We are back in Reykjavik

It is Sunday October 11 and we are back in Reykjavik.  This week has flown by!  The pace has been non-stop with no time left to blog or look at, much less process, our photographs!  We are going to try to catch up now.

Last night we had a late dinner (as usual!) at Geysir Bistro around the corner from the hotel.  It was a very nice meal with loads of good wishes and camaraderie.  It was such a nice group of people, I feel very lucky to have shared this Iceland visit with them.  Lainie, bought us all a glass of champagne to enhance the party spirit.  Emails, were exchanged, hugs passed around and a few of us headed back to the hotel about midnight, while the more energetic in the group went round the corner to hear some live music and have a few more drinks.

We spent today wandering around Reykjavik.We went back to Harpa and the cathedral, had another Cappuccino and tea at the Laundromat followed by dinner at a Pakistani restaurant.  We are mostly packed and ready to go tomorrow.

Our room is in the north 40, we refer to it as being in the annex.  You go up to the 3rd floor of the main part of the hotel, down a hall, turn right into a windowed but dark tunnel across an alley into another building, then down one flight of stairs, turn right and we are at the end of a foyer.  It is apparently next door to a club because after dark there is dancing music that goes until about 3 or 4 am.  Thank goodness for ear plugs! 


Going back in time..............

Wednesday October 7

We got up for a sunrise shoot at the black sand beach that the Jökulsárlón-Glacier lagoon feeds into.  The Atlantic Ocean in this area is truly vicious, a force to be respected.  I have never in my life see such tumultuous surf. It is awe inspiring and a bit scary. There wasn't much ice there this morning so we went back out to the lagoon and took pictures there.The weather was still overcast with intermittent rain.  A downpour lead to a very nice rainbow.  We saw a young man out here this morning, I assume a local making a statement to the tourists, in three-quarter length pants and a bright red short sleeved tee-shirt!  I had on thermal underwear, a wool sweater, a down jacket, a rain coat, a hat that covered my ears and gloves.....I was NOT too warm.

From there we drove out to a location on Vatnajökull glacier.  We could see people out on the glacier going in and out of a hole in the ice....crazy if you ask me!  A few times we heard sounds....."glacier noises" that would have sent me fleeing but did not affect their behavior at all!


Next stop was back at the black sand beach and after dinner we headed back to the lagoon to shoot the Northern Lights.  The solar flare activity was high but the sky was overcast.  It was bitter cold when we got there about 10:30 pm.  After a time there was a break in the clouds and we were able to see the dancing lights.  It wasn't magnificent but as the evening wore on we did get some pretty good shots.  We finally packed it in about 2:00 am completely frozen and exhausted!  It was a lifetime dream of mine to see the lights so I felt very exhilarated to have witnessed it!