More of Iceland

On Friday we had a free day to walk around and explore Reykjavik. We started, as one must, with Hallgrimskirkja.

Daytime


Night time 

Views of inside and from the top:



Not sure what the hurry is but worshipers here get their praying done quickly!

The streets are lovely this time of year with the lights ... and surprises like this one Santa's washing!.

The Sun Voyager is lovely looking over he harbor.

The stores have lovely things to offer, we bought a lovely Icelandic Wool blanket. Not sure how useful it will be in Houston?! There were some more useful items (for someone):


We walked (trugged) through a sculpture garden. This one, entitled "Grief" was particularly moving.

We had some fish for lunch and went back for a little rest. Dinner was pizza, followed by gelato. Early bedtime because we have to be up early for our next adventure!

Ok. Next adventure is a trip to an Ice Cave. In general when I see 8+ hours I am not inclined to go. However, my cousin Christie had her heart set on it so ... Away we go!

Our day starts in the dark at Bus Stop #9. It wasn't that early, 9:00 in fact, but it was still dark! LOL

The first part was by van to Vik, a town about 2 hours southeast of Reykjavik. We did stop at a waterfall on the way there 

The drive was scenic.

Arriving near Vik we had a 10 minute bathroom break and lunch stop. We eat fast but good grief! We made a bit of a tactical error eating inside a building instead of of going straight to the 4x4 - Carsten and I ended up in the backseat. This was NOT ideal.

How can I describe this 1 hour journey across a glacier?!?!

Imagine the craziest rollercoaster you can think of, take all the handholds away and lower the ceiling such that you have about 4" of headroom, cross this with the wildest bull ever ridden at the Houston rodeo, add a seatbelt that is held together by a knot and maybe you have an idea what this was like. It was nuts! I'm legitimately sore now from the ride and trying to brace myself to keep from flying all over the place.

Sorry to complain ...

It was a nice adventure once we got there. First we saw this little Arctic Fox! 

To walk to the Ice Caves we were given a helmet and crampons. It really felt like an expedition!


The wind creates these marvelous waves in the cave/tunnel.


Christie, Chester, Carsten and our guide Alex coming out of the cave.
There was quite a a bit of walking/climbing, very nice after the long drive.
Having survived the crazy glacier ride back, we once again are on the van back to the city. One quick stop at another waterfall.
The moon is bright tonight but the skies are clear. Of course, it is only 6:30! We will check the forecast later and see what it says about Northern Lights!

Bye for now!

Sheri + Carsten 

















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