Cheers!

We keep doing this --staying out all day and into the evening, and then sitting down about 9:45pm to review the several hundred photos we've taken, decide which one to blip, do a bit of research about the subject, and as the clock moves inexorably toward the last hour of the day, finally get our blips up. (I apologize for being behind with comments, but I'll catch up eventually!)

Today was the best day yet -- steady sunshine, with a cool, fresh breeze/wind blowing. Our first stop was the iconic Hallgrimskirkja, the biggest Lutheran church in Iceland, with a 244 feet / 74.5 meter tower that's visible from many points in Reykjavik. It's very near our little apartment, and we took our time photographing both the exterior and the interior, which are spare, yet powerful and beautiful

Walking to an area of the city we hadn't seen before, we went by a pretty lake, sparkling in the sunshine, and into the National Museum of Iceland, which has a fantastic permanent exhibition called "Making of a Nation -- Heritage and History." It incorporates 2,000 objects from the museum's collection and many photographs from the 20th century, moving from the time Iceland was settled to the present day, and laid out like a journey through time. We spent several hours there and I could happily return again tomorrow and see the exhibit again -- it's that interesting.

We had our "big" meal of our stay in Reykjavik at an interesting restaurant called Forrettabarrin, which means "starters" or "appetizers," and follows the small plates model. We prefer that to a place serving large portions, as we like to try a variety of things. That's where today's photo was taken -- Phil enjoying his second tankard of Kaldi ale, a highly regarded Icelandic beer brewed near Akureyri, where we'll be heading on Saturday. Our favorite starters were one that included tiny scallops, Parma ham, date puree, and balsamic vinegar, and another we had instead of dessert, with Gull cheese (a local blue cheese), pureed fresh raspberries, nuts, and maple syrup, served slightly warm. Sounds odd, I know, but it was delicious!

Before going back to our apartment, we stopped at one of our favorite cafes for coffee (Phil) and hot chocolate (me), and had an interesting discussion with two young men -- one from Germany and the other from Lithuania -- about photography, Blipfoto, travel, and language.

We need to pack tomorrow for our Saturday morning flight to Akureyri, where we'll miss the convenient WiFi we've had in this apartment, but will do our best to stay in touch!