That went by way too quickly... We landed in New York last night after two weeks in Iceland, I managed to catch up with some of my friends and family to say goodbye but it's never enough time, even when there's more of it.
Jed taking a picture of Reykjavik, from Harpa
It's been such an amazing couple of weeks, we somehow managed to cram it full of goodness and in between shows, Iceland put on it's finest outfits...
We visited my grandmother's sister Gulla and stayed with her in Hveragerði on our way to Selfoss. She took us for a lovely walk and told us stories among the elfstones (where the elves live) in the forest.
Torfbær
We crossed a waterfall to see where they have started building a 'Torfbær' at the Agricultural University of Iceland. I found myself blown away by her energy, and at 77, she was running and skipping ahead of the group up and down the icy paths. Her plan is to build a 'Torfbær' in her garden at home and Jed is eager to come back to Iceland and help.
Oddakirkja
From Selfoss, we went to Hella, where we played at one of my favourite places in the world.. Oddakirkja - a tiny church in the middle of nowhere. We arrived at the empty and unlocked church and began by knocking something while setting up and losing all power... It was a moment for the memories, in complete still darkness; but we got things up and running again and had such a lovely evening. Post-show, an audience member came back in to the venue and announced that the northern lights were in full swing, so we all temporarily ditched the CD signing and banter and ran outside. We all stood together in the middle of a graveyard and watched the sky dance with light which was a pretty surreal moment. I remembered the other reason I love to go back there - the people are just so awesome, thank you to everyone who came along...
After Hella, we drove six hours to Akureyri and played at Græni Hatturinn... Akureyri is a wonderful place to spend time in, and it was a shame to have to drive back the next morning but we had plane to catch and a long list of things to do...
On the drive, we listened to Amanda Palmer's new book: The Art of Asking - highly, highly recommend you check this out... The book is based on her awesome TED talk of the same name, and we got as far as the part where she got stranded in Iceland due to the ashcloud and I sent my very good childhood friend Indiana to the rescue! Allan and Olga finished filming and editing the book trailer while in Iceland (which Indiana features in) Allan also shot the beautiful book cover. Look forward to hearing the rest of it...
A whirlwind of rushing around after arriving in Reykjavik and I'm so thankful to have had a chance to catch up, albeit briefly with the people I miss so much from the other side of the world...
Now we're in New York, and up at stupid o'clock... off to explore! xxo!
Gullfoss, Iceland. #brrr