Thursday
I know that I've never been able to sleep on a plane before, but I decided to try again because I was on a red-eye that came in about 6am. I had the hardest time getting my seat to recline, and by the time we were half an hour out, it had somehow returned to the upright position.
Most of the other people I knew were flying in on WOW while I was on Air Iceland, so my flight was supposed to get in an hour and a half after them. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get a ride with anyone but everyone was still around when I got out of the secure part of the airport.
We couldn't check into our Airbnb until 3pm and so we had some time to kill. Mike and I didn't know what we wanted to do, so we headed to Tora and Kevin's place. It is so cute and I love how you have to go up or down a small step for every room, and how every step was a different height. While some of the other people took a nap, Tora and I went to go rent the wheelchair that was going to be needed. I got to see where the fabric store was.
We shuffled things around and headed to lunch. Lamb Street Food is close to where Kevin works, so they knew it was good. It did not disappoint. After trying our wraps we all talked about when we could find time to come back and try more options.
We headed a few doors down to Valdis for ice cream. Yes, it was near freezing outside, but it was really good ice cream. They had two types of licorice ice cream, salted and Danish. The salted licorice was more like you would expect it to taste black licorice to taste like. The Danish licorice tasted like it had coffee mixed in.
We walked around the building to Bonus to buy some chips and soda for the after party on Friday. I got myself some paprika chips and a flavored water. I also got a white chocolate Tiger bar for Bill to try.
From there we went to Minniborgir for people to check in and get settled. The cabins there are really quite nice. Might even consider staying there in the future.
Mike and I then went to our Airbnb so we could make sure to be able to find it while it was still light out. It was a lot fancier in person than it was online. I found some yarn in one of the bedrooms, so I knew we made a good choice.
We then headed back to Minniborgir for dinner. I got the Icelandic Tapas because it sounded the most interesting. It was all good and I was not wrong. There we met you with Michael so he could come back with us. To get to the Airbnb you had to have a fob to open the gate.
Friday
We slept in and had a lazy morning. We decided to head in to Reykjavík for lunch and asked Kevin where to go.
We went to Hlöllabátar for sandwiches. I got the Bacon Boat. They were really good and I would definitely go again.
We then saw that there was a hot-dog shop right next door. Since we got small sandwiches we also got a hot-dog at Hot Dog House Pylsuhúsid. They are a lot different then American hot dogs. The toppings and sauces were really good.
It took longer than expected, so we had to hurry back to the car to go back to the airport and get Tina. Once she got into the car we had two Michaels and two C(h)ristinas.
We all headed back to the Airbnb to get ready for Tora and Kevin's thing.
The Old Norse, Old Frisian, and Old English þing with the meaning "assembly" is identical in origin to the English word thing, German Ding, Dutch ding, and modern Scandinavian ting when meaning "object". ... The meaning of personal possessions, commonly in the plural, first appears in Middle English around 1300.
There weren't assigned seating so Michael and I ended up by Kevin's work buddies. We talked about D&D, video games, board games, and random other things. I even made a friend when I recognized her Happy Berry tattoo.
After the dinner some of us headed to the community center to play board games. I got to play Mysterium for the first time and it was really fun. We stayed you way too late, but it was great.
Saturday
We started the day by going to the Seljalandsfoss Waterfalls. There were a few falls and even one you had to walk through a small cave to see. It took a while to see everything there, so we got lunch at a hot-dog stand there. It was just as good as the day before and also came with the raw white onions and crispy fried onions, ketchup, sweet brown mustard called pylsusinnep, and remoulade, a sauce made with mayo, capers, mustard, and herbs.
We then headed to Skógafoss Waterfall. I got to see a double rainbow there! There were also almost 500 stairs to get to the top of the falls and see it from the top. I got about half way before my legs told me that they weren't too happy with me.
We then went to Reynisfjara Beach to see the black sand. The waves there were crazy. Not only were they big waves, but they were sneaky waves. You would look at one break and think it expended most of its energy. Then the foam would keep rolling anywhere between 10-30 feet into the beach. A lot of people got too close to the edge of the water. Lots of people got wet feet and some were even knocked over. I was one of them and the water even hit me so hard it pushed a pebble into my boot.
It didn't help that it was close to freezing out. Luckily there was a cafe not far off the black sand beach where you could get a warm beverage, some food, and a slice of cake. I got to try the Skyr cake, which is made with their yogurt. It was like a very subtle key lime pie.
