Iceland: 1.5 Days in Reykjavík
We arrived in Reykjavik yesterday morning after an all-night flight that should´ve been spent sleeping but was instead spent chattering nonstop with canyonwren about our love relationships. I´m sure after 8 hours of this the guy sitting on her other side was either really amused or really confused. Hee!
We got in and dragged into the BSÍ bus terminal and had some incredibly awful vending machine coffee. Then off to find a place to sleep, as we were both trashed. I was especially exhausted because I´d pulled an all nighter before we left and in the end I was awake for about 42 hours straight. Except for the 5 minute almost-nap on the bus that resulted in me drooping forward and startling awake as my forehead went bonk! on the seat in front of me.
A guesthouse was located and obtained, where we happily dropped giant heavy backpacks. Then, trying very hard to resist crashing into soft beds with fluffy down duvets, we forced ourselves out to go reconnoiter and obtain details about how to get to the Good Stuff. On the plane we´d finally narrowed down what we think the Good Stuff is. The plan is to spend 4-5 days hiking the Hornstrandir peninsula up in Westfjord, reputed to contain many cute and friendly arctic foxes as well as stunning geography. Then, we´ll squeeze in the Landmannalaugur circuit, about a 4 day trek geothermal areas and multicolored rhyolite mountains along the way. It is reputed to have outstanding soaking pools that may or may not still be infested with "tiny itchy parasites spread by baby ducklings" so I´m really hoping that issue has been resolved! Lastly, the pony trek that I just managed to get booked before we left, which will be a 4 day ride in the Þorsmórk national park area. We´ve got just enough time for a night in a guesthouse with showers and beds to get cleaned up and repacked between each Good Thing.
So, with all of that settled we crashed around 1pm. I slept until about 10pm and then we went to hunt down some dinner. The whale entree and puffin feast looked very intriguing, but we settled for the more modest lamb tenderloin. Then back home to try to sleep some more. canyonwren had a very vigorous snoring session and I lied awake excited and tired but not sleepy. Around 6 I rousted her out of bed (an unprecedented event in the entire history of our 5 year friendship) and we went out hoping to find a bakery and coffee. Instead, we found the tail end of Reykjavík´s professional drinking sporting event, picking our way through tons of broken glass and weaving around sloppy drunk horny young people. One fellow in particular was dressed nicely in a suit coat and black dress shoes. Except that he was missing his pants. I took a picture as discreetly as I could and tried not to laugh audibly. We never did find coffee or baked things, although we literally followed our noses to a yummy wafting bakery that was up and running but not open to customers yet. We scritched and loved no less than 4 friendly kitties on various streets.
We´ve resorted our packs and are happy to unload at least 20lbs of gear to the secure storage of our guesthouse as we travel light to go backpacking for the next few days. Off to finish lurking about downtown Reykjavik now, we´re flying up to Ísafjördur tonight. It was a choice between a 40 minute flight or a 2 day bus ride on squiggly less-than-fully-paved fjörd tracing roads, so we gladly forked over the cash. Time is more valuable.
We got in and dragged into the BSÍ bus terminal and had some incredibly awful vending machine coffee. Then off to find a place to sleep, as we were both trashed. I was especially exhausted because I´d pulled an all nighter before we left and in the end I was awake for about 42 hours straight. Except for the 5 minute almost-nap on the bus that resulted in me drooping forward and startling awake as my forehead went bonk! on the seat in front of me.
A guesthouse was located and obtained, where we happily dropped giant heavy backpacks. Then, trying very hard to resist crashing into soft beds with fluffy down duvets, we forced ourselves out to go reconnoiter and obtain details about how to get to the Good Stuff. On the plane we´d finally narrowed down what we think the Good Stuff is. The plan is to spend 4-5 days hiking the Hornstrandir peninsula up in Westfjord, reputed to contain many cute and friendly arctic foxes as well as stunning geography. Then, we´ll squeeze in the Landmannalaugur circuit, about a 4 day trek geothermal areas and multicolored rhyolite mountains along the way. It is reputed to have outstanding soaking pools that may or may not still be infested with "tiny itchy parasites spread by baby ducklings" so I´m really hoping that issue has been resolved! Lastly, the pony trek that I just managed to get booked before we left, which will be a 4 day ride in the Þorsmórk national park area. We´ve got just enough time for a night in a guesthouse with showers and beds to get cleaned up and repacked between each Good Thing.
So, with all of that settled we crashed around 1pm. I slept until about 10pm and then we went to hunt down some dinner. The whale entree and puffin feast looked very intriguing, but we settled for the more modest lamb tenderloin. Then back home to try to sleep some more. canyonwren had a very vigorous snoring session and I lied awake excited and tired but not sleepy. Around 6 I rousted her out of bed (an unprecedented event in the entire history of our 5 year friendship) and we went out hoping to find a bakery and coffee. Instead, we found the tail end of Reykjavík´s professional drinking sporting event, picking our way through tons of broken glass and weaving around sloppy drunk horny young people. One fellow in particular was dressed nicely in a suit coat and black dress shoes. Except that he was missing his pants. I took a picture as discreetly as I could and tried not to laugh audibly. We never did find coffee or baked things, although we literally followed our noses to a yummy wafting bakery that was up and running but not open to customers yet. We scritched and loved no less than 4 friendly kitties on various streets.
We´ve resorted our packs and are happy to unload at least 20lbs of gear to the secure storage of our guesthouse as we travel light to go backpacking for the next few days. Off to finish lurking about downtown Reykjavik now, we´re flying up to Ísafjördur tonight. It was a choice between a 40 minute flight or a 2 day bus ride on squiggly less-than-fully-paved fjörd tracing roads, so we gladly forked over the cash. Time is more valuable.