Near the Old Man of Storr, Scotland I took this in 2004

Friday, July 4, 2008

Icelandic Sagas, Part 2


Scene 3, Part 3: The journey

So, I got on the bus from the airport to the capital, after all. How hard could it be now? A bus ride to a wee village? No sweat. Or so I thought.
The ride went something like this...the bus up filled at the station . I and all the other Icelandic passengers climbed aboard. This was going to take me in to Reykjavik, where i would then catch another bus. No problemo!

The journey was a bizarre one. We rode in near darkness for most of the way. I had no idea what I was looking at as I stared out the window. I thought that maybe I was looking at some unfinished construction, but what, i wondered?

Scene 4, part 1: As it turned out, it was not construction at all. But, as the sun started to rise, it began to reveal what it was i had been puzzling over for a good part of an hour. I had been staring at volcanic crators! It was amazing and beautiful, and funny to think that I had truly no clue what i had been staring at. I love it when that stuff happens.


Scene 4, Part 2: The second bus...

So, with the rising sun our airport shuttle arrived about an hour later at a bus depot in Reykjavik. Now the fun part. I left the bus and walked in to the very large and very empty bus depot. It was all of 7:30 in the morning, early. I was surprised to see no one anywhere...though thankfully there was a young woman at the ticket booth.

I told her where I needed to get to, the wee village, and could I buy a ticket.. Mind you, this was no easy feat, seeing as she could barely speak English. I bought a return, and she told me to wait for the bus for about a half hour or so. So I began to wait.

After about 15 minutes, I noticed a bus in the bus bay. Something told me to go find out if that was my bus, and perhaps the young woman was wrong.
I walked over to the bus, and the bus driver appeared and I told him the name of the village I was heading to. He said , yes, he was heading that way, and was actually about to leave! What? This trip was already off to a very strange beginning.