Westmann Islands to Hella, September 10, 2019

t’s a sleep-in kind of morning!  I’m still up around six;  but at least it isn’t because my alarm screamed at me!  Marilyn has a long night’s sleep after yesterday’s rather stressful driving in the rain and drizzle.  We don’t get breakfast today, so we stopped yesterday and bought Skyr yogurt and red grapes.  The yogurt is really good and comes with the cutest little fold-up spoon that snaps open.  Marilyn has strawberry with the fruit on the bottom and I have vanilla with lots and lots of tiny chocolate bits.  We also bought a large round thing that looks like bread but is a cinnamon bun with thick dark chocolate spread all across the top.

How clever is this?  It just snaps into place!

The apartment comes with tea bags and instant coffee, but no sugar or milk, so I have tea and Marilyn sticks with water.  It is quite a treat, though, to have our en suite!

The weather outside is extremely uncooperative.  We drive out to the cliff where the puffins are supposed to congregate by the thousands.  They usually leave before the end of August, but we’re hoping for some stragglers.  The wind is so strong that I can’t keep my balance!  We take some pictures of a sculpture and the crashing waves, and videos that let you listen to the wind, and head back into town.

Hard to open the door to get this sculpture!

The map shows a stave church and an old fortress.  Once we get out of town, which doesn’t take long, we are driving on “new” ground, the result of the eruption of Eldfjell in 1973.  The road turns to gravel and is very hilly and wet.  Discretion dictates that we turn back.  

Next we head for the volcano museum, at the edge of town.  Yay!  We found it!  Boo!  It’s closed!  Well drat.  Let’s go back to the Gott Restaurant and get some lunch.  Now this is a good decision!  We split a spicy spelt chicken wrap that comes with salad and a sweet potato.  Life is much better with a full tummy, and weather that seems like it might be improving.

Pretty trash can!

Abandoned building that used to be a grocery before the chain, Bonus, moved in.  People live upstairs!

We decide to shop, if we can find any stores!  There are about four that are open, and that included the pharmacy, and the book store.  Not a handicraft to be seem.  There is a hand craft store;  but it’s closed for the season.

When we’ve exhausted the mercantile opportunities, we decide to give the puffin cliff one more shot.  The wind and rain have quit and you wouldn’t know you were in the same place!  (Of course, we can actually see it this time!)  There is a hike up to the lighthouse, which, it turns out, is actually private property;  but the man who is doing maintenance says it’s all right to hike.  There are some people down along the edge and we go that way.  We sure aren’t going to see anything unless we do!

Once we get down near the edge of the cliff, we can see sea gulls riding the wind currents.  Wait!  There’s a black guy with stubby winds flapping for all he’s worth!!  Yay!  It’s a lone puffin and he has his colorful bill!  They are remarkably fast flyers!  Fifty attempts later and I’ve got basically nothing to show, except a couple of blurs.  But we saw one!!

He's too blasted fast for me!!

These guys are a bit slower!

Back down the hill and into town in search of a WC. There is only one shown on the map and it is locked.  But there’s a restaurant/cafe/bar nearby, Tanginn,  and I offer to buy Marilyn a drink.  I’m still in search of the sweet liqueur that I’ve read about.  There’s a lady sitting next to us and it turns out she is the mother of the bride we saw at the canyon!!

I go up to the bar and explain my quest.  They offer me three choices, one being the Opal I’ve already tried.  I opt for another with a red label;  maybe that’s an auspicious color?  I guess I wasn’t clear because the charming little Polish waitress brings me two shots!  The mother of the bride offers to take the other one, to go with her two glasses of wine!  We both agree that it tastes just like medicine!

I try the third one and it is even worse!!  M-O-B says they had a wonderful one at dinner and her daughter can tell me what it was.  They will be on the ferry with us.

Not this one!

OH!  And REALLY not this one!

I go up to pay our tab and our waitress says she didn’t charge me for the third shot!  So sweet!

We head to the car so we can figure out where to queue up for the ferry.  A bit of driving around and we think we’re in the right place.  Marilyn goes to double check and we are right where we belong!

We settle on the ferry with our laptops and Marilyn plays with her pictures while I blog.  Then I remember about the liqueur!  I go off in search of the bridal party and they are all at the front of the boat.  They must have talked about our conversation, because MOB smiles and says, “There she is!”  And points me down toward her daughter who assures me it is made from crowberries.  I congratulate the couple and return to my appointed spot.  Shortly after the bride and her sister come looking for me.  Her mom has told her we had pictures from her photo shoot and she asks if we could email them to her!  Of course we can!

We get back into the car and set off once again.  It’s about an hour to our guest house in Halle, Nonni Guest House.  This time we go right to it!  We are the only guests tonight, so we get to choose what time we would like breakfast.  Our hostess needs to know when to start the bread!

We need to organize our suitcases;  but our room is upstairs and we don’t want to haul everything.  We try to do it in the trunk of the car but it’s too difficult and not close enough to the end of the trip to pack everything.  We’ll give it another go tomorrow.  

We’ve got PBJ and grapes and chips (Doritos, sweet chili pepper flavour) and the one can of Viking beer that we’ve been carrying around in the trunk of the car.  It’s nice and cold and also an easy drinking summer ale.

While Marilyn is taking a shower my computer decides to give me a heart attack!  It downloads all my photos from today, erases the cards, and then makes the photos disappear!  I try experimenting with another card reader and a different procedure but nothing works.  Finally, in desperation I shut the whole thing down and when I restart it, they are all there!

I think I may quit while I’m ahead and go to bed!!