The coolest (not literally) country – Iceland Part 1

3 weeks after the trip to Iceland and I am still so excited about this country. I mean come on, it’s ICELAND. It is not an obvious country to visit in Europe but then again, I don’t always do the obvious 🙂

Starting with the airline, WOW. yes WOW, it is a funny budget airline, their flight attendants looked like they were made from barbie moulds. Blonde, pale, slim and tall. Funny how the tour guide said when the vikings came to Iceland, they took all the beautiful women. If that didn’t happen, perhaps everyone in Iceland would look like barbies.

Currency exchange: it’s such a pain that up North, they rarely use Euros. Kroners is fine but can they NOT be called the same when in one country it’s x1.3, and in another it’s /164? The rate is really good in Iceland though, the bank is also the most modern one I have ever seen.

Of course to me, the most essential part of travelling, is the food. On the first day, we walked for almost 1 hour straight all the way out to the bay for this restaurant that serves lunch buffet for less than 10 euros. It was a very sincere and traditional Icelandic seafood buffet.

For the price we paid, it was extremely worth the walk. (Especially for me, buffet is always a good deal 😉 The owner and staff was so nice too and I started to form a really positive image on Iceland despite the shitty ever-changing weather.

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On the way back, we walked pass the photography exhibition that I read about on the plane. I love reading those inflight magazines; they always tell you interesting things to see in the time that you are visiting. This photographer took photos 25 years ago with the idea of juxtaposing the past and present 25 years later. Isn’t that a really intriguing life-time project? It’s kind of like a time capsule, you see a new Subway here and the old building was restored … I could easily copy him and do the same but will I remember this silly idea after 25 years?

We landed 1 am at night so we had a really chill first day. We explored Reykjavik really thoroughly: the main street was filled with exciting graffiti, interior design and window displays etc.

I think Icelanders (sounds really cool, I’m an ICELANDER) are really amazing people, they value their heritage, they respect their nature, and they embrace arts and literature.

The modernistic Harper Concert hall is nicely designed and it was dazzling to see it at night.

Although the weather was cloudy and occasionally crazily windy and rainy, the city lake with swans and ducks was quite entertaining, especially to the kids. (and me.)

This church is so different, so out of the box. 🙂 I liked it.

The air there was revitalizing. Iceland is simply too remote to have any kind of pollution; their population helps too. If we think in a world with only HongKongers and Icelanders, you can only find 1 Icelander for every 22 HongKongers you meet!

Icelanders claimed they have the best tasting water, and I would attest to that any day. It quenched my thirst with its refreshing and deliciously cold taste. It’s hard to explain how flavorful water can be, you just have to try it for yourself. It just felt like what water should taste like. Funny though, you must remember to turn the tap to the coldest side or else you get the hot spring water that smells like rotten egg. Yes we made that mistake like, twice. However, that water is extremely good to shower in 🙂

At twilight, the ground absorbed the rain from earlier and was reflecting the traffic lights under the glowing lampposts. I felt peaceful and safe.

Back to hostel, we cooked in the cutest kitchen ever with cheese that we thought was butter. And we rested. Realize I never use the word rest in this blog? Because we really never did.

The day before, I dramatically tripped and landed on the floor at the end of a horizontal escalator like in a bad Mr. Bean show…

R: (Traumatized) shoot I feel like grandma

V: No you’re worst than them. At least they know that they’re weak so they don’t turn around talking on an escalator and then trip.

R: …

This is the 5^th day of our trip and the 13^th day of 6-8 hours walking. I really couldn’t stretch myself to the max anymore. I had the best night sleep in a long time snuggled up in my sleeping bag brought to me specially by a dear friend.

End of part 1.

The Unintended Trip Finale (Antwerp, Belgium)

Originally, it was never my plan to rush any country/city. But somehow there really was nothing much to see after spending one full day in Ghent/Brussels, and we thought, why not spend the last 5 hours before our flight in Antwerp, the fashion center of Belgium. With this limited timeframe, however, detailed planning was needed and here I lay out the (much anticipated, I hope 😉 ) grand finale of Belgium.

I loved the trains here, for youth like us, you can travel to any city for 6 euros one way. There were quite a lot of “THE First/Best” claims here and the first we saw was the “Prettiest” train station in Europe.

For that particular day, there was a Rotary event. As we headed for the pedestrian street with most shops, I saw this lovely chalkboard and as I arrived at the Italian Church, I looked down and there was a black, long limo. (Of course it was too rude to take a photo of it.) Someone died. My heart sunk a little.

But these once-off moments are the little bits and pieces that build up to a memorable and unique experience. Indeed, the Schelde River will always be there, and so will the clock tower. But these spontaneous snapshots were not here to stay. At this precise moment, the event must have ended, probably no funeral today and the cafe owner might have drawn up a new smoothie menu. And it’s comforting and special to feel that you were there at that particular moment in the universe. Isn’t it a wonderful thing in life that despite the static castles and clock towers, life is ever-evolving in big and small ways?

Now inside these marvelous architectures, was a huge champagne glass bar. And next to it THE First Skyscraper in Europe (Not exactly scraping the sky at that height though I suppose), the Farmer’s Tower 1932.

