Background: When I retired three years ago, I ran the Laugavegur 55K in Iceland, and followed that up with a bucket-list visit to the Scottish Highlands. When I crossed the finish line at Laugavegur in July 2022, Matthew and Jana were there supporting me. Matthew said he'd like to run Laugavegur some day so I said if he ever did, twist my arm to come along. That day had come.
Friday, July 11: Iceland
Arrived Keflavik Airport late Thursday, rented a car, and spent the night at Hotel Vellir in Hafnarfjördur, about a 30-minute drive from the airport. This was merely a stop-over on our way to Reykavik to pick up our bibs and spend the night adjacent to the next day's meeting point to board buses for Laugavegur.
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| Along my run in Hafnarfjördur |
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| Post-run relaxation in the hot tub before checking out of Hotel Vellir |
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| Short walk with Matthew to the Skarfagarður Lighthouse |
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| Beach on the same walk |
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| Before checking in to Reykjavik Lights and walking across the street to packet pickup |
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| Nice dinner at an Italian restaurant in downtown Reyjkavik with Matthew's friend Andrew and his parents |
Saturday, July 12: Iceland
Race day! Race didn't go well for me, but it was a fun venture in a beautiful location:
Sunday, July 13: Iceland
Short day in Iceland before catching an afternoon flight to Copenhagen.
Monday, July 14: Denmark
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| So nice that the rental car was manual transmission! |
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Öxarárfoss waterfall |
Monday, July 14: Denmark
First ever visit to Denmark, and a relaxing day in its beautiful and clean capital, Copenhagen. A few pictorial highlights from our walking tour:
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| Super flat gravel paths in an urban park, Amager Fælled. |
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| Rosenborg Castle (1606) |
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| Kastellet (fortress dating to 1664) |
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| Nyhavn (colorful townhouses dating to 1681 along Nyhavn Canal) |
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| Kongens Nytorv (literally "The King's New Square") |
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| Finishing off the day with a fantastic dinner outdoors along the canal |
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| And don't forget dessert! |
Tuesday, July 15: Denmark / Sweden
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| Solo early morning (6am) run on canal paths before breakfast |
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| Huge breakfast buffet at the Radisson Blu where we stayed |
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| Clean and easy to ride subway system, on our way to pick up rental car for the day. So why rent a car in a city with great public transportation options? |
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| Our rental car from SIXT, a compact Renault with manual transmission! Speed limit 130 km/h (81mph)! |
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| We needed a rental car because we were heading 140 km out of the city to Møns Klint, one of the world's newest UNESCO Heritage Sites |
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| Over one thousand stairs to navigate, but worth it to see the 70 million year old, 120 meter high chalk cliffs and turquoise waters |
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While not part of the planned itinerary, Matthew had suggested we take a 45-minute train to Malmö, Sweden, a city dating to 1275. A few photos from our evening walk around the historic and very clean city:
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| ... and back at the Malmö train station, awaiting our train back to Copenhagen for our final night in Denmark before a very early flight back to the US |
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