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Iceland
  • Kim McMurry
  • McKelvie McMurry
  • Kim McMurry
  • McKelvie McMurry

Iceland

Une aventure de 17 jours par Kim & McKelvie En savoir plus
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  • Début du voyage
    31 juillet 2023
  • Iceland

    KC MCI

    1 août 2023, États Unis ⋅ ☁️ 90 °F

    We get got checked in. Apparently, I am a sketchy individual and had to be scanned twice for contraband, as did our carry-on bags. Once we fooled the TSA, we grabbed lunch, called Daddy (Ellery is on "Do not disturb" bc she's taking a nap), and now we're waiting for our departure at 3:30 PM.En savoir plus

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  • Iceland

    Leaving St. Paul

    1 août 2023, États Unis ⋅ 🌙 77 °F

    Had to kick a very nice couple out of our seats. Yes, there is a difference between 34A and B and 35A and B. The plane is packed, which surprised me. I'm going to try to not lean on the stranger to my right in my sleep. I don't think he'd appreciate it. I'll cuddle with McKelvie instead.En savoir plus

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  • Iceland
    Keflavik International Airport

    Keflavik, Kennitala, Roundabouts, & IKEA

    2 août 2023, Islande ⋅ ☁️ 50 °F

    We landed at about 7:50 a.m. at Keflavik International Airport. Customs was super easy, and so was getting the rental car. Everyone was extremely nice, and we were very impressed with their English. After checking the car over, I had my first international driving experience. McKelvie says I did great. It really wasn't so bad since nobody ever drives more than 80 km/h. Cars are tiny, though, so they zip in and out of lanes a lot, and once you get into Reykjavik, there is a roundabout every mile or two with three to four exits off of it. We found an IKEA about 15 miles away. We got a lot of basic housewares for the apartment, and they will deliver the bed and love seat tomorrow afternoon. Before then, we've got to get an esim card for Kelv's phone, and we're going to explore the University.

    We managed to find room in the car for her twin mattress, so we're going to cuddle up on that for the next 15 hours or so because we are exhausted.

    PS. She has an amazing shower in her apartment. The water gets very hot, and the pressure is awesome, but Icelandic water tastes and smells a bit...fishy. That will take some getting used to. 😝    En savoir plus

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  • Iceland

    Midnight - First Night

    3 août 2023, Islande ⋅ 🌙 52 °F

    McKelvie says it won't get any darker at this time of year. We've slept for a little over six hours! For student housing, this is a fairly quiet place. The parking lot is full, but we've noticed a mixture of families, couples, and individual students - more like an apartment complex. It's very different from the typical student housing found in the U.S.En savoir plus

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  • Iceland

    Sleep, Spaghetti, Furniture, & Failure

    3 août 2023, Islande ⋅ ⛅ 54 °F

    Today we slept a lot, went grocery shopping (again), found the laundry room, pondered the strangeness of having to make an appointment to use a washing machine, realized pretty quickly that there are no clothing dryers in the building (everyone hangs out their laundry to dry wherever they can find a place to hang it), found the dumpsters, pondered whether or not we were actually allowed to use the dumpsters, made our first homemade meal in McKelvie's apartment, built some furniture, and failed to build some furniture. Tomorrow we plan to redeem ourselves (furniture-wise), and explore the University of Iceland and downtown Reykjavik!En savoir plus

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  • Iceland

    University of Iceland

    4 août 2023, Islande ⋅ ☁️ 55 °F

    This morning, McKelvie and I walked to the main campus to explore and also to time how long it will take her to walk the route from her apartment to the Edda House of Icelandic Studies, where all of her classes will be held. It's about a 15-minute walk, but we didn't hurry, and it was all well lit with good sidewalks, etc. Made me feel good about her safety.

    The Edda is the newest building on campus. They were still moving in new furniture as we walked around it. It is beautiful! The rest of the campus is full of colorful and unique buildings. Everything is very clean and organized. And everyone has been friendly so far. We found the bookstore, McKelvie's favorite place! Instead of thousands of squirrels, there are seagulls!    En savoir plus

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  • Iceland

    Lunch and Supper

    5 août 2023, Islande ⋅ ☁️ 57 °F

    Skinkusamlokur í hádeginu og kjúklinga carbonara í kvöldmat.

