We’re in Iceland! Can you believe it!

We arrived in Iceland at 445am local time, 1045pm for those of you on the east coast. We grabbed a bus to the bus station in Reykjavik, stored our bags since we wouldn’t be able to get into our air bnb until about noon. We walked to the city center and found the Hilton and had a sit down, coffee, tea and bagels. things don’t start waking up until about 9am. 

It was nice and relaxing,  I know I dozed off for a minute while PSM booked some excursions for us for the next few days. can’t wait!
About 930 we headed out to first tour the Hallgrimskirkja church, an amazing structure that is at the heart of the city. it was founded in 1945 and consecrated in 1986. It really is an impressive monument, high ceilings, massive organ and pipes, very little stain glass, just take it all in.  

We took the elevator up the to eighth floor and then climbed the rest of the way to the top of the tower for the beautiful view. 

We then headed outside and waited for the hop on/hop off bus, it was about an hour around the city and let’s just day, we couldn’t see much since the windows were wet from the rain and our eyes kept closing! The scenery was great in between our little cat naps!

We hopped off the bus at the bus station,  collected our bags, hopped in a taxi and went to the bnb. It’s cozy and small, two beds, a bathroom and teeny kitchenette, what more do we need? The  beds looked so inviting, we decided to try them out, I think it was a wise decision!

We napped for about two hours, ahhhh…

Then it was time to head out for more adventure and eventually, some food. we walked along the water, met some water fowl along the way and admired the charm of the city. 

We stopped for a pastry, tea and coffee and a chat, then looked for the Viking ship we saw on the bus, that was one thing we remembered!

Kept walking and found some night life, well the beginning of the nightlife. A  lot more people on the streets, the rain didn’t stop us or anyone else!

We stopped in Koffin, PSM’s first beer of the trip, I had some tea with fresh mint leaves, yum. It was nice just relaxing in the bar and talking and being together. One of my favorite things about Europe traveling out of the country is that I can go into a pub and get a pot of tea!

We got a recommendation for the Islenki Barinn for dinner. We started with cod skin chips, exactly what it sounds like… they took the skin from a cod fish and fried them and yes, as my friend KC said… like pork rinds, it was an experience,  one I probably won’t be having again. Then it was fish and chips, I went all out and now I’m good. 

Well, I went all out one last time,  we found a French restaurant for dessert, I thought they had crepes, rice pudding it was.  Let’s just say… not happening again! but it was good!!

It was raining pretty hard and we were a bit zoned, taxi back to the bnb, we probably should have walked,  the driver’s gps had finding the place! 

We are now settled in, warm, dry and toasty , what adventures await us tomorrow? I’ll keep you posted!