Iceland 2.10: Puffins Part II

     I left for the puffins at about 8:30 the next morning.  They were only a five minute drive away.  Unlike the first puffin location I visited, this one were on much lower hills near the edge of a bay.  There was small set of stairways to access the location, but the rest was restricted to the puffins.  It was a cloudy morning with some light drizzling, but I was still happy with what I was able to see.

    I left around 10:00 and tried the grocery store in town, but it was closed until 2:00.  I noticed that the cafe opened at 1:00, so I waited until then.  Right next to the camp site is a small rock outcrop named Alfaborg.  The cafe, named Alfacafe, is known for its unlimited servings of fish soup, something I would never eat.  Instead, I ordered coffee and rhubarb cake, which I do not believe that I have tried before.  It was decent enough.

    

    There was a couple from Atlanta that entered the cafe, inquiring about whether the soup was gluten free.  Across from them sat a couple from Switzerland, where the man spoke about visiting the US many times.  We shouted back and forth from across the rest of the empty room, sharing our traveling experiences.

    I stopped next at the grocery store, which was essentially a single room of bare ingredients.  It was the brightest and sunniest day so far in Iceland, and with nothing better to do, went back to the birds.  I was very fortunate in timing it seemed, as a bunch of the puffins were carrying back either fish they had caught or a jellyfishlike substance.  I have added captions under these specific pictures for viewers to looks closer at them.

Jellyfishlike in its mouth.

Caught a fish.

What do I do with this gross jellyfishlike substance?

    For dinner, since the grocery store was so bare, and I was out of supplies, I decided to stop by the Frystiklefinn restaurant.  I had decided just to get french onion soup and styr cake, which I hadn't found so far this trip.  I could not find a sign anywhere for the restaurant, but Google insisted that it was there.  I found a bunch of doors marked private or staff.  I opened what looked like a front door and was greeted by a long white hallway with no descriptions or signs.  On the walls were hung pictures from around Iceland.  I decided to give the unmarked door at the end of the hallway a go, and fortunately, it was the restaurant.

    I was seated and given a menu.  The waitress first was going over the alcohol menu and I informed her that that wasn't necessary, as I don't drink alcohol.  Then she informed me that they could also make any drink there without alcohol.  Then she was struggling to remember the fish of the day, and again, I told her that that wasn't necessary, as I don't eat fish either.  When I tried to order the french onion soup, she pointed out that it wasn't actually soup, instead just a bread and a dip.  I must have misread it.  I ordered it anyhow.  She then pointed out that anything marked with an asterisk in the menu was made from local ingredients.  Neither the dip nor the styr were marked, but the main course that I had some interest in, was.  So, I decided to give that a shot.  It was a falafel and tzatziki sauce in a wrap.  Luckily, I knew what this sauce was from a meal I once had in Universal Studios.  Upon the first bite into the french onion dip, I realized I had underestimated how hot it was.  I had burned the entire right side of my mouth.  I spent the rest of the meal swishing around cold water in my mouth while eating.  The food itself was very good though.

    At 7:00, I headed back to the birds for some nicely lit pictures using the sunset that never actually fully sets.  Unfortunately, I did not consider that my main view of the birds was coming from a hill that is on the opposite side of the setting sun.  Within ten minutes it was extremely dark on our side of the hill.  I decided to give up and head back to camp.

    While walking back to the parking lot, an older photographer struck up a conversation with me, asking me where I was from.  He was apparently from Virginia and was leaving in four days.  I mentioned what it was like to get Stephanie the covid test before her return flight.  He apparently was unaware of such requirements.  I went into detail as to what he needed to do, as they would never have allowed him onto the plane without a test.  Striking up a conversation with me was a fortunate choice for him!