Blue Plate Special

Charlotte:

Today we went to the Blue Lagoon. My legs were sore at the start, but the water was calming. I put this white mud all over my face. Some people put it everywhere and they looked like skeletons! They put so much on it was not clear. It was very warm in some places and got deeper in parts. It was very rocky around it. There was a cave – it was my favourite! There were benches and a speaker was giving a talk about how the Blue Lagoon was made. The water comes from the Earth already hot. The sun makes it so blue because of the silica in the water.

After the Blue Lagoon, we needed to take a shower and then left. We went to this cool place. We stood in North America and Europe at the same time! I liked playing in the rocks and climbing them to make clubhouses. My cousins, Casey and Emily, would love climbing here with me.

Sam:

First we woke up early and got ready and went to the Blue Lagoon. It was heated by geothermal power, so it was pretty warm. We had mud masks and we put them on our faces. The were a lot of people there, even at about 11 in the morning. My favourite part was just drifting around in the warm salt water.  I floated on my back. We had slushies while we were in there. My flavour was cherry – it was really good, but I drank mine too fast and got a stomachache.

After the Blue Lagoon, we went between two tectonic plates. One was North America and one was Eurasia. It said that every year the plates drift apart by 2cm. The sign said every hundred years, it goes 2m. We stood underneath the bridge and played in the black sand. We also liked to climb up the cliffs a lot!

We also went to Ikea. It’s the only one in Iceland. It had a restaurant inside with something like a buffet. We had supper there. I had what I thought were chicken nuggets but ended up being fish – good thing Mom didn’t try them.

Charlotte and I played a game called Tomato Potato that Charlotte made up. It was pretty fun and silly!

When we got back, I played Ticket to Ride (a board game) with Dad.

Mom and Dad:

The Blue Lagoon was absolutely beautiful. The pale turquoise water was a bathtub-warm (38°C) temperature, and even though there were lots of people, it didn’t feel crowded or loud. We loved gazing out at the volcanic rocks piled high around the natural spring-fed pools and floating on the very salty water. The complimentary silica masks were very fun to cake all over our faces, necks, and shoulders. Our skin feels so soft after washing them off. The high levels of silica in the water coats the rock with a hard, white shellac-like substance. It is also responsible for the the colour of the water because it reacts with sunlight.

After lazing about for a couple of hours, we made our way to a place about 15 minutes away called Reykjanes. It’s where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates separated. It felt pretty significant as we walked across the bridge showing the dividing line. We were all actually surprised at how much fun we had there – the kids could have played all day and we both enjoyed watching them.

We decided to splurge and head to our first fancy restaurant for dinner tonight. It was called IKEA. The kids both enjoyed delectable fish nuggets served on plastic plates, Dad had Swedish meatballs and potatoes, and I had BBQ svinaskinka (pork). The atmosphere was lovely – we were seated directly next to the dirty dishes conveyor belt and near the cashiers with a view of the children’s play area. The service was top-notch – I particularly enjoyed the servers’ hairnets and the well-practiced way the plopped the food onto the plates, seemingly without effort! All-in-all, I was more than impressed.

Seriously though, the food was tasty, and we loved the prices – finally, we could eat meat in Iceland without breaking the bank! And it was probably the first “restaurant” meal in a long time where I didn’t have to whisper-yell through clenched teeth at my kids to sit quietly and just eat their food!