Wander around town
Eat fish
See a view of the city from somewhere high, maybe from that tall cathedral I heard about
Go to the penis museum
Try rye bread ice cream
Do an excursion (I booked one online two days before I came. So many to choose from, even in winter)

But, I'm not passing up a chance to sleep

I arrived at my hotel at 8am (only after a grumpy Flybus minibus driver agreed to take me. He either did me a huge favor or was trying to get out of making another stop. I had a green ticket like everyone else!) The sun wasn't up yet, but the sky was gradually lightening.

And 8am was 1am to me. So I was reaching "tired enough to maybe sleep on the plane" now that all the traveling was over. To my wonderful luck, my room was available. So I showered in sulfur-smelling water, unpacked, checked in on Facebook, and slept for a few hours. Propelled by inadequate-but-better-than-nothing sleep and excitement about being in a new city in a new country, I ventured out to the streets to find a coffee shop for breakfast.

Caffeinating Ain't Cheap

The quirky, funky coffee shop (with couches, a piano, and free water) was called Fire and Ice in Icelandic. And notably, during my entire time in Iceland, I DID NOT SEE ONE STARBUCKS! (It turns out Reykjavik is the only Western European capital without a McDonald's or a Starbucks. It does have a Taco Bell and a Subway, though...)

My Swiss Mocha and savory ham, egg, & spinach crepe cost me 2,850 krona, or $26! In case you were curious, eating out in Iceland is not a cheap venture. But I got some cool krona coins with fish on them in my change.

I wore my coat, but not my hat in the nearly 40-degree weather. The sun never rose very high in the cloudy sky. At least there was no precipitation.

Observations:

Reykjavik reminds me of St. John's, Newfoundland (Canada), another seaside capital of an island with almost the same population (110K in the city, 200K metro). St John's is known for it's brightly painted, colorful row houses.

The Penis Museum

A mix of science and absurdity, respectful and tacky, clever and silly, this little museum tries to do it all. (And the gift shop is ideal for bachelorette party favors.)

Specimens abounded, either dried or floating in jars, many from seals, whales and other creatures of the sea (who have long pointy members unlike mammals.) But land animals and their more familiar penis shapes were also represented. Was there a human penis specimen? I guess you'll just have to visit and find out...

On the walls were various dictionary definitions, some mediocre art, official-looking declarations, and the occasional amusing limerick. Everywhere your eyes fell, something penis-related was looking back.

Hallgrímskirkja

After a brief walk up and down the nave, I bought my "tower ticket", waited in line for half an hour, then hopped into the elevator, thrilled that they allowed visitors to go to the top.

Where should I eat dinner?

I walked downhill from the church, toward the main streets downtown ("Laugavegur" and "Austurstræti") then in the direction of the harbor, searching for a place to have an early dinner. As the long twilight started (about 5:30pm), the weather became decidedly nippy.

The streets downtown are one-lane so can get choked with traffic (and the occasional jeep with HUGE wheels) but parts are pedestrian-only and plenty of people were out and about this Saturday evening.

I'd heard good things about Seabaron (which is small and gets crowded early) and the Fish Company (pretty pricy) and Hofnin (which was already booked with reservations) but decided to go with something not suggested, but delicious all the same and cheaper than my crepe and coffee that morning.

Free wifi (well, everywhere has free wifi), low-key, friendly Haitian-looking proprietors, and real Icelandic butter. Yum, yum!

And for dessert...

Lava tube cave tour!

Lots of other tourists were hanging out in front of the entrance to the hotel waiting for various rides to various places. Someone thought the van was for them, but the driver shook her head. She approached me with a clipboard and said "Melissa?" I nodded and got on in!

The van stopped at a few other hotels and filled with about a dozen tourists from all over the world. We then headed out of the city and, less than quarter-hour later, were deep in flat, rocky lava fields. Again, the chilly fog set over everything. A drizzle pattered the window. Our driver Olof (yes, just like the snowman in Frozen, she reminded us) told us that Reykjavik is usually buried in snow and much colder in February. The unseasonably warm weather was contributing to the fog.

