Whenever possible, the Icelandic roots of the family have always been addressed by Unnur and Magne. For the same reason, we have taken all three grandchildren on a cultural trip to their second homeland.

Frida was only six years old, when she joined us on her first trip to Iceland on June 5-10th, 2016, when her great grandmother still lived.At that time, we only managed to show her the cultural and historic places of the southern parts of Iceland. We therefore asked Frida, if she was interested in a cultural trip to the magic parts of northern Iceland as her confirmation gift from us? Happy for her acceptance, we planned a trip together and started our 10 days trip on July 5th in the Blue Lagoon. Amazing to see the 10m high walls the Islanders have created to protect the Blue Lagoon and the associated power station. Lava from the many vulcanic eruptions nearby had blocked normal access to the Blue Lagoon, but new roads had been constructed. Happy that a new eruption did not happen, while we were there. We left the area and continued to the summerhouse of Sigurjóna close to Þingvallavatn.

On the following day we took the ferry to Vestmannaeyjar to see the consequences of the famous Eldfell eruption in 1973. Ari Bjarnason, head of Listasafn Vestmannaeyja gave us a private guided tour of the museum and the small town. On our way back we visited the Lava Center in Hvolsvöllur.

Next day Unnur took Frida to the old Secret Lagoon, Geysir, and Gullfoss, while Magne and Sigurjóna did gardenwork.
Early next morning, on July 8th, we headed for Akureyri. Good roads and limited heavy traffic, scenic landscapes, and five hours of music by Taylor Swift on the “radio”!

On the following day we saw the most scenic places in northern Iceland, including Goðafoss, Dettifoss, Námaskarð and of course the area around Mývatn. Frida and Unnur also had a swim in the Mývatn Nature Baths, while Magne had a large coffie to digest all the music and texts of Taylor Swift!
After a good night sleep in the apartment, we had rented in Akureyri, we headed back south to Borgarnes, where we also had rented an apartment. For Magne it was a must to visit Húsafell, where Ásgrímur Jónsson made some of his most famous paintings and show this wonderful place to Frida. Hraunfoss og Barnafoss were also shown to Frida.

On the way back to Borgarnes it was the plan to have a bath in the Krauma geothermal baths, however, after six days of sunshine and high temperatures it had started raining, and Frida preferred to return to the apartment in Borgarnes.

We had an early start next day to pick up Björg from the bus from Keflavík Airport. The rest of the visit was about shopping and family visits in Reykjavík. Ragnheiður and Markús had invited all four of us to stay in their apartment. However, we also managed to visit Gljúfasteinn, Laxness Museum, where Frida also was exposed to some of Iceland’s most famous painters. We also made a short rainy visit to Þingvellir.

On the last day in Reykjavík, Frida could choose among the famous virtual Fly over Iceland or a visit to Kjarvalsstaðir. Big surprise, she wanted to revisit Kjarvalsstaðir of which she apparently had good memories.
We are thankful for the patience Frida demonstrated and for the difference Björg made on the last days of our journey.