I slept pretty well, but had to swap from my sleeping bag to my cocoon silk sheet, as it was simply too warm in the bag. I had a quick shower and a chat with a few other people sharing the dorm, Larrs from Germany and Adam the Anzac representative, obligatory when staying in hostel accommodation. I set out to have a look around the city and plan my excursions for the rest of the trip. Stopping off at a small coffee house near Hallgrimkirkja Church called Cafe Loki for a breakfast of smoked trout bagel and a latte. The cafe boasts a great upstairs view of the church, but unfortunately at the time of my visit extensive renovations of the famous tower were underway and the view was not much to boast about (it really does look like a space ship though!).  Breakfast however was pretty good.

Suitably refreshed I headed off to sort out my adventures. I had deliberately left my driving licence back at home as I wanted to try to see the country making use of the bus service. I was pretty dismayed to discover that the passes on sale from all the bus operators; Reykjavik Excursions, SBA and Trex were only valid until 1^st September and then the services either expired altogether or the timetables were changed. I enquired if this meant it was possible to get a reduction as it would only be valid for another four days, but it seemed that this option hadn’t been considered by anybody. It also was not possible to be shown the new timetables yet, I found this really quite strange, as they must have been planned and probably already printed ready for displaying in five days time.

The bottom line was though that I would have to have a good think and carefully plan my way of seeing some more of the island, including prioritising where it was I wanted to visit most. After asking at the tourist information and at both travel desks in the main bus terminus a plan was beginning to emerge but it would take some careful reading of the timetables which I decided I would leave till this evening and hopefully book tomorrow.

I then spent a chilled out day touring the city on foot and by bus. I had earlier purchased a Tourist Card which entitles me to free journeys on city buses, free entry to the seven thermal swimming pools, the zoo and to various museums and galleries, well worth the investment. I drifted in and out of a few cafés and had to make an enforced trip to Smáralind (the shopping centre) for a new mobile phone charger as mine had gone walkabout, it had probably dropped out of my backpack at Stansted airport when I had to remove my laptop I am guessing.

I also made a visit to Reykjavik Art Museum/Gallery as I was passing it anyway. I am certainly no art critic so nobody should be offended to hear that I didn’t enjoy much of the display. There was quite a bit of contemporary and abstract type paintings and it just didn’t appeal to me whatsoever, although I’m sure in its own right it is very accomplished. One thing I did find intriguing was a piece by a lady architect called ‘The Path’; it consists of walking through a door into a passageway, closing the door behind you and following what is in effect an enclosed, semi-dark maze. You keep going until you can’t go any further, although I did attempt to squeeze through the gap that seemed to be at the end and then you simply retrace your steps. There is a warning that it can be mildly claustrophobic as you enter but it can definitely be described as a “walk of art”.

The weather and I were playing a little game all day, it would start to rain and I would take out the umbrella, so it would stop, once I put it away it would start to rain again. So I would delay putting it away again and then try and sneak it back into my pack but it would just start to rain again all the same, I’ll obviously have to practice hard at being extra sneaky for future use.

I had noticed earlier that a stage was being erected near the ‘Old Harbour’ and some sound checks were being carried out. I hadn’t seen any advertisements stating a concert or anything of interest was about to happen but later whilst wandering around I spotted a television and the stage was in full view and some sort of ceremony taking place there. I strolled back to see what the fuss was about, and was in time to witness a welcome ceremony for their returning Olympic handball heroes, who won a silver incidentally, a big thing for such a small country. The streets were jam-packed with people and outpourings of Nationalistic pride were in full flow, very colourful with plenty of flag waving, with street vendors selling Icelandic flags, Viking hats and other memorabilia. The whole scene reminded me of a cup final at Wembley or The Millenium Stadium. Then the ceremony finished and everybody simply disappeared within just a few minutes, no street party or anything it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, miraculous!