At the parking lot, our driver and her helper handed out work gloves, flashlights (torches, if you're British), and hard hats. Part of me thought such preparations might be overkill.

Another group leader and Olof discussed briefly and decided (at least, based on their gestures, since my Icelandic is limited to the phrases I picked up from the Pimsleur CD) that we'd each enter from a different direction.

We all climbed down into the hole, us going left, the other group going right. (It did turn out to be a loop.) Apparently, last year, the entrance was so covered in snow, they had to dig out the entrance(s) and slide in!

In the dark

The hard hat proved immediately necessary, as did the gloves and flashlights. The ceiling was high enough to walk upright most of the time, but not always and everyone (Olof asked later) bumped their heads at least once. I bumped my head over a dozen times. The hard hat also protected my hair from the water dripping from the ceiling.

We ran into another tour group as we hiked through the tube-shaped space with maybe a 15-foot diameter. They stopped to let us pass. Maybe twenty minutes into the cave, we stopped and Olof explained that the cave was created by flowing lava 2,000 years ago and is one of many such caves. (Spillover from one cave to another creates the rare, but cool stalagmites. They look like what happen when you drip wet sand on a beach to make a tower.)

First she had us find a rock to sit on, then she told us to turn off our flashlights! I look forward to this every time I'm in a cave tour. Why being completely blind underground appeals to me, not sure, but maybe it's because I have light power in my hand a click away!

Highlights (Highdarks?):

Surprisingly deep in the tube are a set of lamb bones, found by the original explorers.
Although there aren't any long stalactites, there are ton of mini stalactites including one low-ceilinged part she called "Dragon's Teeth" where she said, "you can get a back massage."
Bacteria graffiti. (The graffiti itself wasn't a highlight, but the fact that the white bacteria both allowed for writing and absorbed all the sound so we never heard the other tour groups was pretty neat.)
The really, really low part where we had to get on our hands and knees (or in a plank position) and crawl for a good ten feet!

Then we climbed out into the bright light! Which was not bright since it was even foggier out. As we drove back to Reykjavik, an Ikea appeared from the fog like an oasis. Pretty sure I didn't imagine it. The van broke down at the bus station but luckily, their headquarters was in walking distance and she got another van for us. I tipped her anyway. (Even though you apparently don't tip in Iceland, she seemed pleased enough about it.)

A Hot Dog for Lunch

I'd heard rumors before coming. So, when I was in downtown Reykjavik and saw a line at this little stand, I figured this must be the place!

So I got in the back of the line. If it had been any colder, I may not have waited a half hour (and, indeed, many people in front of me gave up.) I finally got to the front, realizing that one reason the line may have been taking so long was that single people ahead of me were ordering multiple hot dogs.

One dude was manning the stand. I say dude because he had long hair and looked about 25. He seemed efficient enough but I almost lost interest entirely when I saw him handle money, then use the same plastic-gloved finger to open the hot dog bun. Really? Gross! (If you follow my blogs, you know that I'm a germ freakazoid, so feel free to disregard.) I guess it is possible there was a glove switcheroo in there somewhere, but I'm doubting it. At least he used tongs and spoons for the remaining ingredients.

After eating the meh hot dog (and only researching it later), I'm thinking this is not THE famous hot dog stand of Reykjavik, just one of many. At least it was cheap! Under $4. The condiments were tasty, however, the highlights being crispy fried onions (like used in green bean casserole), sweet brown mustard and some kind of magic sauce made with mayo and some other stuff.

I ate my hot dog next to a restaurant with the sign on the right. Ha! Took me a sec. Took me longer than a sec to realize that Thule, the U.S. brand mostly known for roof racks on cars, was not being aggressively advertised here. Thule is Icelandic beer.

