Well, here goes my third attempt at being a blogger. Hopefully it will be the final, successful one.

I'm going to try to document my adventures this summer.

On Saturday I flew to Boston and met up with Von Bringhurst. I spent the evening with him. It was nice. We had excellent Italian food, and some divine chocolate. Unfortunately I lacked the presence of mind to take pictures. So we will have to do without.  

Sunday I went to church. Sarah Gwynn’s flight was delayed and she met me at church. I had already been to one sacrament meeting, and I stayed for another. It was wonderful. I ran into Mark Gould, one of the elders from my mission—he was in the ward that I visited. It was good to see him. After church we walked around Boston for a bit and had clam chowder, which was extremely enjoyable.

Yesterday Sarah and I arrived in Iceland. It is beautiful here, but very different than I imagined. I had thought it would be greener than it is. It’s still quite green—just a different kind of green than I had thought it would be. I have thought a bunch about the Vikings who settled here. They must have been very tough people. Without modern conveniences, this would have been an incredibly difficult land to live in. I can’t imagine that very many crops could grow here, because their growing season is so short. It’s the middle of July now, and the temperatures yesterday were around 45-55 degrees Fahrenheit, and it rained all day. Apparently this is pretty normal for summertime. It is day all the time (at 12:30 a.m. it was still light outside—I don’t think it ever got darker than a twilight), but the light is not very strong. Maybe this is because of the clouds. I can’t be too quick to judge. But I’m sure it must be hard to be here in the winter, when they have 21 hours of night, and then 3 hours of twilight each day. Anyway, I think that the early settlers here grew what they could, and fished the rest.

The food here is incredible. They have a lot of fish dishes, and they are delicious. They don’t have a really fishy flavor to them—they are very mild. We ate “mashed fish” for lunch—it’s a cod dish, and honestly I couldn’t taste the fish in it at all. This is the first seafood (outside of fresh trout in Idaho) that I’ve really enjoyed in a while, because fish in landlocked areas generally isn’t that good. I’ve been shocked at how light the food is. Even though it’s made of ingredients that often are thought of as “heavy,” such as potatoes, meats, cheeses, etc., the food has not felt heavy at all.

We went to lunch at Café Loki. It was fun to eat at an establishment owned by a norse god.

Here we have "mashed fish," a cod delight. Also, some rye bread with butter (it had a very nutty flavor) and green salad with balsamic vinaigrette. 

This was the special yesterday. Haddock with potatoes and broccoli, and some more of the rye bread. 

 Lastly, here was our dessert: bread pudding with whipped cream and lemon.

Loki's place is right across the street from Hallgrimskirkja, the largest cathedral in Reykjavik. 

To the left of the church is a statue of Leifur Eiriksson (Leif Erikson), donated by the US. Leif Erikson was the first known norse explorer to reach America, in around 1000 A.D.

Inside the cathedral: artwork showing the three monotheistic religions coming together. 

Looking over Reykjavik and out to sea from the tower of Hallgrimskirkja.

Another shot of Hallgrimskirkja from down the street.

 Some interesting shot glasses I saw in a souvenir shop. Unfortunately, they were very expensive. 

Fairy tales are real--trolls still live in Iceland. 

Dinner: roast beef with potato salad and pickles. 

In the back: fried fish with shrimp and dill garnish. 

I got a decent 6 hours of sleep last night. That was nice. I’m still tired, but I’ve been up since 3:30, and can’t fall asleep again. Tonight will be better, I hope.