Bourbon Street

Erica is on Bourbon Street
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NOLA

Canal street from my hotel. Doing some work from my room then heading to a reception with work people. It is 80 and humid.
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Taxes are DONE.

Always a weight off the shoulders. We used Turbo Tax this year. We do have to pay in $8 to UT but looking good other than that!

Fancy Pants

We are having an open house right now. So, we headed down town. Erica has a business trip coming up and needs a few things. We were also hungry!

We stopped at Noodles and they have new grown up Mac and Cheese dishes. This is the Fancy Pants. Truffled mac and cheese with portabello mushrooms. Mmmmmmmm.

The Spa Treatment

A few shots from inside the Blue Lagoon while we were in Iceland:

We tried out the white silica mud. All the lagoon goers were doing it.

Chris likes Pampering

Chris floating in the lagoon. You can see the life guard in the bright weather proof suit in the background.

Chris in a waterfall.

The Early Bird Gets the Worm

Erica laid down for a nap last night at around 7:30 and she slept for the rest of the night. Chris nooked for a bit and ended up falling asleep around 9. It is 5:26am and we are AWAKE. We have actually been up since 4:30, but that seemed much too early to get out of bed. 5am didn't seem as weird, so we snoozed until then.

We are sipping coffee, watching a movie that we started last night, and surfing all of the Sunday Ads. Erica has found a cute little blog called Young House Love. It is about a young couple updating an old house they purchased. Right up Erica's alley as we think about the daunting task of moving into a new old house.

It has been added to the Links section for reference.

We finally got our underwater camera from Iceland in for developing. Getting the pics back today and hoping for some good shots. Be on the look out for new pictures soon!

Back at La Creperie

We are having breakfast out today because we have a showing at the house. We ate here for the first time a few weeks ago with AGPERP. It was delicious and we are happy we found it, but wished we had stumbled upon it a little sooner! We are sitting at the bar and have a birds eye view into the kitchen.

So, about the house. We have been having showings steadily since it went on the market. But 30 days later and at least 10 showings and no offer. We dropped the price on Thursday.

We have had 2 showings Thursday, 4 yesterday, 3 today, and 1 tomorrow. 3 of them have been repeat showings.

Fingers and toes crossed and good thoughts for a sale!

Yummy Iceland

Icelanders LOVE hot dogs or pylsur, which is the Icelandic name.

This is one of our last (and fondest) memories of Iceland. These beauties filled our tummies with yummy goodness while we passed time at the airport waiting for our flight out of Iceland.

Icelandic hot dog recipe:

1. Get a hot dog bun and hold with a firm grip

2. Fill bun about half full with french fried onions, fresh onions, ketchup, and remoulade

3. Gently lay hot dog onto condiment bed

4. Top dog with mustard stripe

5. Eat

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm...

We're Back!

We flew back to the US today. It feels good to be back and on normal time, but it was a great vacation and we were sad to leave. We are also both dreading dealing with a weeks worth of work e-mail on Monday.

This picture was taken at dusk on our second day in Iceland which we didn't get a chance to post. The house overlooked a little fishing harbor near Snaefelsnes Peninsula.

Icelandic Horses

On the Golden Circle tour, we stopped and took pictures of the Icelandic horses. They are everywhere out in the country.

Icelandic TV Commercial

We toured the Golden Circle earlier in the week. Here is a funny commercial for Thule beer that they are playing on TV here. We have not seen Thule beer in any of the restaurants here. We have been drinking Viking and Gull. We have also seen Polar Beer, but it was not available when we tried to order it.

Iceland: Day 6

It was raining cats and dogs this morning with very strong winds. We decided to go to the Kringlan Shopping Center to pass the time and stay out of the weather. We window shopped until the rain stopped in the early afternoon.

From there, we took the city bus into downtown. We did actually make a few purchases, did some more window shopping, and visited the Einar Jonnson sculpture garden.

We ate dinner at Cafe Paris.

All in all, it was not a bad day at all - the sun even came out for a little while, but then there was also a lot more rain this evening.

Fish Leather

We have seen a lot of fish leather accessories since we have been here. They tan fish skin, which is a by product of the fishing industry here and use it just like leather. It is stronger than traditional animal leather and it is also waterproof. You can read an article about fish skin tanning here.

Most of the fish leather we have seen is perch, salmon, or wolf fish. The wolf fish skin is the prettiest which is ironic because it is an extremely ugly fish.

