Svo lengi í Íslandi, sjáumst aftur

That translates to

‘So long Iceland, see you again.’

A subheading could be

‘We Have seen 9,875 of the 10,000 waterfalls so we better come back to see the rest’. (That’s a bit wordy though, don’t you think?)

Nancy and I are sitting in the airport waiting to board our flight home. We take off at 6, fly 8 hours and land at 6 – happy hour the whole way!

I have probably mentioned in previous posts that this is a beautiful country. Maybe I haven’t, but it is.

Since last writing, we have visited Nancy’s new favorite foss and my old time favorite one. Hers is Leyningsfoss:

And mine is Kirkjufellfoss. We visited it twice in our first trip here – as a couple then with the photography workshop. I really wanted to see it again so on our way to Reykjavík yesterday, we took a 4 hour detour ( I have a VERY understanding missus & boy, do I love her!)

the mountain, Kirkjufell is reputed to be the most photographed mountain in the world. I’m not sure I believe that, but I read it on the internet so it must be true.

I’m not good at selfies without the tripod. Short arms and inflexible thumbs I guess. Evolution will be changing the species’ bodies to accommodate this shortcoming in the distant future I suppose.

I mentioned that Iceland has a Costco in an earlier post. Here is the proof

It was very busy when we visited for a few minutes. Some similar and some dissimilar items.

The price of the famous Costco hotdog and soda is @ $3. A bit more than at home I think.

Reykjavik is a bustling city. We walked around a bit last night and found what has to be one of the best restaurants we have discovered anywhere in the world. The name is Fisk Mrkt. We showed up without a reservation so the only place they could seat us was the Chef’s counter. (They did not realize it is our favorite place to eat).

I COULD include a list, description and photo of each course, but I will spare your eyes, salivary glands and tummy. Just know, if you come to Iceland and don’t eat here, you will have done yourself a huge disservice. The restaurant even has its own wasabi grown for them in eastern Iceland and their lamb is raised on an island where the only grazing is on Angelica. The taste of it was almost as good as the Minke whale (shhhh, don’t tell Greenpeace)

This morning as we were walking around to say adios to Iceland, we came across a 5k funrun that was about to start. We think the entire city was participating- A Color Run.

What a hoot! The participants are doused in chalk powder of various colors at each kilometer

There is a lot of public art and kitsch around town

I may have mentioned earlier about the midnight sun. Here is today’s sunrise/sunset info from up north on the farm. Soon it may lap itself.

Well that is all the news, I think. I would like to reiterate some thoughts from the last 25 days.

This trip was one of the best we have taken. It would absolutely not have been as amazing without my sidekick and true love. Nancy is the best traveling companion a guy could hope for. Patient and also a terrific navigator. (She has a problem with my iPhone playlist though but that is ok – not everyone can take nonstop Pink Floyd). By the by, we did retrieve the missing coat! The airport lost and found had it.

Berlin and Iceland are wonderful places to travel to. Combining them in one trip is a bit of a packing challenge but we were up for it. One bag was only 1.8 kg overweight today but no extra charges or the silliness of shift 4lbs of stuff from one bag to another.

Both locations were very photogenic but Iceland more so for my style of pics. I have about 4000 to go through – Oy! I’d say at least 3k are Iceland (waterfalls, don’t ya know).

The people of each destination were simply put, great. We have never had issues being American anywhere in the world. Even now! A lot of people asked for explanations for the current US political situation but we could not splain it – just apologize.

The food, scenery, history, people, ease of travel and ALWAYS super clean and stocked restrooms were absolute joys.

BEER in both countries could fill volumes (and did fill a tub). I enjoy traveling to reliable beer destinations – hello Asia – time to step it up (we will still visit though).

We think our next BIG trip will be New Zealand next year so stay tuned.

That is all from us for this chapter of the Adventures of Nancy and Chris.

If you have (or have not) enjoyed these ramblings, please send a comment or note. It is always nice to hear from you.

Lots of love❤️💕🇮🇸🇩🇪

NancyandChris

ps- a special thanks to brother Matt for the surprise birthday visit!