Recap Day #1-Arrive in Reykjavik and Nightlife

Day #1---Friday, May 26, 2006--Temperature, Hi 50°F and Lo 39°F.

We arrived in Iceland at 6:25 am from Baltimore after a 5 hour and 40 minute flight and go through customs. We read in our guidebooks that to save money the locals drink at home first before they head out. We decide to adopt that custom and head straight to the duty free shop and stock up on wine for the weekend.

We then hop in a cab with Jón (one of many we meet on the trip) and head to the guesthouse. We can’t check in until 12:00 pm so we store our luggage at the guesthouse and set out to eat and explore the city. We head to Café Paris to get some coffee and try out the “kleina” (Iceland’s doughnut).Café Paris is dead center downtown on Austurstræti. We have coffee and breakfast while enjoying a lovely view of Austurvollur, a grassy piazza facing the Parliament building and Dómkirkjan church. We weren’t impressed with the “kleina”. It wasn’t at all sweet like Krispy Kremes and tasted like boring coffee cake.

After breakfast we start to explore the city. First we check out the Dómkirkjan church, which was completed and consecrated in 1796. We then proceed to the Tjorn (the Pond) to watch the ducks, geese, and swans. We then check out the shops on Laugavegur and Skólavörðustígur. We head up the hill on Skólavörðustígur to the Hallsgrímskirkja church, which was completed only in 1974. The inside of the church is quite bare but we take an elevator to the top of the Hallgrimskirkja cathedral tower and take in a spectacular view. This is the highest point in the city and we can see a great view of the city, the distant mountains and the surrounding sea.

By this time it is finally 12:00 pm, so we can check into our guesthouse. We are staying in the “penthouse” at the Arctic Sun Guesthouse located at Ingolfsstraeti 12. The “penthouse” has two bedrooms, a kitchen, living room, balcony, TV, DVD player, VHS, and private bathroom. However, the bathroom only has a tub with sprayer, which will prove to be a challenge for these Americans.

We sleep until about 6:00 pm and then Mary Beth and Angela decide to go to the supermarket called “Bonus” located on Laugavegur. They buy some groceries at Bonus (including “skyr”) and Mary Beth ends up making bruschetta for us as a snack. Gayle and Angela also try the “skyr” (Icelandic yogurt). Not recommended!

We meet our “Nightlife Friend”, Jón Kári Hilmarsson at 10:00 pm at the Vegamót located just off of Laugavegur on Vegamotastig. Most of the nightlife action is centered on Laugavegur and Austurstræti. Luckily our guesthouse is a minute walk to Laugavegur.

Instead of butchering Jón Kári’s name we decide to call him “JK” instead. We hang out with JK at the Vegamót for a couple of drinks and then we tell JK that we are hungry and he takes us to the Kebab Húsið, a spot that we will visit on a numerous occasions thereafter. The Kebab Húsið is across from the Lækjartorg square.

We then head to Rex Bar which has a cafe/bistro bar upstairs and a "Mafia Room" downstairs. After some drinks at Rex Bar, JK thinks that we should head to Café Oliver. On our way there, we pass by the bar Hressingarskálinn (Hressó) on Austurstræti and they are playing “Sweet Home Alabama”. We were amused and told JK we should go in there, but he was too cool for Sweet Home Alabama and was steadfast in his plan to get us to Café Oliver.

Upon arriving at Café Oliver, we are treated like celebs and pass the line to get in. That is the perk of being with JK. At Café Oliver the tables have been cleared and the DJs spin American tunes until 4:30 a.m. JK insists that we try a traditional Icelandic liquor and orders us a shot each. It tastes like Yagermeister but 100 times worse. We decide that we will stick with Iceland’s beer instead - Viking or Tuborg, both of which we highly recommend. We stay there until about 2:30 am and then head back to the Vegamót.

Kelly and Angela walk home about 3:00 am while the sun is rising -yes, that’s right, rising at 3:00 am. Gayle and Mary Beth stay out until 4:00, but not without hitting up one of the numerous other mobile kebabs establishments located in Lækjartorg square. They get hot dogs (pylsa) with potato salad on top and then head home.

Observations from our night out:
Cars cruise slowly down Laugavegur checking everyone out. It is like Panama City Beach. Since the main drag (Laugavegur and Austurstraeti) is where almost all the bars are, if you hit up a few places, people start looking very familiar. Pretty much everyone in Iceland speaks flawless English. It was graduation weekend for the local college. The graduates wear sailor caps out on the town. Many a bachelor parties take place in Reykjavik. There is apparently no stigma attached to unwed mothers, so many single men in Reykjavik are daddies. Although the sun supposedly sets at 11:00 pm and rises again at 3:00 am, the “nighttime hours” are not at all dark like they would be in the states. Instead, the sky is the same light shade as morning twilight such that you can read a book without turning the light on.

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