Dagbók Hrefnu og Finns

Bike #2 Bought / Jysk & Ikea / Bakken Rides

2025-08-15Denmark Standard

[Photos taken 15 August 2025, posted online 11 October 2026. Just completed first week of going out for 3 runs (instead of 2) per week, and find myself taking stock of various aches and pains. Peak middle age, right here.]

We again split ourselves into two groups. I took the newbie-Danes shopping (we found a bike for Anna, yay!), while Finnur took the younger two biking through Dyrahave, and spent the day doing rides at Bakken.

We tried to meet up there at the end of the day, but they had just biked back, so the three of us did some Bakken rides before going back home.

Friday 15 August 2025

The weather was optimal, at 28C/82F. The whole area is a collection of low houses, very suburbian.

Bike Shopping / Dyrehave / Bakken Walkabout

2025-08-14Denmark Standard

[Photos taken 14 August 2025, posted online 10 October 2026. Finnur’s just returned from a work-trip to Munich. Time marches on.]

If you live in Denmark, you must own a bicycle. It is just a fact of life. Leaving Finnur with the two younger ones to relax for the day, I headed out with the newbie Danes to find bikes that wouldn’t break their budget.

We started at a cool bike-shop that specializes in refurbishing old bikes. We didn’t find any that really worked for them, so we moved on. A short walk away we did find one bike that got bought.

That evening, the three of us took the new bike, and two from the airbnb house, on a bike-ride in Dyrehave, accidentally ending up at the Bakken amusement park where we walked around for a bit, before biking back.

Thursday 14 August 2026

By the bikes outside the cool Buddha bikes shop.

Late-Afternoon-to-Evening Tivoli Gardens

2025-08-13Denmark Standard

[Photos taken 13 August 2025, posted online 03 October 2026. Perhaps it’s good to be somewhat behind in this day and age of insane processing speeds?]

We’d long planned to visit the Tivoli Gardens that day as a send-off for Anna’s “in-laws” who were returning to Iceland the following day. Unfortunately, Bjarki started feeling poorly around noon, so him and Finnur stayed behind, opting instead to rest after stressful days spent studying for exams.

This time around we didn’t arrive until quite late in the afternoon, which meant shorter lines, and pretty lights as the evening fell. Highly recommended, except be mindful of where and when to eat dinner…

Wednesday 13 August 2025

Action shot as the Dæmonen roller-coaster in Tivoli whizzed by.

Kronborg Castle @ Helsingør / Lazy Shopping

2025-08-11Denmark Standard

[Photos taken 11 – 12 August 2025, posted online 26 September 2026? Life is getting more routine-ish again, phew!]

After assembling the sleeper-sofa, we decided to play tourists, and visit the nearby (30-ish minute drive) Kronborg Castle! Thankfully, it wasn’t my first rodeo with this particular type.

At the marina in Helsingør, we were pleasantly surprised by the enormous food hall, which surprised us all. The castle (of Hamlet fame) was big, impressive, and well maintained. There were a lot of sore feet by the end of the day! The “in-laws” were back in Lyngby by then and we had dinner together.

The following day was a slow shopping day in downtown Lyngby, before I drove to the airport in the evening to pick up Finnur and Bjarki, who had then finished his summer semester finals (and passed!).

Monday 11 August 2025

At the Marina information sign in Helsingør.

DTU Campus / Lyngby / Furniture Shopping

2025-08-09Denmark Standard

[Photos taken 09 – 10 August 2025, posted online 26 September 2026. Fall colors are here, but so are the storms, so few are left!!]

We spent a day biking around the DTU campus and surrounding town called King’s Lyngby. The following day we managed to acquire a sleeper-sofa, shelves, and some other odds and ends.

Saturday 09 August 2025

The owner of our AirBnb house told us we were free to use the bikes by the house. We happily did!

Hrefna & Emma -> Denmark via Gothenburg

2025-08-07Denmark, Sweden Standard

[Photos taken 07 – 08 August 2025, posted online 10 September 2026, from a cafe in Sweden!]

After a couple of days visiting family, Emma and I embarked on a train-journey from Stockholm to Copenhagen. I was feeling romantic, absolutely not in the mood for flying, and wanted to visit Gothenburg on the way. We thus took a late-afternoon high-speed train there, stayed in a train-station hotel overnight, spent a few hours wandering about Gothenburg the following day, before taking a second speedy-ish train to Copenhagen airport. There we picked up a rental car, and drove northwards.

