Iceland
|
|
Top 10 Blueberry Destinations
August 23, 2010 by Susan McKee
Over at Gadling, travelwriter Andrew Evans has compiled his list of the top ten blueberry destinations in the world.
Your Road Trips Foodie doesn’t agree with all of them (she’d add both Indiana and Finland to the list), but, for what it’s worth, here are his choices:
*Maine
*Iceland
*Québec (especially in the the Saguenay-Lac St. Jean region of northern Québec)
*New Jersey (epicenter of commercial blueberry farming)
*Nova Scotia (Wild Blueberry Festival)
*East Texas
*Michigan (National Blueberry Festival)
*South Korea
*Poland
*Alaska
Guide to Iceland Sightseeing Tours
July 26, 2010 by Marcello Arrambide
Iceland is a massive country and if you want to see everything you either have to rent a car or take Iceland sightseeing tours. Considering the cost of gasoline and renting a car, Iceland tours become much more feasible. The most popular of are Golden Circle and South Coast. Due to the aftermath of the volcano that left European air commutes comatose for a few weeks a new volcano aftermath tour has emerged as well. Here is your guide to Iceland sightseeing Tours:
Conversion rate used as of July 19th 2010: 1 US Dollar to 122.50 Iceland Kronar
Golden Circle Iceland
Golden Circle is THE most popular tour that everyone takes when visiting Iceland. Prices may vary from $72 to $270 and the entire tour generally takes 7-9 hours. Many times operators will take longer to accommodate the travelers. You can decide if you want to go via bus or jeep. The jeep excursions are more fun but more expensive as well since they take you out on the glaciers.
Main stops always include: Thingvellir National Park, Gulfoss Waterfall, and the geysers at Haukadalur
Optional stops: Kerio volcanic crater, city of Hverageroi, Skaholt Church, and Nesjavellir…
Read more…
Iceland Travel Advice: Don’t Take a Dump Where the Earth Cracks
July 25, 2010 by Marcello Arrambide
In Iceland, everything is really far away. In order to see the best sights the country has to offer you either have to rent a car or join one of the many Iceland tours. We already completed a handful of tours including: West Iceland, South Coast, and the Glacier Lagoon. We were promptly through the majority of our Golden Circle Tour after a monstrous lunch on the cliffs of one of Europe’s largest waterfalls, Gullfoss. If you would like to see what Icelandic cuisine looks like, take a look at these two posts: fish and chips and do you know what a puffin is?
The majority of us did use the restroom but there is always that “special companion” that decides they don’t have to go. As we are walking through the Iceland geysers our special companion suddenly realizes that she has to use the restroom. Gummi, our driver, takes us on a detour to see unique lava rock and we stop for a moment to have some of our peers play in the snow for the first time. We get back in the van and the moment occurs: “I really…
Read more…
Iceland Hasn’t The Bandwidth To Site Large Media Servers
June 16, 2010 by Tom Foremski
Iceland’s parliament has unanimously agreed to pass the strongest media freedom laws called the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative.
Nieman Journalism Lab reports:
But although the legislative package sounds very encouraging from a freedom of expression point of view, it’s not clear what the practical benefits will be to organizations outside Iceland. In his analysis of the proposal, Arthur Bright of the Citizen Media Law Project has noted that, in one major test case of cross-border online libel law, “publication” was deemed to occur at the point of download — meaning that serving a controversial page from Iceland won’t keep you from getting sued in other countries. But if nothing else, it would probably prevent your servers from being forcibly shut down.
Placing your media servers in Iceland would be good for the environment. All of Iceland’s electric power comes from hydro-electric and geothermal power plants. And it’s location mid-way between Europe and North American would help deliver media to large numbers of consumers.
One big problem however, is that Iceland doesn’t have the bandwidth.
From Invest in Iceland.
Telecommunication traffic is channelled through submarine fibre-optic cables: Farice 1 and CANTAT 3. Farice runs at 20
A double shot of delicousness – Iceland
June 9, 2010 by Marcello Arrambide
For those of you that know me personally, I am by no means a drinker. But this actually intrigued me beyond belief. We wanted to try something different and being in Iceland provided the perfect opportunity. I present you the double shot of deliciousness. I cannot remember the name of the drink (I should have [...]
Why Iceland is a Tease
June 8, 2010 by Marcello Arrambide
We waited and waited for the thing to blow and it finally did. You will hear some Icelandic as the tour guide, Gummi says some words on the video (not a language I will be trying to learn anytime soon). Enjoy
The 3,000 year old crater that rocked Iceland
June 7, 2010 by Marcello Arrambide
Part of the Golden Circle tour, Bjork actually held an annual concert at this volcanic crater. It is starting to gain acceptance that the crater was formed from a volcano which emptied all its magma reserves and caved in rather than a volcanic explosion.
Nature/Human Nature
April 25, 2010 by Steve Miller
Bethesda Fountain Central Park NY
It’s the 21st Century. We have jumbo jets that practically fly themselves. We have instant global communications. We have satellites orbiting 22,000 miles above Earth with imaging so precise that you can tell if the guy sitting on Bethesda Fountain in Central Park is wearing loafers or sandals.
Yet a second string volcano is Iceland, which none of us can pronounce, can spew enough ash to shut down air travel in Europe and disrupt flights around the world.
Whether or not you believe in a Supreme Being, something periodically gives us a Gibbs Slap to the back of the head. It reminds us that we are not masters of all we survey. An earthquake levels a country. A hurricane drowns major cities. Floods crack dams and destroy crops. Tornados target trailer parks. And a random methane gas explosion reminds us that coal isn’t cheap when you factor in the cost of human lives. I’m all for pushing scientific boundaries but, to paraphrase that old TV commercial, we should be careful not to try the patience of Mother Nature.
From another…
Read more…
Iceland Comforts
July 18, 2009 by Claire Rogers
ICELAND COMFORTS: Architecture, food, and a rich literary heritage all make Iceland a very civilized place.
If sitting half-naked in front of a fan and sucking on a popsicle just isn’t doing it for you, think Iceland. Yes, that raw, windblown, mossy rock is definitely a place to get comfortable.
And it only makes sense that luxurious hot pots, warm beaches, Jacuzzis and saunas would prevail in a place where a 15 degree centigrade day is considered balmy.
Reykjavik has several pools with spas
Iceland’s tectonic address is a geologic hotspot, making thermal pools abundant and indoor spaces warm and welcoming.
The longstanding culture of Iceland makes for highly developed sensibilities, especially when it comes to architecture.
Architecture is king in Iceland
Not only are buildings beautiful to look at from the outside, they are also well built, well insulated and are designed with delightful practicality. Homes are efficiently heated with geothermal energy and even the floors radiate up to chilled feet.
Iceland generates most of their power with steam at places like the Svartsengi Power Plant at Grindavík. Most tourists know the location as the Blue Lagoon. Here, you can laze in the…
Read more…
