I started off Part 1 of this two-part post with something I didn't like about going to Iceland (traveling there), so I'll do it again now in Part 2: It's expensive. Things cost a lot of money there, particularly anything that involves transport. There are no ride-sharing apps in Iceland, so you have to book old-school cabs, and they're quite pricey. We went to this attraction called the Lava Cave, and just getting out there and back was several hundred dollars. I mean, we did have six people, but still. Most of the time you can book excursions with travel included, but given the total price of the excursion, you are obviously paying for it. I guess that's why the other people I know who went to Iceland rented a car. This is also quite expensive, and you have to deal with the headache of parking, but it's probably cheaper than taking cabs everywhere, especially if you want to get out of Reykjavik a lot. Within the city center there's enough to see by foot. We definitely got our steps in.
And unfortunately, the Lava Cave turned out to be a bit of a bust. I was expecting to see actual lava, not just a cave formed from lava, and I was bitter about how much we had to pay to get there, so I was predisposed for disappointment. S's mom couldn't navigate the rocky terrain and turned back after two steps, and the kids didn't bring jackets, so they didn't last long in the cave, which was quite cold, either. (Actually, Lil' S2 was okay because S gave him her jacket, but then she was cold and wanted to hustle out.) Again, it's about expectations. If this had been something we had stumbled upon while trying to kill time, I would have thought it was really cool. But as an expensive main event for the day, it kinda flopped.
I had the exact opposite experience at Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur. That's a hotdog stand that is right across the street from the hotel at which we stayed. It always had a really long line, and I wondered why, but then I found out that it's quite famous, in part because Bill Clinton ate there once. On a whim, I decided to try it, even though I don't like hotdogs that much. I must say, it was absolutely delectable. It had that satisfying snap when I bit into it, and I loved every bite of it. (The line went super quickly also.) The only thing I regret is that I didn't get two, and I didn't order a soda. I drink soda roughly once every three years (literally), but this would have been the perfect time. Part of what made the dog so good is the toppings -- crispy fried onions, raw onions, sweet mustard, and remoulade. If that's how hotdogs were served in the states, I would probably eat them more often.
Anyway, the next day we did one of those hop-on-hop-off buses, and saw a bunch of sites. For example, we saw the Hallgrímskirkja, a very tall church.
We went up to the top of it and snapped some cool overhead pics of the city.
We saw a statue of Leif Erikson "Son of Iceland." Apparently, Iceland really was discovered by Europeans. There is no indication of any native people in the country before the Vikings arrived circa 874. I noticed on the statue his name is spelled Leifr Eiricsson, even though I can't find it spelled that way anywhere else. It usual with a K,and when it is with a C it's a single S. Well, the statue was given to Iceland by the US in 1930, and it's not like they could cross-reference the spelling on Google back then.
Below is Höfði, the former French consulate and site of the Reykjavik Summit, which helped pave the way for the end of the Cold War. The picture is a little askew because I snapped it quickly from a temporarily stopped bus.
We also drove by the Laugardalshöll, where Bobby Fischer famously beat Boris Spassky in the 1972 World Chess Championship. Years later, Iceland granted Fischer citizenship for his feat, and he lived there after he got into some legal trouble with the US government stemming back to a match he played in Yugoslavia, which was under sanctions at the time. That the Icelandic government welcomed him, actually reflects pretty poorly on them, given he had already firmly established himself as an antisemitic nutjob who cheered on the 9/11 terrorists. I wasn't able to get a picture of the Laugardalshöll.
I did, however, get a picture of the Harpa concert hall. That was easy because it was near the hotel, and we walked by it about ten times. It's a neat looking building, and the reflection in the water at night is kinda cool.
Well, that's all the pictures I have. We did some other stuff too though. S and I went to this place called Sky Lagoon which I quite enjoyed. It's one of those deals where you do an ice cold plunge and then go sit in a steaming hot sauna. Well, at least that's what I did. S was too skittish to actually get into the cold water, so she just did the warm part. Kinda cheating if you ask me. I didn't bring my phone because I didn't want it to get wet. I noticed a lot of people had theirs in waterproof carriers, but I didn't have that kind of forethought. So, pics or it didn't happen, I guess.
Until next time...
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