Howling Wind

I´m in the lobby of the Hotel Klopp in the heart of Reykjavik listening to the wind howling. Right now, with wind chill, it´s about 11 degrees. I just checked the forecast and they are expecting snow and a high of 26. That´s bad news because today is the day we go horseback riding and then to the famous Blue Lagoon for the warm, healing waters - outside.

Two days ago we took a tour of the Ring Road. We saw an incredible crater lake, a tremendous waterfall, geysirs including the original Geysir that gave geysirs their name, and the original location of the Viking Parliament which has to be the MOST beautiful place on earth.

Tuesday night, we were in the mood for seafood, so we went to a place recommended by the woman at the front desk. The specials included PUFFIN as an appetizer. Yes. That cute little bird is a staple in the Icelandic diet. We didn´t order it. Not because the idea was so offensive to us but because it was just TOO expensive. This coutnry is outlandishly expensive.

For dinner, Jon had the cod (I made this a new paragraph because I don´t want the following to lose it´s impact among a bunch of words) and I had the whale meat in pepper sauce. When I asked the waitress if the whale meat was fishy, she replied that it was more like steak and then I thought 'Of course. It´s a mammal.' and what a tasty mammal it was. Yummers. It was delicious. So delicious. Whale is so popular here, you can buy it in the supermarket. If you ever come to Iceland, definitely try the whale. You can´t get it anywhere else.

Oh. . .yesterday. We played tourguide to ourselves. We visited two museums and we saw the Volcano Show which will I will write about seperately once I process the experience.