The Tundra Trio

 July 20 - mostly cloudy highs in the 50s with little wind - Reykjavik  Today was Dianne’s 71st birthday and also the birthday of Timothy Regh born today to Stephanie and Todd Regh!!  What a very special day.  The FaceTime call came just after 6 PM in Reykjavik from Stephanie and Todd letting us know.  The labor started in the early morning hours and Timothy was born by C section in the morning.  This day will forever be special for so many reasons - the first boy grandchild and also born on Dianne’s birthday.   The day started with a city tour at 10:30.  The tour lasted 2 hours and we learned a lot about Iceland and Reykjavik.  These tours are free and you give whatever you think is appropriate at the end.  You get alot of interesting info on these kind of tours.  We grabbed lunch at bakabaka restaurant which is quite old.  Then we went home for a break.  Then we went back and did a tour of the Settlent museum which highl...

 July 19 - partly cloudy in the mid 50s - Reykjavik  Jack and Dianne had a nice day in Reykjavik.  Jack started by going to his new favorite coffee shop and having a waffle with bacon and a Swiss mocha - great way to start the day. Next Dianne and Jack went out for some shopping.  Dianne got a bunch of different hats for her kids and grandkids.  jack for a par of rag wool socks for cozy evenings.  Jack also bought a very nice blue coat at the 66 Degree store.  The jack is for skiing and has the double zippers he likes and plenty of pockets.  Don’t ask what it cost.   Then back to the apartment to drop off the purchases and then off for lunch at the Loki restaurant.  Yea it is named for the god of mischief!  We had a very nice lunch made up of a vegetable plate and lamb pate.  After lunch we marched forward headed on an urban hike near the natural history museum.  The woods around the museum were very nice and we finished a...

 July 18 - sunny and mid 50s - Reykjavik  We were all sad as we said goodbye to Jan.  She left for the airport this morning and was home in 18 hours.  It was a great trip for the Tundra Trio and we all had so many wonderful memories. Jack and Dianne had a slow morning but finally headed out for lunch on the Parliament Square at the Duck Rose.  The restaurant was busy but we found a table out in the sun surrounded by a bunch of people having a wonderful day in the sun.  We split a duck salad and a pizza - both were very well made and we soaked up the sun as we slowly munched thru a special lunch.  We also had 4 glasses of white wine to wash everything down.  After a leisurely and warm lunch in the sun we headed back for any afternoon siesta.   Supper was wine and cheese and meat in our one butt kitchen.  It wasn’t quite as special as our lunch but still very good.  

  July 17 - mostly sunny and warm - Sourh Coast of Iceland  We took a bus tour of the South Coast of Iceland and it was a lot of fun.  We visited several beautiful waterfalls which number in the thousands across this country.  They use hydro power as a critical resource and the water never stops flowing.  They falls are in different sizes and heights but they were all spectacular.  The sheer power is hard to understand until you stand behind one of them.   We also visited a black beach where the sand is made from basalt rock pounded into tiny grains.  The beach feels like normal sand but is deep black.  Af the beach we also saw puffins flying - these birds are unique to Iceland and have a red beak and white chest and black wings - sort of look like red nosed torpedoes when they are flying. We also visited a town named Vik which is on the south coast but does not have a harbor.  The guide said it was because the locals thought there were ...