Day 36 - Hanging with Pamela

Today we had a day of good food, wine and company. Anne-Marie caught up with her old school mate Pamela and had a wonderful breakfast at "Duck and waffle" on the 40th floor of London. An amazing view. After a little shopping the boys joined us for lunch and late into the evening.

Day 32 -A dinner date with Chef Tyffi

We said goodbye to our quiet hostel and cycled to the centre of Reykjavik to spend the next 3 days at a guest-house more centrally located.

Anne-Marie with her normal awesome forethought had pre-booked a tour with Chef Tyffi months and months ago. He picked us up along with an American couple living in Abu Dhabi and another lady from Port Melbourne of all places. He drove us around Reykjavik showing us some of the touristy and quirky places while collecting ingredients for dinner. With an excellent sense of humour and entertaining local knowledge (did you know Icelandic youth have a phone app that tells you how closely you are related to a prospective date) he invited us back to his house where he cooked us up an Icelandic feast.

Anne-Marie had been adamant she would not try any whale meat. However when the whale blubber was prepared, placed in front of her as one of the delicious appetisers and all the guests were tasting it she folded like a house of cards, much to Reuben's delight. Other specialities included dung smoked trout, Lambs brain in jelly and cod tongue. It was glorious - Reuben.

Riding the bike with a bike.

Killing the grass with hot soapy water.

Meeting the locals.

Buying cheese.

A big grassy artwork with drying fish on top.

A foot warming pool permanently heated from the geothermal ground water.

One of the delicacies we didn't get to try.

Apparently there'd been a vet strike and horse was off the menu for a while. 

Chef Tyffi's tasty starters.

Chef Tyffi in his kitchen.

Black Death, Originally the only liquor available after the end of prohibition in Iceland.

The prime minister's house.

Anne-Marie struggles to keep warm in the 8 degrees while Icelandic children bathe at the beach.

White sand specially imported from pacific islands.

(to give Anne-Marie some credit, the sea is warmed here with geothermal water)

Eat that blubber baby.

Eat it, eat it!

Day 31 - Secret Solstice Festival - Day 3 - Sleep and Dance.

Finally getting out of bed at 4pm we headed back to the festival for the final day, the large crowds from the previous 2 days were slower to start than us. By 9pm most of the smaller stages had only about 20 people dancing. These Icelanders are not as tough as they look, wearing their T-shirts and eating ice cream in 5c. Those remaining were at the main stage listening to MO, FKA Twigs and the Wu-Tang Clan. As we danced to the last DJ at 1am the sky was still bright outside. Overall a fun, well run and organised festival.

Recovery chocolate milk.

And dance some more.

Ghost Culture was a surprisingly good producer.

Lobster, lobster is cheap and good and in rolls and soup.

Balloons! 

The best dancer at the festival.

A bit quiet at 8pm.

Anne-Marie in the panorama.

The sunset/rise was awesome.

Grin.

Wu Tang. 

Daniel Avery.

Erol Alkan

The Ragnarok stage.

FKA Twigs doing her moody flowy thing.

It's cold.

The stage that goes late. Hel.

More Viking style.

Day 28 - Berlin, Germany - Shopping and Graffiti

As we woke Anne-Marie compiled a list of items to buy and tasks to complete before we headed to Iceland the next day. At 2pm we had only managed to find a box for the bikes and visit to the "East side gallery". A conserved graffiti project on a section of the Berlin wall. Arriving back at our hotel with a few warmer clothes for Iceland at 8pm we were exhausted (shopping is tiring and frustrating) and decided to just enjoy the rest of the night and wake up at 6am to pull the bikes apart. 

Anne-Marie has a sensible lunch.

Reuben has a bratwurst.

I don't believe there is a comfortable way to Carry a bike box 2.5km 

Anne-Marie in front of one of the Berlin Wall east side gallery pieces.

What follows is some of the better graffiti we saw.

 

 

He he, Roos.

Anne-Marie looking only slightly out of place.