Aug. 18, 2021:
True confessions time: Jim and I had bought tickets to hike up to the Fagradsdall Volcano on August 18th, but one of the couples on our food tour the night before had just made the hike, and it sounded like hell on earth! Picture struggling up a steep slope, using a rope hand-over-hand to pull yourself up, while the wind blows 30-40 miles an hour, with occasional rain and freezing temperatures. All of that, and they didn’t see the eruptions from the volcano; just the lava field. Thank you, but NO! We cancelled the tour. Instead, after getting a couple of really promising recommendations from our taxi driver yesterday, we bought tickets to a venue in Reykjavik which was highly recommended, Fly Over Iceland. It’s like the Disney California Adventure ride, Soaring Over California, only magnitudes better!
You join a “dark ride” where after an introductory session with a holographic traditional Norseman, you go into a chamber with seats with seat belts which tip and pivot, while a huge screen shows you a moving picture of drone photography shot all over the most remote (and beautiful) parts of Iceland. It was spectacular (but they did not allow photographs inside)!
With a newly free schedule in front of us, we wandered around central Reykjavik (and did a little shopping). Trip Advisor’s No. 1 rated restaurant is a place called Reykjavik 101. It is not a fancy place (and my suspicion is that it achieved its status because of its cheap eats). However, they purported to have excellent fish and chips (one of Jim’s favorites) and a killer lobster soup. This place is little more than a hole in the wall, but almost every table was taken, so we sat down. Although it was easy to see why this place had found favor with the young people who popularize Trip Advisor, the food was seriously good! It’s a very limited menu, but everything we had was great! You could have a low alcohol beer or soda with your meal (Pepsi drinks only), but fortunately, there was a good wine bar next door where I ordered a glass of chardonnay to go with my Soup. Jim’s fish and chips were lightly battered and very crispy. My soup had langoustines in it (which is apparently what Icelanders call lobster) and was flavored with lemongrass. It was yummy!
After lunch, we decided to go to the Perlan Museum which is on a hillside overlooking the city. The Perlan Museum is a loosely defined as Iceland’s museum of its natural wonders. The museum is arranged in a somewhat disjointed manner, but has some very cool exhibits. Among the highlights are an ice cave, an IMAXX-like show of the Aurora Borealis, and interactive exhibits on glaciers and volcanos. Oh, and there is even a zipline from the roof deck of the museum. Speaking of the roof deck, you can walk around the whole thing and there are views in every direction over the city of Reykjavik and its surrounding areas.
For dinner, we dined at one of Reykjavik’s best seafood restaurants, Sjávargrillid. Then we returned to our room at the Canopy. We have discovered a sad fact of visiting Iceland in the summer; there is no air conditioning, and most of the rooms come with heated floors. Thus, the Gringos had to “McGyver” some cooling mechanism to stay sane. Stay tuned tomorrow, because hopefully, we are going to see the erupting volcano, Fagradsfjall volcano.
Vaya con Gringos 
The ice caves are cool with the black rings. Very interesting.
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Gosh, Nancy, it means so much to me when our readers actually comment! Thanks!
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