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Published: August 23rd 2005
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Reykjavik Church
This was the church's yard where we recovered from our jet-lag. Arriving into the capital of Iceland, Reykjavik, at 6:30 a.m. is like entering mars with no sound of human existence. A bus took Joe and I from the airport to the bus station where we were suppose to jump onto a connecting bus to our city hostel. After waiting an hour, we finally decided to take a taxi instead to the hostel only to find out we had to wait another 4 hours until check-in. Maybe a coffee and some breakfast would tie us over until then, so we walked and walked and walked to find somewhere that was open. After finishing our toast, the only thing served before 10 a.m., we walked a bit more around the quiet city center. Now it was time to check-in—wrong—one of the managers yelled at us for coming too soon and told us to come back again in 3 hours. As the jet-lag was kicking in, the church’s yard seem to be the best place to sleep and recover.
Once settled into our tiny room with no windows and unnecessary heat, we headed to the blue lagoon for an evening swim. The Blue Lagoon is a geothermal spa made of lava and thermal
water. The steam bath, sauna, silica mud facials and relaxing hot blue waters were just what we needed.
For our second day in Iceland, we booked a tour to the Golden Circle. Iceland seriously looks like a sci-fi movie getting the name of “fire and ice” due to its lands of volcanoes and glaciers. We first stopped off at Keiro, a huge crater and then over to the hot springs, mud pools and “Great Geyser.” Awaiting patiently with the rest of the crowd at the Geyser, a huge stream of water erupted 30 meters every few minutes and we managed to wait 6 times to get the perfect picture and video footage. The next stop was at Gullfoss or the Golden Waterfall falling 32m down in 2 steps and reflecting a rainbow with the sun. We ended the tour overlooking the Pingvellir national park where the American and European plates meet causing earthquakes and volcanic activity. After enjoying the Icelandic scenery, we sat down for a good SUBWAY dinner and a few and a few more drinks. The locals were finally out and about enjoying the 20 hours of daylight and drinking outside. We chatted to a local for
a while and then walked back to the hostel still wearing sunglasses.
What a strange country Iceland is where people start their day in the afternoon, the summer gets 20 hours of daylight and winter gets 20 hours of darkness and the landscape isn’t made of all ice but is covered with volcanoes, mountains, lava fields, valleys and beaches.
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Memories
I visited Iceland several years ago and loved it. Thanks for the return to memory lane. Great photos!