The WC

Bano, loo, WC, restroom, so many names.  But what about the non verbal communication?  Nonverbal as in signage. These different signs we saw on our trip. My neice Katelyn noticed it first and then I started taking pictures of all the various ways the Water Closet is identified.   This post is even more poignant now that I'm home and two of three of our toilets are non-functional. These pictures are presented without commentary.

Less than 24 hours in Canada

We spent less than 24 hours in Toronto. We have learned before that if you book too many international flights in one day you may be left hanging. It's a good thing we did not book because we landed in the far off penalty area of the airport. Once we got off the plane we had to get on a bus with a horrible bus driver. Three times he slammed on the brakes, twice it was so sharp enough to get all the passengers yelling in fear. Then when we got off the bus we had to get through immigration which was a whole other issue. The automated kiosk could not recognize Leslie's passport. It recognized mine but then stopped working and said you need to find a new machine. When we went to the new machine I put my passport in at the take a picture it ratcheted up about 7 feet tall. I had to reach way up with my hand to keep the password in position. Not surprisingly it couldn't take my picture from way up there. It took another minute for it to go up and down and up and down until it got my picture. Not my best likeness I must say.  Leslie put her passport in and he said that it was a duplicate scan! All totaled it was over an hour and a half from the time we landed until we could have made any connecting flight. We certainly would not have alotted that much time for a connecting transfer.  Then we got through and attempted to find our Airport Sheraton Hotel. All I'm going to say is that the Sheraton Airport is not at the airport. The Sheraton at the airport is the Sheraton Gateway. The people at the Gateway don't know how to tell you how to get to the Sheraton Airport. It's our last day so we just sucked it up and stuck with a substandard room.  No pictures to share except for the countdown of the vacation. We are 36 days into it and still not home yet.

Winding down

We lounged in the spa during the morning hours.  I slipped over to the Blue Lagoon to take pictures.   We had a bite in the cafe and then back to the airport.  We had Saga class tickets so we could go to the lounge.  It insulated us from the madness that is Keflavik international airport.  It was even crazier at the gate.  We saw Greenland on the flight, mountains and icebergs.  We also saw the most beautiful scenery in Canada.   I believe it is Tornget National Forest in New Foundland and Labrador.  What a sight! Unfortunately we also saw thick smoke clouds from western fires.

On the way to Iceland we only saw the tip of Greenland. On the way back we actually got the fly over Greenland for an extended period of time

At first we only saw icebergs

Then we could see the coast

Using my zoom and shooting out the windows on the other side of the plane I could see these mountains

Mountains with the giant Greenland ice cap in the background

A majestic landscape

This is Torngat Natioal Park in Canada

What a view 

Glaciers, fjords with very deep vallys

So desolate 

Incredible 

Our Retreat Sanctuary

After our procedure we got up to our room.  My my my, how nice indeed! The decor was warm and modern. The bed was superior, both in comfort and in design. The chairs were perfect for lounging and looking out at the beautiful Icelandic view. The shower was the best we've ever been in. We really loved room 104!

Our bed and two chairs strategically positioned to look out the window at the beautiful Icelandic landscape

The view from our bed and our chairs

Close up to see the window and the view of the water and lava

Complementary goodies, not much left after we were done with the room.

More complimentary goodies and my toenails are still looking okay

It's odd that they would have a tub for taking hot baths when you have the Lagoon outside

The best shower ever. From the ceiling had a square water dispensary that was 18 inches by 18 inches. A straight stream of 100 nozzles  a single thick rope of water or a series of 20 medium sized ropes of water or all the same time

Happy anniversary in Icelandic

Cold champagne in smaller increments so you can drink just as much as you choose

Tiny flowers growing through the lava rock right outside our window

And even smaller flower poking its head up at the tip of the rock wall. A small raindrop is also caught in the picture

Moss, lava and a dormant volcano 

Rock cavities left for the elves to move into 

The cafe 

The entry way to the hotel 

Room 104 is heating up

Such a nice set up

An elf home right outside our room

So colorful 

At the entrance to the hotel was a steaming lava sculpture.

Two hour water treatments

We did not know what to expect out of this experience. I imagined a regular massage just in the water or on a bench semi submerged. It was so much more than that!  Thor and Chad were our masseuses.   They started with a salt rub.  This was done on a semi submerged bench with a rubber mat placed between us and the bench.  The water was warm but the air was cool and the wind was blowing moderately.  To keep us warm large towels were laid on top of us and periodically dipped back into the warm water. For instance Chad peeled the towel off of one leg, rubbed it down with salt, then dipped the bottom half of the towel back in the water and replaced it over my legs.  Then he would take the top half of the towel off to the side, dip it in the water and replace it on my top half.  This was repeated for legs, arms, back, belly and chest.  The towels were quite thick and when filled with water the heft put pressure on us which was quite comforting.  Lastly our faces were scrubbed and a mask was applied.  The mask stayed on for the rest of the process.   The next part was the most bizarre.  There is a type of algae that grows only in these waters.  Like the moss that had traditionally been ground up and added to the bread, there are medicinally beneficial aspects to this algae.  So we were each slathered with the algae and to keep it on our skin we were slipped into a large plastic bags.  I mean large because I was able to fit in easily.  More algae was applied and then the top of the bag was gathered around our necks.  A floating neck pillow was put on our necks and then they slid us off the table and we were set adrift, free floating bagged humans.  There is a cooking technique, Sous Vide, in which you seal the item to cook in a plastic bag and then set it in a warm water bath. It gives the chef much more control over the cooking process. As I floated I could feel tiny bubbles percolating  as the algae  did their thing and I could only think of being cooked in the Blue Lagoon ala sous vide. We had a 20 minute "cook" time after which the massage began.  This was more conventional with the exception of the positions we needed to be in for the masseuse to get leverage.  There were ropes stretched parallel to the surface of the water that they used to prop an appendage up occasionally to get leverage.  During the massage we were back on the rubber mats but not on the tables.  At regular intervals they would push us down by the hips back into the water.  As the massage was ending  it began to rain a little. The tiny drops would land on my face and wash away the mask bit by bit.  I was getting kind of hot so the cold rain was very soothing. To be honest we were both a bit sore after the procedures, perhaps due to the free floating positions or the occasional lack of back support.

The retreat was quite strict about no pictures to protect the privacy of their guests, so I had to go over Into the Blue Lagoon property itself to take pictures

You can see the ropes used to hang a leg off of for leverage

These are the mats that we laid on with the large towels on top of the mats

This is part of the Retreat. There is a little window at the corner of this building where they can watch anybody coming from the Blue Lagoon over to the Retreat. If they are not Retreat customers they are turned away

One of the most beautiful parts of the Blue Lagoon is how the Mist will ebb and flow as the wind blows harder and softer.

Thicker plumes are from the geothermal power plant in the distance

The sun is breaking through the clouds 

People are out there in the mist

Water, lava, sky