Egilsstadir, September 6, 2019

We get to spend the day around here and spend a second night in our guest house!  It’s great to not have to back up everything every morning!  We have a breakfast voucher for the Skalinn Diner, a 50s themed eatery with a jukebox and Betty Boop and even a Frish’s Big Boy (although they may not know who he is!). 

Outside our bedroom window

We don’t have to leave until ten and the diner is just around the corner.  They offer lots of American breakfast choices and our voucher is good for breakfast on the menu and unlimited coffee and tea.  We choose the English breakfast with two fried eggs, two hash brown patties, two slices of toast, four strips of bacon, a huge sausage, and baked beans!  It’s 2400 Kroner (a little less than twenty-four dollars!) and we’re getting our money’s worth!  We won’t have to eat again until dinner!

Finally!  An architect who understands that there should be twice as many ladies' rooms as mens'!

Aren't these the coolest bottles~!

At another shop we discovered that there are lots more!

After a leisurely breakfast we head for the hike of the morning, to a waterfall (foss) called Fardagafoss.  We want to send Leonora a photo of the falls and the sign and tell her it is really called Fuhgetaboutit Falls!  The sign says it is an easy thirty-minute hike.  Coming down that’s accurate!  Going up took us an hour and a half!  There is a lovely falls part way up, and we briefly consider that we’ve seen enough.  Then we realize there is another falls up ahead.  That one is the real Fardagafoss!  

Along the way we stop and chat with a couple from Brugge.  They are definitely not fans of Trump and hope that we make a better decision in 2020!!  They are even aware of what he is doing to our National Parks!  They tell us that the best cities to see in Belgium are Brugge, Brussels (not as lovely as their Brugge), Ghent, and Antwerp.

Back down and we are off to see a turf church, Geirsstadakirkja.  It is a reconstruction of a Viking church that was build around a thousand years ago.  They discovered the ruins and reconstructed it.  The mechanism to open the gate is ingenious as is the construction method.  The snow-clad mountains behind make the perfect backdrop.

Back down 924 to Road Number One (the fabled Ring Road) and we’re off to see a turf house.  The sign is kind of invisible and we miss it until we’re past it.  Not to worry, we are going further down the road to see the Rjukandi waterfall, which you can see from the road, they say.  Indeed, you can;  but if you really want to see it, you need to climb another trail.  It’s not as long as today’s first, but it’s pretty steep.  Marilyn’s knee announces that this is the last hike for today.  Luckily, our map agrees! 

We head back to pick up the turf house and discover that there are two sheep sheds left out of the original six and we can walk all around them and even go inside.  There is also a small house;  but it is inside the farm’s fence and it feels like we might be intruding.

We head back toward Egilsstadir and pull into the Vok baths, a new resort that is being constructed.  We only did so because our adorable chef this morning suggested that we might be interested.  The people we see in the parking lot all have bags over the shoulders.  They are going to enjoy the thermal waters.  We aren’t and we can’t see the floating pools from here, so let’s get some dinner!

Not just on the road, but nursing on the road!

Back in town we stop at the Vinbudin, or government liquor store.  They have lots of brands we recognize and more that we don’t!  There’s a bottle of Barefoot merlot for about eighteen dollars.  They also have a six-pack of miniatures of The Original Icelandic Spirit, called Brennivin.  That seems like a worthy purchase!  They have a couple of Kaldis but not any we recognize from our tasting, and several kinds of Viking beer.

Pricier than Publix!

Purchases in hand, we stop into a cafe called Salt and look at the menu.  Hmmm.  We go to the N1 and check out their fast-food restaurant.  Last night we saw a woman walking out with a hot dog and that’s been on my mind.  All the tourist guides say that Icelandic hot dogs are delicious and the cheapest way to fill your tummy!

They have long hotdogs wrapped in bacon that will be ready in about ten minutes, so we check out the adjoining shop.  It has cold cases with soft drinks and yogurt, and candy, and camping supplies, and toiletries. 

I told you there were more!

Our dogs are ready!  They are built with the toppings at the bottom of the bun and the dog rests on top.  You can have chopped onions, fried onions, and/or potato salad.  Then you go to the condiment bar to add mustard, ketchup, “hot dog sauce” or something white!  These are really delicious hot dogs!  Of course, we’re starving, so it’s hard to be objective, but still - YUM!

Now for dessert!  They have vanilla soft-serve ice cream with about a million toppings to choose from.  Again, the toppings go on the bottom, then the ice cream, then more toppings on the top.  Four of the syrups are the kind that harden, and two are hot fudge things.  Then there are fifteen or twenty others to add, including fresh strawberries, bananas, peanuts, coconut, pieces of snickers bars, a licorice candy, M&M looking candies, and lots more.  It’s all wonderful!

After dinner we buy a few things to take home and sample.

Back at the guest house we map out our course for the next couple of days and check the website for tonight’s cloud cover.  It looks like it will be clear between ten and midnight, so we’ll go down to the site that’s marked on our tourist map and hope for another shot at the most famous light show in the world!

Harumpf…sat in the parking lot waiting for the cloud cover to left, as the “cloud cover website” had promised.  No stars, no northern lights.  Perhaps tomorrow!  Grateful for seeing them once, though!  It’s late and I’ll add photos tomorrow evening (I hope).  In the meantime, here’s one!!   (Editor's note - photos have now been added!)

The Rjukandi Falls were certainly worth the hike!