Vikings and Lobster

After a better night of sleep (at least for me), we had another great Les breakfast.  He got up and cooked for us, even though it was Father's Day.  This breakfast included blueberry and black licorice rolls from that awesome bakery - yum!  They were great with some hot Earl Grey tea.  After breakfast, Carrie felt led to take a short nap.  Yay vacation!  We all got ready and left to seek out the day's adventure.  I must say that for all my California friends, I know the weather is going to be hot there.  However, here, the high is supposed to be 49 degrees.  We sure picked a great time to be on vacation!First up on the agenda for today was a stop by Höfði.  It is the historic house where Reagan and Gorbachev held a summit in 1986 that set the stage for the end of the Cold War.  It sits with a great view of the bay, though it was much smaller than it's historic role suggested.From there, we left to drive the short route to a Viking festival in Hafnarfjordur.  We got there extremely early, so we went for a walk along the harbor.  As is typical, the cold day turned quickly into a cold rainy day.  Since the festival was not open quite yet, we walked to one of the primary American fast food restaurants in Iceland - Subway.  Initially, we were just going to get some drinks and sit out the weather.  But, the smell of the bread baking prompted us to change our minds.  The tall sandwich artist helping us bore some resemblence to movie's Thor.  When Carrie suggested the similarity, I believe it embarrassed him and probably made his day also.  The sandwich was tasty, and very cheap.  I think we may have a strategy for lunches to lower the budget impact.Walking back to the festival, the rain picked up again.  By the time we had paid our entrance fee and entered, it turned into a light mist.  The festival was mainly Viking-themed crafts, and some demonstrations.  They had little wooden swords and shields for the young ones.  There was also a dueling field, for the kids to practice their sword work.  As is appropriate for any  Viking gathering, there was some great demonstrations of strength.  This particular one was focused on people with disabilities.  Men in wheelchairs pulling a van toward them was pretty impressive.There was an archery demonstration that was unintentionally hilarious.  I think the "archer" treated his 76 viewings of Return of the King as significant preparatory experience for his resume.  The axe-thrower had some skils, though.  After walking around a bit more, it was time for the "fight" demonstration.  Two groups of "Vikings" yelled things at each other in Icelandic.  I was imagining creating my own translations.  Giving them helium-affected voices in my imagination brought a smile to my face.  I don't think anyone around me understood what joke I was laughing at, but hey, as long as I laugh at my secret jokes...As the show ended, the rain started again, so we headed back to the car.  The closer to the car we got, the harder the rain came down, so we were soaked as we entered the car.  As vacations should be about rest, and not some strict agenda, we headed back to the apartment to relax.  Carrie decided on her 2nd nap of the day.  I had some work items that I could do on the couch, and Les and Pat decided to walk back down to the Flea Market we had seen yesterday.Since today is Father's Day, and Les really wanted seafood, we found a place with "the best lobster soup in the world."  They said they would meet Carrie and me there for our dinner reservations.  As we walked to the restaurant, we thought we might look at a few others around to decide which one to eat at.  After we joined back up with Les and Pat, we looked at a few menus.  While looking at one, someone came up to us asking if we were hungry and looking for a restaurant.  He handed us his restaurant's menu, and successfully poached us from the one we were considering.We had a harbor-side table, and Les got his lobster.  Lobster soup and lobster in the shell.  The rest of us got fish and chips, and they were excellent.  They gave us dessert menus to consider, and luckily, nothing just had to be ordered.  I was stuffed!  Carrie and I fast-walked back to the apartment, trying to get our watch rings filled.  Les and Pat followed shortly behind.  I think a game of Mexican Train is on the agenda shortly.  Time to sign off for now.