I returned to the Aurora, Larrs was there chatting on-line. Once he had finished he explained he was meeting some other Erasmus students in the town for a drink and invited me along. We arrived in the main square to meet them, they arrived several minutes later and we traipsed all the way back up the hill in search of a bar that Edward a French speaking engineering student who had been here the longest knew. When we got there it was closed! We made our way to a quiet and bit strange little bar close by, as we didn’t want to walk around all night, but after one drink, feeling a little like goldfish in a bowl we left. Four of the group were French speaking, two German and me, but we could all speak a little of each other’s languages, although their English was of course better than my own grasp of their native tongues so we managed to get along just fine. Four went back to their digs, undoubtedly worn out after the long search for a bar but the other four of us headed to The Dubliner; an Irish bar playing live music and selling Guinness. Larrs had been here the night before and decided he was going to adopt this as his local. I chatted to Anna the only girl in our happy little band. She was from Germany and would be studying in Iceland for eight months as part of her final semester, when she would then likely go travelling around Central America.

The time was beginning to get late, so we said our farewells and I headed back up the hill with Larrs to our guesthouse.

“Mount Esja ........... You are going to walk it?” asked the bus driver, when I enquired if he could inform me when the bus reached the base of the mountain. When I affirmed my intention to do just this, he replied “You’re mad!”

When I had woken up this morning it was a dreary day, grey, with constant drizzle driven by a gusting wind. It wasn’t the kind of day I had been hoping for on my little stroll up Mount Esja! However I decided to get ready and head into town for something to eat, and see if things improved at all.

I had a bowl of chilli tomato soup, with cheese and some filling bread the food of champions at my favourite little coffee house, so I was feeling pretty good despite the weather. I went in search of a more detailed map, as I hoped to have a wander along the summit ridge to the high point if the weather permitted. Suitably nourished and equipped I decided to take a trip to the base and have a ‘look see’ anyway, as I was determined not to spend another day dawdling around the City.

 I was required to take two buses to get to the base and it was on the second bus that I had my little conversation with my bus driver. I asked him if he was aware of the Noel Coward quotation “only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun” and informed him it was obviously also true of foul Icelandic weather, which if anything seemed to be getting worse. When he dropped me off he informed me the wind would be gusting at least 30m/second which is the method of measurement they use here, and I’m not totally sure how it equates to miles or knots per hour. I assumed though he meant it would be pretty strong.

I sorted myself out in to full waterproofs and warm clothing at the bus stop and set off, the guidebook describes the first summit Pennhorn as taking around an hour and a half, but I doubt if the author had this kind of conditions in mind. However I made pretty good progress, as expected there did not seem to be anybody else out having a midday stroll. Wait a minute, what was that I could see just coming over the distant rise, a couple making their way down. I reached them in a few minutes and surprise, surprise they turned out to be English, from Buckinghamshire, I rest my case Milord! They had turned back around two thirds of the way up due to the strong winds and because they were worried about the clag that was closing in around the top ......... very sensible people.

The route up is a well-trodden path and is very well marked; it even has numbered marker posts from top to bottom, six in all. The intrepid English couple had turned back between four and five. The path takes splits into a few different paths above marker four and route finding is a tiny bit trickier, but still no great problems. The wind however was becoming a real problem, I have been out in some severe mountain weather, but this was probably the strongest wind I have experienced. It was difficult to stand as the wind swept up towards the col, picking up speed as it did, I was blown backwards several times and every step required a herculean effort and immense concentration. I had made exceedingly good time to this point, reaching it in less than forty minutes, it took me a further forty to walk the remaining few hundred feet, and I’m really not exaggerating just how severe the wind was

I managed to get into the leeward side of the slope and out of the wind for a short time but had to move back into the wind to make my way onto the summit. There was not of course any view to enjoy, the top was completely under cloud cover, the only reason I was really stood on top of this ‘hill’ was sheer bloody-minded stubbornness! I had intended to explore the ridge somewhat further, but in these conditions there wasn’t any point and it would probably have been a folly to do so. I actually prefer going up to down, and in these conditions it was not going to be any fun descending. I had to once again walk into the teeth of the wind and I made my way down as quickly as possible, pausing only once to take a couple of photographs. The more detailed map I had searched high and low for, as Iceland doesn’t seem to have any great need for maps with a scale of less than 1:75,000 had been an extravagant I hadn’t needed after all.

