Akureyri, city of the north

Top photo: Bustling city centre of Iceland's 2nd largest city, Akureyri, pop. 15,000

Middle photo: Thea, Laura and Rafi on their way to pick blueberries and view of the fjord (Eyðafjörður) taken directly across from the city

Bottom photo: Looking north over Akureyri...just beyond is the Arctic Circle!

We spent the month of August here in Akureyri, Eman´s hometown. Many of his old friends and relatives still live here and they all just picked up where they left off many years ago. One of Eman's school friends met up with us and told me " When we were young, I followed Karl Marx and Asgeir (Eman) followed Jesus. I gave up on communism and I am hoping that Asgeir can teach me something about Jesus" He is a sucessful psychologist and prayed with us to receive the Lord in his heart.

We made it to Iceland!

We made it!!! Whoo-hooo! We are really here! I don't know why I have been on some sort of "Iceland High" ever since I arrived 3 months ago, but it is so much more amazing than I imagined the place to be. Photos do not do the subject justice and in fact some photos I have seen make it look quite bleak and uninviting. I guess you'll just have to make a trip over yourself so you can see Iceland for yourself!

This is pretty much the first photo I took: "Solfarin" which means something like "travelling to the sun" but maybe "sun seeker" is more like it since Icelanders revel in the sunshine, a precious commodity they have so little of. This sculpture is the one that stared up from the cover of my "Colloquial Icelandic" book for the last 3 years, so I of course had to have one of me in front of it. These photos were take at 10 PM on July 10th or so.

The sun set at that time around midnight but it never got really dark. I would stay awake until 1 or 2 or even 3 am so I could experience these very quiet light nights.