The pools are the best.

From the SCA site, Nik drove us back south to shop. Along the way, David hopped out at several stops to recollect the Klakavirki ribbons tied to sign posts to lead people to the site like breadcrumbs. We stopped at the mini-mart at Reykjahlid to gather beverages when the hot dogs and hamburgers they offered looked good and we decided we were starving. It was a pleasant day with a decent wind and so most of us sat at a nearby picnic bench to eat our meal . . Cedric on the other hand was avoiding "the wings and the fangs and the eating of the eyeballs" at all costs and so he opted for sitting in the yetti. Satisfied, we all piled into the yetti and started the drive to our next stop - the pools. But alas, I realized that to avoid the little midges getting behind my glasses I'd taken them off and set them down . . but didn't retrieve them before we headed out. Bless Nik, she turned around and we went back for them.

Setting off. . yet again . . we went to the pool at Jardbodin at Myvatn. The pools are the oddest sensation (for those who've not experienced them). The water is milky blue/green with minerals and all the water, heated as it was, comes from a natural spring, already that lovely temperature. The trip from the shower/locker room to the pools was interestingly cold but once in the water it was LOVELY.

From Iceland Tourism

We lounged in the pools for 2-1/2 hours before we realized, not only were we pruned but it was getting late (although we didn't realize that part from the sun's location).

From Iceland Tourism

We travelled west along Route 1 over Vikurskard and saw a mist that seemed to envelope the landscape. It was eerily awesome to see and drive through, although I was glad that I was not the one driving as I'm sure from the driver's perspective it wasn't fun at all.

From Iceland Tourism

When we got back to Leirunesti we realized we were hungry again and so we stopped for more burgers and pylsur (hot dogs). After a much distracted journey we were back at Nik's house in Skogarsez.

From Iceland Tourism

With the wings & the fangs & the eating of the eyeballs

The title will become clear as I type our adventures for our first full day in Iceland. The phrase was courtesy of our Rapier Protectorate, Cedric Crispin, and became a theme for all of us to mutter throughout the remainder of the trip. But I digress and there is so much to convey to make this more clear.

We woke up and after a leisurely breakfast of fruit toast and cereal, we wandered into Akureyri for lots of shopping and, of course, ice-cream. We went to Akureyri's High, or Main, Street and stopped into a tax-free store where we found all kinds of souvenirs. From there we wondered to the 10-11 which is a convenience type store similar to our 7-11's in the USA. Nik picked up all kinds of Icelandic luncheon type stuff for us to enjoy later. Ice Cream was enjoyed at Leirunesti (the Big Bridge Burger Bar) next to the runway and we were treated to a couple of plane landings on the runway built out into the Fjord.

From Iceland Tourism

From Iceland Tourism

We crossed the Eyjafjordur

From Iceland Tourism

and then stopped to take pictures across from Akureyri.

From Iceland Tourism

These flowers dot the landscape everywhere and the way that I understand it they were introduced as a ground cover that has now gone further than planned but the locals enjoy them so they are there to stay.

From Iceland Tourism

We stopped at Ljosavatn (lake called water of light).

From Iceland Tourism

And then Nik showed us on the map where we've been versus where we're going.

From Iceland Tourism

Having taken in the beauty of a stilled lake, we were ready to see the waterfall that Nik had been talking about since we had gotten in - Godafoss! What a spectacular waterfall with a spectacular view all around. The tale is that Iceland had a choice of whether to continue to follow their gods or change to the Christian faith and when they made the choice to change to the Christian faith, the local Chieftan took the idols and threw them into the waterfall . . thus the name the Waterfall of the Gods.

From Iceland Tourism

Although there was plenty of time spent there and plenty of fun had, we managed not to get wet .. well all of us except for Cedric who insisted on crossing to see the plaque.

From Iceland Tourism

With the view suitably drunken in, it was time to shop the gift shop.

