January 23rd 1973 was a stormy day in the Westman Islands. Heimaey's fishing fleet hadn't been able to go out and all the men were home for once. The children were too excited about all their brothers being home to study for their exam at school the next day. In the middle of the night, there was a big earthquake through the island as a fissure a mile long tore open. Fire and lava spurted up through the gap from hundreds of craters. Some of these craters only ...

This was my first and only day off. I woke up ridiculously early, of course, but didn't venture out until 10. I went up Laugavegur, heading for Hallgrímskirkja and as I walked up the hill, I suddenly spotted Baldursgata (Baldr's Street - Baldr being the son of Odin) which reminded me that I'd wanted to go and take photos of all the "God streets" around the church. I found Lokastígur (Loki, the God of Mischief), Þórsgata (Thor, the God of Thunder), Njarðarg...

Despite being quite a long day, Thursday felt like an easier and more relaxing day than the others. I think that was because there wasn't really any "must-see" sight - it was just a day of seeing nice things and taking it easy. We were heading up the west coast, round or under the fjords and I used the time to go through the Poetic Edda. I read the Prose Edda in Denmark and I'd tried to read the Poetic Edda, which is a collection of older poems about the Norse...

Today was the Golden Circle. I did this trip in December when the country was under three feet of snow and I wanted to see it 1) in daylight 2) not in the snow. It was very different. Last time there were maybe ten of us and we were in the truck. This time there were fifty-odd of us and we were in a big coach and a minibus. Our guide was Dee Dee, a hyperactive red-haired Viking whose real name is six or seven syllables long and the only bit I got of it was tha...

My birthday started with me waking up far too early, opening presents and then going to the Blue Lagoon. It's not quite as magical in summer - it's much busier and the air is hot, so it doesn't feel quite so amazing sinking into the hot water. It was nice to be able to see the mountains, though, and especially to see the power station. My favourite fact about the Blue Lagoon is worth repeating: this mineral-rich blue-white natural hot water is the waste from t...