Iceland

By Michael

We said goodbye to the Disney Magic this morning in Copenhagen after two weeks on the Baltic cruise. Between disembarking and our flight we had a few hours to kill, so we let Thomas pick out a few last things in the airport shops before finding our gate.

Icelandair flight FI207 left Copenhagen at 2:30 and put us down in Keflavik in the evening. We watched Iceland come up green and mossy under the wing as we descended.

We made our way into Reykjavik and found our guesthouse, a small apartment with a life-size horse statue wearing a lamp shade for a head standing in the living room, and a bathroom walled in smooth black pebbles. We dropped the bags and went out to find dinner, walking past a field of lupine on the way. We ate at a restaurant near the guesthouse, then walked past Gamla Bío on the way back before bed.

By Michael

We were picked up before seven for the Blue Lagoon and Golden Circle tour, walking down through Reykjavik in the early morning while Thomas and Lisa were still half asleep. The bus took almost an hour and a half out through the lava fields to the coast.

The Blue Lagoon was first. The water was warm and milky blue against the black lava rock, and the kids swam in orange arm bands while steam blew across the surface. Grandma came along too and got some photos of the pools from the walkway before we went in.

We had an hour before the Golden Circle tour and there happened to be a Bonus supermarket right next to the bus depot, so we stocked up on backpack goodies and ate lunch on a picnic bench outside. On the way we stopped at a horse farm and fed the Icelandic horses over the fence.

At Þingvellir we walked the path between the rift walls where the tectonic plates meet, and looked out over the river delta from the top. At Geysir we watched Strokkur send up a plume of steam and water every few minutes. Gullfoss was the last stop, a wide two-tiered waterfall with a full rainbow arcing across the canyon while we were there.

We got back to the guesthouse late. Thomas and Lisa were both asleep on top of the covers before we even got the lights off.

By Michael

We had a Whales and Puffins tour booked with Special Tours out of the old harbour, five of us including Grandma. They suited us up in bright yellow and orange flotation gear before we boarded, and Thomas got a bright orange life vest for the ride.

The Atlantic was choppy and grey past the harbour mouth. The highlight was Akurey, the puffin island, a green humped rock just off the coast with birds wheeling over the grass and nesting along the cliffs. The boat ride out and back, everyone bundled up against the wind and spray, was its own adventure.

Back on shore we walked over to Whales of Iceland, a hall of life-size whale models hanging in a dark, blue-lit room, along with a full sperm whale skeleton on the floor. From there we walked up to Hallgrímskirkja and rode the elevator up the tower for a view over the whole city, the low colorful rooftops laid out below us.

Down in the old town a troll street performer stopped Thomas and Lisa for photos, and the kids rented bikes and rode them up and down the cobblestones while we watched. We had drinks and dinner at Sólon before heading back to the guesthouse for the night.

By Michael

Last morning in Reykjavik. We packed up the suitcases in the green apartment one more time under the horse lamp, then walked out for donuts before heading to the airport, coming back with a box of them for the road.

We took one more photo with the horse statue before checking out, then hauled the bags out to the street for the ride to Keflavik. At the airport we had lunch and let Thomas and Lisa dig into a plate of pasta and a bowl of cereal while we waited for our gate.

Icelandair flight FI853 boarded at quarter to five for the direct flight to Chicago. Thomas and Lisa worked through their Little Explorers activity books on the way, and we watched our route trace up over Greenland and down through Canada on the seatback map. We landed at O'Hare that evening and headed for home.