Leaving Reykjavik

Today has been a bit more random than yesterday, as it involved a scramble to locate the swimming suits. This is distinctly not fun when you have so much luggage and D. has this tendency to say things while packing like, “we need something to pad the network storage box” and there goes some small article of clothing. He recognizes this … and we survive it not being fun (after all, we really really would not like to lose all of the photography from the last 5 years, etc.). But this morning was a distinct scramble, even after locating the swimsuits, as it also saw us both having to quickly prep for our trip to the Blue Lagoon. We gulped down some leftover latkes as soon as we had both put in our contacts (a necessary item – wearing eyeglasses in the Blue Lagoon seems distinctly not fun), hustled ourselves up the block to Hotel Leifur Eiriksson … and stopped in at Cafe Loki for a slice of cake and a latte, while waiting for the tour bus. Breakfast of champions: cold latkes followed later by cake and a soy latte (both of which were awesome).

We arrived at the Blue Lagoon at just before noon and didn’t get out until 2:20 – just in time to shower, dress, and head out to the bus at 3:15. We got back to Leifur Eiriksson by 5:20, D. went to the store to pick up some ingredients for our travel snacks (Mr. B., you will be getting some melon-mint gum … and also some salty licorice gum. Be warned. Be afraid…) while T. dashed back to the apartment in driving rain to arrive 1 minute shy of her writing group’s start.

So, a day well spent, if quite a bit filled with odd observations about fellow travelers and spa-goers. We are well and truly content with the Blue Lagoon … so much so that we’ll be returning there tomorrow. This means, of course, that we will not make it up to the top of Hallgrímskirkja this time around.

There are so many places to visit here, and things to see. Every Icelander with whom we’ve spoken has asked whether we’ve been to somewhere or other, telling us that we really can’t leave without seeing it, and what a shame it is that we’re only staying such a short time. Well, we tell them, we’ll be back: we plan to stop here for a few days here and there, as we intend to keep flying Icelandair on our travels to and from Scotland.

Our next visit will be at a time that they are heading towards darkness, and we have been promised snow (really: it’s a very awesome experience to be sitting in an outdoor sauna while it’s snowing). We don’t know exactly when that will be, as we have yet to hear from our choir director about dates for concerts, and are trying to schedule our returns to Scotland with those in mind. Perhaps next time we’ll make it to see the view from the top of the church, or to see the other interestingly double-steepled church which seems to be forever lurking as we’re headed elsewhere.

Tonight, we pack and clean and prepare airplane snacks, as they don’t feed you on Icelandair. Then D. may work on getting some pictures up before we try to get some sleep (it really is difficult, this being-light-all-night), to awake and lug our belongings down the stairs – all forty-five of them, erg! – , into a taxi, and onto a bus. We’ll then soak in happy bliss until we scramble to get on the 2:15 bus to the airport.

We will miss Reykjavik, and wish that we had all sorts of time and money to simply live here. The people are friendly beyond belief, and will happily chat with you for as long as you’re willing to chat. The scenery is dramatic, the architecture is beyond quirky, and the Icelandic culture is truly unique. We feel really blessed to be able to visit, and we’re glad we could drag you along.

We may post again before we leave, but the likelihood is that we’ll simply resume posts sometime on the weekend, when we’ll be in California. Until then, please enjoy a slideshow of our Iceland photos, both from a year and a half ago and from this trip. The show includes video, so be prepared if you watch it (and simply laugh that they dubbed over the Kim Possible cartoon).

-D & T