Iceland, Day One

Hello from Reykjavik!

I thought it would be fun to do a blog update from time to time from Iceland, so here's the first one.

Russell and I had a great flight and saw a glimpse of the Northern Lights from the plane. Wow, amazing and we hope to see them again this week. We arrived at our hotel at 12:45 am local time. Worth mentioning, the cab ride from the airport to the hotel was a whopping $196.00 Canadian dollars, all for a 51 km ride. Yikes, that hurt! On arrival at our hotel, we were given an envelope with our key in it, no photo ID or passport required, and off we were sent to our room. As with most European hotel rooms, it took us a while to figure out the lighting, heating and other amenities....but we figured out the bidet pretty quickly :-) Shortly after we arrived, the power went out. Our iPhone flashlights came in very handy. So, we went to bed without unpacking and around 3 am, the power came back on, and all the lights that we had turned on when we checked in.  To make a long story short, we were not impressed with the way we were greeted when we checked in, and the power failure made it worse, so we complained...as any good paying customer would do. So, today, we had the visit of the manager who apologized for any inconvenience that this may have caused us....and gave us a voucher for a full dinner at the roof top restaurant. Not bad.

Our first day was all about exploring the city of Reykjavik. We woke up early, unpacked, then had breakfast...a nice buffet, European style spread. We walked a total of 9.72 km today, according to Russell's Apple watch. The city centre is small, quaint, and reminds us a bit of Quebec City. Lots of little shops and restaurants. The weather cooperated for the most part. It started out cloudy with a drizzle and 10 celsius but the sun eventually came out. We visited the famous Hallgrimskirkja, Reykjavik's Most Famous Church. Hallgrimskirkja (the church of Hallgrimur), is a Lutheran Church located in the city of Reykjavík. The towering structure stands 74 meters tall, making it Iceland's tallest church, and the country's sixth-tallest building overall. Pretty impressive.

We found a great spot for lunch, a French Bistro, go figure. The food and ambiance were very good. The menu included fermented shark but we decided against it. We are told that if you want to eat it, you best wear clothes that you are prepared to leave behind...the stench of the fish permeates clothes permanently....not my cup of tea.

So, here we are, in our room now resting our feet until dinner time. Tomorrow will be a big day. The weather forecast is sunny so our tour guide confirmed our tour to visit the Snaefellsness Peninsula, where dormant volcanoes and glaciers reside side by side, on a narrow westward peninsula full of mountains. It will be a full day, 10-2 hours, filled with amazing sightseeing and photography moments for Russell.

Until my next blog update, Eigðu gott kvöld!

Hallgrimskirkja Lutheran Church...
wow....amazing!

Hallgrimskirkja Church
interior....stunning.

Hallgrimskirkja Church dominates downtown
Reykjavik.

Our hotel...Radisson Blu Saga.

A Viking moment post a French bistro lunch!