Reykjavik: Sore Feet & Domestic Fun

May 28

Andy and Sigrun had already left for work, and I enjoyed a hot cup of coffee while Emily and Keir packed their bags.  They had to leave for the airport that afternoon and thought they’d take a dip in the hot-pots before they go. I think that’s the perfect thing to do before taking a long flight!

I loaded up my day bag and the three of us walked down to the pool and said our goodbyes. I wish those two the best of luck in all their amazing adventures. I can’t wait to hear about their WWOOF experiences.

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I continued on towards downtown and realized the blister I’d earned yesterday on the ball of my foot was becoming fairly painful. I perused a few chic stores and then stopped in Eymundsson bookstore to give my foot a break and try a latte and a chocolate muffin. The store is 3 stories tall and resides in a beautiful building with a glass-roofed cafe inside on the 3rd floor. You can sit at a bar along the front windows and watch all the people below while you sip your caffeine. I enjoyed my muffin and hunkered down to write.

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For whatever reason I had trouble focusing on writing. My calves were sore from walking too much yesterday and my foot was stinging quite a bit. Ouch! I kept finding myself daydreaming while staring at the building across from me. I wonder if the people inside thought I was trying to stare into their souls.

The sun peaked out and warmed the city street below me. The buildings and art here during the cloudy days are already colorful and beautiful but then the sun comes out and the city just glows under the bright blue sky.

I eventually gave up on writing and convinced myself to make the journey back to the house and planned to lay down for a just bit because I just wasn’t feeling 100%. I awoke much later and both Sigrun and Andy were home from work already. Sigrun said she had also felt unwell during the day and we all agreed it’d be nice to have a quiet night staying in even though tomorrow would be a holiday. The night before a holiday in Reykjavik is usually a busy time for downtown and it’s popular for young folks to go out and pub crawl until the wee hours of the morning since everyone will have the next day off.  I was happy they were also wanting to stay in so I offered to get us a sixer of beer to enjoy while we relax.

Sigrun and I drove to the closest Vinbudin, which is the only kind of liquor store in the country and is government run. We thought it’d be fun to try more new beers so we picked 4 different brews and then got two of the ones we had loved the most from the night before.

When we got home I remembered I had a packet of an Italian pasta meal mix that I had bought when I first left Reykjavik. I had figured I might cook it on my little camp stove (you know, the one I never opened and need to return?) so we cooked it up and added some extra noodles to stretch it further. It was pretty darn good!

We hung out and tried the different beers, and Andy taught me that Puffins don’t always have a fancy colorful beak like the ones you see in all the photos. In the summer they look like this:

Iceland_20140515_Egilsstadir to Bakkagerdi Puffins-159_WEB-2But then in the winter they look more like this:

Juvenile-puffin-portrait

Sigrun continued to feel worse and worse with a stuffed head and sore throat so I drove her to the pharmacy to get some medicine. Poor thing. Being ill is just no fun.

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