Icelandic Horses

I can't even.


The absolute highlight of our trip was spending time with the Icelandic horses.  Read about them here and try to not fall under their spell.  If you're still not enraptured, watch this video and tell me these horses are not magic.

I was a little apprehensive about getting back on a horse (even a petite one) after about 25 years.  I was even more apprehensive when they were doling out horses (based on our level of experience, which I totally downplayed in order to get a "beginner" horse) and I got a guy called Frodi, who described as a "character."  Despite being charmed that his people and mine had chosen rhyming names for us, I didn't like his pulling and balking once I mounted.  Uh-oh.  Was this fear?  Yes, it definitely was.  I was also told multiple times that he liked to be at the front of the pack and to let him.  Sure thing.  I am totally totally fine with being at the front, Frodi.

Well, you know what happened?  We found our rhythm.  I discovered how to respond to his pulling and I found how to communicate with him both verbally and through the reins.  And when it was time to tolt, there we were bounding for the front of the group.  Frodi didn't just want to be at the front of the group, he wanted to win the race.  I liked this guy.  What a personality!  At one point, another rider noticed that Frodi was frothing some green stuff at his bit.  I asked our guide and she said that it showed he was happy and had good communication with his rider.  (And also that it was green because he had recently eaten.   I know you were wondering.)  Look at me, horse whispering!!!

We took the horses over the crazy Icelandic terrain.  (These little guys--don't call them ponies, btw--are perfectly cut out for it.)  The guides stopped to take our photos, as well as to point out spots of interest along the way.  It was one of the best experiences of my adult life.  Besides the horses and the riding experience, the guide we went with... shoot, I could do a whole post about her and her beautiful spirit!  The experience stoked a whole new obsession.  I have GOT to get back on an Icelandic horse this summer!

Here's Frodi, sizing me up from the side.  

Byron and Grona.

Thirsty after the ride.

Roll call.

After our hike a couple of days later, we came across these beauties who came right over to the fence to say hello.

Those blue eyes!

Stuff on Walls--Reykjavik Edition

Reykjavik was alive with street art.

Witness!

Another Planet

As promised, here is the nature delivery.  Seriously, you're not gonna believe this stuff.

Here is my beautiful back-seat buddy, Miette.

And here we go!

(This is that lumpy earth I was telling you about.)

Also, check the smoke in the background.

Here we go a-geyser-ing!

I have a video of this guy blowing his top, but I can't get it to post here.  It was really something, as I'm sure you can imagine.

Here is the after effect of the spouting, from a distance.

Double, double, toil and trouble...

The following are from the Gullfoss Falls.

The last day, Easter day it was, we went for a long hike to Klambragil, a ravine where hot streams flow into the Reykjadalsa river.  (New fact:  hiking is the best cure for a hangover.  Think about it--the fresh air, the walking to get the blood moving, the beautiful surroundings to take your mind off of how absolutely terrible you feel because you were up until 4:30 am talking and drinking with one of your dearest friends on earth.  Try it!)

Anyway, there was some bitching and moaning at first.  And then there was some slip-sliding and some km-marker questioning and lots of muddy feet.  But then we all found our strides (or fell on our butts) and were straight INTO IT.

This one's stolen from Melora's FB.  She puts it best when she says something about it looking like we are out shopping on the face of the moon.

We pushed on, wondering what exactly the payoff would be.  We were promised hot springs, but just what would they be like?  Could we actually get in?  Would we want to?

And then, we came to this.

DAY-UM.

Now that is amazing.

We found our own spot, stripped down to our suits and eased ourselves in.  (These springs were H-O-T.)  

Here's B showing you how it's done.  Pretty incredible to be half-nekkid (and totally comfortable) with snow still on the ground.  When we got out, our body temps were so up that we didn't have to rush out of our wet suits.  Side note: maintaining "decency" while getting back into dry (un-muddied) clothes is a talent ingrained in us Americans.  Most everyone else lets it all hang out, I'll tell you.  And when you see that, you start to care less about anyone else noticing you.  Still, I kept it classy.

We were super hungry after our hike/hot springs adventure.  We went to a delightful local spot on our way back.  They were offering some beautiful sandwich cakes, which are an Easter specialty in Iceland.  (Check the link, though, apparently the Swedes totally win at this game!)  We tried one of the sandwich cakes, but took some geothermally cooked chicken for our main.  Noms!

Here is the geothermal cooking unit.  So dope!
I read that they also bake bread by burying it and giving it 24 hours or so for the geothermal heat to bake and caramelize it.  Amazing!

Around Reykjavik

A couple weeks after India, B and I headed to Iceland.  I've been describing it as the "Trip of a Lifetime" and I stand by that.  For starters, we met up with our dear friends M + J and their daughter.  So we had a crew there--how lucky is that??  We shared a great apartment in the center of Reykjavik and walked all over the little city.  And then we rented a car and took to exploring.

What to say?  Iceland is a singular place.  There are no native trees and when you drive outside of Reykjavik, this is eerily apparent.  Also, the terrain is moon-like.  Or at least, otherworldly.  We were amazed by the grass-covered mounds covering lots of the southern island.  That was some lumpy earth.  The lack of animals (besides the birds in Reykjavik) is also startling.  There is nothing scurrying or scampering around the vast landscape (although word is the arctic fox is kicking it somewhere).  Weird.  The land, however, is quite alive.  The earth is bubbling and smoking and gasping.  And the smell.  The same smell creeps out of the tap with the hot water, so that even taking a shower feels a little like camping.

Here are some shots from around Reykjavik.  I'll get on to the nature side of things in a bit.