Einar Jonsson Sculpture Garden

Einar Jonnson is a very famous Icelandic sculptor. He built his house and studio and worked there in a very secluded manner until his death in 1954. We were not able to view his house turned museum because it was closed, but we did stroll through the sculpture garden. The sculptures were interesting to say the least. His work is known to be heavy in religion and political themes.

A friendly kitty wanted to be in the picture too.

Jonnson's house with Halligrimskirkja in the background.

Rise and Shine!

This picture was taken at 9am yesterday morning from the hotel before we left on our tour. That building in the middle of the flag poles is The Pearl where we had dinner last night.

Iceland: Day 5

Today we did the Golden Circle Tour. This is by far the most popular tour here. We saw Strokkur geysir and geothermal area, the Kerid crater, Faxi waterfall, Golfoss waterfall, and Thingvellir National Park. I think we also experienced true Icelandic weather too - snow, sun, clouds, rain, in that order. There is a saying here - If you don't like the weather, wait 15 minutes.

Tonight we had dinner at The Perlan, or The Pearl. It is across the street from the hotel on top of a large hill. The dining room rotates one full turn every 2 hours and overlooks the city.

We are not sure what we are going to do tomorrow, our last full day in Iceland. There are storm warnings out and rumor that day tours will be canceled for tomorrow. I am sure we will come up with something.

Kerid

This crater was created 3,000 years ago by a gas explosion in the earth. It is 70m deep and 70m across. The bottom is flooded and used for farming fish.

Faxi

Geysir Thermal Area

Geysir was the first known Geysir in the world and all other geysirs are named after it today. The original Geysir no longer erupts. But another geysir at this site, Strokkur, does.

The water at ground surface is between 80-100 degrees celsius. The water below ground is 125 degrees C.

Strokkur

Golfoss

Golfoss is a two tiered waterfall. The first fall is 21 meters and the second is an additional 11 meters.

Thingvellir National Park

Thingvellir was the site of the first parliament in the 900's. This is also a spot where the Eurasian and American tectonic plates "meet".

This is where attendees of the 2 week long general assemblies camped. It is called Snorri's Budir.

This is one of the largest rift walls caused by moving of the Eurasian and American tectonic plates.

Women who broke the law were drowned in this pool of water.

Another Rift caused by the plates

Iceland: Day 4

We woke up this morning with intentions of being out the door by 9:30. We had an early breakfast and were still very tired, so we went back to bed for a couple more hours. Not sure we are ever going to get used to the time difference before we leave. We spent another day in Reykjavik today. The weather was much better, partly sunny and very little wind.

National Museum of Iceland

This museum is free on Wednesdays. It was actually much more interesting than we had anticipated.

Icelandic Fish and Chips

We had lunch at Icelandic Fish and Chips. It was delicious. Chris had Haddock and Erica had Wolf Fish. We both agree it was the best Fish and Chips we had ever had - the fish had a very crispy and light breading, and it was not greasy. The "chips" were roasted potato wedges and they were properly seasoned and also delicious. Everything is organic and the fish is very fresh, of course.

Chris is very excited about his fish and chips and Gull beer.

Around Town

Skyr

If you have ever picked up a container of Siggi's at Whole Foods, then you know what Skyr is. It is a food staple here in Iceland. It is served every morning at our breakfast buffet. We also made a trip to the grocery store to pick some up to keep in the room mini-fridge. Erica loves it because it is super thick and creamy, not runny like yogurt. Chris says it is more airy than yogurt, like a yogurt-mousse. It comes in all kinds of flavors, but is not too sweet. It also has a lot of protein and is naturally fat free. Siggi's can cost upwards of $3 for a small container in the US. It is less than a buck here.

Iceland: Day 3

We slept in and caught up on sleep a bit. We didn't get home last night until nearly midnight. We spent the day in Reykjavik, seeing some of the sights. It is an easy city to get around. The weather was not the best - the wind picked up as the day wore on with no sun, making it very chilly.

We ate lunch at Islenski Barinn. Chris had a reindeer burger. Erica had Icelandic fish stew and slow cooked leg of lamb. It was all very good, especially the fish stew.

Iceland Topo

This topographic map of Iceland is located in the Reykjavik City Hall. It was built by the Reykjavik Model Laboratory. 1mm thick paper sheets were built up in layers and glued together on plywood. Four men worked over 4 years on the project.