Iceland, Day One
After a delayed arrival due to weather, we picked up our Jeep and hit the road in the pitch dark at about 8:30 in the morning. Twilight started around 10 am, the sun (hidden behind more storm clouds) theoretically came up around 11, went down around 3, and twilight lasted until about 4. The weather worsened throughout the day, and we have already gotten several inches of snow! But the hot tub is, in fact, hot, and we have lots of tasty provisions. Life is good.
Iceland, Day Two
We drove into Akureyri (about a 20-minute drive, given the roads) to wander around and check out some art. Since it was Christmas Eve, everything was pretty well buttoned up, but we found it to be a charming town and will come back when things are more open. Since we were staying on Eyafjordur (a really big fjord), we decided to drive around the peninsula on our side. With weather rolling in and some major changes in elevation, it was a big of a firmly-grip-the-steering-wheel kind of drive, but we made it (almost) to the end of the road before turning back for our cozy cottage.
Iceland, Day Three (Christmas Day)
We had a quiet and relaxed day, kicked off with Grandma McGinnis’ baked eggs and bacon, a walk in the snow, chatting with loved ones, hot tub, and a feast for two. Hope that your day was also filled with abundance and joy.
Iceland, Day Four
The weather stayed mostly clear for a drive to see some of the places on our must-visit list. We first stopped at Godafoss, a lovely set of falls just beside the road. Continuing on, we arrived at Myvatn (literally, Midge Lake, bet that’s a joy in the summer…), which is big but quite shallow. It’s very active geologically, and we would have loved to do some hiking (especially up Hverfjall, a caldera), but guess that’s for a future trip.
Iceland, Day Five
We had to delay our departure from Akureyri because of a “violent storm” passing over the country; there was a possibility that the road to Reykjavik was closed, so we passed a couple of happy hours in Akureyri. It’s a lovely town, and I particularly like that all of the traffic lights have hearts for the red lights. We met with a terrific fiber artist, checked out a couple of other stores, bought some fabric (of course!), wandered around the Hof, checked the weather and roads several times, and finally hit the road. The weather had warmed enough to melt much of the snow and ice from the roads, which was good because we were driving through some gale-force winds with major gusts. As we got closer to Reykjavik, there were ridiculous squalls passing over, and I’m not sure we have ever seen waves dancing and jumping (it’s also clear where Tolkien got his idea for the horses in the river…). Well, we made it and got checked in to our hip downtown apartment (of which, sadly, we seem to have taken no pictures), then dragged ourselves out into the wind for Indian.
Iceland, Day Six
Around Reykjavik. We spent much of the day shopping (you’re welcome, Iceland) and checking out lots of great design. In the evening, we had tickets for an experience at the performing arts center, Harpa; called “Bjork Digital”, it was several of her videos experienced in virtual reality (https://en.harpa.is/events/event/bjork-digital). Wow, so very Bjork. We capped off the evening with a great dinner (naturally).
Iceland, Day Seven
Last day! We, of course, had to the visit the National Phallological Museum while we had the chance followed by an interesting lunch of Icelandic tapas (works better than you might imagine, actually), before heading to the airport and the trip home. We had a great time and found it inspiring.
