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

[TinkRocks]

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.

[lauriep]

What a nice day, with the whale watching, exploring the city, and good food! A shop near me sells Icelandic yogurt and it's really yummy! I'd love to try that dessert.

[chezp]

Sounds like a great day. I hear you about it not getting dark, as we found that really weird when we were in Oslo in July.

[LLaffinPlace]

A wonderful day and your meal sounds delicious!

[Colexis Mom]

What a great day! It's a beautiful place!

[KMB733]

Great pictures!!!

[shazza]

Great day. I'm not surprised your DD zonked out - jetlag can catch kids by surprise.

[TinkRocks]

Thanks, for reading along everyone.

My photos are way oversized, so they've been deleted. Hopefully I can resize and reinsert (and then size all future photos correctly for inclusion). I knew I'd somehow screw the photo portion of the TR up. I will work on this soon ... but right now my 6 year old is literally draped across my back wanting to play a game so I must oblige ....

More soon.

Okay ... I *think* I have the photo thing resolved. And I am still writing my next update. Hopefully, I will have it up by tomorrow ...

[TinkRocks]

Day 4 – Pingvellir National Park, Geysir and Gullfoss

Did somebody say road trip? This morning we got our rental cars, packed some sandwiches and hit the road. We were going to take the “Golden Circle Tour” as it is sometimes called driving to and stopping at Pingevellir, Geysir and Gullfoss.

Pingevellir was our first stop. This is the site of some very historical, significant things for not just Iceland, but the world. First of all, in the Pingevellir area you can see the North American and Eurasian Tectonic plates separating. In history and science you’re always told about such things .... how the continents divided, how things are still moving. But for me that was always abstract. Here you see it. And – as I understand it - Pingevellir and the Great Rift Valley of Easter Africa are the only sites on Earth where the effects of two major plates drifting apart can be observed.





Pingevellir was also the site of the first Althingi – or Parliament - in 930 AD. They say that all major Icelandic decisions/events happened at this site for centuries. The Icelandic Althingi is the world’s oldest continuous Parliament. Iceland is the world’s oldest democracy and it all started right here. The specific location “Law Rock” is where they’d convene. And … need more significance? This is the site of the country’s conversion to Christianity.













All that being said, the park was just beautiful. We spent a long time here walking/hiking through the area. This was an easy walk as a lot of the areas through the rocks and such was on a literal board walk – not in the sense of arcades and t-shirt shops – but a well maintained sidewalk created with wood.








Next, we drove to Geysir and it was an adventure! First of all, getting out of the park gave me a few moments of discomfort. The road got very small, and in my opinion there was NOT room for two cars. But indeed, a small tour bus came the opposite way and on my side of the car, I could see there was nothing but a cliff on the side of the road. I was not pleased.

Once we got to the main road all seemed fine. Until, all of the sudden, the paved road just stopped. There were 3 – 4 construction vehicles tearing up the road and redoing it. But there were no traffic cones, jersey barriers, signs, flagmen, nada. The road just ended, and we had to drive into what felt like a gravel ditch. And oh yes, there was oncoming traffic. So you’d have to try to pass a construction vehicle, then get in between them, let the oncoming cars pass, and do it again. Mercifully this construction zone was not very long, but it sure was different.



So onto Geysir … it is the original “geyser” for which all others are named. It doesn’t erupt very often anymore, and not to and great length. But Strokker is on the same site and does erupt often. I think it was about every 7-8 minutes while we were there. I have never seen a geyser in person so this was awesome. The entire area is kind of sitting on top of a boiling cauldron as they say … you can see hissing steam vents, mud pots, and leaking water everywhere; and, of course, smell sulpher.





Next stop: Gullfoss. What can be said of Gullfoss except that it is a stunningly beautiful waterfall. In the first half of the 20th century it was privately owned, and there were interested investors, etc. that wanted to buy it and build a hydroelectric plant to harnass the energy of the falls. The daughter of the owner protested and fought hard against this to the point of vowing to throw herself over the falls if it happened. And to prove she was serious, she walked barefoot to Reykjavik (on what were unpaved, poor roads). In the end, the falls remained untouched.




Gullfoss was our last stop of the day and then it was straight on “home.” It had been a long day, but we felt really fulfilled seeing a lot of amazing sites. Everyone went their separate ways for dinner. We were hungry, and we knew the girls especially could not handle a long dinner. So, we went to a highly recommended “quick service restaurant” called Baejarins Beztu Pylsur. It is a very popular hot dog stand in Reykjavik. The girls had theirs plain, DH and I had an “everything” that included these crispy onions and a really tangy remoulade. Pretty delicious for a hot dog dinner!

The girls were still searching for what they wanted as their souvenirs so we were in and out of shops, etc. I should say my oldest DD was still searching. My younger DD KNEW she wanted a stuffed animal puffin. We were trying to negotiate that a little as they were (like most things in Iceland) overpriced. It was kind of a casual fun evening where we again lost track of time and had no idea it was after 9 as we made our way back to the apartment.

Up next: Road Trip #2 … Was it Worth it or Not (depends on who you ask)?

*** I have additional photos that I'd really like to share, but whether or not that happens all depends on Photobucket. I am really having a hard time with it and my frustration level is really high. I think I'll walk away and try again later ...

[KMB733]

Sounds like an interesting day 1 road trip. The landscaping is just beautiful.

[lauriep]

I love all the history! The driving sounds challenging, to say the least-- I'd have been terrified! It took me such a long time (and many helpful suggestions from the board moderators) before I learned how to deal with Photobucket and posting pix here. I gave up in despair several times. Persevere, though.... once you get it (assuming photobucket is in a good mood), it seems so easy!

[chezp]

The pictures look beautiful, but the drive sounds terrifying!

[aliciabruce]

I might be going there in a few years, so I'm excited to read all about your trip!

[Colexis Mom]

Beautiful pictures from your day! That drive doesn't sound fun!

[TinkRocks]

I cannot believe it has been so long since my last update. Summer and all its fun and activities has my attention sidetracked! LOL. I do plan to finish the report (hopefully within the next few days).