A town square not far from our apartment.  (Well, nothing was really far from our apartment.)  There were TONS of American tourists there, which was odd.  Didn't expect to hear so many American accents in Iceland of all places!

Creepster baby window.

We were all pretty in love with this chocolate milk packaging.

I found this crazy St. Louis hat (!!!) at a super vintage store called Spuutnik.  We did some window-peeping at a few other vintage shops, but because it was Easter weekend, many of them were closed or had unreliable hours.  But it looked like good stuff!

Check out this kooky peg-legged building.

This place serves a doughnut burger.  Didn't try it, but I can vouch for the bacon-cheese fries.

Oddly enough, Iceland is quite a religious country (Evangelical Lutheran, reprazent!).  And this is the Reykjavik Cathedral.

You can go up to the top.  Check out these views!

We were all in love with the neon green house in the middle right of this photo.  But peep those mountains in the background!

More good stuff.  I love that you can see the shadow of the cathedral in this one.

Here's another nutty window display.  Love the scale on these two.  Guess you would need a barbed stick to manage a cat that size!

Stature near our place.

Our lovely travel companions and dear friends.  How lucky am I to have these two here in Sweden???

India

I have been traveling so much lately.  I can't say I don't love it--especially when it means leaving a still-wintry Sweden for a warmer clime.  Honestly, it's because of these trips that I have a mild impression of my first Swedish winter.  It ain't that bad if you ain't here for stretches of it!

It had been about 4 years since I'd been to India (since my Urban Outfitters days).  I was in Delhi and Bangalore this trip.  And, as in the past, I much prefer the south/Bangalore.  I really really want to visit Pondicherry one of these times, just for funsies.  A coastal Indian city with French colonial undercurrents... sounds like a dream!

I travel most often by myself, but then I go around with folks from our offices once I am on location.  I enjoy traveling by myself; I mostly prefer it.  It's sort of a pain when I roll off a looooong flight and have to navigate passport-stamping and cash-getting and taxi-finding (more like, taxi-trusting.... There's often a lot of "Is this person really taking me to where I want to go?" going through my jetlaggy brain) by myself.  But I've rather got it down to a science now.  Still, having a travel buddy means I can be a little less vigilant.  I trust no one when I travel by myself.  My momma didn't raise no rube.

So what was I getting at?  Oh yeah, I had some weird apprehensions about this trip.  Most likely because of the high profile gang rape some months ago and all of the cultural issues it brought to light.  I was with colleagues from work the whole time or stayed in or near the hotel otherwise, so everything was fine and the most threatened I ever felt was by a crazy alien formation of bees on attack outside of a store in Koramangala.  But still, it's good to be aware of what's bubbling in this crazy world of ours, even if it's not always so nice.

Now onto the photos!



Things in bloom on the way to a supplier in Bangalore.  Pretty pretty.

Another gorgeous tree at one of the suppliers.

Mind the thorns!

Rusty truck.  This one's not so indicative of the brightly painted trucks on the streets in India.  But the rusted out effect is really top-notch, you must agree.

Fabric-palooza!

Wires + floral frame.

If you're a FB or Instagram friend, you know how in love with the local dogs I was.  I was fantasizing about moving to Delhi and opening up a doggie spa to clean and shelter the beautiful pariah dogs (or "Delhi dingos" as I affectionately called them).  Here are a couple of my favorites.

Such sweet babies.

I tried some new eats on this trip.  I also tried to maintain my gluten-free status but found my reserves weak when faced with some freshly baked naan or, even better, parantha.  Every meal seemed to check my "special occasion" box, so that I could override my anti-gluten rule.  Oh well....

This is idli, one of my new favorites.  It's a steamed, rice-based cake that you top with sambar or chutney.  It's gluten-free and seems pretty healthy on account of its being steamed and not fried.  (But damn, if they fried these things.... NEXT.  LEVEL.)

While we're on the topic of yummy new things I tried (though not of the gluten-free variety), I had some delicious, piping hot poori that I definitely did not regret crossing dietary lines for.  If you feel like your lunch has been lacking flair, order a poori and watch others be jelly.  

I also loved the nommy vadai that were on the breakfast buffet at the hotel.  They've got me dreaming of grinding my own dal and frying some of these at home.  I should do it, right?

Insta-shot of the vegetarian-only microwave at our office in Bangalore.  Of course, there is a meat-friendly counterpart.  

I went to a local spot with a few colleagues from our Bangalore office.  (I knew it was local because dudes were a little "leer-y" on the walk there and, well, because the walk there involved some tricky Frogger moves.)  Because it was so "local", I was fairly certain that this outing was going to be my digestive downfall.  Drinking beer seemed like the safest option (despite its glutenous bent) and next thing I knew, THIS CONTRAPTION was on our table.  We shared some "veg" plates that were hellishly spicy (but in a good way) and I was certain that all of our spoons in the same peanut masala was gonna have me in the bathroom all night.  But somehow, I was unscathed!  Lucky me!

By the way, nommy nommy peanut masala is my new favorite drinky snack...  

This is a crappy shot of a delicious uttapam I enjoyed for lunch one day.  I could eat that white coconut curry (2 o'clock on the plate above) on just about anything.


So that was India.  I had a wonderful wonderful trip.  I was fantasizing about moving to Bangalore while I was there, if that tells you anything.  But it goes against my rule about not living anywhere I can't drink the water.  (THIS IS A GOOD RULE.)  Also, I do like to be able to go where I want, when I want, by myself if I want.  So that wouldn't work either.  But still, India is really incredible.  I can't wait to go back this fall.