Reykjavik, Iceland - Updated 9/12 and photos included! About This Page:

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Day 2 – Continued.

So, we get back to the apartment and see the rest of our group. We try to talk the girls into napping and finally admit defeat … just before DH and I both doze off. The girls go about playing in the apartment with their Aunt and Uncle.

After a brief and much needed rest, we join the living for dinner discussions, just as my youngest DD begins to nod off on a chair in the living room. We let her rest a bit while we get ready. And … you guessed it … she cannot wake up when the time comes. She does technically wake up, but is pretty out of it and is very tiredly (and sweetly) pleading to stay home. I oblige. DH runs back to the store for some cheese (I can make grilled cheese for she and I), and then the rest of the group goes off to dinner.

I have DD wake up enough to take a shower and get into her PJ’s (and I assumed eat too). But, she immediately crawls into bed after the shower and that is all she wrote. She sleeps clean through the night, despite the stench left hovering in the apartment. Well, okay, it wasn’t quite that bad, I am trying to be a little funny here. But, the water had such a strong sulfur smell it was really quite overwhelming. There was a sign on the bathroom mirror that said “…. It sometimes smells of sulpher but is safe to drink. Most people get used to in within a few weeks.” A few WEEKS?! LOL.

Day 3 – Sightseeing and Whale Watching

Today we had a 13:00 Whale Watching Tour/Cruise reserved. We all planned to meet up then on the boat, and our three different parties went separate ways for the morning. Our family pleasantly meandered our way through the streets of Reykjavik taking it all in on the way to Hallgrimskirkja Church, Reykjavik’s main landmark and the largest church in Iceland. The church itself is gorgeous, but the views from the top tower are stunning. You can literally see all of Reykjavik from there.












Outside is the Leifur Eiriksson “Leif the Lucky” statue. As they say, he is the one who “discovered” America in 1000 A.D, but forgot to tell anyone, so Columbus did it all over again hundreds of years later.



From here, we again took our time winding through the streets making our way to the wharf where we checked in for our tour. Then, we selected Icelandic Fish and Chips as our lunch destination. We had just about an hour until sailing. Unfortunately, we had no idea how leisurely meals in general happened to be, so it took a really, really long time for our food. We ended up having to ask for a refund, but one of the staff members said that our food was actually just ready, so they could wrap it to go. Even better! The staff here was very friendly and accommodating. However, when we got to the ship, we realized we were short one order. We made due … and the food was excellent. Fresh and hot, and not really greasy at all (surprising … it was fish and chips and all). The chips were actually roasted potatoes; that was unexpected, but tasty.

The whale watching tour was really fantastic. I think I would have liked it regardless of whether we say whales or not. We had a bright, sunny day to be out on the water and everything just looked so beautiful. It was cold though with ocean breeze. My girls were wrapped up in blankets by the end of it. On this excursion, we spotted a Fin Whale which was actually a big deal. Our “guide” was noticeably excited about this encounter. The Fin Whale is the second largest whale as I understand it. And we saw some Minke whales too. Unfortunately, my camera was not quick enough to catch any of the action, but I did get a lot of shots including one of sailboat on the water which caught my eye because ... a SAILboat? I always thought of that as a warm weather thing, but maybe that's just me:



At the end of the tour, we cruised past “Puffin Island.” There are these little islands located not far off the coast that are home to thousands of puffins every summer … it’s mating season. I was looking forward to this stop. In my mind I thought we get very close, and really get to see the puffins. Unfortunately, this part of the cruise was kind of a let down … we could see a bunch of birds, but were still at quite a distance. Yes, we indeed saw puffins, but not what I expected.

After the cruise, we made a brief stop into the Seagriffin (the Sea Baron), this little eatery right at wharf.



It is a well-known establishment and a real “slice of Iceland” so to speak. I had to get a bowl of the Lobster Soup which was reported to be outstanding. It did not disappoint. The chunks of lobster were huge! And the veggies weren’t skimpy either. It was served with a big portion of sliced bread and butter which my girls devoured. I was really pleased that we stopped here. It was on my “must do” list. In all honesty, I liked this so much that I really wanted to stop back before we left. But, alas, it did not happen.



After some R&R back at the apartment, our entire group went to (what turned out to be) our one entire family meal of the trip at Sjavagrillid. This was a more upscale restaurant and DSIL made a reservation for this meal in advance of our trip. The meal was fabulous, from my perspective. I had the “fish feast” which was a three-course deal. I substituted my first course (it was supposed to be Shellfish soup, but I substituted a salad because I really didn’t believe this soup could be better than what I had earlier, and the ingredient “anise” showed up in the description of this dish, and I can’t stand anise). My second course was both salmon and monkfish with some sides. For some reason, I cannot recall the side items! Perhaps that is because the salmon was by far the best salmon I have ever had. It was so moist, it had almost a butter quality/texture to it and melted in my mouth. The dessert was a Skyr (a thick yogurt) mousse with white chocolate, coffee ice cream and I think lemon sorbet. Everything was just delicious. I felt a little guilty as DH got the lamb and he seemed just okay with his dish. I was disappointed he didn’t like his more.

By this point, it was late … Probably around 10 o’clock. We had a late reservation and the meal was long. You would never know it was that late by looking outside. That is what we found weird about the no darkness situation: there was never any external trigger to clue your body into the fact that it was evening and time to wind down. We’d pull the shades and curtains and get into bed and not have any trouble falling asleep – thankfully – but evening and “night” always kind of snuck up on us. It wasn’t a problem, and having eternal daylight was actually really cool. I do not think I would feel the same as eternal nighttime in January. LOL.

Up Next:

Pingvellir National Park, Geysir and Gullfoss.