Day 184-Pam and Marilyn's wedding

   July 6-We got up and got around to head to Reykjavík.  On the way out of Bifröst, Sally got a call that ended up forcing us to change our plans for the day.  Stefán, who is in charge of finances at Bifröst, was calling to tell us that we needed to turn in “our” car on the 15^th.  Someone at Bifröst told the Route1 car rental agency that we would be leaving the country that day so they had rented the car out on the 16^th.  Since we planned to be on the opposite side of Iceland on the 15^th, this was obviously quite disconcerting for us.  Luckily, we knew where Route1 is headquartered in Reykjavík, so we decided that we would need to go there in the afternoon and try to work this out, rather than go to the Árbær open air museum, as we had intended.
   We got to town and first went shopping for a new tube for Spencer’s bike.  Since the wheel size is odd, we felt pretty lucky that we succeeded at that.  Then we drove down to Laugarvegur so Sally could meet Belinda from the Fulbright office for an “exit” interview of sorts.  While they sat and ate in one corner of the restaurant, the rest of us did the same in another corner, so we would not bother them.  After doing a little shopping on Laugarvegur, we headed to the Route1 office.  Yet again, the congeniality of the Icelanders came to the fore.  The wife of the owner checked out all of the possible ways to accommodate us and finally said that she thought that it might be possible for us to keep our Corolla, but she needed to check with her husband to see if the switch she had in mind would work.

Every store from small convenience stores to large
department stores have extensive displays of wool, knitting
paraphernalia, and wool products.  The Hays ladies have
visited as many of these stores as they possibly can.

   We left in a much better state of mind and headed to the Kringlan indoor mall.  This was only the second time for us to visit the mall; the first time was the day we first arrived in Iceland and we were looking for a car seat for Spencer.  Since we were not jet-lagged this time, the visit was a much better experience.  Shan found a wi-fi hot spot and continued trying to catch up on the blog while the rest of the family went shopping.  A while later, Sigrún called to let us know that she was off work and back home, so we drove over to pick up camping supplies that she had generously offered to lend to us for the next few weeks.

   We talked for a short while and then headed back downtown to attend Pam and Marilyn’s wedding.  It was a small affair in their apartment.  About half of the guests were Icelanders and the rest were Americans.  Pam’s parents and a few other guests flew into Iceland specifically to attend the wedding.  Luckily, they were all able to take a week or more to see the sights around Iceland as well.  A number of Icelanders have asked us why Pam and Marilyn were getting married in Iceland.  The explanation that they are from Wyoming probably did not communicate as much information as it would to an American, so we had to inform them of the inequitable marriage laws in many of the American states.  Since Iceland only legalized same-sex marriage two years ago, the concept of it being illegal is not difficult to grasp.  However, given that America projects itself internationally as a morally superior nation, it is surprising for people to realize that some of our laws are actually quite discriminatory.  More than once these discussions have led our friends to seriously question the accuracy of the slogan, “Land of the Free." 

The minister, Marilyn, and Pam.

   The ceremony, in Icelandic and English, was short and sweet.  We stood around visiting and drinking champagne and then headed to the Fiskfélagið restaurant for supper.  Pam and Marilyn had selected the items to put on a special menu for the reception, so we proceeded to have a delicious six course meal that lasted four hours.  We had a great time talking to some the guests and the kids ran outside and played between courses, so it was very enjoyable.  We finally got on the road at 11:30pm and it rained on us the entire 1.5 hour drive back to Bifröst, but we made it just fine.