I was given a beautiful gift on my last birthday which has finally been framed and hung. It is a photograph of the glacial lagoon Jökulsárlón, which is in the south of Iceland. It drains ice from Vatnajökull, the largest ice cap in Europe. The picture was taken by Rebekka Guðleifsdóttir, an Icelandic visual artist and photographer.

I have been to Jökulsárlón several times, mainly for fun and to see what is going on there, but I have never taken a photograph as nice as this. The first trip I had to Jökulsárlón was during the summer of 2000 when I was still a student. In an attempt to save some money I hitch-hiked from Skaftafell National Park to Jökulsárlón. It was quite a distance and I didn’t think that anyone would stop to pick me up! To my surprise the second car that came my way stopped and gave me a lift the entire way there. I spent a couple of hours at the lagoon, had some food and started along the road that I had just come from.

The fact that I was about 100km away from my tent and sleeping bag at the national park only really dawned on me when I had been walking for about two hours and still had not managed to get a lift. My only thought was that at least it will not get dark.

The weather was actually really nice, warm and sunny (which is the only time I have been in that area when it has been like that!) but I spent most of the walk fending myself from arctic terns, they area ground nesting birds and don’t like it when you come anywhere near their nests! Thankfully after a few hours some kind driver stopped in his Land Cruiser and gave me a lift back to the national park.

So I would like to thank Nicki for buying me this gift (and for getting it framed yesterday!). Every time I sit at my workstation I can be reminded of my Icelandic trips (as well as the sexy Rebekka!).