Welcome to Iceland!
After months of anticipation, we're finally here! Mike arrived Wednesday May 2 and I joined him Sunday May 6. I was scheduled to arrive Saturday morning but due to fog in Boston, my Buffalo > Boston flight was delayed. I would have had 30 mins to get off the plane, get my bags, check in with Icelandair, and go through security to my gate. Yeah, that wasn't going to happen. So, I rebookd my flight for Saturday night and got a room at the airport Hilton. I spent the day watching my new favorite show The Killing on Netflix in the hotel lobby. That's not as ambitious as I could have been (I toyed with going to the aquarium) but it was a crappy day outside and if I was in Erie I would have hunkered down in bed to watch an entire season of an AMC show anyway. My flight was very low key and slept for most of the 5 hours. Day One
Landed at Keflavik airport at about 6:45am. It's a beautifully designed small airport with a large duty-free shop. I grabbed two bottles of wine there, and I had brought two from the international terminal at Logan as well. Wine isn't made in Iceland so it's all imported, which means its super expensive. I found a few $10-15 bottles so it wasn't too bad. Of course, everything is listed in kronur so I keep having to remind myself to move the decimal point two spots to the left everytime I look at a price! Mike was waiting for me outside and it was so great to see him! I hate being away from MIkey for too long. We did the 30 min drive from Keflavik to Reykavik with the ocean to our left and lava fields to our right. The terrain is rocky, and much of the lava rock is covered in moss. We could see the steam from the Blue Lagoon to the south. The roads were pretty empty, as it was early Sunday morning. Icelander's habit of going all out on Friday and Saturday nights means that Sundays are spent in recovery. We arrived at Shouse's apartment and went right to bed. We were both knocked out! After a nap, we got up and hung out with Shouse for a bit at the apartment, then headed downtown. We had a delicious dinner at Cafe Paris. The boys had seafood soup - incredible! - and I had grilled salmon with barley, asparagus, and a yogurt cucumber sauce. We walked around, checked out the famous Thor-inspired church and took pictures and video. We stopped into a bookstore and picked up a few books - Jar City, a Reykavik murder mystery that is quite popular, and From the Mouth of the Whale, which I know little about but it had the most interesting jacket summary. It stays light til 11-11:30pm so even though it seemed early, we were out pretty late. We got home and hung out watching Animal Planet for a while before going to bed. Great first day! Day Two
After sleeping a little too late, we hopped in the car for our morning at Blue Lagoon, the geothermal pools. There is a geothermal power station right next to the pools, which is what creates the steam you can see from the highway. You have to walk down a pathway surrounded by lava rock to the hidden entrance to the building. The architecture is perfectly scandanavian - beautiful natural wood, stone, and glass - and it gives the place a truely natural spa feeling. It is not a cheap experience, about $175 for two entries, one bathrobe rental, one coffee, and our drinks out in the pool. But holy cow it was soooo worth it. The pools were incredible, and the temperature was perfect. The water is salt to keep things from getting too "unhygenic" and they are full of minerals that make your skin, muscles and joints feel amazing. The water is a milky blueish white, and you can be in water that goes up to your neck, then pull yourself up to water 5-8 inches deep. The rocks are unpredictable under your feet, so moving slowly is the best option. There are tubs of silica mud to put on your face and body. I was going to get a deluxe facial while I was there, but I think the silica mud mask was good enough! One downside is that even though I had a shower and washed my hair afterwards, my hair is like straw. I couldn't even brush it! Luckily, we spend the rest of the day outdoors and I could keep my hat on. Which leads me to... Jeeping! We were late getting home and Justin and his friends Hemi and Big "B" or Balder were waiting for us. Icelanders buy 4WD vehicles and then soup them up with $1000 tires and a whole new suspension. We drove out to the (???) area and took gravel roads up to (????) mountain. We were right next to (????) glacier, which looked like a huge pilow. It was crazy and exhilarating to go flying around on the icy mountaintop. In the other Jeep was Stengy? whose Jeep was literally falling apart by the end of our trip. Photos and video can explain the experience much better than words can. By the time we got home, we were exhausted. We hung out for a bit, ate grilled cheese sandwiches made by Mike, and then hit the hay. Sent from my iPad
Landed at Keflavik airport at about 6:45am. It's a beautifully designed small airport with a large duty-free shop. I grabbed two bottles of wine there, and I had brought two from the international terminal at Logan as well. Wine isn't made in Iceland so it's all imported, which means its super expensive. I found a few $10-15 bottles so it wasn't too bad. Of course, everything is listed in kronur so I keep having to remind myself to move the decimal point two spots to the left everytime I look at a price! Mike was waiting for me outside and it was so great to see him! I hate being away from MIkey for too long. We did the 30 min drive from Keflavik to Reykavik with the ocean to our left and lava fields to our right. The terrain is rocky, and much of the lava rock is covered in moss. We could see the steam from the Blue Lagoon to the south. The roads were pretty empty, as it was early Sunday morning. Icelander's habit of going all out on Friday and Saturday nights means that Sundays are spent in recovery. We arrived at Shouse's apartment and went right to bed. We were both knocked out! After a nap, we got up and hung out with Shouse for a bit at the apartment, then headed downtown. We had a delicious dinner at Cafe Paris. The boys had seafood soup - incredible! - and I had grilled salmon with barley, asparagus, and a yogurt cucumber sauce. We walked around, checked out the famous Thor-inspired church and took pictures and video. We stopped into a bookstore and picked up a few books - Jar City, a Reykavik murder mystery that is quite popular, and From the Mouth of the Whale, which I know little about but it had the most interesting jacket summary. It stays light til 11-11:30pm so even though it seemed early, we were out pretty late. We got home and hung out watching Animal Planet for a while before going to bed. Great first day! Day Two
After sleeping a little too late, we hopped in the car for our morning at Blue Lagoon, the geothermal pools. There is a geothermal power station right next to the pools, which is what creates the steam you can see from the highway. You have to walk down a pathway surrounded by lava rock to the hidden entrance to the building. The architecture is perfectly scandanavian - beautiful natural wood, stone, and glass - and it gives the place a truely natural spa feeling. It is not a cheap experience, about $175 for two entries, one bathrobe rental, one coffee, and our drinks out in the pool. But holy cow it was soooo worth it. The pools were incredible, and the temperature was perfect. The water is salt to keep things from getting too "unhygenic" and they are full of minerals that make your skin, muscles and joints feel amazing. The water is a milky blueish white, and you can be in water that goes up to your neck, then pull yourself up to water 5-8 inches deep. The rocks are unpredictable under your feet, so moving slowly is the best option. There are tubs of silica mud to put on your face and body. I was going to get a deluxe facial while I was there, but I think the silica mud mask was good enough! One downside is that even though I had a shower and washed my hair afterwards, my hair is like straw. I couldn't even brush it! Luckily, we spend the rest of the day outdoors and I could keep my hat on. Which leads me to... Jeeping! We were late getting home and Justin and his friends Hemi and Big "B" or Balder were waiting for us. Icelanders buy 4WD vehicles and then soup them up with $1000 tires and a whole new suspension. We drove out to the (???) area and took gravel roads up to (????) mountain. We were right next to (????) glacier, which looked like a huge pilow. It was crazy and exhilarating to go flying around on the icy mountaintop. In the other Jeep was Stengy? whose Jeep was literally falling apart by the end of our trip. Photos and video can explain the experience much better than words can. By the time we got home, we were exhausted. We hung out for a bit, ate grilled cheese sandwiches made by Mike, and then hit the hay. Sent from my iPad