I arrived back at the bus stop pretty wet as the wind had driven the rain through my waterproofs. It doesn’t really matter how good the material of waterproof clothing is, if you are out in wet windy conditions long enough you will eventually get wet! The English couple, Mike and Pat were waiting, they had been there for over an hour now and there was still thirty minutes or more before the bus arrived. We chatted and I got out of some of my wet stuff, and put on some dry things to make myself more comfortable. They found it pretty amusing when I took off my approach shoes and wrung out my socks, but I had the last laugh........... my feet weren’t cold, unlike theirs.

The bus eventually arrived and I got dropped off at the bus station. While I was there I double checked that I could just turn up for the bus to Akureyi tomorrow and would be able to get a place without booking. This was confirmed and in fact I was informed it wasn’t even possible to book anyway. I also decided to book a ticket for the Golden Circle (I know you’re dying to know, but I’ll tell you later) tour on Monday.

 There was plenty enough time to head into town for something to eat and then back to the Aurora. I had a shower, packed my backpack for tomorrow and then a few of us headed downtown to discover if the stories about the legendary Reykjavik nightlife were true, purely for informative purposes of course. It was a pretty lively scene, although we went out around 11.45pm it was really just beginning to kick into full gear. We sampled the scene in a few lively little bars including of course ‘The English Pub’ which seemed the most popular, with a big wheel which you could pay fifteen hundred krono to have it spun with the chance to win up to eight beers. It was almost constantly spinning as people tried their luck, including our increasingly merry and boisterous little group. I had to be up pretty early in the morning so I left around 2.30am with Jonus, to catch a few hours sleep, rather than risk catching forty winks in a Reykjavik gutter!

I got up at a civilised hour and headed into the town to drift from one coffee house and latte to another. I had to make my decisions today and book something otherwise I would end up doing nothing but eating and drinking in Reykjavik, and I’ve already done too much of that!

I decided on catching a bus along Route One which takes the road along the North Coast to Akureyi, booking an overnight stay in the hostel there, a trip around the ‘Highlights of the North’ on Sunday and then catch the flight back to Reykjavik that evening.

I booked most of these but I was assured that there was not any need to book the overland to Akureyi as a seat was guaranteed. If there were too many people for one bus then another would be provided, even if I was the only ‘extra’ passenger. I wasn’t entirely convinced. Once I had the majority of my trip safely booked I decided to just chill out the rest of the day, finding new places to get a latte, I might write a guidebook on great coffee houses in Reykjavik!

I also decided that tomorrow I would take a stroll up Mount Esja which is the ridge which dominates the skyline of Reykjavik. The guidebook describes it as an easy walk which Grandfathers may take their grandchildren on their first work together. It sounds right up my street right now, and there was also the option to follow the ridge to some other high spots.

I had a cheap plate of pasta in a little place called The Deli, yeah honestly a ‘cheap’ place to eat in Reykjavik! I headed back to the Aurora where they were just beginning a room party; well it would be rude not to interact with my room-mates wouldn’t it? I opened a bottle of red and offered it around to those who didn’t want to drink just beer or didn’t mind mixing the grain and the grape and we had a good laugh, all in all a very relaxed and enjoyable end to a chilled out day.

I had an early start up at 7.30am, yes that is early to me! After a quick shower I popped down for the included filling but dull continental style buffet breakfast and a read of the newspaper, which was less inspiring than breakfast! I ordered a taxi and set off for the epic part of my journey travelling the eighteen miles to Stansted Airport, which entailed catching a train to Liverpool Street Station to then travel back up to Stansted!

The country is at the moment justifiably proud of the performance of our Olympic athletes and their awesome achievements in Beijing. The whole country is euphoric, with National pride pouring from every conceivable source, almost everybody is relishing the prospect of hosting the Games in 2012. However travelling on the underground services and later the Stansted Express I was struck by just how ignorant we can be in this country! Especially on the crowded Express with people having to stand whilst somebody took up a seat with an item of clothing or a small bag, not one person offering to remove them for anybody. Small bags which could easily fit in the overhead storage placed in the main baggage areas forcing people to again take up valuable seating to store their large baggage. My rant is over, but I was totally disgusted at the way we can behave, oh and in case you’re wondering yes I was standing! I could have of course asked somebody to remove their small, inconsequential items but I was practicing my English reserve again, and besides I was too busy being indignant.

Flying over Iceland itself was a little surreal, obviously I only got to glimpse a small part of the island, but it was for the most part large expanses of barren landscape, punctuated with the odd lake or hill. There were features that from the air appeared to be small fissures and rock outcrops, but I’m pretty certain on the ground would be major fractures in the Earth’s surface and cliffs several hundred feet high. Landing at the airport reminded me of two other airports I have had the pleasure of touching down in Mount Pleasant on the Falkland Islands and Thumrait in Oman, bleak! After landing and reclaiming my baggage, I paused at the duty free shop and bought a couple of bottles of red wine, as I know it’ll be expensive on the island. They only have government sanctioned stores for booze which are entirely conspicuous by their inconspicuousness! I passed through customs managing to fend off any potential unpleasant body searches with a with a quick question as to whether Iceland is part of the European Union.

The coach trip from the airport to Reykjavik was uneventful, and again I was struck with the barrenness of the landscape. If it wasn’t for the short carpet like grass everywhere it could have been the surface of the moon! The small hillocks jutting randomly out of the flat land were even more stark and remote when viewed from ground level. There were clusters of uniform box-like industrial buildings with multi-coloured roofs, and there also seemed to be quite a lot of development, new roads and buildings sprouting just about everywhere.

I was dropped off at the Guesthouse Aurora (I’m hoping it’s a good omen) via the bus terminal, and the woman that met me at reception was for some reason seemed extremely amused that I was staying in dormitory accommodation and using a sleeping bag. I found my room that was housed in a separate building where I met a German guy named Jonus, and chatted for a little while. He’s over here for four months studying geothermic wotsits and all that good stuff at the University. I’d been warned about the smell of sulphur in the hot water, but it is still a bit disconcerting and when I washed my hands the first few times I kept looking around to see who it was that had left that awful smell! Apparently it is perfectly harmless and the Icelanders think there is something wrong with the water if it doesn’t have that smell! I dropped off my bags and went back to reception to speak to the owner Siggi, about securing my laptop or camera if it was required, no problem. He seemed really friendly, and a Liverpool supporter, he wasn’t sure if this was a bad thing until I confirmed it was nowhere near as bad as being a Jamchester United follower.

 A short stroll later down the hill and I was into the Old Harbour area of the town, I visited the tourist information to buy some postcards and sound out the price of a few ‘must do’ excursions and went for a bit of a wander around. Finally getting a much needed strong Latte in a small coffee house, with internet access, but unfortunately somehow my battery had run down ......... duh! I did find an outdoor clothing shop that allowed free internet access for thirty minutes, so I availed myself of this very charitable opportunity to say hi to a few of you out there and left some coins in the charity collection they had on the counter.

I then went off in search of some food and found it at the Reykjavik Restaurant which served a hot and cold fish buffet. It was not especially cheap, but then what is in Iceland but it was pretty good all the same. The cold buffet was far better than the hot, with a much wider variety of dishes to choose from, although some looked suspiciously similar. The trick is not to eat too much of the complimentary bread, otherwise you won’t have too much space left for the buffet! I As they didn’t have a local red wine on offer, I tried the Icelandic Viking beer, although I don’t really enjoy beer, pretty strong but it did quench my thirst.

