Reykjavik is Lovely

Robin and I arrived to a cold and rainy Reykjavik this morning.  The flight was not too unpleasant,  We sat next to a young man (relatively) on his way to Zurich.  A dual citizen now living in Seattle on his way back for a visit.  He was very nice and we enjoyed his company.  Behind us was a woman with two young boys.  The younger of the two was a very exited child about 4.  About the time we were hoping to get a bit of shut eye he got loud and fidgety making it impossible to fall asleep (although I almost never get to sleep on an airplane so it may not have mattered either way).  Robin was inclined to strangle him at one point but logistics save his wee little neck!

At the airport I discovered that the Golden 1 apparently did not properly notate my account, despite my calling to tell them I would be here, as I was unable to get any cash from the ATM machine. Bruce will rescue me!

After dropping our luggage off at the hotel, Robin and I wandered around Reykjavik city center.  We had a marvelous breakfast at the Laundromat (there is actually a laundry facility downstairs we discovered when we went down to use the loo).  Everything was very good.  Fresh baked bread, excellent butter and the coffee - superb! (...and I am VERY picky about my coffee!)  The service was very relaxed (read slooowwww).  Also, we might have sat there for quite a time waiting for the check if the Canadian couple at the adjoining table hadn't warned us on their way out that they did not bring you a check.  You walk up to the register and point at your table and they bring up your order by table number.

We visited Hallgrímskirkja Cathedral; a very lovely Lutheran church and the Harpa Concert Hall.  My camera battery died as we reached Harpa which was most disappointing as it is a beautiful building.  I hope to get back to it before we come home.  The cold apparently drains camera batteries quickly!


Reykjavik is a picturesque little town.  Beautiful little buildings on narrow streets and lots of interesting things to see.  We saw trolls hanging out on the street and vikings guarding some of the store entrances. It is easy to walk around town, as long as you watch out for the motorists. Our Fly Bus driver from the airport this morning ran a stop sign and this afternoon walking around town a car was driving the wrong way down a 1 way street and another car pulled up onto the sidewalk to go around him rather than queue up behind the other traffic going the correct direction that had edged over to the right so that the wrong way driver could get by!  We on the sidewalk turned around and went back the other way to make room for the sidewalk driver!!!

Speaking  of cold -  it IS!  Looking at the weather forecast for tomorrow we have seen predictions for snow, rain and mostly sunny!  I guess that means be prepared for anything!

We had a nice dinner at Hofnin Restaurant on the harbor.  The food and the service was very good.  We had a nice view and a very pleasant dinner.  Considering is has been over 24 hours since either of us has slept that we managed  to carry on a conversation was pretty amazing!

I will post some photos here tomorrow.  Off to be now!