didn't your mom tell you not to play in the blue water?

So, the plane ride was relatively short -6 3/4 hours- and very smooth, though no possibility of sleep because the seats were small and didn’t recline much. On our flight, it was amazing to watch the cloud layers. Instead of one ceiling, there were at least 3 distinct levels of clouds, all of them moving in different directions. I guess this has to do with how far north we are and the arctic wind patterns. The sun never set and it was always on the north side of the plane moving back and forth in the sky as it circled around behind the earth! Met a very nice older couple on the plain from Iceland, Katarina Norrisdottir and her husband John Johnsson. They had been to many of the same places we have been and it was fun to talk to them.
We landed in Reykjavik at 6:45 a.m., had a quick bite to eat and set off by bus for the Blue Lagoon. This is a geothermal pool (105-110 degrees), quite large, with a spa and psoriasis treatment center attached. The water is milky white and about 2.5% salt plus many other minerals – easy to float in! All around the lava lined lake are small wooden boxes full of silica ash for white mud plasters on your face. You could tell where the hottest spots were by where the people congregated. Around the pool are lava caves you can sit in, water falls you can sit under, assorted steam rooms and saunas. This was a very nice way to soak out the stiff muscles from the plane ride…even better, though was the long massage I had. It had to be one of the best deep pressure therapy massages I have ever had. She found nearly every past injury to muscle or tendon I have had and worked around those areas thoroughly! I slept through much of it until the pain of a pressure point would wake me…once she eased off, I was back to snoring. Great jet lag cure! While I was getting worked on, Mark visited the psoriasis treatment center…he will comment on that. Ran into Icelandic couple again.
About ½ mile walk from the Blue Lagoon is the psoriasis rx center. Residential center where 12-15 patients at a time can stay for “all natural psoriasis spa rx with no side effects”. Treatment would include 2 soaks in the lagoon each day for one hour each, and a wrap with spa minerals, plastic wrap and a warm towel and then sitting in sun room solarium. Oh, and there is a Narrow band UVB session thrown in there which could have something to do with the results. Most patients stay for 3-4 weeks and sounds like they quote the same response rates we used are to with in-house Goeckerman. Spent 1 hour with the clinic nurse, Ester, and manager, Heather. Got the low-down on where to eat in town from the chatty receptionist.
Then it was back to the bus and a trip to downtown for lunch and check in to our “Apartment K” (B-2) home away from home for 3 days. The room has all sorts of tree rounds and branches glued to the ceiling…we feel underground! Must be what the view is like inside a groundhog hole. Comfy beds with lovely thin down comforters, beds fully adjustable on each side to slip down, sit up, bend in half…any position you can tolerate! Took a much needed 3 hour nap. Woke up in a stupor. Surrounded in white plastic tables, chrome sinks, black wine bars, Mac i-TV’s, lime green floors, Jersey cow rugs, and 22 head steam showers; it is like you fell asleep and woke up in Ikea after it closed for the night.
RECIPE NOTE: We just had a great dinner at a local restaurant. Appetizer was chunkcs of deep fried Camembert with red currant jelly. Mmmmm. I had lamb with Bernaise sauce, arugula salad and potatoes. Mark had a fabulous tagliatelli with chicken chunks, bacon or salt pork, garlic and fresh strong grated parmesan. I think the sauce might be approximated with Campbells Cream of Chicken soup diluted with chicken broth – perhaps some carmelized onion/garlic and a bit of sherry…very very yummy!
We will head out soon tonight to see the town party. We understand it starts getting busy after dark, in about 2 ½ hours…it is now 10:30 pm…and continues until at least 6 in the morning…hmmm, guess we’ll have the bakery to ourselves in the morning!
We have a car rented tomorrow to head out toward the location of the world’s first parliament (Thingvellier) , biggest geyser, waterfall and, possibly, the volcano, though it appears to have gone silent. This is called the Golden Circle tour. We will likely also try to head south to some small coastal towns. More later