We were then treated to an iconic Icelandic delicacy—hakarl.  Which is fermented shark.  Which stinks to high heaven. Which tastes awful, so I’ve heard because I did not indulge.  Supposedly, it is an acquired taste, but after getting a whiff of it, I passed on it.  Yes, I am a wuss.

And speaking of being a wuss, I also passed on entering the Penis Museum.  I went inside, strolled around their gift shop and decided that I was too embarrassed to see more.  I know I promised some friends to bring back souvenirs, but I just couldn’t.  I. Am. A. Wuss.

Then we toured an open air museum of a farm that dated back to the mid-1800s.  Most of the buildings had been removed from other sites and rebuilt here, but there were a couple of the original buildings still standing.  These folks had hard lives trying to survive in these conditions, but managed to do it and even thrive.

Above you see some students from the University of Iceland working on an archeological dig.  They found some Viking artifacts and are now looking for more.

From what I’ve seen so far, Reykjavik is a beautiful, cosmopolitan city.  Many restaurants, galleries, bookstores, and yarn shops, the necessities of life!  Here I fulfilled one of my Must Do items:

I then went back to my hotel and got out the world’s smallest and cheapest pastel kit.  I have been itching to do stuff  ever since I got here and now I had some free time.  Did a few sketches and they were fun to do.
​

We stopped at Siglufjordur, which had a thriving herring industry from the 1920s to 1968.  What happened in 1968?  They had to close down because the area had been overfished and there were no more herring.  But for a while, it brought prosperity to the area and provided a good (if hard) living to the many “Herring Girls” who worked to cut, salt and pack the herring.  Another industry dependent on the hard labor of women.  

Now there’s no way I could talk about horses without showing you some barn cats!  If you didn’t know it, let me tell you that cats and horses get along famously.  At both places we toured, we met friendly barn cats.

This beautiful orange tabby curled up on my lap during the demonstration!  And at the next farm, I met a proud mama cat and her kitten!
​

We then drove along the southern coast and saw black sand beaches on the Atlantic Ocean.  Wait, that’s not sand, it is ash from the nearby volcano.
​

I can already picture the painting that I am going to do from this scene.  Lots of beautiful grays and purples!
 
Then, if that wasn’t enough, we got into a monster jeep and was given an off road tour of the glacier that occupies the inland area.  An eerie, moody landscape that has been the setting of several movies and TV shows.  The ash sits on top of the ice, so we were walking on the glacier.  When we get to the end of the trail, Ingo, our tour guide opens a case that he was carrying.  He was also equipped with an ice axe.  Out of the case, he pulls out 15 shot glasses, a bottle of Katla vodka, and a bottle of orange juice.  He takes the ice axe and goes to one of the formations and chips off a big hunk of ice.  He then chops it up into smaller pieces and puts one in each shot glass.  A healthy swig of vodka and orange juice follow and we all enjoy a nice drink cooled by glacial ice!  No bar or bartender could ever be as thrilling or as charming as Ingo and his ice axe!
​

We then went to the Guilfoss waterfall where we saw the power of running water!
​

After that, we went to Geysir, where we saw…geysers!  Geyser, as we spell it, is actually an Icelandic word.  This place had geysers all over, bubbling and spouting.  But what really caught my eye was a statue dedicated to Iceland’s national sport…
​

Icelandic wrestling!  Which I didn’t even know was a thing!  Would love to see a real match and see if it’s as exciting as sumo!

As you can see from the photos, it was cloudy and wet all of the day.  And cold.  Real cold.  Probably in the 30s.  By the end of the day, I was a frozen hunk of ice and soaked to the skin.  I wasn’t expecting this kind of cold,  so tomorrow, I will wear my long John’s and my rain pants!