A Short Summary in (Mostly) Photographs

Selma, my gracious hostess here in Reykjavik is spoiling me rotten with all sorts of Icelandic delicacies and fantastic dinners. She cooks, I clean up. She says she will have to hire a housekeeper after I leave, but I am going to have to hire a chef.

Here we have slátur, which is a type of blood pudding

Salmon and relish on toast

A full leg of lamb dinner

Chocolate cake waffles

Helped Snorri Plus with the Reykjavik Marathon Fun Run and got a nifty medal and a t shirt.

Reykjavik was INSANELY full of people for Culture Night (Menningarnótt). I was here last year for their National Day celebration on the 17th of June and I thought that was a busy day in town. This put it to shame.

Elbowed my way to the front of the crowd to see Russell Crowe perform at Bar 11. Total madness there on the back patio.




Saturday turned into a long day, what with the "big run" in the morning and then our night at the bar turning into a "didn´t get home till 6:30am because the bars don´t ever close in this crazy country" kind of night. I met some new people and had a fantastic time, but am still paying for the revelry with a critically low energy level. I hate to say it, but it is probably a good thing that I´m heading home on Wednesday. This place is exhausting.

Sunday, Selma and I got a bit of sleep and then in the early afternoon ventured out (slowly) to the Phallological Museum, strictly for scientific reasons, of course. Below are pictures of the museum, but I´ll keep the specific items out of it in case there are children in the audience.

Today (Monday the 20th) was an exciting one. The grand horseback riding adventure of my dreams. It was more than fun, but I have to say I´m so sore I can hardly sit down without wanting to cry. Six hours of trotting and tolting up and down the river deltas and into the foothills of the mountains near Hveragerði in southern Iceland are hard on the muscles. My horse had some allergy to gravel roads and pavement and from time to time would spontaneously make a mad dash for the ditch or nearest patch of grass to avoid it. There are now serpentine hoof patterns down every dirt road on the riding route from our power struggle. Delicate hooves or something. We didn´t see eye to eye for a good portion of the ride, but came to an understanding that at least got me back to the stable alive.
At some point I´d like to do the week long trek through the highlands, but I´m going to need some padded riding pants and honest to goodness riding boots (not to mention a cart load of cash) before that will be anything but a death wish. Someday, perhaps.

Observe the wildly attractive riding outfit. Shocker that I haven´t caught a man yet, with fashion sense like this.

Wild horse friends came to check out our group, but the guides scared them off before they could start a fight.

Only one more full day in Iceland. Tomorrow I´m going to check out the island Videy, and then maybe grab a few souvenirs before I leave for the airport Wednesday afternoon. Flight leaves at 4:30PM or so and with the time change I get back to Minneapolis at about 6PM. I have to report to my first day back at work at 8am the next morning. This seemed like a bad idea three months ago when I booked the flight, but a REALLY terrible idea now that the reality of it is right in front of me. Crap.
It has been a glorious summer though, and I really shouldn´t complain about having to work after a three month vacation... but I probably will.