I walked the several blocks to the harbor. All the tour books say to go to the wacky building on the water's edge called "Harpa." The architecture is... interesting... but I was unimpressed. I guess there are cool shows and concerts here? Maybe if you go late at night? Or maybe if you do actual research before stopping by? And have more time to spend? I wandered in on a weekend day and it mostly seemed like a lot of empty to me with one vaguely interesting gift shop. The one show I watched there (a tour of Iceland on a 360-degree screen, highlighting the volcanos) was $14 for 15 minutes! Total ripoff.

That said, they did have nice restrooms. In fact, during the whole trip, I did not have a single bad Iceland toilet experience. They were always clean, in working order, and stocked! (They were just shaped funny is all.)

Better than Harpa

I wondered if these were a thing. I overheard a passing lady remark to her friend, "There's a lot today" as if these are real, balanced, stacked piles (as opposed to nailed down ones) and a new feature of the area.

Hilariously, when I went to look this up on the internet, I found an article published within 48 hours of my time there with the title: "Tourists build cairns next to Harpa concert hall for no apparent reason."

Just in case I don't see Northern Lights...

I walked to the Old Harbor, had a chai and brownie at a coffee shop across from the water, and perused this sign to find my next destination. As I walked along the piers, I saw a lot of advertisements for cruises to look for the lights (with option to go again if you don't see them.) My issue with that is you can't hold a camera still on a boat. While calm water won't impede the enjoyment of looking, you won't get cool photos if you are bouncing up and down.

Not that I have a camera where I can hold open the shutter long enough anyway. My hope is to see the lights on my trip north, away from the city.

I went to the Aurora Reykjavik center, which is #41 on the above map, and it was as neat as I'd hoped: Scientific explanations about how the lights are formed. Folk legends from various cultures. And enough time-lapse photography to blow your mind, including from space! Worth the $15 especially if I never got to see actual live lights.

The center was a strange mix of low budget and high budget. The building itself looked like a temporary ramshackle mini-warehouse. But within were some pretty darn large television screens.

I overheard the clerk in the gift shop saying she saw lights in Reykjavik as often as three times a week, but that the weather had been foggy lately...

Even after visiting this center, I still couldn't explain northern lights to you. But the display was informative, I promise. Also, I learned recently that there are Southern Lights and I kinda wished this place mentioned those as well.

I walked back through the streets. Hit the Settlement Center (built over actual ruins) and learned about the Old Days of Reykjavik when it was first populated by Northern Europeans. Then I headed back in the direction of downtown.

Wandering Around Town

Final thing on my checklist: Rye Bread Ice Cream

I finally headed in the direction of my hotel, already having a place in mind for dinner (and more to the point: dessert), across the street from the church.

But first, I love how the church is so nicely situated at the end of the street. Observers will also notice that the statue of Leifur Eiriksson in front is perfectly lined up with an adjacent street.

This place is mostly about location, somewhat about the food (I had Icelandic Dish IV and found it... fishier than I would have liked), a little about the name and decor, but most of anything about the rye bread ice cream. Despite that it does not sound appetizing, it was one of the best things I ate in Reykjavik.

Alarm Clock Fail

Plan: To wake up at 7:30am, enjoy a leisurely hotel breakfast, shower and pack, and be in the lobby early for my pickup between 9:00 and 9:30am for the six hour drive to the Westfjords the next morning.

As you'd expect, half-asleep panic ensued. Threw on pants and a T-shirt before running out of my room (up a flight of stairs, out to a balcony, following a hall to a flight of stairs down) to the lobby. No one was waiting yet. Phone calls followed (hotel staff and Hey Iceland reps were super nice and said not to worry, they'd wait. Glad pick-up time was during office hours!) Then fast packing. In the end, managed to even get a piece of toast with peanut butter from the dining area before hopping in the van at 9:30am.

And I wasn't the cause for the most delay. The van stopped at the wrong hotel for the next pickup, not realizing the mistake until we were almost out of the city. Then there were two extra people than planned for, which turned out fantastic for me since I got to move up front! Best photo ops.

On the Road!

