Waking up in a hostel next to a fish processing plant seemed a little strange after dinner in The Pearl last night, but we like the philosophy of hostels, and their low cost lets us do other things that we would not be able to afford if we spent nights in hotels. Anyway, we spent a hour or so packing for the flight home, then drove a short way to the Blue Lagoon, so that we could have a nice wake-up swim in their geothermally heated lake.

After that, we drove back to town and explored the main shopping area of Reykjavik. Yep, both blocks. We walked a little further, too, to the civic center down by the lake so that we could gaze upon a huge 3D map of the whole country. This turned out to be a model made up of thin layers of paperboard, meticulously cut out one at a time to build up scale-model elevations for the entire island.

A sign there said it took 14 "man years" to complete the model. I don't doubt it! As someone who enjoys building scale models and painting miniatures, I can sincerely appreciate building a scale model of a country! We're talking detail down to single seastacks off the coast (i.e., free standing rocks that rise 200 m from the water off shore 300-400 m). Just incredible, and a must-see for anyone visiting Reykjavik.

We caught our late afternoon plane with no trouble, and the flight to New York passed without incident. Weather delayed our flight to LA by a couple of hours, and provided turbulence for us to enjoy, but otherwise got us home safely.

Thus ends our Icelandic adventures. I'll post some photos and panos later today, and probably tomorrow, so be sure to check back for some illustrations to accompany these last few journal entries.

I will be making a database of all the photos that I took in Iceland (thanks to the MicroDrive, these number in the high hundreds, at least - I have not yet counted them). Many are of various trenches for formal recording purposes, but many are of the various people on the project doing various things over the past month. Many are scenery shots or of other subjects that reflect my interests and observations. I'll make the database and project photos available on CD for project members.

Overall this has been a great experience and I do recommend Iceland for a visit. Two weeks would probably be enough to see and do most tourisit things, or long enough for serious back country hiking if you prefer that kind of adventure. You should definitely stay long enough to ensure some good weather, because several days of touring in rain and overcast will not leave a good impression of the place. And rent a vehicle that can handle rough roads adequately. If you're interested in Vikings, read about them before you come because there isn't much to see about them here - they didn't leave much behind so there's not much to show off their presence.

Takk fyrir.

-Ken