Since we live so close to Iceland, Becki really wanted to go there before we left Norway.  So we booked some flights to go down there for the long ascension day weekend.  Of course we booked in February, long before the Eyjafjallajoekull (don't worry we never figured out how to pronounce it either) decided to erupt and shut down all air traffic in Europe for a whole weekend.  We decided not to chicken out, so off we went and had a great experience in this beautiful, rough, empty country.  We did not get disappointed and already got some amazing views of the volcano as we flew into the country.  It was amazing that the airports in half Europe get shut down, but we were able to pretty much fly right over the volcano and take pictures of the giant ash cloud coming out.  By the way, this was the first weekend Mariah was visiting us in Norway, so we were luckily to have her join us on our trip.

We started our trip with a few days in Reykjavik.  We wanted to check out this city and use this as a starting point for our adventure.  Reykjavik is actually a very small town with just a few sights that we explored and a brand new business centre full of luxury empty office buildings paid for by Dutch savings from Icesave.  The first day we climbed up the church which provides a great view of the town with the glaciers in the background.  We also walked up and down town and pretty much saw everything there was to see in one afternoon, like I said there is not that much to it.  Afterwards we checked into our apartment, found some dinner, ate our first yummy skyr, put Jasper asleep and read up some more stories about traveling with babies in Iceland, a great travel blog from somebody with the very similar, funny experiences.

The second day in Iceland was a day for some more sights around Reykjavik.  We started with the Saga museum which sounded interesting, but was only entertaining enough for about 15 minutes.  When we finished the first room and were ready for the rest of the museum, we found out that that was all there was to it.  So we had a nice lunch with another view over Reykjavik before heading South towards the Blue Lagoon.  That was a great afternoon trip.  Hot springs are present all over Iceland (supposedly they kind of replace the social function of bars, as everybody meets each other after work) and the Blue Lagoon is the ultimate spa.  It was indeed very relaxing with nice hot steaming water, a steam room if you were not hot enough and a powerful waterfall to massage your back.  The best thing was probably that Jasper has gotten used to water thanks to baby swimming and he loved it.  He had a great time and was smiling and patting the water and of course trying to drink it.  So, even though this place is very touristy, it is definitely worth it (but bring your own towels).

On Saturday it was time to leave Reykjavik and explore some more of this beautiful country.  We started with the "Golden Circle" tour which leads past some of the highlights of Iceland.  First stop is Thingvellir, a UNESCO heritage sight where the old Icelandic Vikings used to have their parliament meetings and which also happens to be in the middle of a rift zone.  Unfortunately it was not the bridge from U.S. to Europe as was promised by some people, instead a broad valley with U.S. plate on one side and Europe plate on the other.  Altogether not too exciting of a stop, so we drove off to the next one, which was Geysir.  This is the town where geysers are named after, so you can guess the main sight to see here.  It was a pretty cool geyser that blows up about every 10 minutes, just enough to get some pictures before we got blown away here.  The last stop of the "Golden Cirle" is the great Gullfoss waterfall at the end of the road into Iceland.  It was quite an impressive sight especially since you can walk up right onto the edge of the waterfall.  Then it was time to find our new accommodation for the next couple of nights: a camping hytte in Selfoss.  Very basic and quite small for four people, but we survived.

On Sunday we had planned for a long trip along the South side of the island to check out some more water falls and scenic coast views.  This however was now changed into the "see how close you can get to the volcano day".  The ash cloud was looming on the horizon and the previous days we had been able to see the cloud whenever there were clear skies and overview points.  This day we would get as close as possible.  The closer we got however, the more the ash cloud disappeared behind the clouds and the rain.  When we got closer, we realized this was the actual ash blocking our view.  There was more and more ash on the road that created giant dust clouds whenever cars were driving by.  Even closer there was enough ash on the ground to stop and fill up some sample jars that a good geologist always carries with him (they had doubled as Jasper's food jars in the morning, or was it the other way around).  Anyways, plenty of ash to pick up.  The sky pretty much turned black and then we got to the point where if you exited the car, you could feel you were breathing in ash and the car was covered by ash after being parked for less than 5 minutes.  This was close enough for us, time to turn around and go visit the other volcano: Hekla.  Laying peacefully a bit further to the North with no ash cloud, but sunny skies, was a pretty amazing contrast.  We ended up on a gravel road that might have been a 4x4 road, but our little rental car handled it fine, and we were rewarded with awesome views of the interior of this island where it's still very barren and rough.  After we took a lot more pictures, it was time to head back to the camping and visit the nearby heated pools, which was a great way to wash away the ash.

On our last full day in Iceland, we had planned another drive along the coast, but as we had seen enough volcano, we opted for a more relaxing and less ashy choice: puffin watching in Reykjavik.  Another reason to drive there was that Becki had been craving Taco Bell since the first time we drove by there.  So we a nice greasy yummy lunch there (Mariah refused, we enjoyed), before heading back to the centre of town to board a small puffin watching boat.  The puffins are just as cute as their Beanie Baby equivalent and there are tons of them.  Afterwards it was time for a bit of shopping and relaxing and time to decide that yes, we had seen pretty much everything there was to see in Reykjavik.  If we ever come back, we will take a week and tour around the whole island, which should be amazing, but for now, we were on the plane back, having one more good look at the ash cloud, then we were back to Stavanger.

Volcano from the top when we were flying into Iceland, pretty amazing how close we got.

One of the main sights in Reykjavik, the church of Hallgrim, with a nice view point from the bell tower and the statue of Leif Eiriksson in front.

Jasper, Mariah and Becki enjoying the warm springs of the Blue Lagoon.

Thingvellir, the old Viking assemblee was in between these cliffs that mark the edge of the rift basin.

Gullfossen.

The vulcano in the background of the horizon.

Becki in front of Skogarfoss, this is the closest we got to the volcano, note the ash, ash rain and grey water fall.

Back into clearer skies, Mariah in front of Hekla volcano.

This is the cute puffin.

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