Highlights From Our Trip (Part 1)

It’s about time we posted more pictures! We were very busy in Iceland, which is a good sign when you are on vacation!

Here are some photos of the trip up to August 29th. We’ll post more in the coming days.

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This is the view of our apartment building from the street. As you can see, it is gated, which not only gives some privacy, but also protected us from the party-goers from all the surrounding bars.

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We had heard good things about the 12 Tonar music store (which is also a record label). The staff is very friendly and knowledgeable, and you get to listen to any CD in the store. We went twice and loved it. We bought a couple of Icelandic CDs (in English), including one at the bargain price of 500 ISK (approximately $6.50). The first time, we were greeted with free espressos and the second time, we got to enjoy wine and a free concert! This is one of the coolest stores we have ever been in!

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This was our first home-cooked meal in the apartment. We had brought gluten-free pasta and we bought tomato sauce from a health food store around the corner. We also bought some gluten-free buns (they were very good!), which we dipped into oil and balsamic vinegar.

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There were two kinds of fire hydrants: the ones like we have in Ottawa and these skinny ones. This was the only one that we saw that looked this happy!

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Michelle as a screaming viking, in the National Museum of Iceland. We later learned that photography was prohibited in the museum. Oops!

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We took this photo of colourful houses from the Hallgrímskirkja church. The church tower was under renovation, which was very disappointing, as it is one of the most famous landmarks of Iceland. At least the tower was still open on three sides.

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We went horse-riding at the Laxnes Horse Farm. This cute cat greeted us.

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This puppy was also at the farm. His mother followed us all along our horse ride.

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Michelle riding her Icelandic horse. Hers was much faster than mine!

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Halfway through our trip, we stopped at a creek and we were greeted by a group of sheep. They were very curious about the dog (and vice-versa).

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There was a beautiful little fall nearby.

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After horse-riding, we went on the Golden Circle tour. Most of the buses we took in Iceland had a second door in the middle, which allowed for quick access.

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We don’t know why Iceland is called iceland. We think it should have been called Waterfalls-and-RainbowsLand! We have never seen so many waterfalls or rainbows in our life!

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We had to be careful not to touch any water near the Strokkur geyser, as the water can be scolding hot!

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On our Golden Circle tour, we met Bonnie, a very friendly American French teacher. We invited her over to our place for a lovely dinner.

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On Thursday, we took a day trip by plane to Akureyri. It was a long day, but we saw some beautiful scenery.

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Check out how thick the Skyr yogurt is! It was literally sticking to the spoon upside-down. Although it tasted very rich, Skyr is made from skim milk and only contains 0.2% fat. Weird!

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This sculpture of a Viking ship is a very famous landmark in Reykjavík. It was pouring cold rain the day we took this picture!

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On Friday, we had lunch at the Sea Baron, a tiny restaurant famous for its lobster soup. Unfortunately, it was not gluten-free, so I had a lobster kabob instead. We also could have had whale meat, as Iceland resumed whale hunting in 2006, but we were opposed to that on principle.

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That’s it for today! We’re boarding the plane to Ottawa in a few minutes, so the next posts will be from our home!