The next morning we headed out earlyish to get to Akureyri to meet Hrafnkell and Iris. There was little to tell about the journey except that we passed through several beautiful mountain ranges on the way. We me H-bomb outside Akureyri at a local hardware shop and followed him to the house we'd be staying in for the next night at least. The place was a homage to the seventies and was well received by all of us. 
We all headed out to the local Akureyri fire, which I can say without a shadow of doubt, was the biggest fire I have ever seen in my life. Then we were treated to the firework display which was pretty amazing. Especially the final ones which went off like Tall Boy Bombs...
Hrafnkell's family very generously opened their house to us and we were served cakes and coffee and listened to Hrappi's younger brother tell us about his Lego Town. It's a pity we never go to see it... After this we left the family to watch the Icelandic end of year show and headed back to the house. About 11.30 it started to sound like downtown Baghdad outside. The town folk had started their own fireworks displays and by gum, it beat the local council one into the ground. It was so intense I was having flash backs to 'Nam. Tottenham, mainly. after this amazing display we set off into town for drinkies. Lilja and her other half joined us, as did Stefan and his other half. Finally crashed out about six am.
The next day Jo, James and I headed up the fjords to see Ginavik and some turf houses there. Very nice little buildings in a beautiful setting. The rest of the day was spent recovering and heading out to Dalvik to Iris' father's house were we would be staying for the night. Iris showed us around the Museum her father curates, and I tried on the tallest man in the world ever's shoes. 
In the morning we headed out to Mývatn and Dimmuborgir, the eerie lava formations the band take their name from. The path was a frozen solid and it took a while to get around without slipping on our arses. Which most of us did anyway. With the light against us, as usual we headed to a crater with a lake in the bottom, overlooking some power stations that harnessed geothermal energy. Clever people these Icelanders... Then forging on we headed to Námafjall to see the billowing fumeroles. Again this country never ceases to amaze. 
After the light had fallen we headed to the spa baths at Mývatn and spent an enjoyable two hours and one pint in the healing waters. We headed back to Hrappi's and played on the Wii all night.
The following morning we were treated to the unmitigated horror of the Christmas shop outside Akureyri. The less said about this horror the better... The light was dropping out of the day as we hit the road back to Reykjavik were Duncan, Roz, James and I painted the town red. Another six AM finish... A lazy Sunday was what I got today. Relaxation in the local pool's hotpots and a kebab in town then home to a nice sit down.
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