From Iceland Tourism

Then we were off to do more shopping at Myvatn. When we arrived at the gift shop I couldn't help but note the blackish dust on one of the stuffed animals in the window. We hopped out of the vehicle where upon we were attacked by the local gnat (on steroids), called the midge. Cedric found this to be his worst nightmare and he was totally grossed out by these varmints. He insisted that they had fangs and were trying to eat his eyeballs. I will admit that they were annoying as they flew between your glasses and your eyes and since they were the size of Wisconsin mosquito's it could be intimidating. So here, as Cedric maliciously eliminated any midges that happened to follow us into the car, was born the phrase "with the wings and the fangs and the eating of the eyeballs."

Then we were off again to see the lava flows

From Iceland Tourism

What you can't see is that in the cavern there is hot water.

And from there we went to where the European and North American plates meet, where David and I stood on our respective sides (him in Europe and me in NA) and kissed across continental plates.

From Iceland Tourism

And then we travelled further yet to experience the blue mud at Namafjall. While the landscape reminded me of what I would imagine Mars to look like .. the smell was something in and of itself and not in a good way. Cedric and I were sure that the smell was going to hang with us on our clothing for some time while David was brave enough to wander the fields and take a closer look.

From Iceland Tourism

From Iceland Tourism

As we headed back to the main road to go back towards the event site when David had the opportunity to touch snow . . in June. He was so thrilled and the remainder of us were glad that he didn't decide to make snowballs to throw at us.

From Iceland Tourism

We were also really impressed as we passed one of Iceland's Greenhouses. The greenhouses all run on the hot water and steam available from Iceland's natural resources.

From Iceland Tourism

We received a call on our way to the site that indicated that the site may not be open as of the time that we would reach it, so we opted to go past the site to Husavik for more shopping and to see the outside of the world famous Phalic museum.

From Iceland Tourism

From Iceland Tourism

From Iceland Tourism

From there we headed back to the site at Laxamyri where we were looking forward to fencing and fun with the Shire of Klakavirki.

Visiting Iceland

After a little bit of problems getting through the check-in counter at London-Heathrow because we had more bags than they allow at that airport we, and our bags, arrived at Leifur Eirikssonar Airport in Keflavik right on time. Our wonderful friends from the SCA, Nik & Martha, were there to greet us and start our trip around the Island. As we departed the airport we got our first view of the type of artistic sculpture we'd be seeing dotting the landscape along our entire journey with a rainbow done in metal work.

From Iceland Tourism

We stopped first for Coffee and Hot Chocolate at Njardvik and passed the time with some pleasant conversation and catching up.

Then we travelled up Route 1 through Reykjavik where Martha went back her way and we kept travelling with Nik. We went under a portion of water through the Hvalfjordur Tunnel which is 6.3 km long.

From Iceland Tourism

The landscape continuously amazed me with the mountains still capped in snow, the waterfalls everywhere you look as the snow melted from the tops of the mountains, the striations in the mountains showing where glaciers grazed them forever ago, the rolling rocky terrain that is actually moss-covered lava flows and the constant sun making everything seem new and bright.

From Iceland Tourism

From Iceland Tourism

From Iceland Tourism

Along our route we passed through what would pass as road construction for Iceland. This disturbed me as the people and the equipment were working on the entire road without cones or control signage and the traffic just goes around them however they can on whatever road the equipment is not blocking.

From Iceland Tourism

We travelled across the bridge at Borgarnes and finally stopped for dinner at Vidigerdi.

From Iceland Tourism

We travelled through Akureyri and past the white tree at Hrafnagil to Nik's house at Skogarsel. The drive North took about 5 or so hours and so we were all exhausted by the time we reached the house. However, that did not stop us from staying up a lot longer and chatting as the sun didn't indicate that it was getting to be close to 1 am since it wasn't any lower than it would be at 8 pm anywhere else in the world. This was the most of the moon that we saw our entire trip and as you can see it is still quite light out.

From Iceland Tourism

We finally all drifted off to our beds to try to find some shut-eye after making a plan to be up around 9 am so we could get some stuff seen before heading to the event.