In October while visiting Laura she discovered low cost flights via Icelandair direct from Seattle to Reykjavik, Iceland. We pounced on them and started planning for our trip, something we have wanted to do for a long time. We knew it could be pretty cold but we wanted a chance to see the Northern lights.
We left Thursday afternoon, 14 Feb, from Seattle and landed 8 hours later at 6 am at Keflavik airport. Sun up was about 9 am so we had some time while we waited for our BnB house to be ready. We went to Perlan, an introduction to Icelands geography and animals. It was good but we all took a nap during movies in the comfortable lounge like chairs.
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| Airplane antics, Amos, Margaret and Audrey Horne |
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| Sculptures outside Perlan |
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| View to Hallgrimskyrka |
We then found our Airbnb, near the city airport and just off the bay. It was a great house for us with lots of space. We then went to a City Walk tour with Erikur, a good guide for knowledge and sense of humor. That was a good intro to Reykjavik and some Icelandic history. After a stop at Costco to get spaghetti for dinner, we headed to the Blue Lagoon for a proper shower and hot pool. Smoothies in the fog, we liked it despite our near exhaustion.
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| Our view from our home in Reykjavik. |
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| Horpu the event center and opera house. |
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| Hallgrimskyrka tower. |
On Saturday we went into the Horpu opera and event center, it has glass walls that are inspired by fish scales. We toured a very interesting National Museum. We then went to the old Harbor and had burgers.
On Sunday we went to a small Branch for Church, it was a friendly group and we enjoyed the experience. Most people speak English very well, and we had a translator for the Icelandic talks.
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| Ice cave in Perlan. |
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| Geology mural in Perlan. |
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| Outside the Reykjavik Chapel |
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| Inside the Horpu opera house. |
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| Up high. |
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| Overlooking harbor and snowy mountains. |
On Monday we headed southeast to the Secret Lagoon, a very fun outdoor natural pool. There is a small geysir there too, along with some bubbling water pools. In the afternoon we drove to our next BnB on the Snaefellnes peninsula near Styklishomur. The main roads were clear but we got stuck driving in a long driveway in to the cabin. Luckily neighbors helped us out, we had to walk our luggage into the cabin. It was nice once there but the road in was too uncertain for coming and going for side trips so we decided to head back south for our final days in Iceland.
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| Land Cruiser pulling out our Renault van. |
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Trucking from our van along an icy drive to our
cabin for the night. |
Back in Reykjavik we had a day trip along the south coast to Vik, with waterfalls, the airplane beach, and old houses along the way.
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Cindy on the strait and narrow, Eric heading into the
mists. |
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| Glufrabui Foss, short walk from Seljalandsfoss. |
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| We enjoyed the Icelandic countryside and people. Reykjavik has many fun and educational sites to see. We did not see the aurora borealis because of too many clouds. I am glad we were finally able to walk in the land where my Icelandic ancestors came from. |
