Last Days in Iceland

Just a day and a half more in Iceland, then time to head back to Seattle to work, friends, dogs, yardwork ...

I woke up at the Berg Hotel having slept very well, but still sore from a week of hiking. So what better place to go than the Blue Lagoon? I loved the description that I read in an online forum -- "total tourist trap, totally worth it."

The Blue Lagoon is a huge pool of geothermally heated water. It comes from the nearby power plant, which sounds unsettling but really isn't; as I understand it, the water [or more correctly, the steam used to heat the water] originates deep in the ground and passes through the power plant on its way to be used in homes, or in this case, the Blue Lagoon.

The Blue Lagoon is just a few minutes from where I'm staying in Keflavik. I hop on a bus (buy one ticket to include the bus ride, admission to the lagoon, bus ride back -- they make it very easy). Our drive passes through similar stark volcanic landscape that I saw on my hike.

The walkway to the lagoon cuts right through the volcanic rocks. Blue warm water surrounds the building.

In addition to the Lagoon, there were also steam rooms, hot tubs, massages, a cafe -- even a gal walking around with an iPad taking photos of people, hence the photo above -- very sleek and modern, very touristy, very expensive -- but I'm glad I went.

After the lagoon, I took the bus into Reykjavik and met up with my Icelandic teacher who lives in Seattle but had come to spend the summer in Iceland. We went to the lovely map in City Hall and Margrét showed me where her family was from.

We had coffee and a yummy lime cheesecake, and then Margrét took me to three different -- very different -- museums. One was modern art, one was a settlement museum on the early archeological history of Iceland, and the other contained many of the old original sagas and manuscripts. Here we are looking at a replica of the runic (pre-writing) alphabet.

This was an exhibit of spices and dyes that might have been used in the "old days."

This is a small sampling of photos from a big exhibit in one of the museums, that show cars and buses getting stuck in Icelandic rivers -- apparently not an uncommon event.

As we were walking around town, a black car pulled out of a government building -- Margret leaned over to have a look inside and said, "oh, that's the Prime Minister!" and waved. And the Prime Minister waved back. Fun!

Afterwards, we went to the house of one of Margrét's friends, and had a delicious dinner of hake (a local fish similar to cod), potatoes, salad with greens from their garden, and fabulous homemade bread. For dessert, we had local strawberries and best of all, wild blueberries that they had picked, with cream and yoghurt. We also had tea made from dried birch leaves.

Amazing garden of greens, potatoes, and other veggies ... and treasures from the wild used for tea and flavoring

My last day in Iceland ... at the guesthouse Hotel Berg

View of the guesthouse which overlooks the marina

The dock in Keflavik, where a week ago when we stopped by, there had been a flurry of activity of people fishing for mackerel. Apparently the mackerel have moved on, but there is no shortage of gulls and other birds.

When I came back to Iceland after the Czech Republic, I had no time to work on this blog before starting on my hike. In fact, that was when we all went our separate ways -- my parents back to Washington DC, Ed and Gloria back to Seattle, and me on my hike. But first, we had a lovely dinner at a seafood restaurant in Keflavik. It was a good time to talk about the trip and all we had seen and done together.

Short hike along the coastline

I shared with everyone a lovely email I had gotten from my friend Marg, who wrote, "Just a note to let you know that I have been enjoying your blog, as well as Jeff and my two sisters. I hope we are not too much weight to carry but we are enjoying the trip." I loved the image of bringing my friends along to see the sights. Working on this blog has also enabled me to reflect back on the journey and remember little things about the trip that I might otherwise have forgotten in the rush.

With a trip of this magnitude, the planning and logistics, not only before the travel but throughout the trip, would have the potential to overshadow the joy of the trip. There are also the inherent complexities whenever a group of different individuals is traveling together. While we had our challenges, looking back on it, if I had the trip to do over, there is very little I would change (except I would take some things out of my backpack!). I feel so grateful to have been able to make this journey, not only discovering new and beautiful places, getting to know my relatives, and having new experiences, but most especially being able to spend this time with my parents and my good friends Ed and Gloria. Thank you all!