We left Akureyri at a fairly civilized hour (8:30am) to drive back to Reykjavik and the Borg Hotel for a one-night stay before flying out (along with everyone else on the tour) tomorrow. We retraced Wednesday’s route; the weather was better, especially on the passes, but it was still hard to take good photos from the bus.

We had lunch at the Hraunsnef Restaurant, which is located on an active farm; the farmer (and owner) told us a bit about how he got there (he had been a used car salesman in Reykjavik!), then let us come out and visit with the animals.

Then it was back on the bus – next stop, Reykjavik! We drove along the harborside road as we approached the hotel, getting yet another view of Harpa.

We checked in and went out on a walk to the old harbor (it had been a long day on the bus!).

There was a Farewell Dinner at the Food Cellar about three blocks away from the hotel. The food and company was good, though it was more than a little bit noisy!

Conditions looked promising for one last shot at seeing the aurora; we went over to the harbor by Harpa and joined the crowd. There were some thin clouds, plenty of city light, and the John Lennon Imagine Peace Tower was lit, so the aurora was not impressive…but the iPhone camera captured it nicely.

We walked back to the hotel, stopping to enjoy the view of Harpa and its reflecting pool.

Time to pack!

Today, we visited Siglufjörður to see the Herring Era Museum (it’s closed during the winter, of course, but they open it for pre-booked groups like ours) and Hauganes to visit Elvar at the Baccalá Bar (his family business, a family-owned salted cod producer, now in its fifth generation), where Diane and I both joined the Rotten Shark Club (sorry, no photo of the initiation ceremony). Oh, and we got to see a lot of wonderful scenery.

En route to Siglufjörður

In Siglufjörður

Onward to Hauganes

Hauganes and the Baccalá Bar

Back to Akureyri

I finally got a reasonable photo of one of Akureyri’s “Stop! In the name of love” traffic lights.

We had a light dinner at Bautinn across the street from the hotel, then took a very short walk by the Akureyri Art Museum. It was closed, but there was still art on display outside.

Then it was back to the hotel to prepare for the last aurora-hunting expedition of the trip. The forecast wasn’t promising, but we went out anyway (as did almost everyone) and tried two locations. There were lots of stars, and the phone camera found a little green and pink in the sky, but our guides said that that really didn’t count as “aurora”.

Oh well – we’ll always have Paris…oops, I meant last night’s outstanding aurora.