Thursday 07 August 2025

Emma at the train station, heading downtown around tea-time.

Anna -> Denmark / Hrefna & Emma -> Sweden

2025-08-02Sweden Standard

[Photos taken 02 – 06 August 2025, posted online (hopefully) 06 September 2026. Yes, this entry is now over a year out of date. I suggest we all just deal with it, take a deep breath, and continue onwards. Today the weather is gorgeous, the sun is blazing, and the sky is blue. I’ve just returned from fulfilling a bizarre bucket list item: sleeping alone in a tent in near-freezing calm weather, all bundled up, sort of like the babies in their wagons in Iceland. It was… interesting!]

In Iceland, if you want to officially call yourself an “engineer” you have to finish a Masters degree in engineering. Perhaps because of that, and perhaps because of why not? (there’s no tuition!), Anna and her boyfriend decided to go finish their respective Masters degrees in Denmark’s DTU.

These days, young folks often get accompanied by their parents when resettling abroad, and since Anna’s “in-laws” had previously lived in Denmark for years, they took the first shift, and we the second. Complicating matters was Bjarki needing to stay in Iceland well into August to take final exams to finish his summer-school courses, so our August travels became a big jigsaw puzzle.

After much hmmm-ing and huh-ing, eventually we settled on Anna et al flying to Copenhagen to start getting settled in, and on the same day Emma and I would fly to Stockholm to go visit my brother et al over there. Emma and I would then take the train (!) to Copenhagen, get a rental car, check into an Airbnb, and then commence shopping excursions. Once Bjarki’s exams were all done, him and Finnur would fly to Copenhagen, where we’d all have a few days of “vacation” before the four of us flew back to Iceland, just in time for regular life to hit us like a pile of bricks!

Saturday 02 August 2025

Two days before moving to a different country, Anna decided to use her home grown broccoli to make a bacon and broccoli quiche.

Four Disc Golf Courses / Finnur’s 51st Birthday

2025-07-28Birthday, Us Standard

[Photos taken 28 – 31 July 2025, posted online 12 July 2026. Windy day, rain predicted later.]

Frisbee disc golf was so much fun on our ladies trip, that I dragged Emma, and sometimes Anna, out to play with me for four straight days on four different courses.

We did managed to celebrate Finnur’s birthday (although he kind of would prefer that we didn’t), but mostly we just relaxed and gathered strength for the next big thing, which was Anna’s move to Denmark to start her masters degree program at DTU.

Monday 28 July 2025

Emma by the launch pad for the second hole (?) of the course by Vífilsstaðir.

“The Tens” @ Reynisfjara, Dyrhólaey & Kvernufoss

2025-07-27Uncategorized Standard

[Photos taken 27 July 2025, posted online 11 July 2026. Lots of rain lately, and more on the way, as summer vacation draws near.]

After a couple of fantastic days, it was time to drive back home. We decided to make a long day of it, and stopped by Reynisfjara (on the other side of the ridge by Vík í Mýrdal), before driving over to Dyrhólaey (Door-hill-island) and walking around for a bit. We drove onwards, stopped at Kvernufoss, which is next to Skógafoss, the big waterfall), and then a little ways further for a bite to eat. We attempted to play frisbee disc golf in Hveragerði, but gave up due to too many flies. We arrived back in the city around dinner-time, happy after a lovely trip!

Sunday 27 July 2025

The group by the basalt columns of Reynisfjara, as photoed by a friendly tourist. When this is written, a whole year later, that section of the rocks are no longer accessible, as an unusually strident and single-direction current this past winter moved the sand we were standing on away from the area, further west.

“The Tens” @ Þakgil and Remundargil

2025-07-26Friends, Hiking Standard

[Photos taken 26 July 2025, posted online 05 July 2026. Warm day today. Oh, what to do?… ]

The big hike of the ladies-trip was exploring Þakgil (“Thakgil” means “Roof-canyon”) and Remundargil, both a drive inland from Vík í Mýrdal, in Katla Geopark. The weather was excellent, and it was a fabulous day!