On the way there and the way back two funny things happened. John and I kept taking pictures out of the back of the car as we drove down the road. I said we were being back-seat photographers. We also drove past the Bra Fence. There are a few theories online as to why it started, but it is really fun to see anyway.
We somehow all decided to go to Yellow for dinner and while we knew we would be getting in closer to close than they might like, we would have time. However, they were very closed by the time we got there. That place sounded really good, but then we decided to go to Tommi's Burger down the street. It was actually really busy, really good, and the decor was very “American”. I also learned that Icelandic Fanta tastes different than both American and German Fanta.
Though we were all tired and ready for bed, we also wanted to play D&D together. It took a while to get our characters prepared, but we got a bit done. Not as much as we had hoped.
Sunday
We started out the day with garlic eggs and a trip to Kerið Crater. You could walk all the way around it and even go down into the middle of it. The lava rock scoria was really pretty. I was not expecting pinks and purples. I was able to do those stairs and get some really cool panoramic photos.
We then headed to The Icelandic Horse Park Fákasel. The lady working there seemed a bit confused since they don't do shows or tours until May. She let us go pet the horses, which is all we really wanted.
We also met a small fluffy dog who was super sweet. They wanted to come inside with us, but wasn't allowed, but they found us again in the barn.
On Thursday we heard that Rye Bread ice cream existed. So we headed into Reykjavík to go to Cafe Loki to give it a try. The whipped stuff on top was a whipped butter, so it was dessert bread with butter on top.
I got to also try fermented shark. It was a small piece, but it had a big flavor. I'm glad I tried it, but will probably not have it again. After this some of us split up. I went with Tora and Michael while Kat and John did their own thing. We went to The Handknitting Association of Iceland. There were a lot of knitted things, but also some Icelandic wool yarn. The colors were pretty and the price about what I was expecting.
There were a good number of longer sweaters with cap sleeves. It would make it easier to wear with a jacket since you wouldn't have to deal with a lot of extra bulk in the arms. It also made sense since your arms would probably be covered by whatever you were wearing under your wool sweater to combat the itchiness. It also makes it so you don't have to worry about sleeve length because you would bind off when you split for the under-arm area.
We still had a bit of time to kill so I wanted to go to Gyllti Kötturinn. I had heard good things about the shop from Tora. While I didn't find anything I wanted to take home, it was pretty great. I'm almost sad I didn't get one of the shirts I was looking at, but I don't think I would have worn it enough. If it is somehow still there when I go back, I will definitely get it.
From there we headed to Reykjavík Röst. It was really fun to craft with new people and drink some really good hot chocolate. The sunset was also pretty nice from there, I love cotton-candy sunsets.
From there we started talking about dinner. John said he wanted lamb, but not hot-dogs. It quickly got narrowed down because we didn't want to go to an expensive restaurant and Tora doesn't eat anywhere that sells whale.
Grillhúsið was our choice. I know that it doesn't sound Icelandic, but their sticky wings were really good. With full bellies we went back to the Airbnb to try and get more of the D&D game done. We got the big first fight done, but we definitely didn't finish the whole one-shot. We stayed up to try and see the Northern Lights, but they decided not to show up. I guess that means that I'll have to go back.
Monday
Mike and I got a later start than we had planned, so that meant that we only got to visit The Icelandic Phallological Museum's gift shop. Some people had been promised souvenirs and we didn't want to disappoint.
We then headed to Lamb Street Food for one last good bye to Tora and Kevin. Mike's flight left an hour before mine, so I was able to get some more stuff for people and also the coin purse I wanted.
I've started putting the coins I get from various countries into a coin purse that is from there. I think it is a fun little tradition. I also have a more generic money holder to hold anything I can spend when I go back.
While the flight back was longer, it was a lot nicer because I wasn't trying to attempt to sleep.
While we were there we saw signs in town saying no tractors during certain hours of the day. I thought they were old signs, but we got to see a tractor on the road!
Not much to show in the way of knitting. I did start a cowl while I was at Reykjavík Röst with Tora and her crafting group, but that was about the only time I got any knitting done. I accidentally packed my knitting in my checked bag on the way home and hadn't even wanted it tempting me on the way out. A lot of the knitted items at The Handknitting Association of Iceland were lined with fleece because of the level of itchiness the wool had, but I kind of want to try and line some things with stretchy fleece. I think this will be fun to try.
