English

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.

---

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.

---

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!

---

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.

---

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!

---

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

---

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.

---

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

---

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

---

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

---

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).

---

There was a beautiful little fall nearby.

---

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.

---

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!

---

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

---

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.

---

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

---

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!

---

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

---

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.

---

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!

Michelle and I are now back on North American soil, waiting for our Boston to Ottawa flight.

The Iceland 2008 Team Diabetes group has raised close to $500,000 for the Canadian Diabetes Association!

We would like to thank all our donors and supporters. You have all helped to support the promotion of the health of Canadians through diabetes research, education, service and advocacy.

Thanks to all our donors: Walla Al-Hertani, Lynne Antoine, Dale Baier, Dan Batista, Leanne Battaglia & John Parton, Monica Baxter-Burkitt, Stéphanie Beaucaire & Martin Jacques, Louise Beaudry-Parent, France Beauvais, Jan Belcher, Dave Bergeron, Martin Bernier & Nancy Bédard, Éric Berthiaume & Caroline Philibert, Stéphanie Bérubé, Marie-Andrée Bossé, Régis Bossé & Michèle Pelletier, Steve Bossé, Justine Bret, Louise Cardinal, Brent Cartier, Sylvie Chartrand, Karine Circé, Heather Clark, J. Rodney Clark, Trisha Conway, Alexandria Crombie, Andrew Davidson & Kathryn Vant, Ann Davidson, David Davidson & Christine Rivet, Michelle Davidson, Louise Demers, Cynthia Desnoyers, Andrée Despins, Tara Donaghy, Marina Drizhachenko, Léona Fauvel, Monique Franc, Patrick Franc, Kathleen Fraser, Angela Furniss, Hélène Gagnon, Lise Gauthier, Marc Girouard, Andrew Greenlaw, Jennifer Hand, Bob Hawkins, Lindsay High, Charlotte Hins Trudel, Louise Jolicoeur, Theresa Kelm, Mark Klyman, Jane Kralik, Aparna Kurl, Céline Labelle, Barbara-Anne Labrèche, Sharon Lee, Wai Fai Lee, Julie Lefebvre & Dave Forest, Réjean Lefebvre & Lise Lefebvre, Céline Lemire, Diane Lepage, Raymond Lévesque, Li Li, Linda Liu, Jim Lowe, Daniel Lussier, Sylvie Mailhot, Annette Mallon, Francoise Marsan, Judith Mathieu, Alice McMackin, Bruno Jr. Montesano & Muriel Cadieux, Bruno Sr. Montesano & Lise Montesano, Nadia Montesano, Jane Motz Hayes, Vu Nguyen, Allan Nodelman & Sharon Nodelman, Harry Nowell, Caroline Paré & Al Drake, Lana Pieroway, Claudette Poirier, Hélène Potvin, Robert Proulx, Linda Quirouette, Marthe René De Cotret, Lynne Robichaud, Gaby Roy, Véronique Séguin, Luc Senechal, Élaine Sirois, Lise Sirois, Lyndsey Stewart, Nicholas Tang, Diana Thibeault, Jean-François Trempe, Fay Turner & Stephen Adler, Roselyne Veilleux, John Welsh, Brent Wootton.

We would also like to thank the following groups and organizations:

• Canada Business
• École Polytechnique de Montréal
• Running Room (2007 Ottawa Marathon Group)
• Valley Blades

Every year, the marathon is held the same day as Culture Night, a night of celebrations that draws what seems like the entire Icelandic population.

Although we were very tired after the marathon, we did stay up until the fireworks, which started at 11:08 (which is 23:08, a play on the date of 23/08). While some fellow Team Diabetes participants and a lot of partygoers partied until the wee hours of the night, we went to bed right after the fireworks.

Here’s a sample of what the fireworks looked like:

[If you don't see the video embedded into this post, please visit our website.]

Iceland has quite an active dairy industry (I think they don’t allow the importation of dairy products, but I haven’t verified this) and we’ve been eating a lot of different kinds of yogurt here.

Here’s a little video that demonstrates a drinkable thick yogurt:

[If you don't see the video embedded into this post, please visit our website.]