Dagbók Hrefnu og Finns

Trip to Finland/Estonia: Day 3 (Tallinn!)

2023-08-09Finland, Us Standard

[Photos taken 09 August 2023, posted online 26 May 2024. I am officially unemployed! Survived the last two weeks at work by blasting the winning song of Eurovision 2024 (Nemo’s The Code) at every opportunity, just to keep up my energy levels, and joie-de-vivre! Expect more frequent blogging in the near future, as I try to catch up with myself… ]

When I mentioned to people that we were going to Helsinki, I was advised to plan a day-trip to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, as it is only a two-hour ferry-ride away.

Apparently it is quite common for Finns (the natives of Finland, not people named Finnur!) to take the ferry over, party hard and buy cheap alcohol, and then sail back late at night.

After much perusing online, I decided we’d start the day by visiting the highly popular (really?!) Lennusadam maritime museum, before passing the time walking around the old town.

Wednesday 09 August 2023

Up high on a wall overlooking Tallinn, the capital of Estonia.

Trip to Finland: Day 2 (Korkee Adventure-park)

2023-08-08Finland, Us Standard

[Photos taken 08 August 2023, posted online 20 May 2024. Just a quick addition, because I can.]

Our family trips almost write themselves these days… Next on the agenda was visiting an “adventure park” with obstacle courses through the trees. After much mulling we ended up going to the Korkee park on the island of Mustikkamaa (“Blueberry-land”).

Tuesday 08 August 2023

All geared up for traversing the obstacle courses between the trees.

Trip to Finland: Arrival & Day 1 (Linnanmäki Tivoli)

2023-08-06Finland, Us Standard

[Photos taken 06 – 07 August 2023, posted online 20 May 2024. This Whit Monday is the last of the religious public holidays in Iceland in a while…]

We’ve been slowly, but surely, working our way through the Scandinavian/Nordic capitals. We’d already visited Sweden’s Stockholm, and Denmark’s Copenhagen, and now it was time for Finland‘s Helsinki.

We’d rented an AirBnb apartment, because fitting five people into hotels is very hard. The apartment was pretty central, and it turned out to be an on-repeat-rental, as the closets were closed with screwed brackets, and the care and cleaning were being handled by some company, even though we stayed in contact with the owners as needed. It suited us very nicely, and we very much enjoyed our stay!

We decided to start the trip with a bang, and our first full-day activity was the local roller-coaster park, Linnanmäki.

Sunday 06 August 2023

At the Helsinki central train station in Finland. (You can immediately tell this is not from Iceland, because there are zero trains in Iceland!)

Garbage-Bin-Shed Build Begins

2023-08-01Hrefna's family, Us Standard

[Photos taken 01 – 05 August 2023, posted online 19 May 2024. Finnur’s off on a work-trip to the mothership in California, while I am four working-days away from being unemployed, by choice.]

The garbage/rubbish sorting system in the capital area underwent a big change in 2023. Most notably everyone was asked to sort out food-leftovers into a separate bin, as well as sort paper and plastic separately (they used to be in the same bin).

In practice this meant that instead of having two large bins, we ended up with three large ones (for homes with little waste, they could ask for two split bins, but we’re not there), and nowhere to put the third bin.

Thus was born the “build a garbage-bin-shed” project, which would last into the first frost and snow, but it was a lot of fun!

Tuesday 01 August 2023

Finnur about to saw the top off one of the old fence-posts that used to bracket the garbage bins. He’s sitting in the middle of the proposed shed.

Thorlákshöfn Horse Rental, Summer Housing & Finnur’s 49th Birthday!

2023-07-27Birthday, Friends, Us Standard

[Photos taken 27 – 31 July 2023, posted online 04 May 2024. We’re starting to see a little bit of greenery erupting from the ground, shrubbery, and trees!]

We managed to find a break in Anna’s work schedule to go horse-back riding by Thorlákshöfn. Then we spent a night with friends at a nearby summer house, before heading to our own summer house, and celebrating Finnur’s 49th birthday!

The weather cooperated and we went kayaking, before returning to town, and getting started for real on the garbage bin shed. I may also have gone gymming… Thus endeth July of 2023.