Just as I was about to leave it started to throw it down with rain, the very attractive waitress offered to loan me an umbrella, and tempting though it was, as I’d have to return to give it back, I declined. I had a travel umbrella with me in my pack(always do, good Boy Scout I am) and anyway I decided to stay and have a glass of red wine to wait out the short shower. Yeah I admit it, any excuse will do. It did eventually subside and having polished off my wine I decided to return to the guesthouse.

There were a few more people there including Jonus, they were deep in conversation and having acknowledged him and greeted everybody I slipped past. I did speak to a German girl called Claudia for awhile, she’s been here since Sunday, had a wasted whale watching trip yesterday and is off snorkelling and then horse riding around the Golden Circle (more of that later) tomorrow. Time to hit the sack myself it seems, up early again tomorrow, no not that early, and have a closer look at Reykjavik and book some excursions.

Our flight out of Boston left on time and was very nice. Since we were flying Saga Class, we were the first to board the plane in Boston. We found our seat, the first two in the very front, and settled in for the 5 hour flight. We were immediately served drinks while the other passengers boarded. Once all the preflight talks were done, the plane took off for Iceland.

We were served dinner on this flight as well. I chose the Flounder with potatoes and greenbeans, and Lena had the beef tenderloin with potatoes au gratin. Dinner also came with rolls and a glass of wine, which wasn't all that good, but after a few glasses, who cares!

After dinner, we settled into our over sized seats and napped on and off during the flight. Hours later, as the sun started to come up, I attempted to take some pictures, but the sun was directly in front of the plane, so I didn't get the shots I was hoping for. There were also a lot of clouds below us, so many I didn't know if we were still over water or not. As we started our decent and we broke through the clouds, it was wet and rainy in Iceland. I did manage a few pictures before touch down, which was very smooth.

We had an hour and a half before our next flight left Iceland, so this gave us plenty of time to go through customs, and find our departure gate. Here Lena got some coffee and me some water to sip on. The wait was short and we soon boarded our next plane to Sweden.

Me and my boyfriend landed in Keflavik and came strait to the hostel. We booked a shared room with 6 beds and this was a bad move. The girl across from me was deathly ill and hacked up phlegm all night long. The other 2 girls staying in the room ran in and out of the room until 4 am giggling drunk - slamming the door each time they came in and out. The side of the hostel we were on was busy all night and (as the counter attendant informed me) is rented often to the local kids for party time on weekends. We soon moved to the private area on the other side of the hostel, in a 3 bed private room, payed a bit more, but it was clean, comfortable and quiet. The bathrooms are fine, took a while to get used to brushing my teeth with sulpher water, but other than that, the people were friendly and the breakfast nice and varied. As the guy below mentioned, it is a bit far from anything to see in Reykjavik, but after staying around in a few different hostels, it was worth coming back to.

These pictures were taken at the Miðnæturhlaup (midnight run), a nice 10k run around a suburb of Reykjavík

The Management was INCREDIBLY rude and tried to screw us over by charging us twice the price that we got from booking.com. When we refused, they kicked us out early in the morning (WAY before check out). BEWARE. Print your reservations and have them with you. Oh, and on top of all that, we were woken up at 7am in the morning because the hotel was under construction.

First let me start by saying that this is a very nicely maintained hotel in a perfect location. Rooms were small but very clean with very nice bathrooms. Great value for money by Icelandic standards. Parking is nog problem im the sidestreets of Klapperstigur street down the direction of the harbour. Now the downside: on friday and saturday night the music from the bar (Club 13) oppposite the hotel was ridiculously loud. There were no visitors so in order to get attention they opened their doors and windows until at least 4 am. This calls for some quality earplugs otherwise sleeping is really hard. Another factor in sleap depravation was the constant sunlight during summer. This would be no problem but the lack of quality curtains is really unbelievable. There were some undercurtains but they don't suffice in any way. Really bad feature I think. All in all a nice hotel but wouldn't recommend it to those that sleep light. - Eric -

When we arrived at Rekjavik airport, we were a little disturbed to find out that it wasn't actually in the city at all. A short coach journey later (well, it could have been a long coach journey but I fell asleep, so it seemed pretty quick to me), we arrived. Travel rumpled, completely disorientated but with all our luggage and most of our faculties.

What struck me about Reykjavik was how nice the city was, it always seemed clean, the building were an interesting architectural mix, the graffiti interesting and often beautiful. What I also came to love was the size of the place, especially as we became increasingly footsore as the trip continued. Reykjavik is a compact and charming capital city. In the four nights we spent there we always went out and wandered around, following the coast road, or walking through the city centre.

Reykjavik also has loads to see, the Perlan is worth it for the amazing panoramic views of the city and surrounding countryside, (and also the suspicious show market inside..), and the church is breathtaking both inside and out. A special word for the cemetery, situated on the other side of the lake, it was one of the most beautiful, peaceful and respectful places I'd ever been. Trees were planted on every grave (as Iceland is notably short of them, and indeed a major hobby of the people is growing and tending to trees). This created a little forrest in the centre of the city. Quiet and tranquil, and ultimately respectful it was one of the most touching, and appropriate monuments to people's passing I'd ever seen. If you're in Reykjavik, make time to see it.

Iceland must have the most beautiful women. I think if not by absolute standards, then certainly the amount of attractive girls per square feet must be among the highest. Bar-hopping around Vegemot, Solon, Apotek, Kaffinbarin, Olivers... with 24 hours of daylight (ok so the 4 hours between Midnight and 4am is technically dark but it just reminded me of NY at 8am). The people are friendly, the drinks expensive (but who cares - I stopped trying to convert after the 5th beer), and the party lasts all night... I'd rather not disclose the details of that night on this blog, but the events are something to be remembered..

So taking the only flight out Thursday night (NY time) out on Icelandic Air landed me at Keflavik Airport at roughly 6am in the morning, Icelandic time. The first thing I notice is that it's noticeably cooler - the weather was forecast to be slightly rainy for the weekend I was staying with about an average of 50 degree Fahrenheit temperature. My buddy and I immediately book a morning bus straight from the airport to Blue Lagoon. On the way there, I'm floored by the amount of moss growing on the rocks. It looks like alien land - all you can see on the bus-ride is this strange puffy green surface for miles on end. I realize we are nearing the Blue Lagoon when the smell of sulfur hits my nostrils. I see from a distance that mist is hovering on top of light blue water - an eerie sight. The water is not clear, mind you but an opaque blue.

I forget to tell you that on the way there, my friend and I meet Ernesto -a microbiologist who is there for a conference later that week. He had apparently decided that since the conference wasn't until Sunday, he might as well explore the town Friday and Saturday. Realizing that there were only about 5 people on the bus to Blue Lagoon and that the 2 others were over the age of 70, we decided to stick together.

We stay for a couple of hours, watching the Blue Lagoon slowly turn into a geriatric ward. Most of the people there are over the age of 60 - I guess it's what happens when you're at the pool at 9am on a Friday. It would only make sense that the people who go that early would be the ones that are retired or not working. Still, it's an enjoyable time.

We finally head to Reykjavik itself at about noon or so and have lunch at Solon. The food is good and the place is busy. Interesting that our waitress was actually originally from Spain and thus spoke perfect Spanish - as did Ernesto. Always wondered why she was working in Iceland of all places. I wondered even more as she walked around asserting that the fish of the day is "Troot" (Trout) when, as I found out after receiving my meal, the fish was clearly Salmon. Odder still is how the other waitresses kept asking OUR waitress what the fish of the day was - leading all of the staff to believe that they were serving Trout when ... it was really Salmon. We didn't think it was a big deal, so we didn't say anything.

An absolutely wonderful restaurant! The dining areas are beautifully decorated and the staff are all very pleasant and friendly. While we were there, we dined on puffin as an appetizer, and I chose whale as the main course since I knew that I would never be able to eat these items back in the US. The whale tastes a bit like beef, but does have an acquired taste to it. The puffin was delicious. All of the food, though, was excellent. The restaurant is conveniently located close to the main shopping areas, and is definitely not to be missed while in Reykjavik!