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Published: November 5th 2007
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December 5th finally arrived. With work over and our flat packed up and cleaned we got our bond from the landlord and headed to Heathrow with glee. It was a rainy gloomy day so typical for London and we were happy to be heading onto new places.
The checkin line at Icelandair at Heathrow was a first, no one there! A record to be checked in within two minutes. Lanzarote looked busy...heheh.
The flight to Iceland took 2.5 hours and was rather pleasant with an interesting meal of cold ham and potato salad. We landed at Keflavik into a treeless landscape of white snow. It was cold but not excessively so, about 0 celcius, as we boarded the bus to our complimentary hotel Loftedir. Nice little deal included with our flights was two nights in this hotel which is situated about a 20 minute or 'healthy walking distance' as they said from downtown Rekjavik.
It got dark early on being that far north and no sign of the northern lights as the snow clouds rolled in. We wandered around downtown in the cold evening wondering again where all the people were. Given that the population of Iceland is 300 000 no
wonder. It was a stark contrast from crowded London. Since it was Nick's birthday he got to choose the restaurant. It was a bit difficult though, they are all so expensive!! Even on pounds. So we ended up eating a pizza with the local young Rekjavikians. Its always interesting what you find wandering in Rekjavik and we ended up watching part of a jazz concert inside the town hall and pretending to know what all the Icelandic jokes were about. A drink in a bar followed and Nick was 'allowed' a beer since it was his birthday, pretty expensive beer it was. I enjoyed a hot chocolate as we again watched a bizzare sight, a Icelandic video clip being made with semi clad cold looking girls in santa outfits.
After a morning European buffet breakfast we again wandered into town to look at the giant concrete church, very warm inside but quite plain for most European churches. And some shops... the baby getting a Iceland jumpsuit. It was cold and snowing so we stopped for a beverage and used the free wireless. Ahh it felt good to not be at work.
Lunchtime saw us having an Icelandic yiros (gyro for
those UK people). It was rather odd. The flavours didn't quite translate. Mine was some sort of beef, onion, gherkin type arrangement while Nick had a lamb, onion, sauce type thing washed down with a half litre can of coke. Never seen that size before!
The light fades quick at that latitude so by 4pm we were back at the hotel after watching the ducks and swans brave the frozen pond. Thermal water is piped in which keeps a small section uniced for them.
At the hotel it was time for a swim in the indoor pool and spa. My first foray in a swimsuit. Yikes. I looked rather similar to some other girls (British) already in the pool. But nonetheless rather disturbing to see my once swimmer's body now gestating.
Dinner time we again went into town and tried to find the fish buffet at the Ugly Duckling. Seemed to have closed so we ended up with the young local crowd at a perfectly acceptable restaurant/bar. Good size portions for as decent price as we would ever get. I had a very un Icelandic burrito while Nick had an interesting fish stew, with the fish being hidden in the
mashed potato apparently.
No rotting shark meat or jellied sheeps head for us! Or whale sashimi or puffin for that matter.
Two very tired travellers conked out in bed quite early on. Not used to this lack of daylight.
In the morning we were leaving on a bus to visit the Blue Lagoon for a swim then the airport. Quite a good tour as its all worked out to correspond with the flights.
The Blue Lagoon is an amazing little venture making someone a lot of money no doubt. Run off from the thermal power station feeds into pools all designed with walkways, caves, waterfall, change rooms, restaurant.... The silica rich mud is apparently good for the skin and slathered on the face from buckets.
Having been before in summer it was a little different to run outside in swimsuit into snow and 0 degrees. There was a wimps entrance which we took first off, a vestibule you can swim from inside to outside through. Its an amazing experience to swim outside in that weather with steam coming off the water and lifeguard dressed for the arctic. It warmed us up and it was a relief to step outside again
to the bus and cool off.
Onto the airport all pink and scrubbed we boarded our next Icelandair flight to New York.
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