Very productive

We had a late holiday again this year. This time we decided to stay home though. Which meant it was time for some more decorating. With the music room all finished, the computer room/ office was next in line.

A fair bit of holes needed to be filled in before we could start painting the walls in a French! white. Luckily hubby is really good at filling holes. I spent the time sourcing the perfect wall paper to feature on the walls next to the chimney breast.

After a couple of days of painting we were ready to tackle the wall papering. This was the first time we were wall papering without adult supervision. We decided to play it safe (actually we were slightly forced by the hand-painted wallpaper I bought) and started by putting up an underlining paper. By the time we started putting up the proper wall paper, we had got the hang of it.

After a bit of hard work we managed to get it all done in time for starting the Christmas celebrations. All left is sorting out the furnishing.













Apart from home decorating I also found time to sort through all my photos from Iceland. It was hard work to whittle them down to a manageable number, but I think I've almost managed it in the end.

Christmas is coming

So it has started out quite promising. It's only 11 December and so far we have already had more then 10 cm of snow. Mind you it is all gone now, but they are promising more in a week's time. Maybe this will be a white Christmas after all!

Well, not to be deterred by vanishing snow! Christmas decorations can always help to get you back into the Christmas mood. Said and done, down from the attic came the Christmas tree and all the boxes with decorations.

A bottle of wine later and with some 'smakråd' (~advice) from hubby, the tree and the lounge were decorated. Doesn't it look pretty???

Boom Boom bar

After an afternoon at sea we have ended up at the Boom Boom bar.



Here you can enjoy fabulous vanilla milkshakes or hot chocolate with rum.



It also provides plenty of entertainment. Yesterday we enjoyed watching the display by the locals lifting a big 2x250 bhp motorboat with a digger.



This morning this cute cat showed us her balancing act.


What will we see next???

Comedy vegetable

It is really hard life we are living here. Got up at around 10, had a lovely breakfast on our top balcony (one of the four balconies). Two hours later we went for an easy stroll down the harbour to pick up our boat. A sweet little motor boat with a canopy to shade us from the sun.

We managed to skilfully motor our way out the harbour and around the peninsula to the next bay with a taverna. Obviously we deserved a beer after all that hard work.

After the 'beer pause' we climbed the hill to Spartochori. It's a pretty little village with tiny windy cobbled streets.

After strolling round the village we found this lovely pizzeria with a marvellous view. Time for lunch!

As we had finished the pizzas the owner started chatting with us. He was describing some sort of vegetable that they either use to make wine in or use as a decanter. We weren't entirely sure what he meant. All of a sudden he asked if we wanted to try. Okey we said and off he went.

We spotted him a moment later in the neighbour's house. Walking into her kitchen and coming out with a big knife. (She was busy moving and setting up her TV on her roof terrace. Daisy-chaining extension cords and dangling them down and through the window.) Our guy just went straight to a climbing plant and cut down it's one and only vegetable/fruit. To us he didn't even seem to live there! Anyway there seemed to be no hard feelings.

Back to the restaurant he gave us this phallic looking vegetable. Apparently some sort of courgette. And as far as we understood it goes white and the seeds inside dries so that you can pour them out. Next you rinse the inside and then you can use it as a decanter. Or maybe even to make wine. Who knows.

In any case, R is determined to bring it back home and try to grow it himself. We did get the instructions for that too.

New lights

After a long wait Lombok finally called to let us know our lamp had arrived. Obviously I had to go and get it immediately. To my surprise the lamp was a bit on the heavy side. I got it out of the shop but quickly decided I needed assistance. A quick call and half an hour later hubby was there to pick me and the lamp up with the car.

Hubby continued to be a darling and spent Saturday afternoon fitting the lamp in our music room. Success! The lamp looks great!
hubby's blog posting


The rest of the weekend I spent finalising my lampshade project. It seemed a bit difficult to find the perfect shade so I decided to make my own. How hard could it be?

