Day 4 - 66 parallel and back.

We started off the morning walking around Akureyri to visit the botanical gardens and do a little shopping.  We ate at the Hamborgarafabrikkan for lunch and purchased some authentic Icelandic clothing.

Before leaving, we saw even more neat houses/buildings:

On the way out, we got to see some people out sailing in the fjord!

We stopped next at Godafoss waterfall, where tourists were everywhere.  We saw a guy fall face first into the water, if only we had been filming it!

(Not this guy.)

Our next stop promised to provide some Puffin colonies, but no such luck.  We climbed down the bluff and walked the northern most coastline of our trip.  Although not quite to the arctic circle, but we were close!  We were at Tjornes.  We also met and talked to a guy who has been here for a month and he clued us in to some guaranteed Puffin viewing, but it isn't near our route.

I found a giant golf ball!

We have just arrived at the Lake Myvatn area and there will be some interesting stuff to visit here, but here is a late (10:15) sunset to end the post!

Day 3 - a few more pictures...

Our ride:

Day 3 - Travel to Akureyri

Today has been a very busy day.  Very little rain, but very windy.  We started the day with the free breakfast at the hotel again, and it was the exact same thing as the last one, cereal, toast, meat, fish, veggies. 

Our first real stop is at the basalt columns which were really cool.

From there we went to Stykkisholmur and climbed to the lighthouse to enjoy the view.

Kevin tried the Icelandic shark (it was nasty), and I had Puffin!

We drove on a lot of dirt highways, and saw some incredible scenery.  David, the last photo is for you!

Even more from day 2

I forgot to mention dinner today where we stopped at a restaurant which served horse filet which neither of us tried mainly because it was quite pricey.  I had the daily catch supplied by the local fishmonger, but I don't remember his name.  The restaurant was built into the rock behind.  

More pictures from day 2

Day 2 - Borgarnes

It has rained most of the day today, but we have a car and headed north.  Our stop tonight was a short distance in the town of Borgarnes.  There have been a lot of people with campers headed out for the weekend.  We took a couple of back roads and a tunnel under the fjord, which was pretty cool.  We checked out a couple of local museums and a market.  The forecast for the rest of the week is clear, so we are looking forward to being out and having better photo opportunities.

We toured an early concrete house at one museum:

Enjoyed a gas station hotdog with onions:

Met some local wildlife:

It is difficult to tell, but this is a long way down and a good sized river below.

Borgarnes - I looked at these exact houses on Google street view before we came.

Reykjavik, day 1

We walked all over Reykjavik today.  Like other places, the old town center is alive with shops and restaurants.  Looked through tourist shops, Icelandic sweater shops, and other cool outdoor gear.  Kevin had a whale steak for lunch, so we can mark that off the list.  It is 2pm now and we are exhausted.  Headed to find a beer, and chill a bit.  Here are some of the highlights:

This statue pays tribute to the sailors from all over the world who have died around Iceland:

This building is where President Reagan and Gorbachev signed the treaty effectively ending the Cold War: