ions in the blogosphere

The first day we got to Reykjavik (pronounced Rayk-ya-vick), we had come in early morning on an overnight flight from Boston. We got a bus ride from the airport to the central bus station, and from there walked a few blocks to our hotel, suitcases in tow. We were exhausted, and were looking forward to getting a couple of hours of sleep in our hotel before we officially started our day. But once we got there, the nice man behind the desk welcomed us to the city, and told us that check-in time was not until noon (about 4 hours later), but we were welcome to sit down in the café and enjoy the free breakfast. We were glad for the chance to sit down, but horrified that we wouldn’t have anywhere to sleep or even drop off our luggage for a few hours. After breakfast, I decided to try asking very nicely for an early check-in, explaining that we had just come on an overnight flight from the US, and were very tired. The nice man behind the desk started clicking away on his computer and after a couple minutes of rearranging this and that with a few inaudible mumbles, we had ourselves a room to rest our weary heads in, and I designated the nice man behind the desk as my best friend for the week!

So as far as flying into a foreign country, exchanging currencies, and trying to read signs in another language, Ben and I are what you might call novices. It was a little overwhelming that first day, but now that the week is at its end, we feel like pros (at least in Iceland travel), and are surprised at how fast we became comfortable here and how much we love Iceland, Icelanders, and all things Icelandic. :)

Now, for some more details of our adventures here in Reykjavik and the surrounding countryside….

Day 1 – After we got some much needed sleep in our hotel on Thursday, we set out on the streets of downtown Reykjavik to explore the shops, cafés, museums, and other sites of the city. Our first stop was for lunch at the #1-Rated restaurant in Europe: Baejarins Beztu Pylsur. What’s funny is that this “restaurant” is actually a hot dog stand on a street corner (much like J-Dawgs in Provo). As far as hot dogs go, these were in fact phenomenal; however, the fact that it was named the best restaurant in Europe is curious, I’ve got to say!


Next stop was at the Culture House, which is a museum where they have preserved manuscripts of some of the original Icelandic Sagas. These Sagas are some of the oldest known literature of northern Europe and are epic tales of the people of Iceland as well as the adventurers, such as Eric the Red and Leif Erickson. The stories date back to the 9th and 10th centuries, but the preserved manuscripts are on vellum and parchment from the 12th and 13th centuries.

After some browsing in gift shops and other stores, it was time for us to tour Iceland’s parliament building. Ben was able to schedule a private tour for us, and the woman who gave us the tour was very knowledgeable about the history of Iceland’s government, the parliament building (called the Althingi), and filled us in on some more details about Icelandic heritage and culture. One piece of modern art they had at the parliament building was what they called the talking wall, which would whisper phrases from old Icelandic poems whenever someone put their ear to the wall. It was neat to get a tour that was off the beaten path, as far as tourism and sightseeing goes… it was a really good experience.

Next was dinner, and then back to our hotel in time to be picked up for the Northern Lights tour. Except that when we got back, we learned that it was too cloudy that night to see any lights, so the tour was postponed for the following evening. We were so tired at the end of this first day, that we were kind of relieved for the postponement. We ventured out later that evening for some hot chocolate at a café down the street, and then called it a night.

Day 2 – Friday, New Year’s Eve, we were picked up at our hotel at 8am for an all-day tour of the South Coast of Iceland. On this tour, we saw so many spectacular sights… we drove through little villages on the way to the stunning black sand beaches of Vik;


we saw the volcano Eyafjallajokull that erupted in April 2010, and its sister volcano Katla, which typically erupts within two years of the first (so watch out for more volcano news from Iceland);

we walked on a glacier;

saw breathtaking waterfalls;



toured an artifact museum with our escort being a 92-year-old man who had done most of the collecting himself throughout his lifetime – he was amazing;


and we had the most awesome tour guide who would tell us stories and Icelandic folklore while we were driving from place to place. What an amazing tour!

We got back to the city around dinnertime, and had a hard time finding a restaurant that was open on New Year’s Eve. We ended up eating at a Kebab pizzeria – we ordered a pizza with kebab meat, feta cheese, olives, and a yogurt-garlic sauce on top; sounds weird, I know, but it was actually really good.

New Year’s Eve in Reykjavik, WOW! You have never seen a fireworks show like this before… there is no organized display put on by the city; instead everyone goes out and buys the big fireworks and sets them off from all over the entire city. Icelanders buy and set off 600 tons of fireworks in this single night. It is chaotic and beautiful all at once.







Day 3 – Saturday, New Year’s Day, we had scheduled a horseback riding tour in the morning, to be followed by a tour of Thingvellir National Park. Well, it turned out that the stables were closed for the holiday, so we had to reschedule the horses for the next day, but still were able to go on the park tour in the afternoon. We had the morning to wander around the city again, but we found that almost every store and eatery was closed, as it had been the night before. Eventually, we found the one gift shop that was open and were able to get out of the cold for a while, and then we found some lunch at a convenience store.

Finally we were off on our tour, where we saw the original meeting site where Icelandic law and government came into being around 930 AD. This location also happens to be where the North American and European continental plates are pulling apart from one another, making a valley in the middle that grows by an average of 1cm every year. In this picture we are in the valley ("no man's land") right next to the N. American continental shelf;

next, we hiked to the edge of a stunning waterfall called Gollfoss;






When we got back to the city, we were able to tour the big, beautiful church across from our hotel. This church, called the Hallgrimskirkja, has a 9-story clock tower, and we went up inside of it to get an amazing view of the whole city.


In the evening we walked down to the harbor and found a great little seafood place where Ben tried “Moby Dick on a stick,” which is minke whale meat grilled kebab-style, and we both had the yummy lobster soup with sourdough bread. It had been overcast and misty all day, but this was our last chance to go hunt down the Northern Lights. When we got back to our hotel, we asked one last time, “Is the Northern Lights tour going out tonight?” Alas, no. And so, we did not get to glimpse those elusive Northern Lights, but we will try, try again… someday!