Jun 19, 2013 - Thursday, June 13, 2013

We have returned to Reykjavik from our 5-day trip to the north, to Einar's and Gudrun Edda's summer house. While there we didn't have internet connection, but I of course kept up with my journal. so now I will post each day of that trip separately, beginning with the day we went, Thursday, June 13. Today we drove to the north of Iceland to Gudrun Edda's and Einar's summer house. The house was formally a farm house (built in the 1950's) and is in a beautiful steep valley at Svarfathardalur. with high mountains all around. The farm is named...

Jun 19, 2013 - Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Tuesday, June 18, 2013 First thing this morning we packed everything up to move back to Reykjavik from the north. After breakfast Jim, Einar and I walked up over the fell to see a canyon just beyond their house – on their property. Had a little lunch, packed the car and drove away from Atlastadir for the last time at about 11:45. We drove back to the south the same way we had come north, but made several stops when we got to the Borgarnes area. There are beginning to be a wide variety of wildflowers – many of them very tiny. There are lots...

Jun 19, 2013 - Sunday June 16, 2013

Sunday, June 16, 2013 Today we drove past Akureyri and up the other side of the fiord to Laufas where there is a remarkable turf farmhouse. The house, a turf-clad timber building built in traditional-Icelandic farm style, has been there since the middle ages. The oldest section, the passage that runs through the middle, has indications that it is unchanged since at least the middle of the 16th century. The whole house was changed regularly to fit the needs of its owners. It was the vicarage of a very rich pastorate because there were many...

Jun 19, 2013 - Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Wednesday, June 19,2013 This morning we walked over to the church which is right next door to Einar's house. It's a beautiful modern church, built about 25 years ago. Their daughter, Gudny is the organist there. She was there while we were looking around the church and she played some Mendelssohn for us and then showed us how she uses the stops and the pedals to play the organ. It was very interesting. After lunch Jim and I went to the swimming pool to get in the hot pool. Very neat! Bathers are required to bathe naked in an open shower...

Jun 19, 2013 - Monday, June 17, 2013

Monday, June 17, 2013 It's another beautiful day – we've had sunny days for five days - every day we've been in Denmark except the first day when it was cloudy and there was a little rain. Today is Iceland's National Day, celebrating Iceland's independence from Denmark in 1944. Their national hero is Jon Sigurdsson; he worked for Icelandic independence, but died in 1879. This morning there was a program on TV from Reykjavik – singing, speeches and placing of a wreath. All over Iceland there will be celebrations of all sorts today – serious...

Jun 19, 2013 - Friday, June 14, 2013

Friday, June 14, 2013 Today we header out to the east. Our first stop was at the church where Einar was the priest in 1974. Very pretty country church on a hillside, overlooking the farm where they lived. There are a great many small churches in the valleys; in old times people were not able to travel very far in the winter, and so they had very local churches. There were boarding schools nearby where the local children went to school. Einar's children would have attended the boarding school had they been there when they had school-age...

Jun 19, 2013 - Saturday June 15, 2013

Saturday, June 15, 2013 This morning we stayed around Atlastadir, had lunch here, then Jim, Einar and I set out for Hofsos and Holdar which is on the other side of this peninsula. It isn't very far, but you have to drive around to get there. There is a path through through the mountain, in past centuries it was the main road – about 20 miles. The drive took about two hours and included four tunnels two of which were single lane. Drivers going westbound pull over to let eastbound drivers pass. On the way out we were behind a tour bus, so the...

Jun 13, 2013 - June 12

Got up about 9:00, had breakfast and talked. Gudny and Magnea came over about 11:30; Magnea's on her way to England and Spain for fashion festivals with 10 new dresses in her collection. They only stopped in to say hello – Magnea will be gone until June 24. We had lunch, then went for a driving tour all around Reykjavik. We saw the historic church on land once owned by Snorri Sturlson who was killed by the Norwegian king in 1241. In 1262 the Norwegian King seized his property and the area became the center of government until 1800 when the...

May 21, 2013 - First stop Reykjavik Iceland!

Hello everyone! Sorry it's taken a while to get some of these photos up and tell you of our trip so far,we have just been busy seeing everything! Well our journey started off from Denver and we stopped in Reykjavik Iceland for most of the day. We enjoyed taking a bus into the city and exploring around. We came across a beautiful church and shopped all along the bay area. Although it lived up to its name of Iceland with the on and off snow and rain we enjoyed good food and sights all around. After a rough nap on the airport benches we...

Feb 23, 2013 - Reykjavik à Vik

Aujourd'hui nous avons récupéré la voiture de location et sommes partis sur la route du sud. Temps nuageux mais quelques éclaircies et pas de pluie au départ. Premier arrêt à Hveragerdi (fumeroles et sources chaudes). Puis passage par deux villages au bord de la mer avec maisons typiques et colorées, plus un vent glacial. Retour vers Selfoss pour manger un bucket KFC ! Suite de la route vers deux chutes d'eau de 60 mètres de haut, dont une où on pouvait passer derrière. En arrivant il a commencé à pleuvoir mais comme la chute nous mouillait...

Feb 22, 2013 - Journée à Reykjavik

Levée et petit déjeuner tranquils, puis début de la visite de Reykyavik : - le vieux port de pêche (où nous avons repéré un resto de tapas pour le soir) - l'opéra, un superbe bâtiment en verre, - une église avec une forme assez bizarre et très épurée à l'intérieur, - une sculpture en forme de bâteau viking sur le front de mer, - des magasins, - etc... Tout sous la pluie et au vent. Heureusement l'hôtel est très bien situé pour faire des pauses de temps en temps. De plus, il est plein dans le quartier des graffitis et de notre chambre, nous...

Jan 25, 2013 - TOP OF THE WORLD

Many travellers when asked what was the one place they'd recommend as a "can't miss" told us - Iceland. They weren't wrong. What a fascinating place, and we could only reach about a tenth of it because of weather! Our plan was to spend almost three weeks here, driving the perimeter of the island known as the Ring Road to see the different regions. We rented a car and headed up the west coast to a small town called Borganes. This, we read, would be the ideal location to see the Aurora Borealis - wide open, dark skies and no mountains to...