Iceland Vacation, Day 2

Today was a full day to spend in Reykjavík. After some much-needed sleep, we made breakfast in our Airbnb and then went back to Hallgrímskirkja to participate in their mid-morning worship service.

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Although the nave of the church can seat 1,200, the midweek services draw a much smaller crowd and are held in the chancel. About 30 of us were seated in three rows of chairs right behind the altar. The service was conducted in Icelandic, but we had a bulletin written in English--and we recognized most elements of the Lutheran service even without it. The Icelanders spoke English to us for the sharing of the peace, showed us where to go for communion (everyone stood in a circle in front of the altar), and invited us to join them for fellowship after the service. Along with the strong Nordic coffee, they laid out baked goods, crisp breads, cheeses, jams, and pickled and smoked fish.

After church, we walked around Reykjavík to explore. This stainless steel sculpture is called The Sun Voyager. That body of water is the Atlantic Ocean.

Nearby is Harpa, a concert hall and conference center. Here are a few more interesting buildings from our walk:

After a delicious dinner at the 1892 Brasserie (tomato soup in a bread bowl and a seafood salad), we continued our walk around the city. This is one of many statues in the sculpture garden of the Einar Jónsson Museum.

We sampled some local beers and ciders in the Reykjavík Bruggfélag, a craft brewery.

We stopped in Kaffi Loki for some fermented shark. Icelandic Vikings needing to eat discovered that Greenlandic shark, poisonous when fresh, became edible after being buried underground to rot for two months. Nowadays eating it is a mark of strength (being able to tolerate the taste!) and respect for tradition. For tourists, it's something to check off the list of "Icelandic things to do." Put a small cube of hákarl (the shark) in your mouth and start chewing. After several seconds, the taste of ammonia will wash over your tongue. That's when it's time to swallow the shark and then take a shot of brennivín, Iceland's signature spirit (a type of akevitt, which is aomething our family drinks regularly with our Norwegian meals). Brennivín, which means burnt wine, is 80 proof and definitely burns away the taste of the shark!

Then we went for much more pleasurable food: supper at the Reykjavík Fish Restaurant (fresh cod and Arctic char) and ice cream for dessert from Valdís (with interesting ice cream flavors like rye bread, salted licorice, and rose).

Iceland Vacation, Day 1

Yesterday, Susan and I traveled to Iceland for a weeklong vacation with two of our couples friends: Nate and Angie and Marcus and Lisa. The flights were reasonable: an hour from Bismarck, ND, to Minneapolis, MN; an hour-and-a-half from there to Detroit, MI; and a six-hour flight to Keflavík, Iceland (just outside of Reykjavík). It's just that our 1:20 A.M. Central time arrival was actually 6:20 A.M. in Iceland ... so it was already time to start our day of touristy activities without a full night's sleep! We picked up our rental cars and got started.

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Our first stop was Kökulist Bakery for pastries and coffee. Then we spent a few hours at the Blue Lagoon, a geothermal spa located in a lava field outside of Keflavík. This photo came from the InterWebz (here) because we were all submerged in the water with mineral masks on our faces and cocktails in our hands ... so we were too preoccupied to take our own photographs!

Then we drove to Reykjavík, where we'll spend two nights. We ate fish stew and fish soup for dinner at The Icelandic Bar, where Nate tried (and shared) grilled puffin, Iceland's signature bird. We checked into our Airbnb and then walked around the area to explore the shops and take photos of interesting buildings. We found a grocery store and bought some items to make our own supper tonight (crackers, meat, and cheese) and breakfast tomorrow (eggs, bacon, toast, and jam) ... because food in Icelandic restaurants is expensive! For example, at dinner my fish stew came in a soup bowl with a slice of rye bread on the side. It cost 3,890 Icelandic krónur, which is about 32 American dollars.

Just a couple blocks from our Airbnb is the Lutheran church Hallgrímskirkja, the largest church in Iceland and a prominent part of Reykjavík's cityscape. It is named after the Icelandic poet and minister Hallgrímur Pétursson (Hallgrímskirkja means Hallgrímur's church).

This is just one of many Reykjavík buildings painted in interesting ways. Many otherwise traditional houses are painted in bright colors to add cheer during the long winters; and street art is embraced, with murals small and large (like this one) painted in alleyways and on the fronts of homes and businesses.

Family Holiday Week

There is a week in August when Susan and I celebrate our wedding anniversary, and Abigail and I both have our birthdays. Abigail and Hillary both happened to be home for that week this year! (The school year has started in Tennessee for Suzanna, so she's back in teaching mode.)

Med school student Abigail has finished her year of clinical rotations at hospitals in New York City, so she drove home on August 7 to spend the next year living with Susan and me while applying for, interviewing for, and crossing her fingers for a residency with a hospital somewhere in the country. A residency would start next summer, so Abigail will spend this year teaching online college classes in anatomy and physiology.

On August 8, Hillary drove home instead of flying here, in part to have her vehicle with her so that she can haul some more of her belongings from our house to her townhome in Tennessee ... and in part to attend a college friend's wedding ... and in part to be here for two family birthdays and an anniversary!

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On August 9, my sister Sandy and our dad spent the day with us in Dickinson for an early birthday celebration. 

Sandy, Dad, and me

Hillary, Grandpa, and Abigail

Sandy brought homemade angel food cake, strawberries, and whipped cream; and Susan made a chocolate/zucchini cake with vanilla ice cream.

On August 10 (my birthday), we celebrated with Mexican food and margaritas at one of our favorite restaurants, El Sombrero. On August 12 (Abigail's birthday), there was mini-golf, food, and ice cream in Medora followed by supper in Dickinson: Thai food from another favorite restaurant, Upin Thai.

August 14, our anniversary, was a full day of back-to-school teacher workshops for Susan, so we saw a movie that night but delayed our dining out until the next day. Today we celebrated some more with dinner with Susan's family (her dad, Roger; his girlfriend, JoAnn; and Susan's brother, Jerrett) at The Lodge at the Stadium Sports Bar in Bismarck ... followed by supper at LongHorn Steakhouse with just the girls.

Abigail, the anniversary couple (32 years!), and Hillary