Our day began earlier than we’d planned, when we discovered that we were both wide awake at 5:30am…which would have been 7:30am if we’d still been in Italy. So we got up and did things until 7, when the restaurant opened for breakfast. Then we headed out to the Blue Lagoon to meet the rest of the group. Not much had changed at the lagoon except that they’d created a few lavabreaks (like firebreaks) to protect the powerplant which fuels the Blue Lagoon (and a good bit of the island) during the recent eruptions nearby, and they’d had to build a new road since the old one was partially covered by the lava.
After our swim, we joined the National Trust group for the drive back to Reykjavik; they took us on a scenic tour instead of going directly to Hallgrímskirkja Church.
Diane and I had lunch at Reykjavik Fish, one of our favorites from our previous visit. Not much had changed there, either (except, perhaps, the prices), and we both had Arctic char and Víking Gylltur lager.
I’d been keeping an eye on the aurora forecast, and conditions looked plausible for this evening. I didn’t think we’d be able to see anything from the hotel (too much light), but thought we might have some success at The Pond (big local park with a pond in the middle), so we walked there to scope out the territory and work off some of the beer.
When we returned to the hotel, I mentioned our plan to the desk clerk, who suggested we’d have better luck seeing lights from the harbor…which was also the location of Valdis, an ice cream shop I wanted to visit. After the welcome reception, we walked to Valdis, where we were surprised to see Steve and Kim, a couple who we’d chatted with during the reception – they’d taken a taxi to Valdis and were planning to go look for aurora, too, so we joined forces. The area around Valdis was very brightly lit and we couldn’t even see stars in the sky, but they’d been told to go to “the beach” (with no specific location). I pulled out my phone and found the closest north-facing beach, about five blocks away…off we went, past Whales of Iceland, past a supermarket and a furniture store, and even past the Lysi cod liver oil plant, where we saw steps leading up to a path at the edge of the land with hardly any streetlights. We climbed the steps…and found the aurora!
We enjoyed the sight for a while, took lots of pictures (I should have brought my tripod!), and marveled.
They hope to have an official aurora-hunting expedition tomorrow, but the weather forecast is not looking good, so I’m glad we didn’t just stay in the hotel tonight!
