Why Iceland? Well, I'm a sucker for cold weather, so escaping the humidity and heat in the Northeast U.S. for a week is a welcome change. But Iceland is also a great place to do a road trip, and so Ms. Chan and I plotted a route along the Ring Road (more or less) and booked our flight and car. We landed in Reykjavik on Wednesday morning and we spent most of the day driving around the city. Thankfully, everything we wanted to see was in the same vicinity. Note: Most of these photographs were uploaded and edited on my tablet, which is something new that I'm trying. Forgive me if the quality isn't as up to par as my previous posts.
When we began planning, most people advised to stay in Reykjavik for a day and then move on as it can be a bit dull. The city is really colorful and calm, with abundant speed bumps and nice people, but after our day driving around, I would agree and say only spend a day or two here. We definitely had a lot of fun driving around the city and we'd recommend not to skip the city at all. We hit everything we wanted to see and we still had plenty of time left.
Most of the city's architecture is also a nice change of pace from the boring monotonous stack of buildings back in Jersey. But it doesn't mean it's all bright and clean. There are always a few rough spots.
And a lot of graffiti and murals; most of them were really beautiful.
Our first stop was Hallgrimskirkja, a majestic, old church.
The top of the church provided 360 views of Reykjavik.
Buildings are strikingly varied in Reykjavik, and one of the prettiest we came across was the Harpa Concert Hall.
We also had to stop at the Iceland Phallological Museum, of course. It houses a collection of penises from various animals, ranging from men, to bulls and orcas.
This is another famous church called Landakotskirkja that we stopped by. Afterwards, we hung out by a lake called Tjornin nearby.
The high ceiling of Landakotskirkja.
We made our way downtown and had dinner at Fishmarkadurinn. We had a tasting menu and tried puffin (pictured above) and minke whale, along with various other local delights. Puffin is delicious!
Tomorrow we actually begin the road trip by heading out onto the Ring Road. Wish us luck!