Page 51 - 2000 ICELAND

BACK IN REYKJAVIK

We got back to the G-J Guest House in Reykjavik at mid-afternoon and got
our assigned room, changed clothes and headed straight into town. Bought

some more presents and also some reading materials recommended by
Oskar, including the novel by the l955 Icelandic Nobelist, Haldor Laxness,

“Independent People.”

Since we had not been able to get inside the Lutheran Cathedral before, we
went inside when we saw the door ajar. The rector let us in and told us

there was a rehearsal going on. We sat down in a pew and listened to some

clear, young Icelandic voices lifted in a hymn we did not recognize at all. But
it was quite pretty. Then we heard the organ play some very familiar notes

and the voices began to sing, in English, Gershwin’s “Summertime.”

We sat by the Town Pond again and watched the ducks and the people and
then hunger took us back to the nice restaurant where we had started this

whole wonderful experience. The dinner was gourmet delicious and quite
attractive in presentation as well. We drank water until we popped and

could not hold a dessert at all. We had both been refraining from drinking

all we might want due to the riding and hiking distances. Kay had lobster
tails and I had grilled trout. It was so good to sit and be waited on as well

and to know that we had real beds and private showers and toilets waiting
for us back at the Guest House. Our last full day in Iceland was another

winner!

LAST DAY – KRINGLA MALL

Slept until 8 this morning and woke to find that our good luck with Iceland’s
weather had vanished—or rather been blown away. The weather was really

horrible. Driving rains and blasting winds. So glad we didn’t have to hike

today. Went down for our free breakfast at the Guest House and, of course,
it was the usual fare.