Iceland 2009

In June we visited Iceland for 7 days to attend the Christening of Sophie Isabella and also have another holiday!
A beautiful and unique country.
Our Sofie Frederikke just loved little Sophie Isabella and looks forward to having a good play mate in a year or so.
Take a look at the photos and videos below.

Days 1 & 2

Sophie Isabella was Christened at home in Reykjavik. In this photo she is relaxing with her dad, Bo.











Meanwhile her brothers play outside. In this photo Harald Thomas is shooting rubber bullets.








......... and Johannes rides his bike.




















Sofie Frederikke still has the cold that she caught almost 2 months ago in Australia. In this photo Bo is listening to her lungs.











....... then Sofie got a big kiss from Harald.















Dad having a ride on the rubber horse.




















The next day we visited again and we all went for a swim at the local pool. In this photo Harald and his dad are getting ready.


















The pools outdoor and open all year round. This is quite unique as temperatures fall below zero in the winter. It was also cold while we were there but the pools are all very warm 37 - 40 degrees and heated using geothermal energy.


Video of Sofie and dad running into the pool. Air temperatures this day were around 5 degrees Celsius.
Dad and Sofie in the indoor heated pool.













Sofie having a good look at Johannes......
















............ and then Bo and Johannes.














After lunch we headed to Reykjavik's 'Golden Circle' to fish at the lake in Pingeviller.

Sofie in her stroller at lake Pingvallatn.














Bo and Johannes in their fishing gear. The waders Bo is wearing aren't the most attractive thing in the world.




Video of Frederik (Bo's brother) throwing a line in. It didn't go far!!

The catch of the day! This little fish was so small he got to go back into the lake.













Later 'Family Bräuner' went for a walk.

This fascinating lava wall that dad is standing in front of has arisen due to the two tectonic plates moving apart.












The view from where dad is standing.












Days 3 & 4.
The next day we left Reykjavik to travel north. Our first stop was a peninsula on the NW coast called Snaefellsnaes.

The view along the way was spectacular. In this photo one can see some Icelandic horses in the foreground and volcanic mountains in the background.





We decided to climb one of these volcanoes. It was cold so getting Sofie rugged up for a ride in the backpack was a long process.

Steps 1 & 2. Inner thermal clothing, woollen vest (icelandic which we borrowed from Bo and Björg) head cover and good cover for hands and feet.




























Step 3. The hard goretex waterproof and windproof shell. A happy baby bunting.














Mum & Sofie walking .......... luckily it stopped raining.















A better view of the volcano in the background.















Dad & Sofie sitting on the rim of the volcano.















We stayed the night in Halmsted on a small farm that had begun lodging tourists. This was fun, before dinner we did a short walk on the beach. The water was rough and not very inviting.









A photo of the farm seen from the beach. the farmer had also converted a part of his farm to a golf course!!










Breakfast on the farm! Notice Sofie's cute vest that she borrowed from Harald Thomas.


















The next day we headed to the Glacier 'Snaefellsjökull.

The glacier's top is 1500 m high but not visible while we visited.














Our view on the descent.









On our drive through Iceland's countryside we came across a church every 40 km. Very quaint. In the following two photos are examples of these small wooden structures.






































In Arnarstapi we started a short 3 km walk along the coast toward Hellnar. In this photo one can see Arnarstapi, the white spots are actually Arctic Terns which were in the middle of some breeding ritual.










The harbour in Hellnar.
















Views from the harbour.














Seagulls nesting.........














......... more seagulls.







Mum in the middle of lava formations on the coastal walk.














Mum looking out over the ocean.















Great views!













The next day we head further north to Akureyri - The gateway to one of Iceland's pearls.

The view along the way........


































The church in Akureyri.















The Botanical gardens in Akureyri. Nice to finally get to wear some of the summer clothes we packed as it was beautiful weather.










Day 5.
The next day we headed further north to Myvatn.

View along the way.







Our first stop was 'Hells kitchen', the place smelled strongly of sulphur!!

The ground seemed to be alive and smoke and bubbly mud was everywhere.






Video of Hells kitchen.

Video of boiling mud pools.

Sofie also found the smell pungent and in this photo she reaches for a peg to block her nose!









The next four photos are images taken in 'Hells kitchen'


Video of a smoking pile in Hells Kitchen





























































Our next stop was Leirhnjukur. Here lava is still smoking!!!!!!!!! and like all places in Iceland one can walk right up to the volcano!!!