Since Antwerp was an important port, we saw a lot of related decorations all over the town.

This was the furthest walk because we were heading to a special floating swimming pool that was frozen into an ice rink in Winter! (On the way we passed by the red light district. OMG. It was just, shocking. I was too timid to take photos, but my friend should have it. The ladies were banging the window as we passed by. I simply cannot imagine how it’d be like at night, a small, curious part of me wanted to stare longer, but the startled part of me pulled us away from that street.)

That day was somehow the coldest ever, the wind was blowing from all directions pushing me forward and dragging me back at times. We decided to take a break, and walked in to the MAS. They have a wonderful view on the top (Also where I realized I lost my left glove 😦 sorry grandma) but the point was, the intriguing and slightly dark exhibition on Life and Death. (I don’t know why this motif kept appearing in Belgium)

In the introduction it asked the questions

“Where do we come from? Where will we go to?” As the first one addresses what was already happened, my curiosity for that is not as strong as for the second one. What happens after this wonderful, vibrant life? What would be left of me? Interesting questions to ponder upon in my free time.

It reminded me of one of my favorite poem by Robert Frost,

“Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice”

Perhaps the only convincing and utterly calming answer to this is to make an impact that will last even years after I vanish. There would be a tiny part of me staying and watching as the world progress.

Finally we arrived! It was my first time skating in the outdoor and you could not imagine how freezing cold it was. Also, I am a bad skater for all sorts of reasons: poor balancing and coordinating skills, inability to lose control, pathetically thin blade on the shoes and the slippery ice…

I would rather be dragged around like this.

Afterwards we rushed through the plaza and heard the clock town ring and saw the fairy-like fountain. Honestly, these are really the same after seeing the 3rd one. Suddenly though, a carriage just passed by us out of nowhere. Wow, I think I really haven’t seen one ever in my life.

For lunch, I had the best ham and cheese sandwich I have ever had and this was my camera working the natural blurry filter upon entering the store.

Finally it’s 3 pm and we were back to where we started, the beautiful Antwerp Centraaaaaal Station. (They like to spell it with many As 🙂

The Unintended Trip Part 2 (Ghent, Belgium)

Quote of the day: Life is too short to NOT LOOK BEAUTIFUL EVERYDAY! 🙂

After a nice warm sleep, we took the early train and headed for Ghent. We didn’t really have anything in mind particularly, and perhaps that’s what made the trip so fun. Learning from our mistake, we made it to their big Friday Flea Market and bought some really cheap but cute stuff. Yep, those are buttons. We’ll figure out what to do with them somehow…

The weather was a bit gloomy because it was still winter, but the river view mirroring the fluffy clouds above still tried its best for us to take nice photos 🙂

Now we arrived the “Graffiti Factory”. It really wasn’t much, just “Graffiti” on an abandoned “Factory.” It was cute though, midway, a dog started barking at us and I thought of running, but then I realized I was way too tired. That was when I dropped my map 😀 and picked it back up where I dropped it. Typical me, careless mistakes + fortunate outcome.

And then another antique shop. There were creepy baby cribs for sale… I did not quite like it there. The aura was somehow frightening to say the least.

Afterwards we went into a museum that displayed the lives of Ghent people back in the days. But the MAIN point: the door knobs were HEART SHAPED. awwww, first time I saw something that cute. Now I want one on my front door when I have a house.

Now, time for some food! We went to a bakery where they were supposed to have cookies that they use a real iron to flatten, but turned out they only sell those for breakfast 😦 so we had something else instead, the Creme Brulee is obviously delicious as I forgot to take photos 😛

These strollers we saw everywhere, sold Ghent specialty, purple nose or whatever it was called I forgot. They weren’t exported because they expire very soon. It was with some strawberries and rum inside I think. Worth trying, but were too sweet.

Now to the main part of our GHENT day trip. GRAFFITI. DIY. We walked into this spiraling alley FULL of paints in all colors you can name. I did not see a single empty space. Somehow I have always associated graffiti with bad guys and the thought of actually doing it myself is thrilling.

We bought a bottle of white paint spray and my heart was just jumping up and down insanely inside me.

There was me looking retarded and amazed by the bottle of white paint spray 😛

So there, I know it kind of spoiled others’ great art work, but that’s the whole point of Graffiti, right? To find beauty in ruins. That’s the cost of having a free canvas, and constant public audience. It is refreshing to think that every now and then, the walls would be renewed, Rebirth.

Well, it probably is gone now and is replaced by some beautiful graphics(or perhaps ugly, signatures by tourists like us) but at least we established our presence there vividly. 🙂

Before the sun went down, we found a cute and ancient looking cafe and had what they said might be best coffee in Ghent, and waffles. aaah Isn’t it just wonderful, the combination of cream, milk, butter, egg and flour. Almost like a miracle.

Notice that the blurry effect, was natural! Since it was only 0 degrees outdoor, once we entered the warmly heated cafe, my camera just automatically created these wonderful effects. (I know it is simple physics, but just let me put it this way so my photos feel more special)

The view when the sun was going down was intoxicating. The dimly lit lights within the buildings, the floating boats and metal bikes was just so… “Europe”. (Sorry for the lack of a more intelligent word)