Well, I've kind of lost the feeling in my fingertips. The sewing was pretty tough from time to time But the shade is finished. A bit wonky, but that was part of the plan ;-)

Last days in Iceland

On Friday Tryggve took us and a couple of other folks for a walk on the glacier. As it is a bit icy to walk on we got all geared up (utrustade med) with crampons (broddar) and an ice ace.

It was lots of fun and we both want to do more of this. We got to see at least a 50 meter deep hole, a couple of crevasses and glacier mice.

A glacier mouse is moss that has grown around a rock laying ontop of a glacier. As the ice melts, the mouse rolls over so that the moss can grow on all sides. They can apparently become pretty big.




Proud collector of volcanic rocks by Vatnajökull. I'm not telling you how many rocks i'm bringing home...but we did have a bit of overweight...


After playing on the glacier we went for a 7 km hike to get to a good view point over the glacier. Along the way we encountered this cool waterfall. Well, it was the basalt columns next to the waterfall that was really cool.


Saturday was puffins day! We got on the tractor tour to Ingolfshofdi. There we got to see lots of puffins. They are so cute and look slightly hopeless as they try to take off from the water. Managed to get a couple of good photos :-) including one when hubby was attacked by a big skua (a chicken-sized bird)


After the puffins it was time to say good-bye to Vatnajökull. We had another 450 km to drive before we reached the airport. At least we got a day and a half to cover the distance, so no rush.

Eyjefjallasjökull - the volcano!


There it is. The volcano that caused so much havoc. It was still only steaming as we went past it.

The whole area was covered by a steam/ash haze making it hard to see anything above a couple of hundred meters. But just as we went past it, there was a slight clearing in the haze and we could just make out the steam plume. It's very much in the centre of the photo.


There was a thin layer of ash covering the ground. And as you walked a small dust cloud arose underneath your feet.

As we countinued our drive we could see the damages made. The road had turned to gravel at a couple of places. The road barriers lay all twisted next to the road. And the flood plain was filled with water.

The Icelanders were busy rebuilding it all. Lots of diggers, trucks etc all around. Signs said it was all expectad to be back to normal in July this year. That is quick work!



Our final night was spent in a cabin in Hella. We decided that it's more fun out here in the wilderness than in a fancy hotel in Reykjavik.



By the time we hit the airport we had all in all driven 1497 km. Not bad! So we treated ourselves with a relaxing swim in the Blue Lagoon before our flight back to UK.

The end of a very nice birthday holiday!

Jökull day

So today has been glacier day. We started off at the glacier museum in Höfn. Learning all about glacier, how they are formed, what they can do and so on. Most of all we learnt that jökull means glacier in Icelandic and is a rather popular name.

Brimmed with all our new knowledge we set off to visit Vatnajökull. The worlds largest glacier outside the arctic region! Which accidently has the amount of water that would equal 40 cm deep water covering the whole of Iceland. And during its fastest rush, it can move four meters in an hour. But generally it is pretty still. See I have learnt something today.



Our main target was the lagoon with icebergs, Jökulsárlón. Got to see plenty of them as we took a boat ride in the lagoon. And saw a seal too.

After that we had a small adventure on the beach. The hired car wasn't to keen on black volcanic beach sand. So we got a bit stuck. As I wandered off to get some help, hubby found some passing Germans to give the car a good push. Hurray, and we were off again.




Tomorrow is getting up close and personal with the glacier.

On the road

Wednesday was driving day. It was time to go all the way from Myvatn to Höfn (top left-hand corner, out towards the top right-hand corner and down to the right-hand corner on the map, the red road).



We played it safe and followed the main road that circles around Iceland. It might be seen as a bit boring to follow the main road, but not in Iceland.

Here the main road is only one lane (körfil) in each direction and when crossing a bridge it goes down to one shared single lane. Mostly it is surfaced with asphalt, but there are also several stretches with gravel (grus). The longest being about 50 km!

You also meet the odd sheep on the road. Mainly they are good and stay next to rather than on the road. The baby lambs are so cute you just want to stop and give them a cuddle.



It did take us through some amazing landscape though. This little hut we found in Breiddalsheidi. It had two beds, some water and a bottle of vodka.


