Dear Iceland: Where's the snow?

Cor blimey, it's been a whirlwind week! This time last week we were busily packing for our trek to Iceland, and here we are already back! Pete, Ellen and I got back to Leeds in the wee hours of Wednesday morning after travelling all day back from Reykjavik, tired but elated. What an amazing time-- a trip with a great friend to one of the most interesting, stunning places in the world and a reunion with my little brother all at once! We spent yesterday seeing Leeds (and a couple of pubs, perhaps) but at the moment, Pete is actually in London sightseeing a bit before joining me back in Leeds to take off for Dublin.

But before I tell you all about our trip (I kept a journal again), here are links to the rest of the photo albums from Eastern Europe!

Budapest
Vienna
Bratislava
Bern & Interlaken
Prague
Krakow
Berlin
Copenhagen
Stockholm

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Reykjavik, April 18


In the tradition of the legendary Icelandic sagas, I believe our epic journey to get to Stansted Airport fits right in. Ellen and I left Leeds at 5 am and arrived in London in lots of time for our 12:30 flight to Keflavik, on the southwest coast of Iceland.


The 45 minute bus ride to Reykjavik revealed an alien landscape: fields of black rock ending abruptly in stout little mountains. It took us a few minutes to figure out what was weird... there are no trees! All the buildings, highways, and cars are new; they, along with the incredibly high prices for any goods and services, reflect Iceland's stunning economic turnaround in the last 50 years.


Our bus driver told us they'd drop us off at our hostel, so when we stopped and he pointed at us to get out, we did. Unfortunately, he dropped us at the other end of Reykjavik's main shopping street... we had to walk another 20 minutes, and we even passed the bus further down the road, closer to our hostel! :)


I was expecting the world's most northerly capital to be like a little Copenhagen, and in its colourful buildings, it does resemble it a bit. But it's also unlike anywhere I've ever been. Compact and with shiny new architecture sharing space with typical white-washed Icelandic buildings, almost all of Reykjavik is within view of the city's extensive harbour, which itself looks out across calm, glassy water toward low mountains in the distance. The city's so pristine, yet not fussy-- the orderliness just seems like a byproduct of the matter-of-fact simplicity of daily life here in Iceland.


After getting settled into our sparkling-clean room, Ellen and I went out and explored the immediate area, walking down to the harbour and checking out the discount grocery store. As we walked around the city centre, we marvelled at seeing the sun at 10:30 pm and children out walking with their parents. There just seems to be a different approach to the day when it's four hours longer. The night sun takes some getting used to!


(A church against the light sky at 10 pm)

And, despite our lack of sleep, we were really excited to check out Reykjavik's famous nightlife. We didn't realize, however, that because of the high price of alcohol, Icelanders stay home and drink before going to the bar around midnight. So we had it tough finding any pub or bar that seemed somewhat populated! We ended up going into a quiet bar near our hostel and drinking a couple of pints of Tuborg before collapsing into bed around midnight.