Our flight to Iceland was exactly the way we like it: uneventful. Left on time, arrived on time, baggage showed up right away. The only problem with this flight is that it’s too short….. which is an unusual complaint - but you basically have no time to sleep at all: Take off at 11:15pm, land in Iceland barely 5 hours later…. Which is 9am Iceland time.
Then, it’s an oddly long drive from the airport to Reykjavik- considering that there is nothing but lava rocks between the two, one had to wonder why…. Well, there is an answer: the Americans built the airport as a military base during WWII - and when they left, the very practical Icelandic people decided to just make that their main airport, rather then digging though more lava rocks - so it’s 50km for Reykjavik- but it’s not like the roads are busy……
So after a late-ish breakfast at the hotel, we still had most of the day in front of us. I had slept a couple of hours on the plane, so I decided to go for a nice walk, while Joe (who had not slept) took a nap. While the weather was drizzly when we landed, it had cleared up nicely by then, and my walk along the water's edge was lovely: I chose to walk away from town (since we were going to go there later), which means that I got some good views of the skyline from across the bay. I stumbled upon this funky sculpture garden,
including this house entirely made of recycled stuff. Someone does live in it- they do have a nice view!
I like the fact that the “weeds” along the road and in yards are lupines……
It is a pretty trail that also gives a nice view of the surrounding mountains, and is a protected area for many sea birds.
There were several Eider Duck couples who were clearly “courting”: The males coo sweetly at the females. It’s a lovely sound.
There were many other birds, including these, which I did not recognize.
When I got back, Joe had emerged from his slumber and we took a cab to the center of town to do some sightseeing. We walked the cobblestones streets, lined with pretty colored houses,
and interspersed with churches and statues.
We then stopped by a museum that happens to be on top of a viking era excavation, that related the history of Reykjavik. It was very interesting.
Then we continued on to the Hallgrimskirkja cathedral, famous for its unique architecture and its huge pipe organ.
I went to the top to take in the 360 views, and see the bells. There is a warning at the top that the bells ring every 15mins. It was 5 minutes till 4pm - so I had to wait till they rang! (I would not have have waited without the warning - they should know better than to tempt tourists like that!!!). Well— they were LOUD! A few hours have passed and my ears are still ringing a bit……
We had not had lunch because we had a late breakfast, so we decided to stop in one of the many nice looking restaurants that line downtown for a glass of wine and a nosh…We were also glad to be inside for a bit because the wind is fierce and it was cold!!! But, it was nice not to have to deal with smoke in the air anymore. The charcuterie plate was very good and generous which means that now that it’s dinner time, we are just not hungry….. we’ll never get over the jet lag at this rate…..
Well, we have one more day in Reykjavik to get used to it before we embark “Le Bellot”
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