Finnur at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia!

2018-06-19Uncategorized Standard

[Photos taken on 19-28 June 2018, posted on 30 December 2018.  I’m liking this long holiday.]

When Iceland qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup (of men’s soccer) held in Russia, Finnur was on the fence about going, but in the end he applied for tickets, and got tickets to two games: Iceland-Nigeria in Volgograd, and Iceland-Croatia in Rostov. Since we are all about sensible traveling, he flew via Sweden, staying overnight both ways.

While he was away, I held down the fort with Anna’s help, and even made it to the summer house. On the day Finnur returned, Bjarki turned 11 years old!

There are lots of photos here from Finnur, but I don’t really know the story behind them. (150-ish photos total. How did that happen?!)

Monday 18 June 2018

Finnur’s flight was early in the day, so he had time to travel from the airport to Stockholm, where his hotel was, and walk around a bit.
Arches.
Fancy house at 8 pm.
Lots of pointy things.
It was apparently a very nice day!
A very large building.
Houses surrounding a square.
Tall pointy thing.

Tuesday 19 June 2018

Emma with the only photo-book I’ve been able to complete in the past few years.
Mr. B almost 11 years old.
The calendar. So many days still to survive.
Screen time.
Anna helping with dinner. Looks like fajitas!
Sibling time looking at photo books.
Finnur on the move.
Finnur made it to Volgograd (previously named Stalingrad).
Obligatory vertical skinny thing.

Wednesday 20 June 2018

It was a gorgeous day in Iceland, one of very few that summer.
My only wall-related task, while Finnur was away, was to move this pile of earth into our own yard for storage.
Emma posing in front of the pretty flowers.
Victory!
Halli spotted something interesting in Finnur’s wall-base. 🙂
Meanwhile, in Russia…
A good sign he was in the right place.
The guy on the far right is Icelandic.
Weird or interesting or both?
Big building. Probably a war museum.
The fan-zone located.
Russia also has speed-bumps!
Airplane on stilts.

Thursday 21 June 2018

There was an optimistic cake at work for dessert.
Trying to make sense of all the numbers.
Meanwhile, in Russia, Finnur spotted a very very very large statue. It’s 85 m tall!
A small statue by comparison.
Dramatic wall, probably depicting events from The Battle of Stalingrad in World War II, which was one of the largest and bloodiest battles in the history of warfare.
Fancy building.
Inside.
Obligatory selfie.
The view from the statue. The venue is in the center.
Cool flag photo.
A very Russian wall.
The statue, and a lady. It was very warm there.
They had rabbit-pie for lunch.
With the mascot.

Friday 22 June 2018

Finally, game day arrived. The daycare-boss kindly asked if parents could pick their kids up early, and by 3 pm, all the kids were gone.
This gave the late-departing teachers a chance to watch the game uninterrupted.
In Russia, Finnur made his way to the game zone.
He got his face painted, which ended up causing major headaches when he went through security, as he didn’t look like his photo. It worked out ok in the end, but he’s never going to paint his whole face before a high-security game!
There were a lot of Icelanders in town.
Rising excitement!
With opponent supporters.
Looking over the field.
Selfie with random stranger.
The fun about to start. Sadly we lost the game, but it wasn’t embarrassing, which was important.
Later on, he got pigs ears in a sampling cup.
Later that night.
Evening shot of a big house.
Back in Iceland, I packed for a trip to the summer house.
Food served very late. Oh well.
Nice view.

