[To read part one, click here. For part two, click here.]

Obviously, when you are somewhere you love, enjoying yourself, and falling in love with life again, you never want it to end, though I knew it was inevitable. I knew I couldn’t gallivant around Iceland forever, hiking into the morning, writing poems into the night. I left Gullkistan after a little over two extra, beautiful weeks. For my final night, we (the resident girls + Jón & Alda) had the most delicious fish dinner, the girls made a lovely cake for me, and then we gathered around on the couches and chairs by candlelight, and I shared my poetry with them. It was such an intimate reading and perfect final evening. I’ll never forget the feeling in the room. There were definitely some tears!

The next morning, I headed to Reykjavik with my friend Ævar, who was kind enough to drive me, and it was a wonderful send-off as well to catch back up with him and then say our goodbyes. 

My time in Reykjavik went so fast and was a bit of a blur. New friends, late nights, and lots of wandering the streets seeking out good food and drink. 

On my next-to-last night in the country, the volcano finally erupted! My friend Veronika drove us to see it, but unfortunately we couldn’t. Just another reason to come back, I suppose!

It was almost a spiritual experience to see Hallgrimskirkja, Harpa, the Sun Voyager. and get an Icelandic hot dog and walk these streets again.

Instead of giving a play-by-play, I’ll let the photos do the talking 🙂