Return to Iceland

Day 4 (8/3/13)

It has been a while since I have posted anything. It has been one of those years. We have done stuff and some of it definitely blog worthy, it is just that when it has rained it has poured and I haven’t had time to write. I am now a grandfather and that in and of itself is a saga. He (Lil Wade) came two months early and had wanted to come a month earlier than that. His impatience forced his mom into spending five weeks in the hospital and Wade spending another month. The good news is that both mother and baby are doing well and are finally home and I am just about the proudest Grandpa ever. Now that everything has settled down hopefully I will have some time to blog.

 In 2007 my wife and I took our first out of country sojourn to Norway. We were scheduled to fly out of Minneapolis/St Paul airport have a short layover in Iceland and then fly on to Oslo. Unfortunately the plane had issues and we didn't get to fly out until the next morning. Subsequently we missed our connecting flight in Iceland and ended up spending o day there. Because of all our trouble the airline tried to accommodate us as much as possible. We found that we really liked Iceland and wanted to go back. So here we are. So far we have just walk toured Reykjavik but have found some interesting places. The first place of interest was a church not too far from our hotel. Hallgrimskirkja is a concrete marvel. Perched on the highest point of the city it makes for a great reference point anywhere in the city. It also has an elevator that for a nominal fee takes you up in the bell tower and gives you a breath taking view of the city. In front of the church is a sculpture of Leif Eriksson by Alexander Stirling Calder father of Alexander (Sandy) Calder father of the mobile. Iceland has a fierce pride in their artists and displays their work everywhere. Our final stop of the day was at the Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur hot dog stand where we had to taste the fare of what has been described as the best hot dog stand in Europe, most famous restaurant in Iceland and has had many famous visitors including Bill Clinton and Andrew Zimmern. After that it was time to get a little shuteye since we have had little sleep since leaving the states.

Our first Hotel

Hallgrimskirkja

Pipe Organ in Church

View from Bell Tower

Another View from the Bell Tower

Leif Eriksson

World Famous Hot Dogs