular as Niagara Falls!

From there we drove back to the National Park Thingvellir, which was an absolutely incredible place. Sam did a geology subject through the year so he was able to explain what I was looking at and it’s significance.

This is the actual spot where you can stand between two continental plates at the point they are separating. We wandered up and looked out over the valley that has formed and the huge lake that we camped by the night before.

It was absolutely spectacular; such an amazing showcase of the world that we forget is constantly changing.

From here we drove south, heading for the ocean!

We managed to get all the way down to the most southern tip of Iceland, a small town called Vik.

It was dark by the time we arrived so we decided to set up camp away from the town and any light pollution, hoping to see the northern lights.

We ended up camping in an amazing spot at the base of two volcanoes. Eyjafjallajökull, which is the volcano that erupted in 2010 and caused all those European flight delays, was on one side while Katla was on the other. It was until we woke up and read a bit about Katla that we realised it is actually one of the most active and overdue volcanoes in Iceland. It is constantly being watched for signs of eruption, if it had of erupted there would have been a large earthquake and then a 30-80 minute window to get as far away as possible!

Despite that slightly scary information, it was a lovely place to camp and it was incredible to wake up to the glacier that sits between the two volcanoes.

A view of the rift zone

Pre eruption

Geysir

During eruption

Gullfoss

Treacherous stairs!

Gullfoss

Gullfoss

Spectacular drive

Rift Zone

Rift Zone

Rift Zone

Reykjavik

We stepped off the plane in Iceland at 6:30am (about midnight New York time) with no sleep at all and picked up a rental car for our first day in Reykjavik. It was just a small Toyota Yaris, and we picked up an Australian guy who needed a lift into the city as well.

Sam did well getting used to driving on the wrong side of the road with little sleep, but we underestimated just how long it would be so dark for! There was a small incident with a big pile of black dirt near the bus terminal when we were searching for Wi-Fi, but both the car and us were fine.

Eventually we found our hotel and ditched our bags and drove back out to a large hot spring called the Blue Lagoon. It was so nice to just relax and swim in the steaming hot water. The water was bright blue surrounded by dark volcanic rock, we got a good swim in before the weather turned and we headed back to Reykjavik.

An early night was in order as we were exhausted and had to get ourselves ready to pick up the campervan tomorrow!

There was a misunderstanding between the camper company and the people who we booked it through so we had to wait for the guy to come back from the country to get our car. We decided to make the most of our extra day in Reykjavik and had a look around the tiny city. Considering the entire population of Iceland is just over 300,000 it’s not surprising that their capital city is more of an oversized small town. There are no high-rise buildings, and the downtown area is a couple of cool little streets lined with small businesses. The buildings are all different colours and there are cute little cafes everywhere. 

We walked the main streets and up to the tallest church in Iceland, Hallgrímskirkja. From the top of this church you get a 360 degree view of Reykjavik, which is a bit bigger than it feel but still about the size of Geelong if not a bit smaller.
On one side of the city there are four large tanks topped by a huge dome, this holds the cities hot water which comes form naturally occurring springs (it smells pretty funky). On the other is the harbour and a heap of huge university buildings. It really is a cool city and the people are all very friendly and speak awesome English, which is good because Icelandic is a ridiculously unpronounceable language!Eventually we got the call and picked up our car. It was a Mitsubishi Pagero with snow tyres and a bed in the back. It even had a stove, fridge, bed and running water.Just like that we were off down the icy roads, headed for the Golden Circle.

Blue Lagoon

Blue Lagoon

Reykjavik

Reykjavik

Reykjavik

New York

Ahh New York, New York.  Our favourite city in the world.

We arrived in the afternoon and had to catch a bus into the city, our hotel was a small place on the corner between Soho and Chinatown.

It didn’t take us long to ditch our bags at the hotel and jump on the subway to Bryant Park. During the holiday season Bryant Park is turned into Winter Wonderland, with a free ice-skating rink and cool little pop up stores surrounding it, all under an array of Christmas lights.

We took the opportunity to go ice-skating in the park in New York and spent some time fighting our way though crowd to get around the rink. I was pretty disappointed when Sam was better than me, even though it was his first time.

It was spectacular skating around surrounded by the New York skyline, and the State library behind us.

It’s only a short walk from Bryant Park to Times Square so we thought we would have a look around. As always the amount of lights and people was shocking, the whole area has a glow and every store has a neon flashing light.

We spent the next day around the downtown area, after getting bagels for breakfast and walking through Tribeca and the East Village we found ourselves at the 9/11 Memorial Site. The new One World Trade building is now complete and actually being used and the new museum is up and running. Hundreds of people were lining up to get into the museum but we eventually got in and it was well and truly worth the wait. It is absolutely incredible, ramps take you down and the museum has been built below the two memorial pools, in the exact spots of each tower. There are so many incredible things that were recovered from the site and you begin to understand how important that day was, it becomes less of an American event and more of a Worldwide event.

