Dagbók Hrefnu og Finns

Towards Europa-Park via Augsburg / Göppingen

2024-08-05Finnur's family, Germany, Us Standard

[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

Road trip time! We got going at a slightly later time than we probably should have…

Driver’s License / Folfing / To Germany

2024-08-01Germany, Us Standard

[Photos taken 01 – 04 August 2024, posted online 28 October 2024. Rainy days still, with intermittent frosty days here and there.]

The day of Bjarki’s behind-the-wheel driving exam arrived, and he passed! He downloaded his official electronic driver’s license, and went for a drive with his big sister. How they grow!

We went frisbee golfing (folfing) after Anna finished her summer employment, I finally attacked the weeds in the backyard, before we all headed to Munich, Germany for our “formal” summer vacation.

Our first afternoon there was spent searching for an open grocery store, going out for dinner, and walking around the English Garden to where the surfers hang out (Eisbachwelle on the river Isar).

Thursday 01 August 2024

Bjarki taking his big sister out for his first drive as a (provisionally) licensed driver! (She was too young to get to accompany him on his learner’s permit.) In the next two or three years, he needs to not do anything strike-worthy for a whole year and then he’ll get a permanent license.

Faxi Campsite / Flúðir Folf / Finnur’s 50th

2024-07-25Birthday, Confirmation, Friends, Hrefna's family, Iceland, Uncategorized, Us Standard

[Photos taken 25 – 31 July 2024, posted online 14 October 2024. It’s chilly but beautiful out there.]

One day, Emma noted that she’d never slept in a tent, and we decided that was something we should probably fix. A few days later, we lucked out in getting invited to join some friends at a campsite by the waterfall Faxi.

We arrived just as the most recent rain-storm was passing, stayed for a couple of nights, and managed to pack up the tent just before the next rain-storm arrived. We tried Frisbee golfing (folfing) for the first time, and it was a resounding success for all.

We returned home in the rain, caught out breaths for a few moments before attending a multi-Christening/Confirmation, and then it was Finnur’s 50th birthday!

Thursday 25 July 2024

Checking out the waterfall Faxi (“horse’s mane”).

Grábrók & Glanni @ Norðurá / Wacky Weather

2024-07-21Friends, Hiking, Us Standard

[Photos taken 21 – 24 July 2024, posted online 11 October 2024. A busload of Italians has invaded the coffee house again!]

I was in a hiking mood, so I contacted a couple of lady-friends who I knew were staying close to our summer house, and they kindly let me join them for a day out and about. We fed them dinner in return!

Then the weather turned windy and rainy, so we mostly just hunkered indoors for a few days, but did make it out to fancy dinner with friends.

Sunday 21 July 2024

Yours truly, looking oh-so-casual in front of the waterfall Glanni.

Pruning Dead Branches / Driver Progress / New TV

2024-07-15Us Standard

[Photos taken 15 – 20 July 2024, posted online 10 October 2024. This morning we woke up to snow on the ground for the first time this season.]

Nice weather followed the abysmal weather, as it usually does. I decided it was high time to go prune all the dead branches from the hedge by our house, of which there were many. This task ended up taking multiple days, especially as the weather refused to settle, and kept swinging between extremes.

Bjarki’s e-sport camp summer job came to a close, as he only has a set number of weeks he could work via the town’s “work school” program. He therefore had all the time in the world to keep working on getting his driver’s license, which he did, finishing driving school #3, and his written exam.

I kept gymming, and slowly started attending actual gym-classes after my bad back-sprain at the end of May. Aside from all the occupational therapy inherent in cutting dead branches, I also did a stint of ironing for mom. I found it to be mind-numbingly boring, but the results were good, so I figured that was more important. Last but not least, I purchased a new TV for the living room, as our old one had gotten the thumbs down from Anna’s friends, and Finnur held an impromptu tire-changing lesson.

Monday 15 July 2024

Yet another project that had been on my to-do list for ages: trimming all the very dead branches from this old hedge of ours.

Ten Lovely Ladies @ Hveradalir & Gullfoss

2024-07-14Friends, Hiking, Iceland Standard

[Photos taken 14 July 2024, posted online 09 October 2024. It’s pretty out there.]

Our stay at Gíslaskáli (Gísli’s cabin) came to an end as the storm had finally passed. We decided to drive up to Hveradalir (“Fumarole-valleys” or “Geothermal-valleys”), where we’d attempted to hike to the day before.

On the way there we passed by the pretty Gýgjarfoss waterfalls (two rivers merging into one), passed the Highland Base area, and lots of pretty vistas, before finally oooh-ing and awww-ing over the Hveradalir area. It really is quite beautiful.

