After recognizing that underneath this wet soil was a lyer of rock, that broke through the surface. On top mossy grass. The land was flat except in the distance hills, later mountains.
The bus took us into Reykjavik center from the north of the city, and it made me realize how grateful I am for arriving in a city the right way. Some cities are messy and chaotic but most have a plan, if you can see it from the right angle, and the drive in provided that view, one that showed the north harbor could be a reference point until everything else was figured out. But actually the touristy city center is really easy. It's a series of streets radiating out from a central place not far from the harbor.
I stayed in the domes guesthouse, a quiet but clean barebones kind of place. I don't even have bedding because it seems everyone else brought a sleeping bag... No maybe this shouldhave been my first clue that I wasn't really prepared for I iceland.
It was early when I got in so I decided to go fora walk. It started sprinkling offering me the first chance to test out my rain gear... An irritating hard sprinkle of a rain, one that soaks you over time but t first seems like nothing. I walked east, not the best direction to head, but it seemed that at 8 or 9 in the morning all of Reykjavik was dead and closed.
I stopped into a 24 hour grocer to check prices... Things didn seem unreasonable but I really don't have a grip on the conversion rate... Ben and Jerry's ice team was like 10$
In that first few hours I saw very few people, but over time I saw a number of tattoo shops, graffiti, lingerie or sex shops, book stores, kaffe shops, music stores and more.
Eventually I stopped for a muffin and a coffee. Which cost me like 7 bucks or something... And at this point I realized that everything in iceland was normal price plus a dollar or two more. If you are used to paying $2 it will be 3-4. This is an irritating conclusion but one I have stuck to so far.
After checking out the man shopping streets and getting irritated with the dull girl at the tourist info shop. I decided I should do something with m day so I could get out of Reykjavik as soon as possible and see everything I wanted to.
I walked to the big cathedral church that is the highest point in the area.the view was great and I was feeling confident... So I walked down to some of the points I saw. Heading towards the pond and the churches beyond... I ran into city hall which was having an exhibit on the capital as a literary city. The pond was beautiful but I went further, after running around a different church and swooping around some neighborhoods I headed towards the harbor to ask about the whale watching tours. I decided on which one i would take if I did take one... Then checked out some of the restaurants and shops by the harbor, then ran into an art museum and though I was exhausted I decided I would take on the task the guy at the door gave of using my ticket to visit one of the other museums as well. The first museum has some interesting pop art And comic book stuff, along with an exhibit of smells... I mean really it was a room with dozens of boxes and each box had a slightly different scent. It was fascinating, but they were all slightly perfume-y. So it was also maybe not as interesting as it cold have been. Still they needed the whole room to work together so I guess it has to be a pseudo base scent.
Anyway I liked that stuff, but I was sleepy s I walked to another coffee shop and got some green tea. Then walked to the other art museum which showed Icelandic painters in the first half of the 20th century, and what hit me the most was that many of the landscapes had been in the tourist videos I watched on the flight.
After the art museum I decided it would be best to visit the other tall monument the pearl museum with the saga tour or whatever.... It was a long walk through some fields and some highways and I sang best friends forever to myself while trying not to freak out about the pain in my knee.
The museums view was spectacular we'll worth the walk, but the museum itself wasn't too hot, in act I did not recommend it to other folks in the hostel - even though they went and loved it. The audio guide was good, but the model recreations were pretty shite, and it felt a lot like a less good version of Jorvik. After that I decided for was in order but I could find anywhere I wanted to eat so I ended up retracing my steps back over by the harbor. I ended up getting a killer doner kebab and fries and was satisfied.... Then I had some energy so I went down to the harbor to check out the views along the coast.
At a certain point I decided I would need to sleep so I headed back to my hostel and met up with the folks who were there. As I was about to charge my phone I realized that my adaptor didn't work and ran out to a store... Eventually purchasing a new one (for the next few days) at a cost of 15$
Maybe this is when my mood changed or when I got back to the hostel to try to plan out the rest of my trip.
I was cross referencing hostels to the places on the map I wanted to go and found nothing within my price range. Ys I could stay snaelfellsnes for around 100 a night but that didn't guarantee I could get to the mountain or get back to the city the next day. Us I cold stay 2 hours away from this other park but for 60 bucks a night and same issues of transportation... Then I started realizing that even many of these places were fully booked, and spooked I decided "shit I better stay here and just take tours" but when I looked for vacancies in Reykjavik through the weekend there was NOTHING! I was freaking out.c.. Did I need to leave iceland all together? I decided no, I will just book a place closer to the airport so for the next few days I will be staying in hafnarfjordur which is apparently like the next big city south of here that no one has heard of, except I guess they have a troll village or something... I look forward to it, but it brings up more issues too.
I will get back to that at some point, probably when I just bite the bullet and do it.
I went to bed frustrated, but recognizing that even if I spent 1000 dollars for the next few days I'd still be alright... Annoyed spiteful even but alright.
I woke up at 3 am, but with a plan. Today was the day for the golden circle, a tour of notable sites, a major waterfall, an awesome geyser and the rift between the North American and European tectonic plates which happens to also be the place where iceland became a pseudo democracy - establishing a parliament hundreds of years before it was cool in other countries.
This trip was awesome.... And I am hoping to show it in pictures, but a few things came to me while i was there.... A) iceland is awesome B) with sights like these I understand why they charge so much C) I love traveling even if I hate it too sometimes. And many more thoughts I will share at some point r not.
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