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At home in Iceland

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Our only inside photo - bad on us! We’re in a comfortable downtown apartment in Akureyri, in the north of Iceland now. The city’s population is only 18,000, but it’s the second largest populated area in Iceland, which tells you a lot about how far you have to go to see another human who’s not a tourist. Visitors to Iceland are from many countries: the United States (many), Japan, Korea, China, Israel, and many others. Until 1870, all Icelanders were farmers, our host in Seydisfjordur told us. Then they began fishing, and an economic boom began. View from our living room window All of our hosts have been gracious and helpful, but this man was particularly interesting. He’s a retired macroeconomics professor who loves welding and hot metal (he and Bernie bonded over this love of glowing red steel). He built the house we rented from him, and it is glorious. Sarah enjoying the sun on our deck in Seydisfjordur Imagine the prettiest little cott
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Cats of Iceland

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Store Cat In Reykjavik, we saw cats nearly everywhere, and later learned that the city allows them to roam outside freely during the day. Each of them has a collar and tag with the cat’s name. Elyse loves cats. So do we. So it was only natural to stop and pet each individual cat along our way. Two cats lived in one of the apartments behind ours and were out daily meeting their public. You might think that roaming the city streets would have toughened these guys up, made them street smart. But, oh, they are the most loving, friendly kitties we’ve seen anywhere in the world. They stretch their heads to meet your hand when you reach to pet them. They rub your legs. They roll over to get their bellies rubbed. It’s a cat lover’s delight. Apartment Cat We visited one Icewear store that the neighbor’s kitty had adopted (or was that a takeover?). Curled up on a stack of Icelandic wool sweaters was this soft gray and white kitty, sound asleep. Alongside him was
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Day One - Iceland

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    Watching the sun set and then immediately rise again as we flew across Hudson Bay toward Greenland was definitely the high point of our overnight flight to Iceland. Greenland’s rocky, glacier-swept peaks let us know that we were indeed near the Arctic Circle.      Iceland greeted us with rain as we stepped off the plane. Immigration and customs was a breeze. Our rented WiFi hot spot was waiting for us at the Ten Eleven store, and Hertz was able to find us a slightly larger car – we can fit our suitcases and the rental wheelchair, which was also waiting for us in suburban Reykjavik. Now, if we can just cram in all four of us and the road groceries and snacks we’ll need for our trip around the Ring Road.      On our drive from Keflavik Airport into Reykjavik we saw hundreds of beautiful purple wildflowers, which Elyse, the Icelandic/science student, informed us were an invasive species!      After contacting our landlady, we met her in front of our home for the
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