Day 10: Reykjavik

I was up early this morning to get to the airport for my flight to Reykjavik. I had asked someone at the hotel when I should arrive for my flight, and go figure, it was WAY too early. Sure, the light rail took about 40 minutes as expected, but at the airport, I had checked my bag and pass through security in under 10 minutes. It reminded me of Montana airports. There really is no need to arrive more than an hour prior. Oh well. I had time to get some coffee and read my book.

The flight itself wasn’t too bad. I was a bit concerned because it was on a budget airline, Norwegian Air, but all in all, it turned out just fine, just don’t expect to get anything complimentary, even water.

Once I arrived in Iceland, that’s where things got interesting. I hadn’t looked into transportation from the airport to Reykjavik, and come to find out, they aren’t close to each other, so while taxiing to our gate, I quickly booked a spot on a bus. The drop off point in the city was about 1/2 mile from the guesthouse I’m staying at, but it was literally all uphill. Not so fun with a heavy backpack and suitcase. Then, once I got to the guesthouse, it was locked with no one around. I called to ask if I could checkin early or even just drop off my bags, and the owners were terribly rude about it. At this point, I was just annoyed. Once the owners finally arrived (nearly an hour after I did), I got a room and key which was great, but they quickly disappeared so I couldn’t even ask some questions. Sigh. My annoyance level was super high at that point. Anyways, long story short, I spent the rest of the day wandering the city with no destination. I don’t think Reykjavik is that big, so I think I hit most of the hot spots today. Check out some of my pictures!

Hallgrimskirkja and the Leifer Eiriksson Statue:

Sølfar (Sun Voyager):

Harpa (Music Venue):

Landakotskirkja (Landakot’s Church) – Catholic Cathedral:

The French Hospital – built by the French to serve French mariners who were fishing for cod:

Street Art!

All in all, despite early frustrations, I made the best of today and got to see some pretty cool things! Tomorrow is a new day for new adventures! PS even though it was a bluebird day, I had my down coat on for part of it!