Thursday 27 July 2023

New School Bike Route & Family Moving Prep

2023-07-17Hrefna's family, Us Standard

[Photos taken 17 – 26 July 2023, posted online ~~28 April~~ 01 May 2024. Started writing this point in Holland, finished in Iceland.]

We were all formally on summer vacation except Anna, who would be working to the end of July. Thus we took it pretty easy for the most part.

I did start working on one task early on: finding the optimal 4 km bike-route for Bjarki to his new school. We had to take into consideration how easy it was to navigate, how to avoid the worst hill-climbs and busy streets, and stay sheltered as the school is located near the top of a large hill, higher up than we live.

We also helped my brother and family pack up their apartment, as they were moving to Sweden! Then it was prepping for the next big project: The Garbage Bin Shed!

Monday 17 July 2023

Bjarki taking a photo of the lovely view we stumbled onto as we biked to his new school.

Lovely-Ladies-trip to Thórsmörk / Básahringur

2023-07-16Iceland Standard

[Photos taken 16 July 2023, posted online 27 April 2024. Currently sitting in a coffee shop in Amsterdam, on the King’s birthday. It’s been a strange spring.]

We had to clear out of the sleeping portion of the Básar cabin before 11 in the morning, but our bus wasn’t leaving until 16 (4 in the afternoon). We therefore packed up our stuff and stacked it outside, had breakfast, and headed out for an easy hike among the hills around the campsite.

When we arrived back, we had a late lunch and then relaxed until the bus was ready. The bus-ride to Hvolsvöllur was uneventful, and so was the drive to Selfoss where we ate dinner, and then Agnes dropped me off at home, blissfully full of nature!

Sunday 16 July 2023

Standing on an outcropping close to the campsite.

Lovely-Ladies-trip to Thórsmörk / Valahnúkur

2023-07-15Iceland Standard

[Photos taken 15 July 2023, posted online 21 April 2024. I screwed together a 120-cm wide non-Ikea bed for Emma yesterday, and re-ignited the sprain in my lower-back from my 140-kg ego-deadlift a couple of weeks ago. Such is life.]

The first night in our Thórsmök cabin went ok-ish. The skinny foam mattresses in the cabin turned out to also be quite thin, so I woke up every time I changed sleeping positions. Thank you massive hips! On the upside, not everybody showed up to the fully booked cabin, so we had a bit of extra space.

It was a groggy Hrefna that emerged in the morning, but the day turned out fabulously, both weather- and hike-wise.

Saturday 15 July 2023

Yours truly on the top of Valahnúkur, with Mýrdalsjökull behind me.

Lovely-Ladies-trip to Thórsmörk / Hike Towards Tungur

2023-07-14Iceland Standard

[Photos taken 14 July 2023, posted online 20 April 2024. Spring is in the air!]

It turns out that I’m a sheep when it comes to outdoor activities. I suck at making them happen, but will happily show up when someone tells me to be somewhere, and do the thing.

Thus it was that I was invited to join what turned out to be a 10-lady group on a weekend trip to Thórsmörk (Þórs-mörk, the area/forest of Þór/Thor), which is a beautiful area in the south of Iceland, only accessible by large all-wheel-drive vehicles, as the rivers leading there change too fast for bridging to make sense.

Friday 14 July 2023

Photo from 5 in the afternoon, of me standing in front of Mýrdalsjökull (Swamp-valley-glacier), home of Katla, the volcano, which is due for a burp.

Kayaking & Eruption-Monitoring on Vacation Eve

2023-07-08Hrefna's family, Us Standard

[Photos taken 08 – 13 July 2023, posted online 14 April 2024. Today I want to clear out the garage, ooof.]

We’d gone ahead and bought a couple of kayaks at Costco, and then scratched our heads long and hard on how to transport them to and from the lake. Thankfully we found roof-racks for the big car, and after some more head-scratches, the roof racks were installed, and a YouTube video consulted on how to fasten kayaks on top. We invited the soon-to-be-Swedes to the summer-house for a bit of a farewell, and lucked out with the weather!

We then held our collective breath until yet another volcanic eruption began. It was far away from everywhere, and would last for just under a month.

Finnur remained at the summer house, working remotely during the day, and oiling/staining wood outside of working hours. There’s a lot of wood that needs to be taken care of there… Meanwhile I cooked (once), weeded, gymmed, and prepped for my formal summer vacation!