We’re here!

After a hectic but happy weekend with the wedding and house exchange preparations, Carol and I  have landed in Iceland!!!

The Happy Couple, Cass and Cam

Icelandicair left right on time, 3:55pm Monday Vancouver time and landed right on time, 6:05am Tuesday.  This is the 2nd month of operation from Vancouver direct to Reykjavik.  Seven hours the flight was uneventful…except the only thing complimentary (after paying a lot of money) is tea, coffee, juice and pop! You pay for a meal (sandwich and wine….other long distance carriers food is included if the flight is over 5 hours and over an ocean the wine is too!!!)

After you land in Iceland you have to go through a security check….yes I know we would have gone through one on the Canadian side….I don’t’ know but because we had bought at duty free at YVR …..we had to have an escort to the passport stamping area.  It was a little different but we made it!

After luggage collection we were met by a young (with a sign!) from the car rental company….we are now driving a Suzuki Swift….nice little automatic!  Next on the list….the cache outside the terminal….yes we had a cache within an hour of landing!

The weather in the Reykjavik area (maybe all of Iceland ) is very changeable…. one minute the sky is blue then big black clouds roll in and it starts to rain, then the clouds lighten, and then the blue sky is there again…. it’s been like that all day.  We first went in search of our hotel…. the GPS…now named Petunia(…that might change to other expletives along the way)   got us to our destination, with only a few glitches…. we managed through morning rush hour, but got to the hotel way too early and had to put in about 6 hours with out getting rid of luggage or getting cleaned up. 

The Icelandic language is very difficult…. street names are long and some starting the same and not ending the same.  The rental agent said that Icelandic people are aggressive drives…so I had cars lined up behind me if I wasn’t fast enough.  Inside the city streets are very narrow…. I had to be alert all the time…. and Carol did a great job of navigating.

We found and information center and they answered a few questions we had  and pointed us in the direction of a park where we could sleep in the car for a while.  We found the Grotta nature reserve where we had about an hours sleep before exploring some more.  Enroute back to the town, we found a grocery store to explore.  Except for fresh fruits and veggies, prices were not too much higher than Vancouver. 

Our next stop was the Nauthoslvik Geothermal Beach south of Reykjavik.  There is a beach area which is fed by geothermal heat…luke warm to our hands, a ‘hot pot’ which was warmer and a man made area for soaking as in a hottub.  Many people were enjoying their soaks.

Geothermal Beach...that's not us!

Onward to Perlan (the Pearl) which is an dome observatory, situated on a hill to the south west of Reykjavik.  From this vantage we were able to see all directions for an encompassing view of the city.  And,  another cache was just waiting to be found!!

As it was now nearing checkin time, we returned to our Guest House.  We are in a separate building and as of now the only ones in a 4 bedroom ‘suite’.  There is an equipped kitchen for our use and a bathroom to be shared by all 4 suites.  A nap was in order as we were at the 24 hour awake point.  An hour later we were up ready to see the Cathedral which is a block away.  The rain began again, and we paused to listen to the huge pipe organ for a few minutes inside.  We will return and take the elevator up the steeple for photos on a sunnier day!!

Strolling along the streets to town, we visited some souvenir shops, Icelandic craft stores and checked out restaurants.  We settled on Lokei a block from the guesthouse for a steaming bowl of lamb/veggie soup…just hit the spot.  Back at the guesthouse, it was time to check emails, unpack, unscrew the wine bottle and relax while composing this blog entry.  Bedtime is not far off now as it has been 36 hours since leaving Vancouver.  And tonight will not be the night to observe ’White Nights”  

Good night all.

Our room

Shared kitchen

Shared bathroom...but nobody else is here....so far!