We thought it would be similar to the old smaller museum, so weren’t expecting to spend too much time there, however we ended up spending about two and a half hours and probably didn’t see it all.

It’s amazing to see the progression that the Ground Zero has made, over four trips to New York it has changed from a hole in the ground in 2006, to a small museum and construction site in 2010, the memorial pools and a small museum to what it is now. It’s incredible; 13 years later it is complete.

We walked back to Times Square, before we realisedit was a Saturday night and the amount of people was absolutely ridiculous, we had to push our way through the throngs of people and stop at a number of restaurants before we found a place to eat. The subway home was a great relief for the feet after a huge day of walking and standing.

Sam had me up early the next day, dragging me out of the hotel before 9:30. We walked over to Tribeca again and got a bit to eat at the Chelsea Market, which is a really cool old warehouse filled with small independent shops, all of which were well out of our price range, so we stuck to bagels.

From there we walked along the Highline, the old raised railway line that ran through the city and has now been turned into a public garden. It’s amazing, a gorgeous garden surrounded with views of the East Village and Lower East Side.

It was about time to get off our feet so we decided to hire some bikes and ride around Central Park. Both of us (mainly me) were appalled by our unfitness but we made it through a lap of the entire park, which was a lot bigger than we had expected and remembered.

After braving about three actual New York streets we ditched the bikes and walked along to and down Fifth Avenue. A quick look inside Tiffany’s we were reminded that we had no money to spend and moved away from the shops. We stopped at the Rockefeller Centre, hoping to catch a look at the huge Christmas tree but it was still being decorated.

On our last day in the city we had breakfast at a cool little New York style diner, full of construction workers and four men behind the counter shouted orders at each other. The coffee was awful and Sam got bacon instead of ham and sausage, but it was awesome! Plus it only cost $12 for the both of us!

A quick trip to JFK and we are off to Iceland!

Across the lake in Central Park

Central Park

Riding in Central Park

Diner

One World Trade Centre

New York Stock Exchange

From the Highline

Times Square

Tribeca

Highline

Highline

Space saving car parks

Central Park

9/11 Museum

9/11 Museum

Highline

Tribeca

Montreal

It took us 5 hours on an incredibly uncomfortable hot bus to get from Toronto to Montreal, but we arrived around 2 o'clock. After we checked into our hostel in Old Montreal we decided to give poutine a try. As expected, the chips, gravy and cheese curd combo was amazing and has quickly become my favourite meal ever.

We spent the rest of the afternoon having a look around Old Montreal, walking along the cobblestone streets in the freezing cold. It felt as though we were walking through a small French countryside town, not a major Canadian city.
I loved how everyone speaks both french and english, it made me wish I knew another language!

The next day we got up early and visited Notre Dame, which was pretty spectacular. The inside is full of such incredible detail, from the staircase to the altar, it is amazing. We also had a look at the Chateau Ramezay which used to be the Governor of Montreal's home and endured 500 years of Quebec history. Benjamin Franklin stayed here when he was trying to convince the Canadians to join the revolution, the building was built during the French colonisation and became a university after Canada became part of the English Commonwealth.
It was a beautiful old building that felt very French, each room held a different era of the Chateaus history. It was awesome to walk through the building and get an understanding of the history of Montreal and Quebec.

We then had a look through the Bonsecours Market which used to be the main trading area in Montreal. It still holds a number of stores and has a design and textile museum on the bottom level.
While Sam had a look at the shops, I visited the museum, where there was a heap of cool clothes from the 20's and 30's.

We also visited the Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel, which is much smaller than Notre Dame and has a tower with views of the Old Montreal docks. There is also a crypt underneath the chapel with a large archeological site that is currently being uncovered.
The view from the tower was gorgeous and we were up there just as the sun became hidden behind the skyline of Downtown.

On our last day in Montreal we headed Downtown. We climbed to the top of Mont Royal, which is a huge hill that overlooks the city. It was covered in snow and felt as though we were walking through a winter wonderland. It was a long walk but it was definitely worth it. The view of the city was amazing plus the snow covering everything around was so pretty.

After that we had a look around the under ground city that stretches all around the downtown area. It's really just a huge underground shopping centre connected with a heap of subway tunnels.

We managed to have Poutine everyday, much to my delight and Sams dismay, plus on our last day we had a huge Canadian style breakfast with plenty of maple syrup!

Mont Royal

Mont Royal

Old Town

Old Town

Old Town

Poutine

Notre Dame

Notre Dame

Chateau Ramezay

Bonsecours Market