The drive back to Reykjavik is long and much quieter than the drive out.  It is raining, and we are both really moved and impressed by what we have seen at Jokulsarlon.

Kristen finishes teaching me the name of the volcano, however.  Aye-ah-fiat-la-yo-coot-leh.  I practice saying it over and over, so I won’t forget.

About 30km outside the city, ( Read more... )

Our first full on view of Jokulsarlon, as we pull the car into the parking lot is so amazing, that I actually feel like I might cry just from looking at it.  The water is an arctic blue, and the broken pieces of the glacier are startlingly white.  Some are streaked with contrasting black lines of ash, and the tips where some are melting appear to ( Read more... )

Wednesday morning marked a big departure for us on the trip so far, as this was the first day of us having a rental car.  It turned out to be a great idea, as it was amazing to drive through the countryside on our own.

We opted to get a car so that we could make our way to Jokulsarrlon to take a zodiac boat tour on the glacial lagoon.  The ( Read more... )

After dinner, we return to the House of the Spirits and I work on convincing Kristen to go to what is called a hot pot.  We’ve had a bit of a chilly day in the elements, and our muscles are still sore from the lava field hike, and my understanding is that hot pots are a bit like natural hot tubs.

They are very popular in Reykjavik, as a thing ( Read more... )

Rather against the advice of The Haters Guide to Iceland, we are spending our Tuesday on a bus tour of the Golden Circle.  What is the Golden Circle, you ask?  I will let the Hater explain:

"An artificial tourist circuit loved by thousands of visitors, the Golden Circle takes in three popular attractions all within 100km of the capital.  The ( Read more... )

After our intense day of volcano hiking, Kristen and I return to the House of the Spirits, clomping mud all over the spiral staircase, to flop on the bed and exclaim things like "God!"  "That hike!" "Can you believe we did that?" and "How are your bruises?"


( Read more... )

Monday morning dawns, the day of the volcano.  This is the experience that inspired us to come to Iceland in the first place - there an Inside the Volcano tour that leads you on a hike across a lava field and then lowers you, on a thing that looks like a window washers cart, down into the magma chamber of the dormant Thrihnukagigur (pronounced ( Read more... )

As we head to the Harpa, we observe that people on the streets of Reykjavik are dressed in vastly disparate ways as they attempt to deal with the weather.  We are wearing hoodies over t-shirts, and have our rain jackets in the backpack.  It’s in the high 40’s, but the wind can make seem colder.  Meanwhile, we see some people totally bundled up with ( Read more... )

Sunday morning we are up bright and early, our heroic efforts to stay awake all through our long day of travel having resulted in a successful Icelandic time reset.

We head out to get breakfast and explore the city.  We are bound for a cafe called “The Grái Kötturinn” which means “The Gray Cat.”  Although it is sort of unfashionable to be into ( Read more... )

On Saturday morning, we wake at zero dark thirty to head to the airport for our first flight of the day. Uncertain of how much our bags weigh, and without a scale in the apartment, we develop a method of picking up the 14lb container of cat litter in one hand, and a suitcase in the other to compare. Not overly scientific perhaps, but it gets the ( Read more... )