Saturday 23 June 2018

Weirdly, Iceland kept getting visited by low-pressure areas all summer, with clouds and wind and rain.
Emma helping out in the kitchen.
Upper-bunk boys.
Hot tub getting some use again, but no mountain view.
Yet another finished apple.
Mother and daughter figuring stuff out inside.
The weather cleared up for a bit, and games were played.
Meanwhile, in Russia, Finnur went on a walkabout…
Lots of tanks.
Train.
Big scary guns.
Not friendly.
A sad reminder of the past. That circular building is a war museum, which he entered later on.
Trucks.
New house with remains of an old house.
More guns.
Small airplane.
Inside the war museum, there were old uniforms.
Searchlight?
Old engine block?
Projectiles.
Fancy coat. So weird how pretty and detailed military gear is.
Diving equipment.
Three levels?
Names of the fallen?
Ceiling star.
Important men.
Not something you want falling anywhere close to you.
A painting of horrors.
A large soup tank, part of a mobile kitchen.
More uniforms and weapons.
Must have been a boom time for seamstresses and medal-makers.
The enemy?
As if from a movie.
Map depicting the horrors the befell Volgograd.
Probably not good…?
Printing press?
All so well dressed!
Ooops, that one’s got a dent in it…
Commoner?
Prostitute?
Life was simpler on my end, where I attempted to go buy hardware things, but the store was closed, so I visited the nice cafe instead.

Sunday 24 June 2018

The previous owners of the summer house kindly left behind some toys, which our kids really put to good use.
Halli’s parents were in their own summer house not very far away, and came for a short visit.
Meanwhile, Halli was put to work!
Siblings.
First Born.
Mr. Middle.
Last born.
Halli kindly moved a ceiling light that was in the way of the big bunker, and Anna prepared to make pancakes.
Bjarki wanted to try the hot tub while wearing pants. Who was I to say no?
Eating dinner in Borgarnes before heading home.
Popsicle in the pouring rain. On the drive back, my nervous system sort of decided it had had enough of the insanity, and I ended up at the health clinic while a panic attack cleared the system. No one got hurt, but it was a reminder to slow down.
Meanwhile, in Russia, Finnur boarded a low-budget airplane. Eeek!
Happily he made it to Rostov in one piece.
I have no idea.

Monday 25 June 2018

Special looking house! This was actually hotel #2, as hotel #1 turned out to be under construction, and they were supposed to share a room with a couple of other travelers. They stayed there for one night.
Photo from their room in hotel #2.
After a night in hotel #2, they moved to hotel #3, which was this high-rise.
The stadium visible from their balcony.
Sparse kitchen.
Street vista from Rostov.
A bus.
Tall bridge.
Shiny building with unusual art.
All buildings apparently need a big statue up front.
The stadium had an external light show.
Evening view from the balcony.
If you find a TV painting, let Finnur know!

Tuesday 26 June 2018

In Iceland, I discovered I had about 80 midge bites on my body from the summer house stay. Gaaah!
Me and the kids went to a birthday party, which was also a soccer viewing party as it was time for Iceland’s third, and final, game in this World Cup.
Kids enjoying some quiet time.
Meanwhile, in Russia, Finnur found a golden statue.
Fancy building.
Google translated Icelandic on a poster.
Stadium in the distance.
Stadium up close.
At the stadium. The guy taking a selfie is an old classmate of mine!
Lots of blue!
Pretty!
Here we go!
Game over, and we lost, boohoo! Still, it was an amazing achievement by our team to even make to to the competition in the first place, so the entire country was very happy.

Wednesday 27 June 2018

Celebrating the fact that Finnur was coming home, I took the kids to a sushi-train restaurant.
It was Emma’s first time and she loved it!
Sadly, Emma loved her food too much, eating too much, and uh, relieving her stomach into a bag in the car as we got stuck in traffic while a couple of cranes did crane-y things up ahead. Terrible timing! There is never traffic there!!
In Russia, however, Finnur went to the airport in Rostov, and…
… said goodbye to Russia from Moscow!
This time, his hotel was by the Stockholm airport. He went on a walk, and found this plane which is a hotel as well?
Hotel rooms for Hobbits?
It’s not often you get to take photos of the undersides of airplane tails.
Pretty night.

Thursday 28 June 2018

The 11 year old birthday boy got driven to the horse riding camp as a treat.
Siblings by a horse at the end of the day.
Finnur arrived from Sweden just in time to watch Bjarki open his presents from us.
Add your own caption!
Finnur gave them all sequined pillows.
You can draw on them! Thus endeth the World Cup adventure of 2018!