The Windy Country
Thursday 6 Sep 2018
Reykjavik, Iceland
I am blown away by this country! I am already looking forward to making another stopover.
My time here was going to be pretty crazy because of how much I had planned to pack into two days but I knew that going in so I was totally ready for the insanity. I had arrived at about 630am Iceland time, four hours ahead of EST. I slept for maybe 3.5 hours on the plane and now IT IS GO TIME PEOPLE.
After I got off of the bus at BSI (the main bus station in Reykjavik) I wasn't sure I would make my 1000 tour with I Heart Reykjavik so I decided to quickly freshen up and keep my luggage in one of the BSI lockers. They have a TON of lockers and the extra large was plenty of room to fit both my checked roller luggage and my massive backpack. I think it was around 18-20$ for 24 hours but it was a life saver. I easily found my way to the meeting point, Hallgrimskirkja (a church), with 15 minutes to spare.
I met and chatted with the tour guide, Villimey (pronounced Vit-le-may), about life and travel and other random things. Also met two girls from the OC (Orange County, California), a couple who live in Kansas City but the guy was originally from Boston, and three lovely older ladies. We started Hallgrimskirkja, which happens to be a Lutheran church probably because Lutheran is the religion of the country (but in general the Icelandic people are not that religious). Also found out you can go to the top of the bell tower to see great views (spoiler alert: I did)! Across the street from the church is Cafe Loki which has fermented shark, a dish Anthony Bordain said was some of the worst food he'd ever eaten and made Gordon Ramsay vomit (there's an explanation for that though- you have to eat the shark using the "two bites and swallow" method or else the ammonia gets in your lungs and you cough/vomit).
Next we headed over to public garden behind the Einar Jónsson Museum. Einar Jónsson was Iceland's first sculptor. I believe a lot of his first sculptures were done with plaster but there is a large collection of work he did in bronze in what used to be his backyard - he designed the house and now it's a museum and the garden in the back is open to the public to wander through. The streets in Iceland are often named after the elements or Norse gods. Also, many of the buildings are made of either poured concrete or corrugated iron because of the lack of wood or clay. I'm so glad I did this tour the first day and highly recommend it! Villimey let us in on so many great tips and tricks, including how the hot water is all geothermally heated so they don't have to pay for it! Best believe I took a long hot shower when I got back to my hotel!
The sun was still out (with some clouds) but at this point I was pretty cold.. I didn't use my brain and thought I'd be totally comfortable in a thin long sleeved shirt. I was wrong. The sun went away after a while and the wind just continuously kicked up. Thankfully we took a break halfway through at a library where we were given a complimentary beverage (coffee, tea, or hot chocolate). Most of us ended up choosing hot chocolate but declined whipped cream UNTIL Villimey saved the day by telling us they don't add sugar to it here, it's just heavy whipping cream. Well then bring it on! A few of us bonded over Harry Potter and tattoos and then we continued on our merry way. There is street art all over the place to discourage tagging of buildings and there is also a mystery man (or woman) who has been running around gluing little figurines to street signs and buildings - it's hilarious!
V told us where to get dinner, coffee drinks, alcoholic drinks, pastries, and ice cream as well as where to shop. We talked about gun control (Iceland literally has like zero guns... the police JUST started carrying them and by carrying them I mean they are in their glove box) and how Iceland had the world's first female President and also the first female Prime Minister who was openly gay. The tour ended right off the coast at the opera house, a beautiful glass building that reflects the light beautifully. I walked as fast as I could back to the BSI bus terminal to get my luggage and then walked just under a mile against the wind to get to my hotel which was very conveniently located RIGHT next to bus stop #10.
I took that HOT shower and then headed for the church. There is an elevator to the clock tower and then you have to climb a few sets of stairs to get to the top of the bell tower - V warned us to make sure to go in between bells (they chime every 15 minutes). It was ten dollars well spent in my opinion, I love a good view of the city.
Next stop: food. I got a cinnamon roll first at Broad & Company (V's favorite) which I was planning to save for after dinner. Next I headed to Hard Rock Cafe for my good friend EZ who is a collector of HRC pins. I decided to eat there (I know, I know) but I was famished and have never been disappointed by the menu at HRC. My (veggie)burger was excellent (albeit 30$) and at least according to the menu the buns are obtained locally so cheers to that. At this point I was winding down but I knew it would be my only free time in Reykjavik so I wandered in and out of a couple stores and decided to try the licorice ice cream from Valdis, V's favorite ice cream place. It was disgusting (only because I don't like black licorice) but was an accurate representation.
After that I headed for the coast to be near the water and also see the Sun Voyager, a stainless steel statue of a boat by Jón Gunnar Árnason. Speaking of Árnason the people of Iceland have a naming committee and they must approve your name before you can be legally named it. V's priest didn't like the name so he wouldn't submit i t to the council and her mom named her something else. She always still went by Villimey and eventually she submitted her own name to the naming committee citing that no one made fun of her for it, all of the letters that formed it were in the Icelandic alphabet, and it was grammatically correct (The last criteria I'm not sure about- she talked fast and I didn't ask her to repeat). Anyway, she did get her name legalized and because of her there are now three or four other little VIllimey's out there running around in Iceland, She lived up to her name's meaning for sure; wild maiden.
ANYWAY; I saw the statue and then went to Reykjavik Roasters, the hipster coffee place, to get a delicious mokka. I took a 30 minuted nap and was able to walk right onto the northern lights bus at 930. The tour bus picked up at bus stop #10 and dropped us off at the BSI where we got a larger bus to go on the tour. I met my first new travel friend, John, who works for Ford and has previously lived in Michigan but grew up in the OC (Orange County, CA). He know lives in Louisville and loves Game of Thrones (he did a tour the day previous and told me all about it). He also showed me how you can turn the location function on on your maps and it keeps a map of everywhere you went. It sounds creepy but REALLY comes in handy when you're traveling!
We talked for an hour as we drove out to the middle of nowhere. It was pitch black but we could here (and sometimes catch a glimpse of) a nearby waterfall. Unfortunately it was so cloudy we couldn't even see stars, let alone the northern lights, However, the tour guide had a camera and DSLR cameras can actually spot the lights before the human eye can. Therefore, I have a picture of a picture of the northern lights that were in a sky that I looked at, I just couldn't see them. LOL It was still a nice experience to be out in the wind in the dark in the middle of nowhere.
Overall it was a very successful first day in Iceland.