The 420 km took us through very varied landscape. We drove through:
- lunar landscape of black gravel
- yellow grass plains
- heather (ljung) fields
- moss covered pebble plains
- unearthly broken lava ridges
- bizarre lava sculptures
- deep green valleys
- mountain passes
- gravel mountains
- black beaches
- etc etc


Obviously we had to make pit-stops. Here we are enjoying waffles in Djupivogur.


As you can see we had by now we reached the sea.



Once we reached Höfn it was time to find a place for the night. Thursday will see us exploring Vatnajökull, the larges glacier in the world!

To Mars and back

So everybody thinks that we are in Iceland, but in fact we have actually gone to Mars!

I'll let the photos speak for themselves today. They are all taken in Hevir (hot spring close to boiling) below Namarskard.














We kind off spent the whole day around this area. We had too much fun photographing. And the weather was slightly poorly.

When the rain rolled in we took cover in the local hot spring spa for an hour or two. All in all a very nice day!

Myvatn

Today we left Reykjavik.




We got a plane to Akureyri. A small town, which reminded us of Ronneby. We had a quick explore and some lunch before we headed off in our hired car.



Along the way we stopped at Godafoss. A much smaller waterfall then yesterday's Gullfoss, but far more beautiful and photogenic. Probably because it was more accessible and less tourists. We had a fun time playing around there though.



Our target for the day was Reykjahlid by the lake Myvatn. Where we are going to stay for three days.

The drive was absolutely fantastic. Up and down, through the valleys, along some lakes. And all around us are flat topped volcanos. All more or less at the same height. Looks like someone has cut off the peaks with a big manchete.

As we got closer to Myvatn the grassy/heather (ljung) landscape changed into broken up black rocks.



We managed to arrive just in time for dinner. As it is a tiny village it was an easy choice to eat at the hotel. We couldn't have made a better call.

The food was absolutely fantastic. I started with smoked trout on black lava bread, followed by arctic charr with a lemon butter sauce. Absolutely yummy! Hubby went for the mushroom soup followed by lamb fillets.

After dinner we joined the locals in their thermal-heated swimming pool for some relaxation before bedtime. All in all a perfect birthday!

Golden circle

Today we have continued in our touristic tracks and completed the golden circle. We thought we save hubby from driving today and had booked us a tour with Go travel Iceland.



Jens took us in his minibus first to Pengvellir national park. This is the site of the world's first parliament that met outdoors, beginning 930 AD and continued until 1798.

It is also where the tetonic plates north America and Eurasia meet. Or rather float apart causing a big rift valley and Iceland largest natural lake.

Next stop was Geysir. Unfortunately Geysir is dormant so we had to make do with its smaller sister. She was rather impressive too, erupting water as high as 20 meter every 7-10 minute. No iPhone photo of this though. It was hard enough to try to capture it with the proper camera.






Third stop was Gullfoss waterfall. Massive waterfall split into two levels. Also managed to get some lunch here. Traditional lamb soup, which reminded me very much of grandma's meat soup. Only they didn't have any klimp...


Time to return back to Reykjavik. On the way back we stopped at Kerid, a waterfilled volcanic crater. Great acoustics which apparently has catered for a live concert with Björk.

Lastly we popped in at a geothermal plant that produces electricity and heating by deep drillholes. All very facinating and completely suistainable.

Back at the hotel and it's time to make plans for the evening. Tomorrow we are off to Myvatn.

Exploration of Reykjavik

Yesterday we explored Reykjavik on foot. It is a smallish city, easy to walk everywhere.


We started by getting to the top of Hallgrimskirkja to admire the view.


After that we walked down to the sea. It was a bit windy and cold there so we walked back up to town where it was nice and sheltered.

It was a nice and sunny day and all the icelanders were out enjoying it. It was also end of terms (skolavslutning) so all the kids were celebrating their last day in school before summer with games and a parade.


By the way, these photos were all taken about 11 o'clock at night when we were on our way back to the hotel from our dinner. Midnight sun is a great thing!