"To move, to breathe, to fly, to float,
To gain all while you give,
To roam the roads of lands remote,
To travel is to live."
Hans Christian Andersen
I had forgotten how much the weather changes in Iceland. It will be cold, windy, and rainy one moment and in the next the rain stops and the sun emerges. So while I have a little time let me share some more photos from around the town of Isafjörður taken at various times yesterday(6/22) and this morning(6/23) on my run. It will begin with the photo from my hotel window at 11pm last night, the longest day of the year. I will continue adding more, but now have run into a file size issue, plus I need to get ready for today's adventures.
So this post will need to extend for either a few posts or a few days by the time I actually get all of the photos and content I want from the over 200 I took today and the apparent limits of the free blogging site, oh well. Anyway, the day began in my normal Iceland fashion with a quiet run, which for me in Iceland typically means run a few paces and stop to take photos of everything. It was a balmy 34 degrees and drizzling, but absolutely remarkable at every turn. So the photos will be from the run around Isafjörður. After breakfast we went over to the University Centre of the West Fjords where we had around 6 different presentations. We learned about healthcare in this remote region of around 7000 people, about the governance with the elected local council, about regional development, environmental history, avalanche risk, equity and justice in small scale fisheries, and impacts of climate change. The biggest growth sectors in this region are energy, tourism, seafood, and aquaculture. One of the biggest companies is one that just works with the skin of the fish. We heard about the investments in infrastructure as they aim to complete a sort of internal ring road that will support some sustainable growth and tourism. In this area of the country they do not have the geothermal energy as other areas of the country so they look to other energy sources such as hydro and wind. We heard more about tourism and saw it's effects in real time as three very large cruise ships came in to port for the day. Each presentation was engaging in a different way and hopefully more information for more posts. So I will post some photos now, it's about 11pm and completely light out. Then if I have enough energy I will post again with the afternoon event from the day, spoiler alert, a visit to the local school. Otherwise I will post again in the morning as we have a later start tomorrow before a boat ride to an island wildlife sanctuary.
Our Fulbright group all flew out from various places in the US and arrived remarkably all within a half hour of each other into Reykjavik. We immediately got on to a bus and began the drive to the West Fjords, a region we did not get a chance to see in our first visit. This bus ride took all day, but we had a few stops along the way. The first stop was Erpsstaðir Creamery and farm. The owner gave us a brief history of the farm and his start in farming and then we got to taste the skyr(an Icelandic style yogurt). Then we went on a tour and saw the milking machine in action, what an impressive piece of machinery. Finally we ended with a sampling of their cheese and ice cream, all delicious.
We hopped back on the bus trying to stay awake for the beautiful views along the coast. Then the next stop was the Arctic Fox Center. Here we got to tour a small museum and see two Arctic foxes. The Arctic Fox is the only native land mammal in Iceland. After the brief visit there it was back on the bus for the final stretch to Isafjörður. Isafjörður will be our home for the next few days. Although the biggest town in the region, it is a quite small, but stunning fishing village. Well, it's been a long couple of days of travel. Time to try and sleep. Tomorrow the part 2 journey begins. Somehow I need to remember how I fit so many things in my suitcase on my last visit, it's a game of Tetris that I'm losing right now. So some book recommendations from Iceland, some Icelandic music, and some photos from last visit to distract myself from packing. First, I just finished "Secrets of the Sprakkar" by Eliza Reid, the First Lady of Iceland. It was a fascinating book which tells about her experiences and some other interesting women in Iceland. I also reread "How Iceland Changed the World" by Egill Bjarnason. This book gives a short history of Iceland in a fun, engaging way. We were fortunate to meet the author in our last visit to Iceland. I just started listening to "Lullabies for Piano and Cello" by Gabriel Ólafs. These lullabies were inspired by Viking heritage. Well, I need to get back to my losing packing battle. Iceland, here I come!
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