    Ham sandwiches for lunch, and chicken carbonara for supper!

    McKelvie's apartment has a nice little kitchenette, and we are slowly figuring out its quirks. Right now, for example, we know the oven and stove run hot, but we don't know why the hot water faucet turned itself on a couple of times this evening by itself.En savoir plus

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  • Iceland

    We can hear the bells!!

    6 août 2023, Islande ⋅ ☁️ 54 °F

    The Hallgrimskirksja (the beautiful Lutheran church we visited yesterday) isn't just an Icelandic landmark / tourist trap, it actually holds services on Sundays and other church events for its congregation. McKelvie's apartment is only a five-minute drive away, but I never thought we'd be able to hear the bells from here, so this is yet another awesome experience she will have every 15 minutes starting at 10:30 every Sunday morning.

    Apparently, there's an organ recital on the 12th at noon, and on the 13th, one of the organists from Notre Dame is coming to perform. Guess who's still going to be here? 😝    En savoir plus

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  • Iceland

    Happy Commerce Day!

    7 août 2023, Islande ⋅ ☁️ 54 °F

    "The first Monday of August is Commerce Day, a public holiday in Iceland. This creates a long summer weekend known as Merchants' Weekend and is similar to September's Labor Day weekend in the United States and Canada" (IcelandicRoots.com).

    So...because everything is closed today, we did laundry and school work! It was very exciting.

    Tomorrow we plan to visit Thingvellir National Park and Gullfoss Falls to make up for our laziness today. 😝    En savoir plus

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  • Iceland

    Gullfoss (Golden Falls)

    8 août 2023, Islande ⋅ ⛅ 57 °F

    Gullfoss is a waterfall located on the Hvita River in southwest Iceland.

    It was very beautiful, but there were far too many people there. Fortunately, everyone behaved very very well, which is good because the only thing keeping us all from tumbling into the falls was a flimsy rope fence.En savoir plus

  • Iceland
    The water is between 80-100 °C.

    Strokkur ("Churn") Geyser

    8 août 2023, Islande ⋅ ☁️ 57 °F

    We stopped to see the geyser on our way back to Reykjavik from Gullfoss. It erupts every 6 to 10 minutes. While we were waiting, we got to listen to a little girl give her life history to the young Canadian couple standing next to us. Apparently, she can speak Latin, French, and English. Her grandmother is French, and her family has just spent time in France, but they're from California. She had to go ask her dad where they were from just to be sure. She relayed all of this information as loudly as possible. Then she became very concerned about the state of her younger brother's umbrella. She barely paused to watch the geyser erupt. It was all very entertaining.En savoir plus

  • Iceland
    The inside lane has the right of way. It actually makes sense when you see it in person.

    Driving in Iceland

    8 août 2023, Islande ⋅ ☀️ 55 °F

    I won't lie: It has been a bit stressful. Without McKelvie to help navigate and Google Maps to tell us where to go, it would be a disaster.

    In general, driving in Reykjavik is a lot like driving in Wichita. I've gotten used to the different colors used for street and highway signs and the different shapes for speed limit signs. Icelanders also paint arrows on the roads earlier to give drivers more warning for upcoming turns, and I like their stop lights better, even though they aren't located above the intersections where I expect to find them. Entrance and exit ramps are better protected in Iceland too. I've even gotten used to kilometers per hour rather than miles per hour.

    BUT...While the drive was beautiful today, the highway between Reykjavik and Gullfoss was more like Brenham Blacktop in many places - no shoulders and no drainage. The 90-minute drive home in the rain was no fun. So. Much. Hydroplaning.

    Icelandic highways also follow the land. They don't cut straight through, so roads meander. You have to pay attention - there are no straightaways.

    And now that I can handle an Icelandic roundabout (There were 14 total this trip!), I'll probably cause a wreck the next time I have to go through an American one. 😝 I also encountered my first one lane bridge today.

    Icelandic driving rules aren't hard - they're very similar to American rules - but these special situations, like the roundabouts and one lane bridges, can be scary the first few times.    En savoir plus

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