When we woke up the next morning and checked the weather for the coming days, we realized we would be landing in Denver in what they were calling a "bomb cyclone", which didn't appeal to either of us. So we got to the airport a bit early, checked in our bags and then contacted Icelandair to see about changing our tickets to a different day. Turns out, we could have done this easily, BEFORE we checked in our bags, but now the whole series was "active" and no changes could be made.
As soon as we had retrieved our bags in Reykjavik (where we had planned to spend one night), Sheila got back in touch with Icelandair through their very useful Facebook app. We decided that we'd leave enough time for the predicted chaos at DIA to work itself out, and stay until Saturday (four nights, rather than one). It wasn't a cheap choice, but we were very happy we made it. Our original flight left on Wednesday, about 30 minutes late, and landed in Minneapolis. It didn't leave for Denver until well into Thursday afternoon. We were much more comfortable at Erik the Red, where there were luckily rooms available.
So....extra days in Reykjavik. On Wednesday, after a tasty lunch at Kornið bakery, we joined the Free Walking Tour, led by a very entertaining local comedian, who kept the whole crowd with him despite ever-increasing snowfall. We got some exercise, and learned some history.
On Thursday, we walked over to the National Museum. We'd been to it before, but it had been about 6 years, and we hadn't really seen everything. Plus, it was a lovely day for a walk...one of the things we like about staying at Erik the Red is that it seems to be about a 15-minute walk from almost anything you might want to see.
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| Bronze clasps for aprons or dresses |
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| Viking-age jewelry |
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| Drinking horns |
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| Drinking horn |
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| Women's jewelry |
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| Icelandic folk costume |
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| Yarn holders for knitting |
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| Lady's side-saddle |
Friday, we rented a car and, following the advice of the Birding Iceland FB page, drove out to Seltjanes Peninsula on a beautiful sunny day, to see what we could see. Nothing earth-shattering in terms of rarities, but all birds we don't get to see at home.
After a couple of hours on Seltjanes, we went back through Reykjavik and out to Álftanes. We didn't have a lot of luck in terms of birds out there, but it was a good excuse to be outdoors, and we got some nice views of Reykjavik from a distance, and even Snæfellsnes Peninsula off in the distance.
Saturday, our flight wasn't until 5, so we kept the car and went to Gardbæer, where we didn't see any birds except a few eiders in the distance, but Sheila enjoyed the walk through the lava field. Lars has seen and walked through many lava fields, so he was less impressed by the experience.
We had to turn the car in by 11, and since it was such a lovely day we decided to walk back over to Perlan and take advantage of the clear sky for some better shots of Reykjavik.
Ended up cutting it a BIT close getting out to Keflavik (the shuttle bus was late....), but made our flight home to Denver, where there were few signs left of the "bomb cyclone". Happy not to have had to spend any nights in airports! We are now slowly recovering from the jetlag.
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