Whale - It's What's for Dinner

The Reykjavik convention center and opera hall stands on the edge of the sea.  People either think of it as monumentally ugly (and hence, a waste of money) or really unique and beautiful. 

I'll just say that it did provide us some unique photos!  

And a unique selfie!

We walked along the shore of the city.  In the backdrop, windswept mountains enrobed in clouds testifies to the potential harshness of winter here.

Along the shore is this unique statue.  A point if you can guess what it symbolizes (no google).  (Hint: Take a look at my husband in this picture!)

The colorful buildings of the harbor, which will probably be much busier in the summertime, when whale and puffin watching tours depart from here.

One of the older boats.  Many fishing boats still depart from here. 

The lake in the center of Reykjavik was partially iced over - notice some of the birds swimming, while others stand on the ice. 

Near the center of the lake, many people ice skate.

An interesting statue...

This street is named Burgerjoint, after the Burger joint that is on it.  Talk about good publicity.

Nearby is a very famous hot dog stand.  Their menu is very simple: hot dogs and soda.  That's it.  We ordered some hotdogs.  They came with crispy french onions on the bottom and two types of sauce - one like a mayo, and one that was brown - and sort of indescribable when it comes to taste.  But the combination of the dog, the onions, and the sauces were truly yummy, and made us understand why this understated hot dog stand could stay in business, even with it's slim menu!

There are some other weird things on the menu in Iceland - namely, whale and puffin.  Most countries actually ban eating whale, and puffins, while not endangered, are not exactly thriving either.  

Bram tries some puffin....

Just kidding!!!  We love puffins!

Neither puffin or whale are a traditional Icelandic dish, and mostly tourists eat these animals just to say that they have eaten something new and weird.  Kind of sad, considering there are lots of other, environmentally conscious choices when it comes to meat.  (Puffin doesn't even taste that good, from what I hear.)  So if you go to Iceland, don't eat the puffin or the whale!  Let them live for another generation! :-)  

Way Up North Where It's Icy and Cold

Shortly after Christmas and New Years, we spent a whirlwind couple of days in Iceland, as an extended layover of one of our many trans-Atlantic flights.  To put it bluntly, Iceland is awesome.  I was a bit nervous to spend some days in the dead of winter in a land with "Ice" in the name.  But, the timing was actually quite nice.

We were in Iceland close to when the days were the shortest.  The sun rose at about 11:30 in the morning, and set at about 3:30 in the afternoon.  The neat consequence of this was that for almost 100% of the time that the sun was up, it was like sunset!  Makes for some great pictures!

So begins our story of Reykjavik - the northern-most capital city in the world, and the farthest north I've ever been....

Reykjavik is located at 66 degrees north.  That's really far north!  Their position on the Earth inspires the name of the Icelandic clothing line 66 degrees North, which specializes in winter gear.  All of their male models have big bushy beards.

And for a point (without looking at a map or a search engine) - which of these cities is farther north than Reykjavik? Anchorage, Alaska; St. Petersburg, Russia; Moscow, Russia; Oulu, Finland; Bergen, Norway; Tasiilaq, Greenland; Whitehorse, Canada; Nuuk, Greenland; Arkhangelsk, Russia; Stockholm, Sweeden; Bergen Norway

Even in the winter, tourists still make Reykjavik a base for their outdoor adventures.  We saw quite a few jeeps, and this "monster van", which I suppose is equipped for dealing with snowy and icy roads.

Our first night in Reykjavik was a bit of an adventure.  I met this guy and wrestled him to the ground, after he tried to eat my husband.  But after that, we got to talking, and it turns out he's not that bad of a chum.  He promised to send me a postcard from his next stop - and iceberg in the Arctic Circle.

Seriously, polar bears are rare in Iceland - but every once in a while, one hitches a ride on an iceberg. 

Nearby was the famous church Hallgrímskirkja.  It was built very recently - commissioned in 1937.

The shape of the church is very unique - shaped after cooling basaltic lava.  Hey - when your whole country is built on a volcano - you do what you have to do.

Inside the church is a pretty impressive organ.

