Sleepy Reykjavik

Arrived in Keflavik safely around 6 in the morning Monday, greeted with thick milky cloud cover and freezing rain. Oh, and ridiculous wind gusts. Hello Iceland 🙂

Our friend Bjarki, ever true and loyal, was there to greet us and pick us all up. It was so wonderful to see him again! He is a Dad now, Congratulations B! We will be meeting his wife and baby girl later today. I’m very excited for baby snuggles.

Our first full day in Iceland started at the Blue Lagoon. Like last time, we headed straight there from the airport and checked in about 9am. I didn’t take any pictures this time, but if you want to read about our previous experience and really everything we experienced this time too, you can check out my former blog post about it HERE. The four of us floated around for a few hours, people watching and relaxing until it was time for lunch at Lava. 

After lunch, we were really feeling jet lagged (no sleep on the plane for any of us!) and the effects of floating in the warm water for several hours really took their toll. We decided to leave the lagoon around 1pm and make our way into Reykjavik and check into our apartment. Everyone but Rob fell instantly asleep the moment we got into the car (thanks for being a good DD Rob!)

Our apartment is situated on one of the main strips of the city and has a great balcony view. Lots of shops and restaurants located within easy walking distance, so there will always be something to go do or walk to. Amazingly, between short cat naps here and there, everyone managed to stay awake the entire Monday. We unpacked, got settled and then went and found a grocery store to get a few key items to have around. Our apartment has a full kitchen so cooking easy meals will be a welcome change to eating out for every meal. A few quick snaps of our digs for the week:

We wound up making a simple dinner of scrambled eggs and fish cakes and I was in bed by 8pm. Right now, there are about 20 hours worth of daylight, so it felt funny to go to bed while it was still so light but it’s also nice to have such a long day to fill with fun activities.

Our group woke up around 6:30 Tuesday morning and spent the am lazing around, drinking coffee and watching the news. Originally I had booked our return trip to the Laxnes Horse Farm for Tuesday am but after being so tired yesterday, I think everyone just wanted a day of ease. So I called Laxnes and got our ride moved to Wednesday morning, which actually works out even better as the weather is supposed to be dry and somewhat sunny Wednesday which will make the ride and the views all the better. Today, there are still thick clouds and residual scattered rain. Our first order of business Tuesday morning was to visit Braud & Co, which is an amazing bakery located about 5 minutes from our apartment. Last time Rob and I accidentally stumbled on this place and impatiently waited until we could come back to Iceland to go there again. Walking around anywhere in the city here is a colorful and interesting walk. I love the art on the buildings. The cinnamon rolls they are making were to be ready and out of the oven at 11:30 am. So, even though we purchased a few pastries and breads there this morning, the plan is to go back for a warm roll soon 🙂

Later this afternoon, we will go and drive the The Golden Circle and see a lot of the natural wonders that Iceland has, and also to find some other hot springs and pools to swim in that are less touristy. Having our friend here willing to show us every little place in his home country is a very special thing; we are so lucky!

More to come!