Day 6: Reykjavik

Day 6: Reykjavik 

QOTD:  However Iceland shared the Danish Monarchy until World War II. Although Iceland was neutral, the allies occupied it without resistance because of its strategic situation. Since Denmark was under Nazi occupation, Iceland declared itself a republic, and the Republic of Iceland was founded on 17 June 1944 as a fully independent nation.

 

How you know the bread is baked by THB; bags and stamps supplied by E (from E&J in Japan) along with those cute conehead toothbrush stickons

Weather: sunny and bright at 4am, overcast at 6:30am, low 50s without wind when THB goes to the bakari at 7:45, cold and windy at noon, on way to Blue Lagoon drizzly in early afternoon, at Blue Lagoon gorgeous blue sky above us, on way back from Blue Lagoon at 3pm it is raining, clear at 6:30pm when heading to dinner, raining at 8:30pm when heading back from ice cream

 

It's so close, THB does not drive

THB woke up groggily to bright sunshine. Ooops, it is 4am, so THB goes back to sleep for a few hours and wakes up to the new normal: overcast, drizzly, not much wind, low 50s

For breakfast, DB suggests THB go to the very local bakari (less than 100 meters), Okkar. OOPS!! Back comes a traditional Icelandic deep fried thing (sort of like a plain donut, twisted, thick crust), a half-loaf of egg raisin bread (not many raisins), and a giant sweet pistachio paste filled coffee cake. All sampled, and along with the coffee, quite a sugar rush (from the coffee cake). Enough for a family of 12, so there are leftovers (even THB cannot eat pastry for 12 at one sitting). $15 total.

We hang very lazily around the condo until lunch, then head to our other bakari (see note below) for sandwiches. Egg and tomato for THB, ham and cheese for DB, bread excellent, filling just okay (no salt in the place), $13.

The sulfur smell of the hot water must be an acquired taste. THB has not acquired the taste yet. It smells awful when taking a shower or shaving. Awful. Very clear. And, awful smelling. So, what do we do this afternoon? The Blue Lagoon, an outdoor thermal hot springs, with a whiff of sulfur in the air and warm to almost hot water (in a few spots). Free mud treatment available. That’s about all that’s free: it cost 40 euro pp (about $55) to get in and if you need anything besides the mud it is a tack on. We’re practically locals so we bring our bathing suits and towels and skip the food and any other extras. The place is loaded with foreigners (see below) and is very near the airport and thus we see people with luggage arriving for a between flight pick-me-up.

 

Blue Lagoon

Blue Lagoon has a nifty system: when you buy your way in you get a wrist band that a) opens your locker, b) can be used to record any purchases, and c) opens the exit. So nifty that independently we can’t figure out how to work the locker system (even with English instructions) nor how to get out the exit. We didn’t buy anything, so not sure how that worked out. Afterwards, it seemed nifty. Wonder if they get repeat visitors who sail right through?

 

Nifty and you can't get out without assistance

Back to the condo to rest up….HAH! Actually, to have another snack of coffee cake and a small cup of coffee.

Day camp outside in our little brown lagoon
 

Dinner at a place downtown with no name, no sign and thus no picture (well, THB forgot to take a picture): rutabaga with “cream cheese” (not our cream cheese, a cheese that ran like cream) and a pizza with arugula, potato and “cream cheese” plus a very good local brewski and two glasses of wine, $80.

 

This is terrain we saw to/from Hofn and also outside Blue Lagoon

Road now closed to bikes AND cars

After dinner, we drive through town aloing the waterfront to a well-known ice cream parlor, isbud. There’s a short line, most of the customers are getting “blizzards” (soft ice cream with “toppings” crushed in). THB gets a softee cone dipped in chocolate (think DQ with less fat and sugar). The person next to us (a local woman, 5’10” with platinum hair, medium build, with a child) tells us that a) THB is getting what they are best known for and b) the line is so short because there’s a big soccer match going on nearby, otherwise the line would be out the door. $3.50

Dipped Softee

Notes and observations: Faithful followers want to know about Icelanders. {THB re-read this...blah, blah, blah, feel free to skip ahead} Gee, you don’t look Iceland-ish. What is an Icelander? Most of the tourist industry workers are not Icelandic (including at Blue Lagoon today), the big criteria is speaking English, not Icelandic. The city tour guide is a proud native: she’s around 5’10” and husky, long brown hair, early 30s. The concert tour guide might be (she didn’t say): 5’4” and very pretty, slight, long brunette hair, early 30s. Magnus (son of home exchangers, lives in Davis): stocky, short, brown beard.

So, intrigued, we do more reconnoitering: lunch at local bakari, Joi Fel. The two staff are young women, both brunettes and slight (they don’t seem to be eating much of the bakery items!). The clientele (since we are in a suburb, they might be more likely Icelanders) is almost all women, dressed from chic to trashy to casual, either brunettes or bleached blondes, and slight, might be semi-Scandinavian. Maybe it is best stated that Icelandic is maybe N. European/Germanic/Scandinavian …maybe. Who knows!

And, it is very hard to tell where the tourists are from by appearance unless they are dark hair and speak Spanish (Spain?). Even Asians and Indians for the most part are Americans (when we overhear them, it is pretty obvious).

Who are the tourists? On our concert hall tour of 15: 4 from US (us and a couple from LA, she was maybe Filipino), Brits, one Aussie, Swiss, one Hungarian, Germans. Except for guy from LA, rest of us under 6’ tall.  And, at the Blue Lagoon today, all tourists, primarily European in appearance, from all over the place. A few Japanese…kenichwaaaaaah!

 

THB did not have another piece after the one in the afternoon

Money: THB has been calculating the cost by basically dividing by a hundred. Checking the AMEX bills, it looks like the dollar is up versus the kronur, so the $81 above for dinner is more like $70. So drop all those quotes accordingly. And, the AMEX card we have does not have foreign transactions fees, offsetting the annual $475 somewhat (and encouraging us to spend, spend, spend, spend overseas).  

Book Review: Prayers for the Stolen, Jennifer Clement (novel(): Set in modern day Mexico, a depressing poetic view of how immigration, the drug business (big money, corruption, guns) and lack of law have altered and even the smallest villages, as told through the coming-of-age story of a teenage girl. Recommended, a very fast (even for THB) read.