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  • Day 2

    Reykjavik, Ísland

    September 17, 2018 in Iceland ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C

    Days 2-3:

    Foreword: the first few days of the itinerary (yes, we have one of those this time) are about as touristy as we've planned, but with the shift to tourism as the major export of the country, it seems like that is a bit of a rite of passage here.

    After landing, feeling bourgeois driving a Land Rover and attempting to take decent photos with the sun at an eye piercingly low angle in the sky, we stepped into the world of Bláa Lónið. Don't ask how to say that. The Blue Lagoon is a pretty sexy name for a geothermal plant's waste water dumping site, but you can't mock the allure that they have created!

    A greeting from a staff member, a quick scrub, robes and slippers thrown on, and we were outside in the 4°C. Of course, we were joined by about two thousand of our closest American, British, and Chinese friends... The water was a perfect bath temperature, not quite up to the heat of a spa, so the ever patient, very pregnant Danielle was able to float around in the milky blue waters too. We honestly could have fallen asleep the second we dipped in, but the primordial surroundings of lava and columns of steam really kept us going. The silica face mask and the added algae one really served to strip away the inner zombie we were all experiencing at the time.

    Shower, fresh clothes, a quick realization that the option of taking those lovely masks home were priced for the elite, and we were again on our way. This time we were making a beeline for the exotic... Costco. We loaded up on lovely carbs, sparkling water and fruit, ate the classic Icelandic meal of fried BBQ chicken wings in the car, and continued to our accommodations for the night. After almost falling asleep at the wheel, we made it safely to our quaint basement apartment in the neighborhood of Vogar, Reykjavik.

    The rest of our first day in Iceland is a bit of a blur, but we made a quick drive downtown, looked at geese, and realized that sleep is, in fact, a necessary part of life.

    We started to feel a little more human after a good night's sleep and a stiff cup of coffee and headed into town in the morning. The first landmark we came across was a statue of Ingólfur Arnarson on Arnarhóll. According to legend, this was the first Icelandic settler and serves as a sort of symbol of the town of Reykjavik. The statue itself came with a bit of disagreement between the artist and the financial backers and was erected incomplete. Artistic freedom be damned!

    After making a few stops through the shopping district, we quickly realized that the most common language spoken in the town is English. Sad? Yes. Convenient? Definitely. For lunch, we went to a nice little restaurant called Ostabúðin, Icelandic for "cheese shop". Homemade bread with salted butter, huge filet of cod with lobster sauce, creamy fish soup, smoked goose salad... we were off to a good start.

    Next on the docket after the thoroughly satisfying meal, we made our way up to Hallgrímskirkja and the statue of Leifur Eiríksson. First, the statue... it was a gift from the USA to celebrate the 1,000th anniversary of Alþingi. Of course, the gift had to have ties to North America, hence Eiríksson as the subject (he was one of a few Viking sailor who arrived in North America half a millennium before ol' Chris Columbo). But in the American way, the gift picked a side in a centuries long argument... was Leifur Norwegian or Icelandic? Now the world knew America's opinion. Sort of. In the 1960's the US double dipped a bit by choosing the date of Leif Erikson Day as the date that an influx of Norwegian immigrants arrived on American soil. Basically, from start to finish, the statue has been one bumbling mistake to another. From demanding the highest location to knocking down old monuments... it is in all shapes an American gift.

    Hallgrímskirkja is quite a sight to behold. Being completed in the 1980's, it's a far cry from the old churches of mainland Europe, but it has a bit of edginess, like if Edvard Munch designed a church. Complete with an elevator to the viewing deck, it gave us the perfect view of just about as quaint of a capital city as you could ask for. Not the most breathtaking cathedral in the world, but other than Michael Jackson music videos, what came out of the 80's that was the best of its kind?

    We meandered back down the hill, tired from travel and happy to have the freedom of a car at our disposal. The next stop we made was Perlan, a museum atop Öskjuhlíð. As Iceland moves into their future, funded by tourism, construction is a constant. Most of the museum was closed, so we opted to just enjoy the view from the hill instead of attempting to force enjoyment amidst hammering and drilling. Little did we know, this was no ordinary hill... First and foremost, it is covered in trees. Rare for this country after the vikings chopped the pine for boats and houses and let their sheep mow down the dense birch. But the hill also has ruins from a war that Iceland never joined. During WWII, the British invaded the neutral country, attempting to gain some air and naval advantage in the wake of U-boats doing a number on their fleet. Öskjuhlíð is littered with bunkers, observation posts, pillboxes and fuel tanks. It's a dark look into how small, neutral countries are treated in times of war, but it could have been much worse if the fighting made its way into the Atlantic.

    After a day of sightseeing through the city, we stopped at a funky little burger joint called Le Kock, near the place we were staying. It was a really cool environment, their bread and pastries were baked fresh daily, vegetables were from a local farm, the walls were tagged up by past patrons with chalk pens, Icelandic potatoes were roasted to perfection with neat toppings, and the burgers were innovative and interesting. Needless to say, we loved it the second we walked in. Two great meals in a day, of course we were happy.

    That pretty much sums up our time in Reykjavik and we're looking forward to getting out into the countryside!

    Góða Nótt!
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