Today’s tours took us back to places we’d visited when we were in Iceland three years ago, beginning with Perlan (“The Pearl”), a great science center that concentrates on Iceland’s wonders.

Three years ago, I raced through the exhibits, trying to read everything I could in the limited time we were at the museum. This year, we decided to enjoy the activities that Perlan offered, starting with the aurora film. They showed a few pictures of auroras before the film started and invited us to take photos of them because the film was, of course, a no-photo experience – I was a little slow.

The film explained the science behind auroras and linked them to Icelandic legends and Norse mythology; it was visually stunning but there was a LOT of CGI and animation involved, making me wonder if the sections with auroras over Iceland were real or not.

Our next stop was the ice cave, made with hundreds of tons of Icelandic snow. It was cold. And fun.

After ice, it was time for fire – a film on the Geldingadalir eruption of 2021, which was so gentle that tourists could go right up to the lava (we almost got to see the eruption while we were here then, but the timing wasn’t quite right for us to visit) – the later eruptions in the series were less predictable, and the most recent one did heavy damage to the town of Grindavik (and to the road leading to the Blue Lagoon). Diane and I were the only ones in the theatre, so the staffer running the film told us it was OK to take photos of the film since we wouldn’t disturb any other patrons. How could I refuse?

We still had some time to wander around Perlan; the weather wasn’t conducive to going out on the Observation Deck, so we went to the cafe on the top floor and relaxed there.

On our way back to the bus, we visited the dancers we’d seen three years ago. They were still dancing away.

Our next stop was the National Museum of Iceland. The permanent exhibit on Icelandic history from settlement to the 21st Century was still there; we spent our time looking at the current round of temporary exhibits, beginning with one telling the story of Iceland’s becoming independent from Denmark in 1944. The process started with a referendum, and this story really hit home considering what might happen next week in OUR election if people don’t vote.

There were videos showing the vote and some of the celebrations when the republic was actually declared; I also liked the drawing of the country’s coat-of-arms.

There was another special exhibition called “Future Fragments“; it was different.

And there was a photography exhibit of photos related to previous special exhibitions at the museum; some were quite interesting.

We left the museum for a drive past some of Reykjavik’s sights, beginning with the US Embassy (it’s under the US flag in this photo).

Our next point of interest was the house where Reagan and Gorbachev held their summit; it’s currently being used to shoot a movie about the summit.

We drove along the coast to Sun Voyager, where we got out of the bus to take photos.

We continued along the harbor and back to the hotel, catching a glimpse of the lighthouse which marks the end of Reykjavik.

Diane and I had lunch at Hresso, very near the hotel. We both had the lamb soup and a glass of Snorri nr 10 ale – delicious!

We hadn’t visited the Harpa concert hall on our previous trip to Reykjavik, so we went there next. It has a very geometric aspect; I’d like to have had a chance to hear something there instead of just wandering the public areas.

When we were here in 2021, it was very difficult to walk from Harpa to our hotel because there was a lot of construction in progress. Today, we saw the results of the construction – a building with NO signage that I could find. After a bit of digging, I finally was able to discover that it is the headquarters of Iceland’s largest bank, Landsbankinn (one of the banks that the state had to bail out during the financial crisis).

This evening, we had a talk from Elín Björk Jónasdóttir about weather and climate in Iceland (including volcanoes, snow, earthquakes, landslides, aurora forecasting, and the possible loss of the Gulf Stream). It was very interesting, if a little scary at times.

Diane and I had a not-as-light-as-we-expected dinner at Caruso Restaurant (one of our favorites last visit, and still good), so we followed it with a walk through the shopping streets which somehow led to Valdis Ice Cream again…but this time, we didn’t try to see aurora since the sky was completely covered by clouds.

Tomorrow, we’re off to the Golden Circle.

Our day began earlier than we’d planned, when we discovered that we were both wide awake at 5:30am…which would have been 7:30am if we’d still been in Italy. So we got up and did things until 7, when the restaurant opened for breakfast. Then we headed out to the Blue Lagoon to meet the rest of the group. Not much had changed at the lagoon except that they’d created a few lavabreaks (like firebreaks) to protect the powerplant which fuels the Blue Lagoon (and a good bit of the island) during the recent eruptions nearby, and they’d had to build a new road since the old one was partially covered by the lava.

After our swim, we joined the National Trust group for the drive back to Reykjavik; they took us on a scenic tour instead of going directly to Hallgrímskirkja Church.

Diane and I had lunch at Reykjavik Fish, one of our favorites from our previous visit. Not much had changed there, either (except, perhaps, the prices), and we both had Arctic char and Víking Gylltur lager.

I’d been keeping an eye on the aurora forecast, and conditions looked plausible for this evening. I didn’t think we’d be able to see anything from the hotel (too much light), but thought we might have some success at The Pond (big local park with a pond in the middle), so we walked there to scope out the territory and work off some of the beer.

When we returned to the hotel, I mentioned our plan to the desk clerk, who suggested we’d have better luck seeing lights from the harbor…which was also the location of Valdis, an ice cream shop I wanted to visit. After the welcome reception, we walked to Valdis, where we were surprised to see Steve and Kim, a couple who we’d chatted with during the reception – they’d taken a taxi to Valdis and were planning to go look for aurora, too, so we joined forces. The area around Valdis was very brightly lit and we couldn’t even see stars in the sky, but they’d been told to go to “the beach” (with no specific location). I pulled out my phone and found the closest north-facing beach, about five blocks away…off we went, past Whales of Iceland, past a supermarket and a furniture store, and even past the Lysi cod liver oil plant, where we saw steps leading up to a path at the edge of the land with hardly any streetlights. We climbed the steps…and found the aurora!

We enjoyed the sight for a while, took lots of pictures (I should have brought my tripod!), and marveled.

They hope to have an official aurora-hunting expedition tomorrow, but the weather forecast is not looking good, so I’m glad we didn’t just stay in the hotel tonight!

In the summer of 2021, we circumnavigated Iceland on a National Trust tour and had a great time. We saw the main tourist attractions…except, of course, the Northern Lights because it was summer and never really got dark.

Winter started today, at least according to the old Norse calendar, and we’re back on another National Trust tour in search of the Northern Lights.

It was a long day of travel, starting with hauling our bags up the stairs of Florence Santa Maria Novella Terminal, then dragging them all the way to the end of the train to reach our assigned seats, changing trains in Milan Central, and braving the Duty Free refund process at Milan Malpensa airport. The flight itself was very pleasant; Icelandair even gave out snacks in celebration of Gormánuður (cocoa and a pastrty which was much like a beignet), and we landed at Keflavik International Airport right on time.

It was easy to figure out where to go after we picked up our luggage.

Once we’d gotten to the Borg Hotel and dropped off our luggage, we went out for a short walk, going up the rainbow street all the way to Hallgrímskirkja church to enjoy seeing it lit up.

Most of the rest of the tour group is flying in overnight; we’ll meet them at the Blue Lagoon tomorrow after breakfast. And then the hunt begins!