Summer vacation - Part II

Marianne:

Many years ago, I gave Michael a trip to Iceland as a birthday present. The plan was then that we were going to go the following year, but it just never happend. When it was decided that I should go to Iceland for a congress in Iceland in August, I decided that it was time to pay my debt. I traveled on August 2nd myself to attend the Nordic Fertility Society Meeting, which took place from 3rd to 5th of August in the impressive new cultural center Harpa.

Michael joined me on Wednesday the 5th. When I was off work, we went for a long walk in the city. In the following weekend, it was gay pride. so everywhere the city was decorated with rainbow flags.  We went up to the Halgrims church, which lies in a hill as a monument for the city.

Thursday, I visited the Icepharma Headquaters in Reykjavik and Michael took the opportunity to get acquainted with the city. He rented a bike which allowed him to get pretty far. He visited a lot of nice places and took a ton of pictures. He saw the local beach, where a lot of people were enjoying the nice, warm weather (about 60 degrees F) wearing bathing suits.

Later the same day, we went to the local swimming pool by Vesturbæjarlaug, which was in walking distance  from the city center, where we were based. It was so realaxing and very nice even if the outside temperature was only 58 degrees F. But when you soak your body into 110 degree water (some of the pools were cooler - one was really cold (45 F) ), the outside temperature is not really important. And knowing that the locals go there even in the winter, we could not complain.

On Friday morning we were picked up by Hadda and Haukur heading for their B&B in the southern part of Iceland - about 3 hours drive from Reykjavik. It ended up taking most of the day, because we made several very interesting stops on our way. First we visited Haddas parents for a cup of coffee in their summer house kaffe. They breed Icelandic horses, some of them were walking around in the "garden" just outside the house. Hadda´s father showed us some of his latest paintings. After his retirement, he spends a lot of time with this passion of his.

From there we drove to the brother of Haukur´s, who has his summerhouse in the middle of nowhere. He and Haukur own a plane, that is based there - it even has a hangar there. Of course the house has its own runway. Michael and I were invited for a trip and we flew around the southers part of  Iceland. Among a lot of others places, we flew over the volcanoes Hekla and Eyjafjallajökull (the one with the ash cloud in 2010). It was absolutely spectacular and a very fun experience. We had a joint lunch before we moved on.


There are som many amazingly beautiful places to see in Iceland, that it can be very hard to choose. Fortunately we were in ood hands as Haukur is a very skilled and knowledgeable guide - and photographer. We got a lot of tips for photos and motifs.  The hallmark of Haukur´s strategy is to show the Iceland that he loves so much - and not necessarily just what all the tourists go there to see. That didn´t do us any wrong at all.


















We arrived at Hrifunes in the afternoon. It's a really nice place located so that it is overlooking two glaciers, Myrdalsjökull and Vatnajökull. Hrifunes Guesthouse accommodate 20 guests when fully booked. They have more people to help run the place, but it is primarily Hadda who takes care of the cooking - and she does a very good job. It is not just breakfast. Dinner is served every evening. And it's exciting food. We had wild goose breasts that Haukur hunted himself. SO delicious!

On Saturday the weather was a little iffy - overcast and showers. We drove around in the area and saw very special places with waterfalls, small creeks and lots of moss. Most of these places we were all by ourselves. No other tourists, which is very rare as tourism has grown a lot the last couple of years. And this was even the high season...

Sunday we were returning to Reykjavik. We drove an alternative way - this time a route that is almost exclusively used by locals, since rental cars are not allowed to drive that way. We were once again spoilt by some fantastic nature. We saw swveral waterfalls (yes, there are a lot of those!) that don´t even have a nma, which is quite uncommon. Haukur claims that it is because they are not visited very often.

We went to Hadda and Hoaukur´s house in Reykjavik. After bathing in the ourdoor spa followed by some pizza, we went to bed early. A taxi picked us up at 4 am and took us to the airport. We were ready to go back home after an wonderful visit to Iceland. We will come back for sure!

August 15 was characterized by weddings. We started with Katrine and Christian's wedding in Godthåbskirken on Frederiksberg, close to Copenhagen. Immediately after we drove towards North Jutland, where Rikke and Klaus were married at their home in the garden. We were not able to make it in time for the ceremony, but we were there for the party. And what a party! Weddings simply are the best!

For the last couple of weeks, we have had our residence in our summerhouse, FriisBo. Michael has been on vacation - most of the time - and I have worked up there. This made it possible for me to meet with my colleague Anne, who lives in Støvring - less than an hour´s drive away. Michael went twice to watch the Made in Denmark golf tournament at Himmerland Golf & Spa Resort I was able to join him on the Saturday. The weather was very nice and the tournament went well for quite a few of the Danes. Especially Søren Kjeldsen did great. The picture shows Darren Clark waiting to put. An added value of the day was that we met with Tina and Uffe and ended up having dinner with them in their summerhouse located in the area. It was super nice to see them again. Generally we have taken advantage og the beautiful weather we´ve had in August and done a lot of outdoor activites.



Michael had to go to Skrydstrup to work on August 19th- our 9-year wedding anniversary. So we chose to postpone the celebration to the following day. It didn´t exactly turn out as planned, as my back was really hurting. But we wnjoyed a nice outdoor dinner in Aalborg before we drove to Ellebæk where Ulla put some needles in me. I felt a bit like a pincushion, but I am convinced that she is in control of what she´s doing, because I already felt so much better when we drove home.

Vi strolled around in Aalborg - and because we didn´t have any plans, we went places that we don´t usually go and noticed things that we don´t usually see. Among these, this nice little fountain close to an old church in the city center.

We can´t miss the sunset in Lønstrup! This is something that we simply HAVE to see, when we are in that (the northern) part of the country. Many others had the same idea - and I understand why...

Right now I am attending a meeting at Hindsgavl. Michael is coming to pick me up in the afternoon and then we go back to Farum. We are both looking forward to everyday life again. What´s encouraging us to go home is that we will see if they have actually started to build our new house. They hadn´t before we left two weeks ago - but we feel that it´s about time if the schedule for us to move in by December 1st is to hold.