Today was an orange weather alert throughout the country so we pivoted from our original plan to drive to the Perlan Museum and instead take on some of the touristy shows downtown. First up was Aurora Reykjavík, the Northern Lights Center. This museum had exhibits with information about the Northern Lights and a video presentation by the founders of auroral displays from all over the country. The science behind the aurora was interesting but they could have done more to explain the various factors that determine whether you can see the lights or not. If it had not been for the bad weather today and us looking for something indoors, we could have skipped this attraction.

As we exited the Aurora museum, the weather had turned for the worse with several inches of snow having fallen and more coming down. We had time to kill before our Lava Show, so we went off in search of a food hall nearby. Apple Maps sent us through an industrial area and then told us to stop much earlier than the location. Parking was limited and we had to drive into a bit of a snowbank to park. We settled on Fjárhúsið where J. R. had a lamb burger and Janie had a little lamb sandwich. They didn't have beer on draft so Janie went to Gastro Truck to get a couple of Gulls. The food was good and we arrived just in time as two large tour groups came in after we did and ordering would have been an issue. J. R. dug out the front wheels of the car and after a little bit of tire spinning, the AWD RAV-4 was able to make its way out of the parking space. Thankfully, the snow had stopped while we were in the food hall.

Our next attraction was the Lava Show, which recreates a volcanic eruption by superheating real lava to 1100 degrees C. We were still early so we explored the gift shop and then were taken by elevator upstairs since Janie had booked the premium experience. This came with a drink so J. R. had the rum and peach drink and Janie had a sparkling wine.

We had seats by the rail up top and soon Neil, a British ex-pat, came in to talk to us. He has been in Iceland for five years and seen 12 volcanic eruptions in his time. He explained they used real lava from a farm that had been covered during one of the eruptions. They heat it in a furnace called Ragnarok and then 40-50 liters of lava flows down a ramp into the room. Neil would lift it using a fireplace poker to show us how it was still hot after it looked cool on the surface and also talked about the various properties of lava.

After the show, we were allowed back into the lounge area where we were given an actual lava rock and had an opportunity to see Ragnarok.

We went back to the hotel where happy hour was just starting. The hotel had a program where you got a 1000 ISK beverage credit if you declined housekeeping services so that was basically a free beer. J. R. had an old fashioned and Janie had a beer and a glass of wine and we explored the hotel a little bit more.

We had spotted the Himalayan Spice restaurant the night before and decided to try it tonight. The focus was Nepalese flavors which were very similar to Indian. We split some garlic naan and J. R. had chicken tikka masala and Janie had chicken biriyani and they were excellent and very filling.

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