Friday 9/9/16

It rained off and on again today, but again it didn't impede our plans.  We went to the Blue Lagoon - a lovely and very big outdoor man-made hot springs.  The water is full of sulphur, calcite and other minerals so the water is opaque.  It is supposed to have a healing effect on your skin, but is harsh on the hair so when you shower beforehand, you put lots of conditioner in your hair and just leave it in.  The water was very warm and felt wonderful on a cool day like today.  We went over to one part of the pool and used a white clay on our faces - it is supposed to make you look younger!  We were laughing about having the face of an 18 year old on the body of an old woman.  We stayed in the water quite a while and then tried out the steam room, which I did not like - too hot!  The sauna was nice, however.  The funniest thing that happened while we were in the pool was that we had a rain shower so our heads were cold while our bodies were hot - a strange sensation.  Our next stop was to Loftur's home.  He had some small bites: smoked lamb, crepes, rye bread with lamb pate, and a drink which is made from mixing orange soda and a malt drink.  This is a traditional drink at Christmas time.  Since it was Dave's birthday, we sang Happy Birthday to him in both Icelandic and English.  Loftur gave Dave a replica of a Viking pot as a present.  It was so very nice of him.  His wife came home on her lunch hour to meet us.  She was very nice and had actually been to Mystic once.  Their home was lovely and they had some beautiful artwork on the walls as well as a large salmon that Loftur had caught and had mounted.  Their son was at school - probably reluctantly as he went to the Justin Bieber concert last night and did not get home until midnight.  We stopped at the Pearl, which is a large dome sitting on top of water storage tanks (in case of emergency for the city of Reykjavik).  We went outside to the observation platform and could see nearly the whole city.  The far distance was obscured by some mist from the rain.  On our drive back into the city we saw several rainbows - one of them a complete arc.  We are back at the hotel now and have just finished straightening out our suitcases as we will be flying home tomorrow.  It is funny that our plane leaves at 5 PM and we get to Boston at 6:35 PM.  Our plan is to stow the luggage after breakfast and go by bus to the Northern Lights Museum.  We are happy to be going home and will be glad to see friends and family, but this has been an amazing trip - many parts of this country are so beautiful and untouched by man's influence.  This is probably the second cleanest country we have been in with Japan being the first.  If you haven't been here, I highly recommend a trip.