PETA. People Eating Tasty Animals.

 I began the day rather early with a whale watching tour. It didn't go as well as we all hoped, but overall, it was enjoyable! First, we stopped near the "Puffin Island" where the Icelandic puffins were busy cleaning up their nests and preparing for mating season. Puffins nests are between 3 and 9 feet underground, and often have two chambers. One of the chambers is used to sleep and nest in, while the other is used for their excrement. It was difficult to get good pictures of the puffins, as the boat couldn't get too close to the shore. Click here to look at close up pictures of puffins! They sure are beautiful little birds.

Once we were further out to sea, some whales began surfacing. None of them came too close to the boat, but just being able to see them was a nice experience. We saw 5-6 different Minke whales, as well as some harbour porpoises. 

While on the boat, I met a New Yorker named Andrew who had just landed in Iceland for a 2 day stop over on his way to Denmark. I showed him around the city a bit, and we ate lunch at a nice little restaurant where I ate Minke whale. Yes, I just paid to watch them in their natural habitat, and then walked into the city and paid to eat one... I'm a horrible person... The meat was so red, that I only lasted 5 bites or so before I just quit and let Andrew eat some. For those who have been reading my posts since Australia, you'll know I complained about how red kangaroo meat was... Well, kangaroo was cooked thoroughly compared to this whale!

We finished lunch and headed to Hallgrimskirkja, the tallest building in Reykjavik. As you may remember, I planned to visit this on my first day here, but had technical difficulties with the camera! Today was a much better day for a beautiful view over the lovely, colorful city of Reykjavik. 

After some shopping, I walked Andrew to his hotel, and then went to the local bird feeding area. There is a lake/pond in the city with benches around it, where people bring bread to feed to the birds. There were a large number of birds there, as well as many different breeds. I enjoyed feeding them, and then just watching as many parents brought their children to feed bread to the birds. The kids loved it! I truly enjoy watching children get so excited about such simple things.

This kid was having a BLAST.