Monday 19 July 1999
This day is devoted to the city of “Akureyri” and ourselves. All of us agree on, that the past three days was very exciting, tough and have filled us with impressions. Now we all need a day to digest the adventure and return to earth again. We almost sleep until 10am and lazy as we are the breakfast takes time. The guard at the campsite recommends that we skip using EUR 0.75 for a 4-minute shower on the campsite and instead go for the nearby swimming pool with natural heated water for only EUR 3.00 all-day.
This turns out to be a wise advise. Hagen makes us company and we enjoy the Turkish bath, the chute and the three outdoor pools at 31, 39 and 43 degrees Celsius respectfully. It feels well to get rid of the sulfur smell and as we can clean our clothes at the campsite, we quickly feel fit for fight again.
It’s afternoon when we arrive downtown city to withdraw money from an ATM and to visit the tourist information. The weather is nice and we schedule the coming days. The girl in the tourist information was one of the participants on the 3-day “Fire & Ice” hike and looks like she could use a day off before start working again. After all she participated on official business from the tourist information to test the trip. We proceed to a café where we meet Hagen who has been shopping for new shoes. Now we feel the price level up here. A Cappuccino with a chocolate cookie is EUR 10.00 and bottle of light beer is approximately EUR 5.50.
We write the mandatory postcards and get talking with Martin from Denmark who happens to be a former airline pilot and Icelander, which we can tell by his accent. He is here to support his dying mother and the whole story seems quite tough. The hospital encouraged him to go away for some days to relief and recover mentally. As a real man he went fishing some days and enjoys evidently a good talk with both Hagen and us. The nice but sad man resigns with the words: “It was nice to talk. The nature and this moment have really recharged my batteries – so to speak”. I guess we all felt sorrow for the man and his situation.
We decide to visit the harbor and find a cheap place to eat. The latter seems impossible as we really don’t see that many fast-food restaurants. We go for “Crown Chicken” and yet again we are stunned with the price level. A double cheeseburger without any accompaniment or drink is EUR 7.50. Hopefully I’ll never use EUR 16.00 on a burger bar again. Martin note that finally we finds a place where smoking is allowed and I note that Icelanders in general don’t top up with lavatory paper in the men’s room.
On our way back to the campsite we passes the café again and meet Hagen’s traveling companions. We go for a beer which shortly after turn into more. We get a cozy time and walk back in the early evening to get rest again. The agenda for tomorrows program starts at 9am towards “Reykjavik”.