OK, I changed my mind about the blogging thing

I lied earlier. I said I wasn't going to blog this trip. I am. So, sorry Auntie Krissy. I didn't mean to mislead you. I guess I like having everything laid out in my memory and the events of the days recorded. It's a little more solid feeling than putting pictures on Facebook (which I will probably do as well). Bases covered.
So here it is. A summary of my first day of my 4th Iceland visit.

Leaving Minneapolis

Having a friend (Erin Jones) next to me on the airplane made the flight seem much faster and less stressful. I still didn't sleep for a single second, but it was a peaceful sleepless night flight. My biggest worry was the young teenage boy on my right sneaking a look at the contents of my iPad Nook app, which was sporting an inappropriate romance novel, and trying to remember if the movie Chocolat had any sex scenes I needed to fast forward through as it played on the screen in front of me.

Erin is heading to Iceland to complete an Icelandic Language program during the month of July. Jealous. As some of our transportation plans from the airport to our destinations in Reykjavik were...spontaneous, shall we say, it was good to have a travel buddy.

We took the Fly Bus into the bus station in Reykjavik, and a cab to our other friend, Erin Johnson's cousin Oli's apartment. My cousin Selma, whom I am staying with here in Reykjavik picked me up there. At this point I hadn't slept in almost 24 hours and was starting to feel a little off. Nap time. I slept like the dead on Selma's couch. 4 hours later I woke to the smell of hamburgers cooking and almost cried with joy.

The Erins (Johnson and Jones) were also napped and ready for action. Low key action. Selma and I met them at vesturbæjarlaug, one of Reykjavik's many awesome pools. Pools in Iceland are not anything like pools in Minnesota, at least not like any I have experienced. This isn't just the place that overwhelmed parents and nannies bring children to splash around in the kiddie pool while they check their phones and inflate the occasional water wing. Yes, I'm sure that happens here too, but pools in Iceland also a huge damn social deal. This is where people of all ages come to sit and chat with friends and neighbors in their heated outdoor hot tubs and pools. It's like a really soggy bar that doesn't serve alcohol. The air was deliciously chilly, especially compared to the heat that I know is lurking back in Minnesota, but the water is toasty warm. After a long airplane ride, and the feeling of being totally grimy and exhausted from an oddly timed nap, the waters at the pool were as close as I could imagine to a perfect way to spend the afternoon. Mind you, the bathing butt naked in front of strangers before and after taking your dip can take a toll on the feelings of rest and relaxation, but this wasn't my first rodeo. I've come to terms with that slightly (way) outside my normal comfort zone rule.

Cool mural

Selma kindly drove me and the Erins to Kringlan, one of the malls in Reykjavik to buy SIM cards for our phones. My iPhone 5c through Verizon is already unlocked and ready for international travel apparently, which is great. I just bought a new card and now for the duration of my trip I have an icelandic phone number and data plan. So legit. Pretty slick.
At the mall we also slipped into Bonus, the grocery store to stock up on goodies. Kòkòmjòlk, snuður, kleinur, skinka, brauð, etc. Should stave of the hunger pains for a day or two.

The word is free

Childrens´art display

I wanted to take a walk, so Selma and I headed out after a quick dinner and fairly aimlessly wandered up and down the streets of Reykjavik. I was last here in 2012, and I noticed many changes to the city. New businesses, lots of cool street art that wasn't around on prior trips, and construction like you
wouldn't believe. Reykjavik is running full speed into beefing up the tourist industry. New hotels are
springing up all over. Local 101 residents are fighting rising rent prices and a lack of homes and apartments to rent as more and more housing options are put out there for visitors, not permanent residents of the city. It's not always a pretty sight.

On our walk, being naturally observant students of life, Selma and I noticed a lot of black, scary smoke, coming from east of the main part of Reykjavik. A business fire, Selma heard from a friend via text. We walked back to her apartment and got in the car to go for a little closer look. The fire, in Skeifan, attracted a large audience. We were not the only ones that wanted to see what was happening. Given the not funny circumstance, it was a pretty amusing number of people that turned out to snoop. It looked like a parade. Cars packed along the streets, people sitting on blankets and standing at the sides of the roads, people on rooftops a safe distance away, everyone wanted to be able to say they were there. The fire appeared to have spread to several other nearby buildings. Big, scary mess.

Fire in Skeifan

One more adventure before settling in for the night. I think I had about 3 days worth of events crammed into today, as seems to be typical of my trips here. We stopped at Grasagarðurinn, a beautiful botanical garden just outside the city, not far from where the fire was burning. This is in a place called Laugardalur Valley. Next to the botanical garden is the site of an old natural hot spring where people would come to do their laundry back in the day. It was a dangerous task apparently. Over the years, several women and children fell into the hot springs and drowned or were burned to death. It is all dried up now, but you can see the layout.

Found my Icelandic house

We wandered around the gardens for awhile, and I started to feel the lack of sleep really catch up to me. Probably only one or two more winds left in me, I thought. I'm just managing to get this typed up, hopefully with some pictures attached before I lose my mind. Kindly disregard the typos. Goða nott.

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.

In Which I Take Long Drives with Good People

I apologize in advance for typos, I don´t have the energy left to read through and make sure it all makes sense.


I have a new favorite part of Iceland, at least for the time being. Ásbyrgi is one of the most fantastic places I´ve seen here yet, and that is saying a lot. It is a canyon sometimes called Iceland´s equivalent of the Grand Canyon. Prettier though, I think, though I have never been to the actual Grand Canyon. Check out the pictures and decide for yourself though.

