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The time is once again upon us! Thank you for joining myself and Barry (and Henning) on another adventure. This time, we are accompanying Barry’s parents (Karl & Karen) and are very grateful to them for having us.
We awoke this morning at a spritely 4am in the Premier Inn at Terminal 4, Heathrow. I was actually a bit lucky to wake up on time as I had set my alarm to 4:50 instead of 3:50. My first blonde moment of the holiday and I’m sure not the last. Fingers crossed I won’t fall over this time but I’m making no promises.
We were picked up by Sunny, who keeps our cars safe while we go on holiday, at 5am and were in Terminal 5 having our breakfast in relatively good time. Not a single mishap in sight!
The flight was comfortable, with a spare seat between us (the dream). We both had some snoozes while Henning kept watch.
And just like that, we were in Iceland!! I’m very excited for this little holiday, Iceland is a dream destination and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we see the Northern Lights while we’re here. You’ll have to read Barry’s blog of Day 2 to find out if we did! We’ve also completed the full set of Nordic countries together now, which is a nice little achievement! 🇩🇰 🇳🇴 🇸🇪 🇫🇮 🇮🇸
We made it to the rental car after a quick snack and Karl adjusted to the left hand drive quickly to get us from the airport to Storm Hotel in Reykjavik in about 45 minutes. The scenery wasn’t very snowy at this point apart from in the distance where the landscape becomes more mountainous. The coastal landscape is mossy and covered in black, volcanic rock. Bleak, but in a beautiful way. I think Henning will like it here!
The weather today was very showery, but not torrential. We didn’t have a set-in-stone plan for today, which is rare. There isn’t even a spreadsheet!! It’s mostly because it isn’t just the two of us so the schedule is much more open than usual. We knew we wanted to see Hallgrimskirkja today, which is the big, famous church here. After a 20 minute freshen up, we set off in its general direction, with Barry’s expert navigation to guide us.
It was a gentle uphill walk in the rain. There are some very interesting galleries and gift shops that kept us entertained. The murals all over the city are amazing too. The vibe is very relaxed here and we all enjoyed the wander.
Finally we came upon the church. It’s a very imposing sight and much more grey that I imagined, although I’ve decided that on a brighter day it would look very different. It is amazing though, and we spent some time taking some pictures (including the necessary flag photo) before deciding to go inside. Unfortunately, the church was closed for a funeral service (RIP!), but would open again later in the afternoon. We decided to walk down another street in a different direction and loop back around.
Our first stop on this loop was a souvenir shop, as Barry has started collected flag patches for his rucksack. It was very lucky that we picked this shop, as when we walked in, the first thing we saw was a sweet, fluffy cat stretching out and settling down to a nap on a folded pile of scarves! She was the sweetest angel and all of the customers gave her fusses on their way past her. This shop was also where Henning found some distant cousins to hang out with.
We continued down the hill, enjoying the murals and architecture, until we came upon a huge, half-frozen lake. It was teeming with with geese, ducks and Whooper Swans (which, we learned last year, is the national bird of Finland!) It was very scenic and we enjoyed watching the birds frolicking for a while.
The next stop was a somewhat educational one and one that Barry insists on. This was the Parliament House which houses the second oldest government in the world, Althing (over 1000 years!) It is second only to the Isle of Man’s government. That is a fun fact from Barry!
We walked back up to the church via more window shopping and bought tickets to use the elevator (thank goodness) to the top of the tower. The view from the top was amazing and we were treated to the bells ringing to signal it was 16:15. They ring every 15 minutes and they are loud!
Back on ground floor, we spent some time sitting in the pews of the church, taking in the atmosphere and the striking architecture. We are not at all religious people but we do appreciate a beautiful church. The tranquil setting was only slightly dampened by workmen outside drilling into the side of the building. At times, it sounded like they were trying to drill to the tune of the Jaws theme tune, which added a fun sense of foreboding! Just as we were about to leave, Barry found a shiny British pound coin on the floor, which he thanked Jesus for.
By this time we were all in the mood for a cup of tea or coffee, but didn’t have a single bit of luck finding a suitable café on our trek back towards the hotel. We settled for a drink in the hotel lobby instead while we formed a plan for dinner. We finally settled on a food hall nearby which would cater to all tastes and set off there after a short break.
It was raining a little bit harder now but it didn’t dampen our spirits as we made the short walk to the converted old bus-station, which is now a trendy food hall, boasting around six or seven different vendors to choose from. It had a great atmosphere and was surprisingly busy for a Monday evening. We decided this must be the place to be! The Clares all went for a pizza each (all of which got rave reviews) and I got myself some tacos along with a frozen margarita which, to my surprise, was bright blue! The tacos and the drink were very tasty and we all said we would eat there again to try something else. This sort of place is great when members of your party have different tastes in food. There will be a night or two where we split up for date nights though! We had a lovely evening chatting away and finished the meal by sharing some gelato (mint chocolate and skyr yoghurt & blueberry) which was delicious.
Bellies full, we made our way back to the hotel after a VERY long, but lovely, first day in Iceland. Tomorrow brings the Blue Lagoon (very close to a certain active volcanic site!) and a Northern Lights tour!
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