Day 2. Yep, we are in Iceland now.

Well, after a short layover in Toronto *sarcasm intended* we made it to sunny Iceland. Guy lucked out and had a very sweet and quiet young woman sitting by him (reminded me a bit of my friend Geory) so the cramped seating arrangement was as good as it possibly could be next to a stranger. It was one of the smaller planes we’ve gone overseas on, but we made the best of it. Luckily it was only 5.5 hours from Toronto and we both slept most of the way. 

We arrived in Iceland around 9:30am and quickly made it through the airport. The best news is our luggage actually made it. We weren’t so sure since it had been sitting somewhere in the Toronto airport for 24 hours. So we have all kinds of clean clothes. Very excited. We caught our bus, which took us to another bus, which dumped us at bus stop #6. We asked which direction our hotel was and the driver said “Probably up that way somewhere”. Oookkkkkk...so we headed up toward “somewhere”. Guy’s GPS said it was close by, but we were a bit disoriented due to the road being closed for construction. After we’d walked about 2 minutes, he could see we were going in the wrong direction so we turned around. If the hotel had been a snake, it would have bitten us because it was right across the street catty-cornered from the bus stop!! Ha! 

Check-in was quick and easy and since we were supposed to have been here last night, our room was waiting on us. We are still thinking we are paying for both nights. Either way, it had a hot shower and a bed. Which we used both. Immediately. We power-napped for about 4 hours. Ok...that’s probably more in the category of sleeping, but we got up refreshed and hit the road to explore. It doesn’t get dark until nearly midnight, so we knew we had plenty of daylight to work with.

The gentleman at the front desk gave us a map and circled the area for us to explore, along with a restaurant recommendation for supper. There are lots of souvenir shops, all with the same items, at the same price. Which is EXPENSIVE! Most T-shirts were running around $30. To be honest, there wasn’t much we wanted (except a little sleeping cat in one of the stores ... his photo is posted) and moved on to find Guy a snack before dinner. We passed a bakery and he popped in for a pretzel and it was yummy. I snapped several photos as the weather today is chilly and breezy, but the sky was dotted with the most perfect clouds. We visited the Hallgrinskirkja Church. Guy just googled it (so I spelled it correctly) and it is a Lutheran church. It is the largest church in Iceland and one of the tallest structures. It had a huge pipe organ inside which I would have loved to have heard. Outside was a statue of a Viking from Iceland (borne in AD 970) Leifr Eirksson. In about AD 1000, supposedly he discovered America even tho credit goes to Columbus about 400 years later. So suddenly Columbus Day doesn’t mean as much! ;) Poor Guy...a Vikings fan and a fan of the Italian Christopher Columbus. I’m not sure what he’ll celebrate now!?

We stumbled upon a little open market that appeared to be closing up, but I bought a few little items from a local woman who had handmade them. She said her son studied in the US and married an American. They now live In Milwaukee. So she not only took Iceland money, but US dollars and Euros as well! A very sweet older gal. Happy to have met her. From there we headed toward the Fiskfelagid Fish Company, recommended to us by our Hotel and Trip Advisor. After a bit of sticker shock, we decided to go ahead and enjoy. It was a really quaint place, dark and rustic. The staff was very nice and attentive. The server recommended one of two fish for me. I chose the Atlantic charr, which she said was their most popular dish. Guy got the Salted Cod. Before our entree they served us bread with caramel butter and housemade granola. Then the chef sent out little appetizers made of fish and “herbed foam”. He said it would jiggle our taste buds before dinner. How can you not eat something that was going to jiggle your taste buds?? I went to go wash my hands and when I came back, Guy had already eaten his and was smiling. So I guess the server was right! I prefer a fish that is well done, and didn’t happen to mention that. So when mine arrived, it was warm but not hot. It flaked and the description said it was “slow cooked”, so I ate what I could and Guy helped some. It was delicious and almost had a buttery taste, but the texture was that of sushi and I did the best I could. All the items that came with it were very unique with interesting flavors. You could tell your plate had been made with care. I decided against the $18 tiramisu for dessert and opted for a candy bar back in the room. ;)

After scoping out a potential bakery spot for breakfast in the morning, we headed back to the room. It’s 9:00pm but the sun looks more like 4:30. We aren’t sure what is going on downstairs, but there is a buzz from a crowd of people having a really good time with the smell of a campfire drifting in through our open windows. It’s actually quite lovely and fells like Colorado with the crisp dry air pushing in the smells from below.

In the morning we have a tour to the south shore. That was supposed to have happened today, but lucky for us, they were able to move us to tomorrow. We had nothing planned for tomorrow except to jump on our cruise ship as we can board anytime after 11am. So we’ll do the rescheduled tour and catch our ship tomorrow night instead. It will be sitting in the port for another day, so there is no chance of it leaving without us. Probably works out well as we’ll miss the onslaught of people trying to board in the morning. The forecast for tomorrow is a high of 58 and full sun, just like today. PERFECT! Guy says there is no rain in the forecast all week. Hurray! June is the least rainiest month I believe, but even tho, rain is still frequent from what I’ve read. We picked this time of the year because we are doing a Viking cruise and it only goes from Iceland to Norway twice a year. This month, then once in August. A splurge vacation for our belated 30th wedding anniversary and retirement present for me. Hoping that Viking is all that it claims to be. ;) Don’t worry, you’ll have the initial impressions in tomorrow night’s blog...along with an exciting report from our day at the south shore. 

Goodnight from still sunny Iceland!

P.S. photos from today are in the left sidebar. If you don’t see them, click on the three little bars in the upper left and it should drop down.