My last morning in Copenhagen, I went down to breakfast, then went back to my room and lay in bed and read a book. I know, it seems like such a waste, but the night before the girls from the WhatsApp Africa group got chatty. Every time I got to sleep my watch would buzz when a new message came through.

I’d wake with a start each time. Finally, I completely turned off my phone, but by then, like MacBeth, they’d murdered sleep. I needed a lazy morning reading a good book, so I took the chance to get it.

Later, at the airport, I spent serious dough on a new travel bag. Not something I wanted to do, but yesterday, when I was galloping around the streets of Copenhagen, I felt an odd ‘twang’ at my shoulder and this happened:

My Borneo bag didn’t even last for one holiday. I was at the airport and I saw a shop that was “By appointment to Her Majesty The Queen.”

Now, the queen of Denmark is Australian, so I’m sure she wouldn’t steer a fellow Aussie wrong.

The new bag. I’ll let you know how it goes.

It was 14C and sunny when the plane touched down in Reykjavik. I drove into town with a very nice taxi driver from Poland who told me lots about Iceland. Did you know that there’s only 400,000 people who live here?
He also pointed out the lava flows from a year ago. They broke the water pipes of a town nearby and the people had no heat or hot water for 3 weeks in the middle of winter. The government was supplying free electric heaters to keep people alive.

He seemed very nonchalant about the volcanoes. “They happen every year,” he said. “Two years ago the lava nearly covered the Blue Lagoon.”

Oof. I guess you can get used to anything…

I arrived at the place Morgan booked, only to discover that it was unmanned and I didn’t have a way to get in. Bloody Morgan forgot to send me the key code for the door. Fortunate Frogdancer struck again. I frantically messaged him and he was on the way to the airport. If he was already in the air I would have been stuck outside until he landed in the middle of the night.

With that little problem sorted, I went up four flights of stairs to the room – thanking all the gods that I brought a tiny suitcase with me – and then took myself out to dinner.

It’s lucky I was warned about Icelandic prices. This is the first time in my life I’ve spent $50 AUD for soup and bread. Ok, it was delicious, but I’m still reeling from the sticker shock. A chicken Caesar salad was on the menu for $65 AUD.

After dinner, I went through the streets to walk along the harbour. It was stunning. Sunny, with just a slight wind, with music coming from the bars. Never thought I’d hear Barry White in Reykjavik, that’s for sure!

I was going to walk around to this big green pimple, but after a few minutes I realised it was too far away.

I stood looking one way and took this photo…

… then turned 90 degrees and snapped this.

It appears that Iceland has the same muscle-bound seagulls that Canada has!

Dad joke of the day: