Day 126-hiking Arnarstapi and Hellnar

   May 9-Shan took Alison out sight-seeing on the Snæfellsnes peninsula today, since it was another location that interested her a great deal.  The fantastic weather (clear, cool days) we have had since Alison arrived in Iceland continued today, so we got amazing views of Snæfellsjökull as we drove towards it along the southern coast of the peninsula.  It was shortly after noon when we arrived in the small village of Arnarstapi on the southeastern flank of Snæfellsjökull.  We stopped in at a restaurant where Alison finally got her chance to eat lamb, which she thought was delicious.  After our meal, we took a two mile hike along the coast to the even smaller village of Hellnar and then hiked back again.  We then drove back to Borgarnes to buy some lamb steaks, which Sally cooked up when we returned to Bifröst.  Alex's friend Brynja joined us for supper and we all agreed that the lamb tasted fantastic.

Snæfellsjökull tops out at 4750 feet above the ocean, which is on the left.

Alison on the hiking trail heading back to Arnarstapi.

It is easy to see here where the lava of the Bláfeldarhraun lavafield spilled over the edge of this ridge of the Lýsuhyrna mountain and into the valley below a few thousand years ago. 

   Sally found out today that there are three more visiting international Professors on campus this week.  They must be here on the same EU-sponsored grant as Sarah, who taught in Sally's class last week, because they were also supposed to teach five hours.  Sally was somewhat surprised that she was not asked to give them lecture time in her class as well.  Since there is no other English-based course in which they could give guest lectures, they are all giving seminars instead.  Don't tell anyone, but I don't think that these talks are going to be five hours long!  Unfortunately, Sally only got the opportunity to talk to them briefly, which was just long enough to find out that they hailed from Romania, Finland, and Hungary.