A Room with a View

Hi Vivian,

I've got so much more to tell you about the trip!

The Hilton Reykjavik Nordica was a great place to start the day and come back to every evening while exploring the city. In the European custom, a full breakfast was offered each morning. Cereals, yogurt, fresh fruit, breads, muffins, pastries, eggs cooked to order and a full compliment of hot foods were more than enough to satisfy any guest. The only unique item to me was a small station at the beginning of the buffet which had a bottle of cod liver oil with shot glasses piled next to it. A North Atlantic custom, I'm guessing. A number of people indulged in this offering...but not I, nor my VBFF&E.

In the late afternoon guests would begin gathering at the lounge located in the hotel lobby, sipping on before dinner drinks. A modern gas fireplace nearby, about six feet long, added to the comfortable atmosphere. With the temperature only in the high 40sF and rainy weather on some days, it was a good feeling to enter the hotel with the fireplace on.

The hotel faced Reykjavik Harbor and from our fifth floor room we had a clear view. We could see blue, blue skies filled with huge shades of grey clouds floating along the coast and covering mountains of volcanic rock. Icelandic homes and businesses stood in the forefront rounding out the portrait.

You'll love it when you get there!

We Went to Reykjavik!

Dear Vivian,

Last week my VBFF&E whisked me off to Iceland, the second most interesting island in the Atlantic Ocean. The trip was marvelous. We departed from JFK about 8:30 in the evening and Icelandair got us there in only 4 1/2 hours. Add on the four hour time difference and we arrived at Keflavik International Airport quite early in the morning. A comfortable coach bus transported us directly to our hotel in Reykjavik, about forty five minutes away.

The bus had large tinted windows which made for perfect viewing of the sights on the way to the hotel. Small villages in between rocky shoreline were at the start. Much of the barren land was hilly and moss covered, but sometimes just bare volcanic rock was visible. There were not many trees, but in areas where grass grew it was very green.

Houses and stores appeared with more frequency as we came into the outskirts of Reykjavik. In some ways it could have been almost any American city, though. A few stores and businesses were quite familiar - Pizza Hut, KFC and car dealers such as Toyota and Volkswagen.

Before we knew it we arrived at out hotel, the Hilton Reykjavik Nordica.

More to come about that soon - Jane

Point Lookout, Labor Day 2008

Long Island's South Shore beaches are fabulous. The view from the beach at Point Lookout is spectacular in its simplicity. I took this photo while sitting on the beach in late afternoon. Click on it to get its full impact. Talk about a staycation.