Off to Iceland

We got very little sleep last night and were up at 5:15 to head to the airport. That involved schlepping our bags for a 10 minute walk to the train station, grabbing a ticket from the kiosk, hefting our bags onto the train, a 20 minute train ride to the airport, checking in and grabbing a coffee and danish pastry (Kim) and hot water for tea (me). 

Unfortunately, we forgot to check in yesterday for our flight this morning. I remembered at 1:00 am while I was tossing and turning, so quickly checked in only to find that we are not going to be sitting together on the flight. 🙁 It’s a completely full flight so there’s not much chance of getting to change seats. All the flights we’ve taken so far have been completely full. Well, the Dallas to London flight ended up with two empty seats once they got the obnoxious man and his wife off. 😬

Turns out we were blessed and got to sit together after all. However there was a toddler behind us that was trying everyone’s patience. I doubt there was anywhere on the plane he couldn’t be heard. He was screaming because he couldn’t have his way and clearly the word discipline was not in the father’s dictionary. A couple of times I heard the dad say, “that’s enough now.” Let’s just say that wasn’t the answer. 

We left sunny and warm (60’s) Denmark and arrived in wet, windy and cool (30’s) Iceland. But wow, is it beautiful! I’m blogging from the car today since it’s raining and hard to see much out the window. Besides it’s mostly a travel day so not a lot of pics. We had just over a 3 hour flight from Copenhagen to Reykjavik, Iceland. (Ray-gyah-veek) bonus points for a rolled R at the beginning. The emphasis is also on the RAY, in the beginning of the word, not at the end. Also Icelandic Í is pronounced like the two EEs in green). We picked up a rental car and proceeded to drive over five hours to our lodging for tonight. We decided to drive to the furthest point today and then work our way back viewing all the sights. You can see Hofn (pronounced Hupn, but it is said so fast that the n is almost silent) on the map from day one. I’m hoping the weather clears a bit over the next couple of days so we’ll have a better chance at seeing the northern lights and not have to slog around in the rain so much. 

Here are the pics I took today, some through the rain splattered car window. 

Our lunch today was hotdogs from IKEA 🤣. When I asked for a fork so I could just eat the hotdog with out the bun, he didn’t understand. We finally compromised on a spoon. 

Then we went to Costco because, why not? 

Don’t let the 2.749 price fool you. It was $20 for this little package of salami at Costco. 

Kim had gelato and coffee for dessert. Wonder why they don't have gelato at our Texas Costco.

I had grain free/dairy free coconut wafer thins. 

Several rainbows today. 

This is Seljalandsfoss (sal-yands-foss) Waterfall. Kim asked if I was counting waterfalls. I laughed. We probably saw a hundred today. While there's no official record, estimates say there may be as many as 10,000 waterfalls in Iceland. Astonishing! Foss is the Icelandic word for waterfall, and the names of some of the waterfalls are delightful in themselves. If only I could pronounce them.

You're probably wondering why I took this picture. The small two-lane highway reduces to one lane over the little bridges, and there are many as there is an abundance of water here. So, it's first come, first served. Whoever gets to the bridge first goes across and the one on the other side waits. Reminded us of New Zealand. 

We left the hostel in Copenhagen before 6 am and arrived here at our hotel in Hofn after 7 pm. It's been a long day with very little walking. 6,662 steps and 3.5 miles. We are in an "accessible" room so it is huge. The bathroom is bigger than our entire room the last two nights.

Hofn is located on a peninsula in the southeast of Iceland. The name Höfn means harbour and it is a fishing port surrounded on three sides by the sea, with beaches on a long shoreline to the southeast. Shoals and glacial rivers traverse this area with many shifting lagoons and sand reefs being formed. Höfn is surrounded by several small islands to the east of the town.

The main economic activities in Höfn are fishing and tourism. Fishing involves both sea fishing and processing and packaging in the factories; one major fish processing factory, Skinney-Þinganes is one of the largest fish factories in the eastern part of Iceland, which employs a large number of people. The main production of these factories is bacaloa (saltfish) and processed lobster. Herring and capelin are also processed. Ten large and a number of smaller boats operate from Höfn. The surrounding area has served as a filming location for feature films including the James Bond movies Die Another Day and A View to a Kill, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, and Batman Begins. Recently a song in the 2015 Bollywood movie "Dilwale" was shot in the surrounding area. And that’s your history lesson for today. 

Kim likes coordinates so this is where we are:

64.12715°N 16.01353°W Elevation 20'

"Here’s the bottom line. The Christian life, the church, our faith are not about us, they’re about him - his plan, his kingdom, his glory."

PDT

The forecast says the rain should end by 6 am tomorrow. I'm excited about all we have on the agenda. More to come...