But the view from the top of the church is even more impressive... with the snow-covered mountains in the distance...

... to the colorful buildings below.

In front of the church is a statue of Leif Ericson - the real first European to travel to America.

Within the city is a unique building - hosting a Caruso's  I'm not sure if it's related to the one in Arizona!

Insta-moat!

During the Christmas season, we spent a rainy weekend visiting a small Christmas market in the town called Uithuizen.

The Christmas market was on the grounds of the Groningen version of a castle.  The grounds were beautiful, even in the winter, and has one of the remaining original garden mazes in the country.

In the Netherlands, it's easy to have a moat around your castle!  Just divert the canal water and presto!  Insta-moat!

Bram wanders through the beautiful gardens of the castle.

Between moat one and two, someone sneaks up behind us.

The lions on either side of the castle bridge had some of the saddest, most pathetic looking expressions I've ever seen on castle statuary. 

Nearby, we find the street we might be destined to live on.

And for a point - what does the name of this little town mean? 

Sharing Dutch Food Adventures

Over the Christmas holidays, we had our friends Nico and Shasta, who are temporarily living in Scotland, come visit us.  Their visit coincided with Sinterklaas day, so they woke up to all sorts of goodies and chocolate in their shoes the next morning.

Of course, a big part of every visit to a new country is to try the food.  On their visit, we had an opportunity to show them the local specialties.  For breakfast, we had hagelslag, a very popular Dutch breakfast food.  Most of the time, it consists of mostly chocolate sprinkles, but it can come in many different varieties - vanilla, blue or pink anise flavored (typically used to celebrate the birth of a boy or girl), or thick, ribbon like sprinkles.  This particular one is green and chocolate ribbon sprinkles, with some alligator heads thrown in for good measure.  Shasta was also treated to a mega-hagel!

Stopping by the Grote Markt, we also shared with them the popular dish of french fries, accompanied with garlic mayonnaise.  

Fries and garlic.  Yum!

Since it was the Christmas season, they also got a chance to try oliebollen.  Oliebollen are balls of dough (sort of like donuts) left to soak in .... oil.  Not the healthiest thing on the planet, but very yummy, and very Dutch.

Sampling the oliebollen

Oliebollen can also be filled with all sorts of yummy things, like cream or fruit.  Nico got one filled with cherries. 

Another popular thing that we showed them, but did not try, are the popular vending machines that you can find all over the Netherlands.  These vending machines consists of rows of shelves, each with their own little door.  These vending machines sell things such as hamburgers or chicken sandwiches, but also the very Dutch creations such as croquettes (breaded things containing some sort of meat look-alike) or deep fried Scotch eggs.  My Dutch colleagues told me to steer clear of these vending machines, stressing that they are only to be used at 3 am after a long night of bar-hopping when there is no other option. 

Christmas Market - On a Boat!

Again this Christmas season, we were able to visit our own Christmas market, located up and down the canals in Groningen.  As part of the Christmas market, you could go on the boats lined up in the canal, and some offered hot chocolate, spiced hot wine, music, even free books! 

Of course, any good boat needs a bike.

The boat, with the bridge lined with Christmas lights.

Traditional food abounded.  Here, some smoked eel like fish was being sold. 

He skewered each of the eel like fishes, hung them from a rack, and then he inserted the rack into the smoker. 

Oysters being de-shelled.

This woman sold all sorts of roots and mushrooms, along with fresh mistletoe. 

Over a giant fire, this man, straight from the middle ages, roasts all sorts of meats.

Little known fact - hoodies were common in the middle ages.

Time for some entertainment!  A boat slowly maneuvers down the canal.  This was interesting, because, with boats parked on either side of the canal, there was barely enough room for the boat hands to direct this boat in the narrow opening. 

So how did they do it?  This video shows how - drive very slowly, and then as the boat approaches the parked boats, both the moving boat and the parked boats have people that come by with large plastic "cushions" that they line up where the two boats could potentially crash into one another.  These cushions take the majority of the force, and keep the boats from getting scratched up.

Finally, the sun goes down and the lights go on!

Happy 2014 to you all, from the (non-) sunny Netherlands!