This was one of the first times that we got to sleep at the same airbnb in a row so we all slept in. We were going to go Akureyri and hangout in the town (and maybe find a place to amend my DSLR that completely died), spend a pretty chill day because we were all exhausted. I'm not sure if it's because Northern European countries are known for short labor hours or the shorter days, the shops were closed at around 4pm, and we couldn't do much other than going to a bar. We did drop by at a mall and found out that the liquor stores are open till later (like 6pm), so we made a hasty trip to the liquor store to replenish the alcohol inventory. After we came back, we cooked the steak and scallops with the butter we bought. We did find the husband's one of the favorite wines. And my favorite beer.
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Ever since I found out that there is a ski resort in Iceland, I wanted to ride my snowboard on the snow. It was pretty small and we didn't get to visit the ski resort, but it's right in the view when you see Akureyri. The town is probably the second largest in Iceland, and due to all the lights, there is probably a zero chance of seeing northern light here. Our airbnb was across the town, on the hill, and we got to experience the full view in the morning as well. The lock to put the key was stuck and it took all our efforts to pull down the latch, just to get the key out but the room was amazing. One of our friends suggested that we get the famous Icelandic butter (yes, he did look up all the famous things to eat in Iceland even though there were not that many on that list). It was probably the best butter we ever tasted (actually did bring back a few). We've been cooking the entire trip but since we arrived at the airbnb late, we went to a restaurant in Akureyri and had whale meat with pizza.
If anyone has seen the movie "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty", one of the scenes was filmed right on a road of Seydisfjord (where he rides his longboard down the hill). We weren't going to get the same scenery because the movie was filmed in summer (probably because there was no snow), but we wanted to check it out anyway. You'll actually have to drive away from the main road to get there, and up to the hill. I'm not sure if it's completely visible, but at the end of the road (next photo), there is a small, cozy town by the water. We stopped by to get gas and it was like a hidden gem - we wanted to stay here over night instead of driving all the way to Akureyri. We've been picking up snacks and cans of redbull from every gas station that we've stopped over at. We wanted to try something else so we picked up a menthol-flavored gum, and it was so hard to chew that it hurt the husband's jaw (I went safe way and just drank redbull). The town surprisingly had a few hostels, and a cruise ship destined to Greenland (totally unexpected). There were travel catalogs in the cafe of the gas station for Greenland orca sightseeings and others (very pricey). If we were in Iceland again, we'd actually want to stop at this little town and stay a couple of nights, and just rest up. Unfortunately, we departed for Akureyri for our next airbnb.
It rained so much in Hofn that one of the locals actually mentioned that she's never seen this much rain in Iceland in winter time. Even though Hofn is a small peninsula in Southern Iceland, we barely got to see the ocean due to the rain. As we continued towards Eastern Iceland, the landscaped looked more eerie and reminded us the scenes from the movie Interstellar. We haven't seen the aurora since the first night at Vik, but our hopes were up since the rain was going away. Eastern Iceland was relatively shorter, and the ocean was calmer (compared to the black sand beach at Vik). Below is a photo of black sand beach at Vik, and I almost lost my glove while taking it off - the wind blew it away and I had to chase after it while it was rolling on the ground. We made more short stops on Eastern Iceland - the scenery and its tranquility brought us a sense of serenity. Both of us dearly needed a vacation, and we definitely found it at these short stops on the road. I think we were already slightly exhausted at this point, driving 4, 5 hours per day and unpacking and repacking each day due to airbnb hopping.
Continuing on the Southern Iceland, the next destination was Jökulsárlón, a small glacier lagoon. It was pouring outside as we were getting closer to Höfn, our next stop to stay over a night.
There were enough days for us to go around the ring highway. With this mild weather, 8 days were enough to complete the entire highway (well, except Westfjord - then we would have needed 5 extra days). By day 2 or 3, we were already done with Southern Iceland. We reserved one full day to do a glacier exploration at Skaftafell. The guide told us that the glacier is slowly moving towards away from the mountains in the back, and also it's cold in the winter to visit but still better than the summer because it's easier to walk on the glacier. We signed up a tour because they lend you the spikes (and I'm not entirely sure if you can go on the glacier without proper guide even though it's not designated as a national park - or maybe it is), guide through and around the crevice (mostly for the safety issue), and provide a ride from a tour meet-up place to the glacier. As you drive through the ring highway, you'll see more horses than any other living things. They're usually smaller than the ones you see in the States, and have longer hair. And we'll always finish the night with this beer. Alcohol is expensive due to monopolization :( it's way cheaper to buy one as you exit the airport at the duty free (yes, you can still buy stuff at duty free even though you're technically entering the country).
So we went on this trip that we've planned since early 2016. We checked the weather and it didn't seem like it should be as "icy" as the name of the country indicates (Iceland). I think Greenland and Iceland should switch their names and quit misleading the tourists. The sunrise was around 10am, and the sundown was around 3pm throughout the entire trip, maximizing the chance to see the northern light (except it was pretty rainy and cloudy). The sunrise on the first day. We kept thinking the time wrong but it was already 10am. Back alley of downtown Reykjavik. We were trying to find the famous hotdog place. After leaving Reykjavik, we headed to Gulfoss. Everything that you can see outside of the window was pure white, blinding the sight and just continuous horizon of white stuff. Note how close the sun is to the horizon - this was probably taken around 2:30 pm. The whole trip was generally warm (warmer than San Francisco in the winter), but Gulfoss wasn't. It was the largest waterfall we visited, and the water made it colder. Instead of building huge bridges, Iceland government made sure that conserving the true form of nature is the priority. Drivers will usually encounter a single-car-width metal bridge, and this is an ordinary view from the bridge. Pretty ubiquitous.
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