I met my six companions (whom I'd known nothing about beforehand, but vaguely figured anyone who booked the same dates I did would be part of the tour.) Two German couples and a British couple, all older than I. Our hosts were a Frenchwoman with a microphone and a quiet Icelandic driver.

Aggressive Icelandic Salad

Roads in Iceland are narrow, just wide enough for two cars. Virtually no shoulders to speak of. Marked by yellow sticks on either side. And occasionally bumpy. The food and supplies were behind the third row of seats in the back. During one particularly big bump, a bagged salad came flying into the seats.

Right before Borgarnes, our lunch stop, we drove through a long tunnel underwater. A break from the rain! When we emerged (still raining), we drove through the city to the Settlement Museum, gift shop, and restaurant.

Settlement Museum

Half of the museum was an audio history of the area. Cool enough. The second half was dedicated to a single Viking saga, which is a Thing here. This particular one was about a temper-tantrum-tastic guy who killed his first man at seven and proceeded to go on raids all over Scandinavia as an adult until his brother, and later son, got killed and he fell into a severe depression and composed poetry instead. He's apparently known for that.

Every tourist group in the area was at the packed restaurant upstairs. People speaking all sorts of languages were enjoying a vegetarian Indian buffet. Tasty enough. Then we were back on the road to stop at (after some debate regarding the weather) two nearby natural wonders.

Hot and Cold

Didn't look like it at first. The drive over was sunny, but we saw clouds in the distance. By the time we turned off the highway onto the smaller road, then to the parking lot, it was snowing.

First stop: Hraunfossar waterfall. I asked our leader what it meant. (She's French but now fluent in Icelandic.) She said, "Oh, just 'Lava Falls'. Icelandic names are very practical. Like 'Valley of Grass' for example."

I returned to the van early, brr. The trip leader and I enjoyed a moment singing along to a Hey Ya cover in the van, waiting for the rest of the gang to return. I found out during our conversations in the front seat that she has been to the place I most want to go in the world. (Most people have not heard of it.)

The water is 212 degrees Fahrenheit. (At first, she said it was 100 degrees and I was like, oh like a regular hot spring. Then I realized she meant Celsius.)

Apparently, several years back, some American woman decided to touch the water anyway, burned herself, sued, and lost. Ha! Though I think she might be the reason behind the cones and railings?

We could see the steam from this spring from the highway. (It almost looked like fire smoke.) I stood in the steam. Warmed me up. And made my hair wet.

So, you can correctly conclude from the existence of such a place that super-geothermal Iceland doesn't really have a problem with heating anything in winter. This plant generates electricity and they pipe the water 45 miles to the nearest town where their main concern is cooling the water down for usage.

Back on the road...

After casually passing a volcano that erupted 3,000 years ago, the road started gently rising. "We go on four mountain passes on our way to Heydalur," said our driver (actually, our host, but we didn't know it since he didn't tell us until we got there.)

At around 4:00pm, we crossed the bridge into the northwesternmost peninsula of Iceland known as the Westfjords, so called because the entire coastline looks like a series of ragged handprints.

Last Gas

The town of Hólmavík is almost 70 miles from Heydalur, and about an hour and fifteen minute drive. This town has 300 people ("I know all of them," said our hostess) and is the closest and last bastion of civilization before we head to the rural fjordland

While the van refilled, we stopped in the general store, the below photo on the right, for a potty break. Like many places in Iceland, there was free ice water (tap water is safe and delicious here!), burgers and hot dogs, and the young clerk spoke English.

Over the last mountain pass in the Westfjords, we heard a tale of when the gang got stuck in a snowstorm in the car. But there was so little snow that such an event repeating did not seem likely... we hoped.

Final Fjord

If you look at a map of the Westfjords, you will see that the only road follows the coastline. Inland, back out, following the inlets of water.

A minority of fjords have bridges over the water that save the 30-45 minutes it takes to drive along the coast. The last fjord before our stop has a bridge over it.

They told us that the bridge was made in China. Wow. Apparently, bridges are otherwise too expensive to build on other fjords to shortcut the drive.

Reykjavík Goals