The First 30+ Hour Day

 We got up around 7:30 AM so we could have our last leisure morning for the next week.

Sioux Falls airport around 12:00 noon, October 7th

moving from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2 in Minneapolis at 3:34 PM

time stamp of 1:45 AM CDST, October 8th showing our arrival in Iceland

a 20 minute drive to this location for breakfast

breakfast 3:50 AM CDST

I took this photo because the picture above the door was the Northern Lights. Little did I know, this was the best photo I got of the Northern Lights.

we are in Europe

moss growing on the lava

it looks like Northern Lights with a little imagination

The steam in the air is from a geothermal power station. Five major geothermal power plants are active in Iceland. Those five plants also produce a little over 26% of the electricity used in Iceland. Some of the power plants produce both electricity and hot water for heating purposes. More on this in another blog post.

Geothermal energy is thermal energy in the Earth's crust. It combines energy from the formation of the planet and from radioactive decay. Geothermal energy has been exploited as a source of heat and/or electric power for millennia.  

Currently geothermal power heats 89% of the houses in Iceland, and over 54% of the primary energy used in Iceland comes from geothermal sources.

driving along the ocean on the way to Reykjavik

We were kept very busy once we arrived in Reykjavik. 

first stop, the National Museum of Iceland

Then time spent exploring (geocaching for us) and shopping and eating.

my doctor highly recommended the Icelandic hotdog

I devoted a whole blog post to the Icelandic Hotdog

colorful houses along the lake in the capital city

Reykjavik is the largest city in Iceland with a population of around 140,000. It is the northernmost and smallest capital in Europe. (The capital region has a population of around 248,000.) It is believed to have been founded in 874 CE by the Viking, Ingolfr Arnarson. Officially the city was founded as a trading town in 1786. 

the Parliament House, 1881

still in use today

Harper, the concert hall & conference center

completed in 2011

a mural on a building in the city center

Jon Sigurosson, leader of 19th century Icelandic independence

across the street from the Parliament building

The Unknown Bureaucrat created by Magnus Tomasson in 1993

displayed near the Parliament Building

reindeer sausage appetizer with pickled relish

I thought it was very good

veal was the main course, I wasn't impressed

blueberry dessert, 7:09 PM Iceland time, October 8th

We were encouraged not to sleep (other than on the plane ride) and to try to stay awake until at least 9:00 Sunday night. A number of us shared how we slept like the dead until 2:15 AM when we awoke and were ready for the day. That is why I posted The Icelandic Hotdog in the middle of the night. There is a 5 hour time difference between South Dakota and Iceland. It was a 31 hour day without sleep as I do not sleep on planes.