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Highlights From Our Trip (Part 1)

by Luc-Rock Paquin on August 31, 2008

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.


Outside view of Apartment K

Outside view of Apartment K

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.


Listening to music at 12 Tonar

Listening to music at 12 Tonar

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!


Home-cooked meal!

Home-cooked meal!

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.


Happy Hydrant

Happy Hydrant

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 The Viking

Michelle The Viking

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


Colourful View of Reykjavik

Colourful View of Reykjavik

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.


Laxnes Farm<br />
Cat

Laxnes Farm Cat

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


Laxnes Farm Puppy

Laxnes Farm Puppy

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


Michelle Riding an Icelandic Horse

Michelle Riding an Icelandic Horse

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


Icelandic Killer Sheep

Icelandic Killer Sheep

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).


Taking a break!

Taking a break!

There was a beautiful little fall nearby.


Our Golden Circle Tour Bus

Our Golden Circle Tour Bus

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.


Rainbow over Gullfoss Falls

Rainbow over Gullfoss Falls

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!


Scolding Hot Water!

Scolding Hot Water!

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


Dinner with Bonnie

Dinner with Bonnie

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 our Way to Akureyri

On our Way to Akureyri

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


Thick Delicious Skyr!

Thick Delicious Skyr!

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!


Viking Ship

Viking Ship

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


Lunch at the Sea Baron

Lunch at the Sea Baron

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!

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Culture Night Fireworks in Reykjavik

by Luc-Rock Paquin on August 29, 2008

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.]

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The Many Varieties of Icelandic Yogurt

by Luc-Rock Paquin on August 29, 2008

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.]

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Hot Tub at Apartment K

by Luc-Rock Paquin on August 29, 2008

As promised, here’s a video we did about the hot tub at our apartment. We’ve been using it pretty much every day since we’ve been here!

We’ll be posting other updates about the highlights of our trip later.

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The Strokkur Geyser

by Luc-Rock Paquin on August 27, 2008

We had a busy day today! Here’s a partial list of our activities for the day:

  • Went for a horse ride
  • Lost our horses while we were admiring sheep (we’ll tell you about it)
  • Saw the original location of the oldest continuous parliament in the world
  • Saw a powerful waterfall (Gullfoss)
  • Watched the Strokkur Geyser do its thing several times
  • Had dinner in “our” apartment with an American French teacher that was on our tour

Again, we have very little time to blog, but we hope you’ll enjoy the video of Strokkur in action below. Tomorrow, we’re flying to Akureyri to see a volcano and possibly some whales!

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