I left on Thursday morning. My hostel my last night in Dublin was so wonderful. I'm so mad at myself for not staying there the first time around. I wonder if it would have changed my opinion of the city. The guy who ran it was SO nice and so interesting and I am just sad I missed out. Because of this, I stayed way too long chatting and cut it seriously close at the airport. The bus to the airport took a really long time as it made a lot of stops and I just didn't plan ahead and forgot that I was checking my bag because it was filled with liquids and you know, they need time to get bags to the plane. So they told me that there was no guarantee that my bag would make it to Iceland at the same time as me. Ugh. I ran to the gate and of COURSE it was the furthest one away. I checked in at C21 and my plane left from A102. Isn't that always the way? But I made it. Arrived in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is a beautiful airport which is good since I was there for 5 hours. However, holy SHIT is Denmark expensive.
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| Had to have a Danish in Denmark... |
Iceland Air is absolutely wonderful. I'm so happy I get to fly it again next week to NY. And flying over the Arctic Ocean was just something I never dreamed of seeing. I arrived here in Iceland at 9:00 at night however, with how far North we are, the sun wasn't even close to setting. I got a bus from the airport to the center of the city which is about an hour's drive. The sunset was ridiculous. I watched it from my hostel and it didn't fully set until about 12:30am.
Woke up this morning feeling well rested. Showered and felt much better. Walking around Reykjavik is very disorienting. I don't know why, I just don't feel as comfortable here as I did in Ireland. I guess it's just, well, at the risk of sounding stupid, foreign. It's incredibly beautiful. It just feels like a different world. I guess it is.
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| I sit down at lunch and this is on the wall at my table...can't get away. Home is calling me! |
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| Old town Reykjavik. |
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| The Concert Hall |
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| Sitting on the lava rocks. |
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| Um... |
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| Beautiful cathedral that looks like a rocket ship. |
The next day the majority of people checked out of my hostel room so I could really get situated (finally). 2 really nice Canadians checked in and we had breakfast together. I then went on a small tour of the South Coast of Iceland. Why did I not think a country named literally 'the land of ice' would not be cold? I guess I figured everywhere is cold in August. But it's cold. IT'S COLD!
Our first stop was at the Strokkur Geyser. It goes off every 2-4 minutes. I had never seen a geyser before so I was probably more excited than normal...
The next stop was the Gullfoss waterfall which was so beautiful. But it was SO COLD. I didn't stand outside for very long since I only was in a sweatshirt in jeans and sandals and it was about 48F.
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| Shivering |
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| That's a glacier right there. "This cold doesn't feel like there's global warming..." "Yeah, the glacier used to cover the whole country...so shut up!" |
And the last stop was at Þingvellir National Park. This is a beautiful country.
I know next week when I'm sweating in the Northeast of the US I'm going to be missing these temperatures. When I got back into the city, I hunted down Hamborgarafabrikkan, a rumored awesome gourmet hamburger joint that Iceland's favorite frequent fisherman, Eric Clapton always goes to. It was a holiday in Iceland so a lot of things were shut down so I didn't know if it would be open, but it was. And MAN was it good. A burger topped with garlic mushrooms, brie and bernaise sauce. Jenn was a happy girl.
Got another lazy day on Sunday. It was a holiday weekend so a lot of things were shut down. So I walked around for a while and then napped. I know, exciting stuff but I know I'm heading home in a few days and won't have this 'laziness' available to me for much longer. I did get the chance to visit Iceland's 'best' hot dog stand. It opened in 1939 and has been visited by James Hetfield (Metallica), Anthony Bourdain (No Reservations) and of course, Bill Clinton. Supposedly it's 'the best hot dog in Europe.' I can't argue with that. I don't know what they put on it, but it was freaking GOOD!
Got to take a long nap in the afternoon before joining two girls from my hostel for dinner back to the hamburger place again. Flavia (Italy) and Sharon (Canada) and I walked down to the water to watch an Icelandic sunset. This takes place at about 12:30am so it was a late night.
And then on Monday I woke up excited as it was finally my Blue Lagoon day, the reason I came to Iceland. A spa located in a lava field about 40 minutes outside of Reykjavik. It is geothermal and ranges in temps from 98-102 Degrees F and the waters are rich in sulfur and silica which makes them a milky blue color. My friend Sharon (from the hostel) and I arrived at 11am. We were outfitted with a robe and slippers and wristbands. Everything for your day goes on the wrist band. You swim up to the bar in the water, they scan your wristband, you eat at the cafeteria, they scan your wristband. With our admission was included a volcanic face scrub and moisturizing algae mask. We swam up to the bar, they handed us a freezing cold piece of volcanic scrub which we dipped in the water and rubbed on our face. The spa is huge, like a giant bathtub situated between many lava rocks. There is also a hot sauna and a steam bath on the premises and you have to shower before you go in the waters at all times. The temperature outside was 52F so it was always a sprint to dash for your robes when you exited the water. It was amazing!
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| Walking through the lava rocks up to the spa |
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| Me and Sharon with the volcanic scrub on our faces. |
Holy shit...I am going to the U.S. Tomorrow!!!!!!
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