The volcano.







....... and surrounds.















Hans walking with a sleeping baby Sofie















Another smelly sulphur lake.













Our last stop for the day was the extinct volcano 'Hverfjall'. This volcano erupted around 2500 years ago and the crater edge is 425 m high with perfect 360 degree views of Myvatn and surrounds.

Mum making her zigzag way to the crater edge with Sofie in the backpack.
Looking into the deep crater.








Then dad got a go, Sofie is now 10 kg so we take turns carrying her.














A close-up of Sofie in the back-pack. She is dry and happy in there!













We passed this waterfall 'Deltifoss' on our way back to Akureyri.













The next day it was time to head back to Reykjavik.

On the way we visited the 'Torvegård' in Chaumbær. These huts are an example of the houses that were used in Iceland in the 1900's. Stones and grass were the most important building materials then.







Days 6 & 7.
Back in Reykjavik we spent time with Björg, Harald, Johannes and Sophie. But we also managed a little sight seeing in the Golden Circle.

Mum & Sofie standing in front of Gullfoss.














Gullfoss: the cliffs are 70 m high and as with all the attractions in Iceland tourists are permitted to walk right to the edge.










We also visited Stokkur (and Geysir which doesn't erupt anymore) Geyser. Stokkur erupts to a height of 20 m every 15 minutes and was quite an experience.


Video of Stokkkur

Stokkur from a distance.






















The whole area is smokey and bubbly. The colours are beautiful but the smell is a little offensive.

























Mum & Sofie on a funny tractor.




















Then it was time to say goodbye.

Left to right: Sofie Frederikke, Johannes Arvan, Sophie Isabella and Harald Thomas.















A close-up of two baby girls, notice how gentle Sofie Frederikke is trying to be. Amazing how quickly babies grow, it seems weird that our Sofie was once so small.











Sofie then got to play with Johannes but couldn't really keep up!
















Sophie Isabella in her little rocking chair.



Video of Sofie playing Ball with Dad.


Sofie Frederikke in our hotel lobby waiting for dad to take us all to the airport.












At the airport.








Previous posts.

10 months ......

We are back in Copenhagen and so much is happening. We have suddenly been forced to find private day care as the public institutions are too full. This means that Sofie will start going to care a few days in July before she starts full time in August when mum goes back to work.

Sofie also turns 10 months next week. The nurse weighed her last Wednesday and she is thriving at 10 kg.


Sofie meets Vilem and Marget who are two of the babies that are looked after by Dina in private care. Sofie seemed very curious as she sits behind Vilem.
Marget is going back to Iceland with her parents so Sofie will be replacing her.









Sofie really enjoys the lego bricks she received at her Christening. She is good at pulling the blocks apart but hasn't been able to put them together yet. So mum builds and Sofie destroys.






As can be seen in this video crawling seems very close now.

On Saturday we visited Dina (private carer) to check out how Sofie and Vilem interact.

Sofie and Vilem in his indoor tent.















Vilem is a very good walker and runner as can be seen here. He also crawled while we were there which was unusual. Apparently he wanted to show Sofie how to do it.











Vilem also had a car quite similar to the one Sofie has at home which she got to test drive.














Back at home we had a visit from Ulrik & Anne. In this photo Sofie is saying hello to Ulrik.















.......... and then saying hello to Anne and her baby (Anne is pregnant in week 27).














Then she had a ride in her car before bedtime.














Waving to the camera ..... we don't have many photos of the three of us.












The next day a belated Christening present from Sofie's second Australian auntie arrived.

Sofie checking out the package.
















....... a cute hat, hand made singlets, a stuffed toy with a bell. a romper ...














.... and a hand made hat.















Then it was time for rhythmics and music.

Sofie crawling.

















... more all four work.

















Back at home checking out whats under the carpet.
















We bought Sofie her own little indoor tent which looks just like a little castle.


As can be seen she loves spending time in it.












Enjoying her new books!






Waiting for dad ...






















Even though Sofie has a lot of toys she still prefers water bottles and small paper boxes !





















This is a photo of our new car. Arnie our old car got a new home with one of dads colleagues. The new car is a much safer car to drive around in with Baby Sofie Bunting.



















Before we left for Iceland we needed to find all of Sofie's warmer clothes. We found this suit which was now almost too small. Click here (and scroll halfway down) to see what Sofie looked like in it at 7 weeks of age just before our ski holiday in Norway.
















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