Monday, June 15
Greenland is icy and Iceland is green. That's about all I knew about Iceland before leaving to take a roadtrip of this low-profile island. When people asked where I was traveling to this summer (I'm no longer asked if I am traveling but when) and when I responded Iceland and France, most everyone was surprised at our first destination. And rightly so. Who goes to Iceland? Apparently we do. But why? Well, I had already planned to go to France with my friend, Emily, who is very conveniently a French teacher. When I invited another friend, Jamie, who I traveled to New Zealand with last summer, she told me she couldn't make it to France, but how about Iceland a week before? It has been on the top of her travel wish-list and now was the perfect opportunity. After Googling "Iceland" and looking for photos, I was hooked and ready to go. I also enlisted my travel-buddy (aka. Stephen) to join us and thus our crew was formed.
After a couple months of planning and preparation, June 15 finally arrived. To begin the trip in true "Jill-fashion," I just barely made the flyaway that would take me to LAX on time. Stephen had left for Reykjavik a few days earlier to take full advantage of the weekend preceding his two week vacation. Jamie was already on the East Coast, so it was Emily and I who met up at LAX to begin our month-long adventure. The following twelve hours were exciting, tiring, but also full of little pleasant surprises. We flew through the lines at the airport (pun intended ;) )and made it to our gate with plenty of time to grab lunch and text our goodbyes to friends and family. Our first surprise came after we had asked if there were any adjacent seats open so we could sit next to each other. We didn't expect much, but right before boarding we were given new seats...in Economy Comfort! The seats were much nicer, we were given free food, excellent service, and what seemed to be a larger assortment of videos to watch.
The first stint of our flight took us from LA to JFK in New York. Our layover was short and uneventful. Again we had separate seats, but after asking, we were placed together in an emergency exit row...with plenty of leg room (our second blessing). We also met and talked to the stewardess whose take off seat was directly in front of us. She has been a stewardess for over 25 years, which isn't very long compared to most in this industry due to its convenient schedules and additional perks the longer you stay. The flight would be five hours and we would be landing in the morning with a full day ahead, so Emily and I tried our best to get some sleep.
Tuesday, June 16
Despite scattered naps and a stiff neck, we became instantly excited as soon as we started our descent and saw the first glimpse of Iceland. Our next surprise came as we were walking out of the airport and Emily saw a man holding a sign with my name on it! He turned out to be Michael, a polish man who was part of the car-rental agency I had used to book our Jeep. He was extremely friendly from the get-go and drove us about five minutes to the car-rental building while joking, laughing, flirting, and telling us how great Iceland is. In addition to our handsome, black Jeep Cherokee, we also received a Viking hat for my "little brother" (Michael loved his practical jokes) AND a free GPS. We set our course for the city of Reykjavik which should have been a 30 minute drive, but may have taken us way less. You see, the speed limit ranged from 70-90 kilometers an hour. Being used to cars in Europe having European speedometers, I tried matching the speed limit in the Jeep (never quite reaching 90 but getting close at times). At one point, I mentioned to Emily how fast I thought it felt, and I wondered why the cars were always going way below the speed limit. When we arrived in the city, the GPS kept beeping at me. I was so confused about why...since I was always under the speed limit....until I realized the speedometer was really miles per hour!! My first real blonde/Jill moment of the trip. :)
After a short detour around street construction, we arrived at KEX, our hostel for the night. I had been wondering how we were going to meet up with Stephen, since we had no cell service, but just after we had entered the lobby, I heard a familiar voice call my name. Again, a sweet surprise to solve my developing dilemma.
Having been in Reykjavik for two days, Stephen became our unofficial tour guide. The first order of business was breakfast and coffee. It was almost lunch time by then, so after being directed to one of the busy cafés on the main street, Emily and I shared a delicious lamb/kale/Parmesan sandwich and coconut carrot soup, followed by a warm and wonderfully strong cappuccino.
For the next few hours we roamed the streets and took in the scenery of Iceland's largest city. It also happened to be a holiday to celebrate the day they became their own country only 70 years ago (1944). Consequently, we passed by many families, several of the women pushing modern baby carriages with a special protective covering they would pull out when it rained. Our first stop was the very conspicuous Hallgrimskirkja Church (try saying that 5x fast!...or even just once).
While still outside, we asked two guys to take our picture in front of the building. As it turned out, one of the guys is from Silverlake, CA, and they were both there with David Guetta (a world-famous DJ) who had performed the night before. The inside of the church wasn't much to speak of, except for the fact that an organist was playing Rhapsody in Blue which beautifully echoed off the high ceilings and stone walls.
There are TONS of dandelions around
Exploring the streets of Reykjavik:
After obvious hints, this guys till took forever to move out of the way..
~~then my phone ran out of battery so the rest of the day's photos are on Stephen's~~
Other sights in the city included "the pond," a sizable lake in the middle of the city with several important buildings nearby. In one building, we noticed several people dressed in old-fashioned clothes. We were told that the building had been a theatre and that the people were dressed in authentic cultural clothing from the past (having been handed down through the generations). A lady, with the hairstyle and facial features of Julie Andrews, led us up a couple sets of stairs to give us a personal tour of the rooms upstairs. They were fully arranged with antique furniture, and we sat in a very quaint sitting room while she told us a little about herself. Once downstairs again, she also brought us a dish native to Iceland. The bread had been baked in the "lava," as she called it, which lay under a buttery spread and slices of smoked lamb. It was delicious and once again we were amazed at the generosity and kindness of the locals. As we left, we happened upon a small parade...and I mean small. But it also started to rain much harder so we headed for the museum of Iceland's history. Being the thorough perfectionist I am, along with enjoying history, Emily and Stephen patiently waited as I read pretty much every single plaque in the museum. It was fascinating to learn Iceland's history and even how much of a religious impact and diversity it has experienced (I'll spare you the history lesson until another time).
A couple hours later, we walked back to our hostel, checked in, Emily and I showered and freshened up, and then we all drove to a restaurant called Snaps. We had wanted to taste some fish food since Iceland is an island and is known for its fishing industry. Emily enjoyed mussels, while Stephen and I ate Cod and Trout. We also recognized one of the guys who brought us food to be a biker that we had encountered in the streets earlier that day. It's funny how their largest city is in actuality a small one. That's Iceland for ya!
After a delicious dinner, we drove back to our hostel and waited a couple hours until Jamie flew in. There was a small concert taking place at our hostel, so we sat back and enjoyed a jazz drummer, bass, pianist, and really good singer. Then we drove out to the airport to pick up Jamie. Emily and I were exhausted after touring a whole day without much sleep, but the fact that it doesn't get dark at night helped to trick our bodies into thinking it wasn't as late as it was. Even while we drove Jamie back, which was after midnight, it was still "dusk" and light enough to see clearly. After checking her in, we eagerly climbed into our bunk beds and slept through most of the night.
~it's suuuper late now so the rest of catching up later.
bless! (Bye in Icelandic)
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