Iceland Day Two

It was time to explore Reykjavik! After a lie in...

We headed to Tjörnin Lake where 42 species of birds reside, and it happens to sit right in the middle of town.

The above three pics were taken by Christina

It was cold in Iceland but not that cold. The most noticeable thing was the wind!  On the drive from the airport I could feel the car being pushed around. I was ready with my North Face jacket though! I bought it in Santa Barbara last year and was super prepared for the crazy british winter that never came so I was happy to get more use out of it! It is so worth investing in a proper warm winter jacket! 

We got lunch at a bakery where we tentatively ordered sandwiches... The ingredients were in Icelandic and we were not yet savvy with the currency. For every purchase I made I converted to GBP using the XE currency app. 

Once we were well fed we wandered up to Hallsgrimskirkja- the main attraction in Iceland and the largest church! Took a few snaps on the way ;) 

A Church by the lake

Christina photographed us

Cool Building Art

Me photobombing Christina's photo of Amy

Weird ass sculpture of cow felatio? 

Hallsgrimskirkja

Got a stranger to photograph us

Christina's photo of me inside the church

The colourful toy houses of Reykjavik

The plan for the afternoon was to find Mount Keilir and hike to the top! It's a 2-3 hour hike so a perfect afternoon activity. However, when we found the signs to the place we ended up on a very gravelly road. Which was fun and we did try, but in the end we decided in favour of not damaging the car and turned back. 

Christina's photo of me and Meryl the car

Christina's photo of me being attacked by wind

Christina's photo of me in the lava fields

Christina's photo of Meryl

So we turned back and went for more driving and exploring. We found a little village kind of place when following signs for Vogar. It brought us closer to the coast and we spotted a little yellow lighthouse. We hoped to get closer for some photographs but couldn't find a way. In the process however we stumbled across some icelandic horses and Glossi the dog! 

Christina's photo of the lighthouse

Christina's photo of Amy chasing Glossi

Christina's photo of the horses

Christina and Amy with Glossi

Me driving

Another photo of Meryl in the lava fields

When we had exhausted the area around Vogar we continued our explorations. We followed signs to an attraction called Bláa Lóniõ and when we started seeing blooms of steam in the distance we realised we had been following signs to the famous Blue Lagoon. This was on our agenda but we hadn't prepared to visit today so did not have our swimwear on us. Still had a little explore though. 

Me and the blue water

Cheeky screenshot of Amy's Instagram pic of us both

Then we headed home and cooked for ourselves. I was starving and quickly whipped up some pasta and veg. 

Served with wine of course.. 

Travel: Iceland Day One

So I haven't posted in a while because I was trying to find my photos from America to blog about that... But in that time I spent a week in Iceland!

I had never really considered Iceland as a place to visit but my uni housemates always talked about going as they are massive fans of Sigur Ros. So in December my friend Christina proposed we finally go! I agreed but insisted we were there for my 24th birthday as I couldn't spend it in Maidstone after turning 23 in LA.

So on 2 hours sleep we left Christina's flat in London at 3.30am for Luton airport! An airport I have never been to and one I shall try to avoid in the future...

Horrendous sleep deprived selfie

Amy and Christina

We were all super tired but our excitement got us through! Keflavik airport is gorgeous! So empty and so clean, I was buzzing. Until Christina discovered she left her phone on the plane... And an ATM didn't give Amy the money she asked for... And I had to go collect our rental car on my own. I am the only driver of the three of us but was super nervous about driving on the wrong side of everything so didn't fancy being alone- but I managed! With a few harsh breaks and white knuckles. I parked up back at the airport to collect them, started getting the bags into the boot, and the wind blew the car forward! I hadn't put the handbrake on properly... 

After calming down with a green tea and cappucino croissant (SO GOOD) we headed toward Reykjavik to find our apartment! My nerves kept me awake for the drive but when we arrived at the apartment I was crashing bad. All of us got settled and clean. 

Our Apartment

As we were STARVING we hurried into town to grab some food. We explored a bit, walked around in circles, reading menus over and ended up in Laundromat Cafe. It's awesome. It has such a great atmosphere, maps covering the walls and an actual laundromat in the basement! I had the dish called Vegan toast which was spicy aubergine and home made hummous on top of bread with salad and cashews and a side of sweet potato! I also had green tea which was kind of fruity and delicious. 

Vegan Toast

Icelandic Skyr Dessert

Amy instragram'd me sleeping at the table. 

Once I had eaten I fell asleep at the table. Christina had Icelandic Skyr which she didn't finish so I finished it for her. It was delicious and the sweetness perked me up. We headed home via the supermarket (and liqueur store) to chill and have an early night. We also researched things to do and I planned out our week a bit. I had bought some red wine. You know, to help me sleep...