Luckily for me, I was not going to be alone in my cabin after Sam’s departure. My lovely and long time friend Patsy was coming to town. Patsy and I first met in Barcelona in 2000 where we did our Masters in European Fine Art together, we shared a flat, way to many late nights & at the time… an outrageous dress sense. Patsy has spent time with me in Australia, and we seem to manage to find each other all over the world; we last spent a week together in August in Berlin. Patsy is a very talented artist based in Brighton, check her work out on http://www.patsymcarthur.com. I drove through thick snow falls on a cold windy evening to collect her from the airport… Patsy never fails to disappoint, clad in a number of brightly coloured items, and a good pair of Wellies, she was ready for what Iceland had to offer!
We spent the weekend in Reykjavik with the Viking, Saturday was a spectacular day and perfect for hitting the slopes – unfortunately I had left my ski gear back at the cabin…. so was dressed in the Vikings Goose Hunting outfit… Camouflage on the slope??? Patsy had a spectacular set of 80s lilac high waisted ski pants….
Always the individual… the Viking decided the normal route home was way too boring, and some exciting snow covered back roads would be much more adventurous and took us via one of the fish drying spots…. wasn’t the most pleasant smelling place I have been too…
We spent the rest of the weekend exploring Reykjavik, going to the local swimming pool to sit in the thermal pools and letting the Viking scare us down snow filled tracks. We headed back to the residency in Laugarvatn on the Monday… the next few days involved more hot springs and a dip in the freezing lake, hanging in the studio making work, drinking large amounts of Vodka Tonics mixed A la´Pats.. which involves some impressive snowballs…
Unfortunately I managed to leave my camera gear in Jón’s apartment for the week.. which made me feel like I had lost a limb… so all the following shots are just from my iPhone.
We had a range of weather over the days Patsy was here, sparkling sunshine, heavy snow falls and still grey light. We went to the local pool and did laps while the old ladies did their aqua aerobics wearing their beanies in the pool.
On Patsy’s last day we drove south and then west along the coast to Grindavik, had a bowl of tasty Lobster soup at the little cafe on the harbour and then headed for a dousing at the Blue Lagoon. One of the 25 wonders of the world? Nah… Iceland has plenty more beautiful and less crowded attractions than this.. but a nice soak is always welcome! If you want to see photos… check out an earlier post I did when the Viking and I visited the Lagoon.
I have grown a lot more confident and comfortable behind the wheel in the snowy conditions here… and don’t even seem to have a problem with driving on teh wrong side of the road! The light on the rough seas along the coast road was mind-blowing… and I felt completely at sea without my lovely Nikon…. so the following photos are just from my iphone. I am a lucky girl to have such wonderful friends like my beautiful Patsy… xxx
anwen travel tales 