We had discussed beginning our first full day in Iceland between 9:00 and 9:30, however, the clock read 10:23 when I first started hitting Brian on the shoulder. Brian and I got up for real around 10:45 and started trying to adjust the itinerary to our new time-frame. Emmie and Noah started moseying around a few minutes later, and Eilidh woke up around 11:30. Cassy required 3 rounds of knocking before she finally showed us her eyeballs at 11:30.
Despite bright light pouring into our room, Eilidh slept until 11:00!
Amanda and Eilidh take a selfie from the porch of our Iceland home.
We started our day with lunch at the Fjöruborðið restaurant in Stokkseyri. Famous for its magical lobster soup, and one of Emmie’s favorite meals from our last trip, Fjöruborðið did not disappoint! The creamy and delicious lobster soup lived up to our memories, and we all had seconds. The exception was Noah, who doesn’t like soup and thus settled for chicken nuggets and fries. Even Eilidh liked the soup! Although she wouldn’t let me give her spoonfuls, she did enjoy licking her ‘souped’ spoon while nodding her head approvingly and using her sign language to ask for “more.”
The pathway behind the restaurant yields great views of the Atlantic Ocean. Cassy, Noah, and Emmie pose with the rocky shoreline in the background.
Yesterday’s hot dogs didn’t quite live up to memory, but the magical lobster soup didn’t disappoint.
As with our visit in 2015, Emmie and I posed in front of the restaurant door.
A look back when we last ate at Fjöruborðið in May 2015.
Adjacent to our lunch restaurant was a cute gallery and shop, where Cassy and I picked up a couple of small souvenirs. In retrospect, we should have bought a few more things there, as the crafts sold had far better prices than the more touristy stores we visited later in our vacation.
En route to Reykjavik, we drove through Eyrarbakki, where we stayed during our last visit. The apartment was unsurprisingly still present but the adjacent building had been fully renovated as a hostel and additional apartments. Looking for refreshment, we also stopped at the adjacent gas station. Brian made a poor choice of drink, buying tonic water from Franklin & Sons. Never again.
To use an inverse of Emmie’s favorite phrase of late, Amanda, Cassy, and I came to a consensus this was the “worst drink ever.”
Reykjavik’s famous Hallgrímskirkja church was next. Unfortunately, they were doing some facade work on the building and we were unable to replicate one of our favorite pictures of Emmie, where she stood in front of the tower two years prior. She did, however, pose for some photos in front of the scaffolding and main building, and Eilidh had a blast running around in circles on the brick plaza in front of the building.
Emmie and Hallgrímskirkja, 2017.
Emmie and Hallgrímskirkja, 2015.
The itinerary for this trip allowed for a trip to the top of the tower for a bird’s eye view of Reykjavik and the surrounding countryside. As we got into line for tower we noticed that Eilidh’s tube cap and clamp had come undone and leaked into her pants where it was tucked. Brian and Eilidh made a run to back to the car for a clothing change while Cassy, Noah, Emmie, and I headed up to the top.
The kids enjoyed the views in every direction and made good use of the step stools that had been provided for shorties. Brian rejoined us with Eilidh when he was able. Upon descent from the tower, Brian saw a waffle stand from a distance, and he and Emmie shared a waffle with chocolate and whipped cream. It should come as no surprise that Emmie declared it the “Best. Waffle. Ever.”
Hallgrímskirkja serves as a fine backdrop to eat a waffle.
After church we hit the road for Þingvellir National Park. A light rain was falling and both little girls were asleep when we arrived, so I held down the fort in the car (which included tube-feeding Eilidh) while Cassy, Brian, and Noah checked out the sights and gift shop. Cassy thought the rock-walled meeting place in which the first parliament session was held was cool, and Brian and Noah had fun hiking the trail and snapping some photos.
A few places in Iceland left an impression with us the first time around, and Brian had fond memories of the Efsti Dalur II farm, guest house, and ice cream shop. It was directly along the route to our next official stop at Geysir, so we of course stopped for an evening snack. Everyone finished their ice cream except Noah, who found the salted caramel to be a little too salty.
Much like Emmie in 2015, Eildih loved seeing the cows through the window.
Cassy with the classic selfie featuring ice cream and cows. Despite near-daily stops, no ice cream has bested the Thai-style ice cream she ate in Queens the first night of our trip.
Noah has been talking about Geysir since our last trip to Iceland over two years ago. He has especially been excited to see “little geysir” and the smaller bubbling hot springs as he has consistently insisted that we did not spend enough time observing these before.
Noah and Emmie observe, and later pose with, the little geysers and hot springs.
After watching these for a Noah-approved timeframe we continued on our walk to the big show: Strokkur. A smaller, but much more frequent, version of Old Faithful, Strokkur does give much of a warning before shooting boiling hot water and steam up to 70 meters in the air. The first eruption caught everyone by surprise! Noah immediately began jumping up and down with excitement while Emmie ran away shrieking with happiness. Eilidh was nonplussed with these events until the sulfuric smelling stream engulfed her, at which point she became quite cranky.
Cassy and Amanda take a selfie in front of the steam from the geyser.
Noah is in awe observing Strokkur erupt.
We hung around for several more eruptions before heading back toward the car. Although our itinerary had included seeing another waterfall, rain, fatigue, and hunger set in and we settled for a quick and overpriced dinner at the Geysir gift shop. The three adults ordered fish and chips in the hopes of some decent fish, but were somewhat disappointed by the fish sticks served. Noah went chicken nuggets and devoured them. Emmie insisted on a $14 bowl of soup, eating all of two bites before declaring herself done.
We were relieved to be home around 9:30. The kids took quick baths while Cassy retreated to her room to relax and watch a movie. Brian and I hoped to get some blogging, laundry, and organizing done, but Eilidh had other ideas. After some crankiness, a dirty diaper, and puking, we thought we were in the clear.
Brian ensured any break was short-lived by spilling a red Bai drink on the suede couch, and as soon as I had that cleaned up, Eilidh was up from her brief nap and had puked all over her bed. Brian tackled the bedroom, I cleaned up Eilidh, and by 2:00 a.m. we finally had her to sleep for the night.
Editor’s Note: Amanda wrote the majority of this blog during car rides in Iceland. I edited and published from The Burgermann restaurant in Berlin on a beautiful early Sunday morning.