We then drove back to civilization, again getting thoroughly shaken on the long unpaved road back to paved asphalt. We stopped at the visitor’s center by Gullfoss (“Golden waterfall”) where a husband awaited us, to whisk his wife and another traveler off to a new adventure. We then drove back to the capital area, all quite happy with how things turned out.

Sunday 14 July 2024

Posing in Hveradalir (“Geothermal-valleys”).

Ten Lovely Ladies @ Gíslaskáli & Kerlingarfjöll

2024-07-12Uncategorized Standard

[Photos taken 12-13 July 2024, posted online 08 October 2024. Is everyone just fine with official US government websites being ancient beasts?]

A year ago, 10 lovely ladies went to Thórsmörk for a weekend, and had a fantastic time. The trip was such a success that we decided to venture out together again a year later, this time to Kerlingarfjöll (in ‘The Icelandic Highlands‘). To keep costs down, we booked 10 slots at a cabin a little ways out from the main Kerlingarfjöll base.

When the departure day arrived, the weather forecast for the area was pretty bleak with high winds and rain. We decided to go anyway, and instead of hiking on the first day, just spent some quality time playing card games and chatting. It was nice after the very bumpy ride on the road leading to the area.

On the Saturday we drove into the “Highland Base” area of Kerlingarfjöll, and set out on a hike. Mid-way we ran into people coming the other way, who told us that the pass we were heading for had zero visibility, was snowy and muddy, and not a good use of our time and energy.

We thus turned around, just as a massive rain-bank hit us, and ended up just lounging in the new “natural baths” at the new-ish fancy hotel, before heading back to our cabin. As the weather remained rather miserable, no other guests joined us in the cabin, which is set up for horse riders.

Friday 12 July 2024

After a seeming eternity on a bumpy road, we made it to our cabin in the Highlands.

Lovely Weekend / Gardening / New Sofa

2024-07-06Friends, Us Standard

[Photos taken 06 – 11 July 2024, posted online 06 October 2024. Still in gorgeous fall weather, but under siege by the accompanying viruses.]

We spent a lovely weekend in the summer house with friends, in amazing weather (it’s very much a lottery). Unfortunately, I was fighting some bug, so I slept for a lot of it…!

Back in town, I finally felt up to some gardening. I did my physio exercises, and hunted down a new sofa, before prepping for a weekend away with 9 other ladies.

Saturday 06 July 2024

Going on a post-dinner walk down to the lake.

Nick Cave & Colin Greenwood / Sewing Club Happy Hour

2024-07-02Concert, Friends, Us Standard

[Photos taken 02 – 05 July 2024, posted online 04 October 2024. Nights are getting frosty, I’m still very unemployed, but nowhere near out of projects at home.]

Back in April, tickets to a July-show in Harpa with Nick Cave and Colin Greenwood (Radiohead‘s bassist) went on sale. I’ve long been curious about Nick Cave, and having seen the other Greenwood brother in Brussels in March, I couldn’t pass this up. (Also, big cheers for performers deciding to vacation in Iceland, and giving us mere mortals a chance to see them in action!)

When it came time to get tickets however, I got a lousy place in the online-line, and when it was my turn, there were no two-seats available!! However there was a single seat available in a fairly good spot, so I jumped on that.

A little later in the day, the organizers announced a second concert had been added. That one went on sale the morning after. After 15 minutes, that one was also sold out, and a third concert had been instantly added, with the note that there would absolutely not be any more shows! Fittingly, the third show also sold out in a few minutes! I guess Nick Cave’s fanbase in Iceland is big and ravenous!!

The remainder of the week was spent driving Emma to and from a distant camp, saying goodbye to our old sofa-bed, going out to happy hour and dinner with the sewing club (still not sewing anything), finally finishing the veggie-box lidded-enclosures, gymming, and then heading to the summer house, arriving just in time to see a spectacular sunset.

Tuesday 02 July 2024

Nick Cave and Colin Greenwood, on stage in Harpa. As I suspected, Nick Cave is lot more interesting (to me) live than on recordings. Colin Greenwood filled the songs out lovingly. My only niggle was the strong LED light on the floor behind Colin that kept blinding me…

Projects Galore / Bjarki’s 17th Birthday

2024-06-23Friends, Hrefna's family, Us Standard

[Photos taken 23 – 30 June 2024, posted online 25 September 2024. The mornings are getting quite chilly!]

Following a quick summer house chill, it was time to get to work on mom’s new apartment, while she was away in Sweden.

In between bursts of activity on that front, I kept building the veggie-box enclosures, although at that point it was clear they wouldn’t really be useful until the following summer. Oh well.

Aside from working on projects, I had a game-night, met a friend for lunch, finally met up with my physio for some solid guidance on fixing my back (use those glutes!), Emma started a new camp, and Bjarki turned a whopping 17 years old!!