Hello all, it’s me again, Kathryn! Today we put our tourists caps on again and went to the National Museum. The museum was incredibly informative, it told the story of the people of Iceland (how they got there, who they were, and what they became). My favorite exhibit in the museum was of the bath-house (I don’t recall the name in Icelandic). What is interesting about the bath-house is that it slowly evolved into the main-house because it was the warmest place to be. My favorite place in the museum was this little corner on the second floor where there was a chess table next to some books with some extremely comfy couches (I almost feel asleep there!).

This is the bath-house that in it’s later stages no longer resembled one.

This is the little nook I mentioned above. Sydney and Porter played a game of chess. You can take your guess on who won.

After the museum we headed to the Althing (the oldest and first form of Icelandic government). The location of the Althing is important for both historical/cultural reasons and geological ones. The Althing is where the North American and European plates are separating to form new land.

Currently Lilli is between the North American (right) and European (left) plates. This walk way leads to where the Althing was held.

This is flag is where it was held. The Althing was a long event and folks would set up tents to claim their spot, and you can still see those imprints in the ground.

A little past the Althing is this beautiful waterfall, the first one I’ve seen in Iceland (I have been told that there are many waterfalls in Iceland). The nice thing about Iceland is that because the water is so clean, you can re-fill your water bottle there. And I can tell you that it is the best water I’ve ever had.

After finish touring the Althing, we left to go see another, much bigger waterfall. On the way, we were able to see Hekla (by some miracle) through the haze, and drove through the town called Geyser. Interestingly, geysers (the geological phenomenon) is named after the town because there are so many of them. We did not stop there because according to E and C, it is just a tourist trap.

For size reference, there is a trail on the right side of the photo where people are walking.

This is a much nicer photo of the waterfall courtesy of Roger and his fancy camera.

And the obligatory group photo and a rainbow in the background.

To finish off the day Mubi served everyone an absolutely delicious meal of stir-fry ramen. Well, it’s time for bed for me, even though it’s still light out (that’s going to take some getting used to).

 

The Iceland trip is officially in progress! I should probably introduce myself (and everyone else) before I continue on, I’m Kathryn Hulleman and I am a biochemistry junior.

This is all of us students on the trip, and from right to left: Li, Jordan, Joyce, Roger, Lilli, Kathryn (me), Sydney, Porter, Kaela, and Mubi.

Today was a long day (or two depending on how you count). Fortunately for us, all of the flights went smoothly (no missed flights, delays or people). We passed the time in the Minneapolis airport by playing codenames. On the way into Reykjavik, there was interesting statue. That is wait for it… An egg with a jet hatching out of it.

Luckily for us, the weather was beautiful when we arrived in Iceland— nice and sunny, no rain, and a minimal breeze. To start off the trip, E and C (plus me) went out shopping for food while everyone else took a nice, needed nap. After lunch, which was sandwiches with smoked lamb and some Swiss cheese, and with full bellies, we started out on adventure to the downtown area lead by Em. Em’s tip for not getting lost in Reykjavik is to know how to get home from the concrete church, because it is visible in from most of the downtown area.

Some highlights from our walk around Reykjavik included:

• We saw a beautiful black cat named Kisa who was very soft and friendly.
• There was a flight show going on to celebrate a 100 years of flight in Iceland. I saw many planes doing tricks out on the harbor (one even did two or three loop-d-loops in a row
• Seeing the Icelandic version of the Sydney opera house (as Kaela pointed out). It is a concert hall over the harbor meant to imitate the look of basalt columns.
• We went into the flea market and then hanging out in the parliament park to enjoy the Iceland air.

Charlie and Jordan cooked a delicious meal of baked cod with leaks, mashed potatoes and a salad. And now for the photos!

This is the beautiful cat Kisa who graced our presence this morning!

Here is Sydney (with Porter and Mubi in the background) on the street of downtown Reykjavik. As you can see the sun is out and there is almost no wind! This nice of weather probably won’t happen again on the trip, but one can hope!

Porter and I have started a trend of imitating statues throughout the city (with much goading on Kaela and Sydney’s part) which we hope to continue throughout the trip.

 

And that concludes all that we did for today. I for one am ready for bed and can’t wait for what tomorrow brings!