Iceland is amazing. Every view is picturesque. The history is storied. The people are the nicest you will ever meet.

We went to the botanical gardens. It seems that in Scandinavian countries, gardens are public. There is never a charge and you can come and go as you please. This garden had an arctic blue flower. Such a cool true blue color. The flower showed up again in several places on our trip including at the Romantic Era Museum in Frankfurt. The flower was the symbol of the German romantic movement. It stands for desire, love, and metaphysical striving for the infinite and unreachable.

From there we went to a museum about Akureyeri and the home of Nonni, an early 19th century priest who wrote children's stories. The curch on the property dated from 1820s and was barely big enough to house a dozen people, but a LOT more attended. How they squeezed in there I don't know. We also saw a sod house. Not my choice for modern living, but apparently the building of choice on the island for over 1000 years.

Next we headed out to the Christmas House. Santa was not there, but it was washing day and his clothes were. So he must have been close. We learned about the Icelandic traditions for Christmas. They have 13 Yule lads or Jólasveinar that are mischievous and play tricks on badly behaved children.

We walked back to the ship, saw the cathedral, ate lunch in town. Just a heads up, Ryan does NOT like langoustine soup. Then it was back on ship to get ready for my birthday surprises. It was a perfect day!