Bogga, Elvar, Stefan Alex and I left Faskrudsfjordur in a leisurely fashion around noon. The plan the night before had been to camp someplace near Husavik, but shortly into the drive it was decided to camp instead in Ásbyrgi itself. The route was then changed and we got to drive through Vopnafjordur and Þórshöfn. We drove all along that northern coast of the farthest northeast peninsula to see the sights. The roads were better there than a shorter route, and pulling the RV behind the SUV made it necessary to stick to these better roads.

There were a couple of stops for ice creams and sodas, and to take lots of pictures as well. I took plenty of shots through the glass of the car window, but was always happy for a chance to get out and get some really nice shots of the world around me, not to mention stretch my legs. I found once again that the How to Train Your Dragon soundtrack is the perfect soundtrack for passing through the Icelandic landscape. At any moment some mystical creature could come flying over the snowcapped mountains or barren lava plains.

The camp site was spectacular, and the camper is top notch. It is fancy camping. No hardship here.

We ate an awesome dinner of grilled lamb and sat chatting for a few minutes. Bogga, Elvar and Stefan Alex gave me some beautiful gifts. I got some music of Icelandic children´s songs and a DVD of an Icelandic fairytale to help me learn some more of the language. Perfect! And then, something so special I don´t think I deserve it, a laufabrauð roller, used to make the traditional Christmas bread. It is so beautiful I think I will feel bad about using it. They even etched my initials into it. It is so nice I can´t believe it.

There was still some daylight left after this surprise gift giving session so we drove to the little hiking path at the end of the canyon to go see the pond that lies at the very base of the cliffs. It couldn´t have been a more perfect evening for a walk, and the light was hitting the cliffs just right to make them glow a golden, rosy sort of shade.

I made s´mores for the family, and for the family next to us that, of course, Bogga knew. I used Icelandic ingredients, (Polo cookies and some greasy marshmallows, which are translates as "sugar pillows," also a term of endearment here). They turned out okay, but I told Stefan Alex I would send him some of the real thing so he could get the true s´more experience. He was most excited about carving the sticks with a sharp knife to spear the marshmallows. Twelve year old boys are pretty much have the same interests in every corner of the world, I think.

The next morning we headed for Hljóðaklettar, a large area of columnar rock formations. We hiked around for three hours of more. It was really strange looking land, but so beautiful. I was still sore from climbing Hoffell, which is a sad reflection on my muscles, more than an accurate reflection of Hoffell´s difficulty I think. Either way, my body cried out against the exercise though I was mentally up for the challenge.

It was a bumpy car ride to Dettifoss. The road was rough, and there were a surprising amount of other cars on the narrow road that had to be slowed down for and worked around before moving on. Dettifoss was as impressive as I imagined. This was one of the sights that I have had on my "Must See" list for awhile. The roar of the water is rather deafening, and a dirty sort of mist hangs in the air, attacking eyes, noses and mouths with the stiff breeze. You can see the dirt splash back up with the water as it goes over the falls. This isn´t one of the beautiful, clear waterfalls like most in Iceland, the kind where you expect fairies to flit around and little golden drops of dew to glisten in the nearby greenery. This one is all about power and intimidation.

A looooong drive back to the campsite followed the Dettifoss visit. I had a little snooze in the back and willed myself not to get carsick from the bumpy roads. There was a last minute decision to move to a different campground in Akureyri so we could do some things around there the next day. It is in the opposite direction of Faskrudsfjordur. Back into the car we went. We drove though Husavik and then onto our destination. A swim in the local pool was first on the agenda that evening. Here´s the thing about Icelandic pools...you have to get extremely naked in order to be allowed in there. Like, publicly so. Public nudity is far beyond the borders of my comfort level, and let me tell you, that the first thing you see walking into an Icelandic swimming pool locker room is not towel clad women. You see everything BUTT. 99.9% of the people in there don´t blink at the nudity, but as the .1% I had the blinking quota met.

The pool was nice, but we were soon enough back in the naked locker room, where you attract more attention trying to cover up than just blending in with all the nakedness. I can´t say I was comfortable with the whole thing, but there is something rather freeing about the whole situation. In case you were wondering, I do not have pictures of this outing.

Our campsite on the outskirts of the city was another really nice one. Bogga and Stefan tried to teach me some Icelandic card games, but I was a hopeless case. The next day was spent in the sunny city of Akureyri shopping for new school clothes for Stefan Alex and a new microwave for Bogga and Elvar since Elvar blew their old one up on Sunday night.

A 5 or 6 hour drive later, we were back in foggy Faskridsfjordur. I had plans to have dinner at Þorhildur´s house. She promised me reindeer steaks, and was good to her word! It was delicious! No food in Iceland is safe from me, no matter how bizarre or adorable! I ate it both raw and grilled and it was super tasty both ways.

There was chocolate mousse for dessert, and then an hour later a late night family dessert party to go to at Lisa and Stebbi´s house. Goodbye skinny jeans.

The party was so nice. There was a good group there, all three of Lisa and Stebbi´s daughters and a good portion of the grandchildren as well. The dessert selection was shockingly huge, and each cake there was too pretty to eat, though eat we did. It was definitely one of those warm, fuzzy moments where I realized how amazing it is that family can be discovered in so many different ways.

The next morning I would be on my way to Reykjavik to stay with my cousin Selma for the second part of my trip. We stayed up late talking and looking at information on Islendingadagurinn since Bogga is interested in seeing it one of these next summers.
It was so nice to get to see all of the Faskrudsfjordur family again. I really missed them, and all the places and was truly thrilled to be back.