Towards Europa-Park via Augsburg / Göppingen
[Photos taken 05 August 2024, posted online 02 November 2024. Time is flying by, mornings are dark already.]
Before our departure for Germany, I ended up chatting to an acquaintance at the gym. When she heard we were headed for Munich, she strongly recommended making the trip to visit Europa-Park. After some mulling, we decided to give it a go, in spite of it being very high-season.
Finnur and I therefore went to pick up a rental car on our first whole day in Germany. As our apartment was located in a “low emissions zone” we opted for an all-electric rental car, which turned out to be both good and not-great.
It handled well on the autobahns but I ran into a lot of trouble downloading the required apps for the various charging stations, because the “app was not available in my country” (as in “Iceland”, where my phone lives). It caused a some delays, but it all worked out.
As it’s a about a 4-hour-drive between Munich and Europa-Park, we decided to drive there, stay overnight at a nearby hotel, then arrive when the park opened at 9 in the morning, and drive back in the late afternoon. En route there we checked in with Finnur’s niece, and found that they live basically on the way to the park, and we were kindly invited to dinner!
Monday 05 August 2024
In Amsterdam / King’s Day Avoidance / To Iceland
[Photos taken 27 – 30 April 2024, posted online 30 August 2024. Lots of rain incoming. Hello fall.]
Amsterdam turns into a party-town on King’s day to celebrate their king’s birthday. People wear orange, there are orange decorations everywhere, and partying crowds, particularly downtown. I’m not a person that runs to where there are crowds, preferring to stay very very far away, so I pulled my “I’m an introvert”-card, and declared that I would be not be joining the group going downtown.
Instead I wandered towards a cafe that was listed as laptop-friendly, and hung out there for most of the afternoon. Classic me.
The whole group then went out to dinner at an Indonesian restaurant, which are very prevalent in Amsterdam because the Dutch colonized Indonesia for almost 350 years.
The following day we traveled back to Iceland, and life resumed as normal.
Saturday 27 April 2024
In Amsterdam / Walkabouts / 17th Century Dinner
[Photos taken 26 April 2024, posted online 28 August 2024. Yesterday a third (150 people) of the remaining workers at my last company were laid off. Oooof! The eruption has now created a baby-volcano cone.]
The following day the plan was mostly to visit downtown, perhaps do a bit of shopping, before heading to dinner at a restaurant that is housed in a collection of 17th century rooms. To get our coffee fix, a sister-in-law and myself started they day with a walk to a cafe a little ways from our hotel.
Friday 26 April 2024
To Amsterdam / Cheese Tasting / Canal Dinner Cruise
[Photos taken 25 April 2024. Posted online 26 August 2024. Volcano is still going, and it’s the first day of elementary school. The weather is finally nice enough to stain wood!]
Finnur’s parents had both turned 80 years old in the past year, so the siblings decided to replicate previous big-birthdays, and go abroad with them for a long weekend.
Miraculously, they managed to agree on a location and dates, although Icelandair did its very best to throw them off. Both of the flights that we had booked ended up getting cancelled (probably didn’t sell enough seats), and we were instead re-booked on same-day flights, but with less optimal departure times.
We got up at the crack of dawn (which is quite early in late April), fetched Finnur’s parents and drove to the airport. This was a child-free trip, and I was one of two spouses.
Thursday 25 April 2024
Easter 2024
[Photos taken 31 March 2024, posted online 19 August 2024. This might be a week without rain!?! Fittingly, the big kids start school today.]
We arrived back from Sweden in time for a very traditional Easter Sunday. Chocolate eggs were hidden at home, before we headed over to my in-laws for an Easter feast and social whist.
Easter Sunday 31 March 2024
Celebrations / Wacky-Weather / Helgafell Circled
[Photos taken 01 – 13 March 2024, posted online 25 July 2024. The weather continues being wet, wet, wet. The plant-life is loving it, but the humans are getting a bit miserable…]
March 2024 would turn out to be a very busy month. It kicked off with birthday parties, a confirmation, a mild eruption threat, wild weather changes, a new pizza oven, a programming competition for Bjarki, a hike, and work-wonderings. Phew!
Friday 01 March 2024
Nature Running Course / Party Prepping
[Photos taken 01 – 13 January 2024, posted online 26 June 2024. Hopefully the last wet day for a few days today… oh, and the eruption is over.]
January is typically a slow month, with energy restored after lounging over the holidays. This time around I’d signed up for a nature-running course (!!!), and began prepping for a fancy party that we were hosting at the end of January. Life could have been calmer.
We also bought an “adult” guitar for Bjarki, I resumed gymming, and we put all the yule stuff away. We even managed a dinner or two with friends!
Monday 01 January 2024 – New Year’s Day
Goodbye 2023 / Hello 2024!
[Photos taken 31 December 2024 (and just after midnight…), posted online 21 June 2024. The lava from the current eruption has toppled over one of the lead-walls keeping it from the Svartsengi power/hot-water station. Crews are onsite pushing up a second lead-wall. Thankfully the eruption seems to be dying down…]
Finnur’s youngest sister repeated hosting the new year’s eve party, much to everyone’s delight.
Sunday 31 December 2023
Ginger Bread House / Yule 2023 / Anna’s 20th Birthday!
[Photos taken 23 – 30 December 2023, posted online 20 June 2024. I now have a 67 year old mom!?!]
This yule went pretty much by the book. No surprises.
We managed to organize ourselves enough to make the annual ginger-bread-house, and some cookies. Then it was on to Christmas itself, which we celebrated on Christmas Eve as is the Icelandic custom, hosting my mom and one of my brothers. We spent Christmas Day at Finnur’s parents’ place, eating and playing social whist. That was also the day that Anna turned 20 years old!
My work gave us the days between Christmas and New Year’s off, so the days were calm and restorative. We ended the week by going with friends to the “summer” house, as the temperatures plunged outside.
Saturday 23 December 2023
Endless Food Pics / Shed Completed / Yule Prep
[Photos taken 01 – 30 November 2023, posted online 12 June 2024. Yesterday was the first day of volcano-smog in the capital area from the ongoing volcanic eruption close to the Blue Lagoon, that began two weeks ago (30 May 2024).]
Winter kept coming, it got quite cold, and I began to feed the birds, in part to get the free nature TV going in the backyard! With the added darkness, the outside lights went up, and the November sales were helpful in getting me to buy Christmas presents early.
Finnur had a bunch of tasks to complete at the summer house, so I ended up responsible for more dinners than usual. I took photos of them to prove I was attempting to keep the kids alive. There are also food pics from the summer house, work, a birthday, and at least one restaurant. I wonder if I was just hungry?
The garbage bin shed was quietly completed, I guess I’d run out of wood-photographing-juice. However, screwing in the missing half of the screws would have to wait until May/June, for no real good reason.
The month ended with a mass-layoff at my workplace, which was not a pleasant experience, although I kept my job. Bjarki’s band recital a couple of days later made life a little better though.
Wednesday 01 November 2023
