Day 1 Evening Festivities

Here is a picture of our hotel. It's clean and comfortable but the rooms are very small. Skip is my roommate and I'm afraid I'll roll over tonight and whack him - there can't be more than three feet separating our beds. It reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where Kramer's Japanese friends sleep in his bureau drawers.

After dinner at the local mall where the boys dined on such prized local fare as Sabarro, McDonalds and Dominoes (Irl did locate a great crepe place) we headed over to watch the Champion's League match between Iceland and Belarus (Iceland lost 3-1). There were about 1,500 crazed Icelanders (if I can call them that) in the stadium. In keeping with the Coastal tradition, we had to stop for ice cream on the way home. We all know that Seth loves his ice cream, and after proclaiming earlier today that he hoped to drop 15 pounds by the end of the trip, he was delighted to find a "real ice cream shop" that knows what a medium cone is all about. I see now that the apple (Gabe's ice cream eating prowess) didn't fall far from the tree.


Here a a few shots of tired boys, the game and the ice cream parlor.

Training KR Reykjavik Day 1

After leaving the Blue Lagoon the boys headed directly to training at the KR complex in Reykjavik. Seth put them through 90 minutes of light training. At the end the boys were bleary eyed and very hungry. The KR complex is typical of the small European style training facility. A training clubhouse surrounded by a small 5,000 seat stadium and multiple training fields. It is as much a social center as it is soccer club. We lucked into two professional matches to watch - a Champions League qualifying match tonight (Belarus vs Iceland) and a UEFA cup match tomorrow night.

After lunch around 12:30 the boys split up for the afternoon - some took naps while others walked around town. We are meeting for a light dinner at the food court in the local mall then off to see the first match at 7:30.

The Blue Lagoon

From the brochure:

A visit to the Blue Lagoon is energizing experience for the body and mind. The Lagoon holds six million liters of 37-39 degrees Celcius geothermal seawater all of which is renewed in 40 hours. It is know for its healing power and unique active ingredients: minerals that balance and relax, algae that nourishes and softens, and white silica mud that cleanses and energizes.

I think the boys, (and Brooke) enjoyed themselves:

The Flight Over

We left Logan right on time at 9:30 PM whereupon the captain announced we would arrive 40 minutes early. Let me repeat that, 40 minutes EARLY. I love IcelandAir. It was a smooth ride and most of the kids got at least a couple of hours of sleep. Spencer and Blake were caught sharing some restful quiet time together.




Once we landed Harper took to heart Seth's comment that "we are all ambassadors" and immediately commenced diplomatic relations with a couple of local flight attendants. He attempted to declare his trophies at customs but was detained by security.





Our first hiccup occurred when Pete skated over to the ATM to retrieve a little cash. Intending to withdraw about $20, and not realizing the decimal point is equivalent to our comma, he ended up withdrawing 20,000 Kronur instead, or close to $400. That pretty much wiped out his prepaid card and now he is flush with cash, and quite happy about it might add. Not to be outdone, Alec promptly marched up to the ATM and withdrew the same amount, so now his prepaid card is blown too. Not to worry Ray and Karen, I'm holding Alec's excess cash and have him on a short leash.


Once out of the terminal we found the weather very windy and cool (in the 50s). After loading up the bus with our gear we headed out for the 20 minute bus ride to the Blue Lagoon for some pre-training spa treatment.