Iceland: Food Tour

 Now being rested for two whole nights, we were apparently on a mission to sample ALL the culinary goodness that Iceland offered and nothing solves that problem faster than enrolling in a local food tour.

First though, we had an appointment to keep. Rapid COVID Antigen tests were our first stop this morning. And by first stop I mean we rugged up in all layers we had and ventured out into the freezing rain to walk 2km uphill and have a very nice woman poke a very long swab-on-a-stick very far up our noses! It was a brain tickler for sure! A negative test is a requirement to board the flight back to the US in 3 days. We got tested at 10:00am and had Negative COVID test results emailed to us by 10:20am. It was free too. Thanks Iceland!

The Reykjavik Food Walk was recommended to us by friends, Jon and Julia... long time and frequent visitors to Iceland.

We met the tour guide and 6 other participants outside the Harpa Concert Hall/Event Center. It had been an hour long walk - still in freezing rain - to get there and we were pretty damp. All in all not as bad as it could have been thanks to the great gear we had packed. I myself was sporting 2 layers of merino wool on the base, a hoodie brushed with a wool lining, a down jacket and a Goretex Jacket. Legs were wrapped in fleecy tights and Goretex pants and inside Goretex hiking boots I had some extra cushioned wool Darn Tough socks. Just when you think that was enough... it wasn't. My head featured a possum fur beanie, that down jacket hood and the rain resistant layer on top and my hands were safety stuffed into electric gloves turned on high (you heard me correctly. Battery powered, heated gloves are my friend. ) And yep, a mask ordinance was just put into place here last night, so I had a mask on too. And I was grateful for how it cut the icy wind before it burned my lips and froze my nose. 

How cold was it? Hmmm... they say about 30F, but that discounts how it felt with the fierce wind. My guess is it felt like 15-20F today.  And as the day wore on those boots and that jacket were no longer able to completely hold out the rain either... so that's how we ended up a bit damp too. 

Ok so on with the tour. Five stops, led by our new Icelandic friend Goodnee (at least that is the short version of her very long Icelandic name and how I spelled it in my head, to remember it).

Stop 1: 

Char with capers on a tiny pancake and a kind of pulled lamb.

Stop 2: 

Reykjavik's oldest restaurant - a hot dog cart. Unfortunately outside and between the weather and the hands needed, there are no pics of this stop. But that didn't take away from the flavors. It's the condiments that make it different and there are 5 of them in a fully loaded hot dog. 

Stop 3: Fish-mash - fish with grated potatoes and bits of other stuff all cooked together and served on rye bread. And a sauteed char fish with baked potatoes, tomatoes and greens.

Stop 4: Super interesting restaurant that only serves Icelandic-sourced things. Beer, meat, vegetables and fruits from the greenhouses and seafood of course. We dared to try fermented shark here. If I remember correctly, the shark is 100-300 years old, accidentally caught rather than actually sought out, fermented underground for months, then hung in a barn to desiccate for another 6 months before being cubed and stuffed into a jar. Apparently some people really like it. I find that questionable. Everyone at our table tried it and descriptions of its pungent flavor ranged from fish skin and clams to seaweed. Nothing pleasant here. Good to try new things though, eh?

We washed it down with a bit of local beer and some lamb stew. Then we braved the weather once more and headed for the final destination... 

Stop 5: 

Coffee and dessert. Dessert being a rye bread ice cream with whipped cream and a caramelized rhubarb drizzle. Also a little baked pastry - but that was way less memorable and enjoyable than the ice cream IMHO.

A couple of local shots to round out the day... 

Iceland: The Blue Lagoon

 Here was what was supposed to happen:

Wake at a reasonable hour, breakfast at the hotel, meander a bit and then catch a shuttle to the Blue Lagoon for the afternoon. 

Here is what actually happened: 

Woke after sleeping darn near 10 hours - too late to get breakfast at the hotel - found breakfast at a cafe nearby instead then rushed back in time to catch the shuttle to the Blue Lagoon. 

Outside the "lagoon" was an extraterrestrial looking landscape. Volcanic rocks, all jaggedy, black and porous were piled up leaving holes and crevices. Covered in moss and a handful of other precious low-growing plants, they were really quite stunning. Little black pathways wound through the area, allowing us to walk around ponds. 

Inside the Lagoon building, the fun began. I was fully unequipped to deal with the complex protocols in place to visit the Blue Lagoon, even after a full nights sleep, apparently. 

I'll preface this by saying that I think if our package had included robes and slippers, it might have gone better for me. 

1. Check in and be given a bracelet that is assigned to just you.

2. Go to ladies changing room, put on bathing suit. 

3. Use said bracelet to pick a locker then code it to your bracelet... pressing the bracelet against locking pad (everyone uses the same locking pad and it seems to know which door you just closed on your stuff.)

4. Turn your back on the locker to find it springs open and then take lessons from scantily clad sisters as to how to properly use one's bracelet to lock a locker... and how to stop it from falling off your arm too.

5. Enter the shower area and follow directions to take a shower without a bathing suit on. Then put the bathing suit back on!

6. Go out to the pool area and walk PAST the guy giving out towels because you are not entitled to one until you are done in the pool and on the way back to the shower room. (Hence my longing for a robe, which most other people seemed to have.)

7. It's 32 F outside, so there is no "meeting your friend" before entering the hot pool. You just get your wet body in there and hope to run into them while navigating the steaming pool.

8. The entrance ticket comes with a free drink and a silica mud mask. We opted for the drink first and despite the alcoholic and soda-type options, went for the green smoothie. It didn't disappoint.

9. The mask. Thankfully, as a couple we were able to apply this to each other. Its a smooth paste that dehydrates into sticky lumps pretty quickly. And it's super salty to the taste which in effect renders a person temporarily blind if it inadvertently gets into eyes too. (Ask me how I know?!)

We wallowed for a couple of hours and called it good. I was one very relaxed prune around the time I headed back to the locker - finally able to get a towel - retrieved my phone and braved the temps once again to sneak a couple of pics before showering. 

Exiting the Lagoon Complex is not as easy as it sounds.... Or maybe it is, for other people. But for me it was just as challenging as all the other techie-whiz-bang bracelet-related activities I had experienced that day. As I tried to just walk out, I realized that the door was locked. Until one scans one's bracelet at a machine further back and confirms no additional purchases have been charged to it and not paid, one's bracelet will not open the exit door. But wait, there's more; Once the additional charges have been taken care of, the bracelet is accepted into a little port that opens at the door, it is captured (for recycling to the next guest, I imagine) and only then, the door opens and you can exit. 

Despite my hiccups, this was a pretty nice way to spend an afternoon and perhaps the only sunny afternoon we would experience this week in Iceland. 

We were booked to revisit the Northern Lights again tonight but as the sun set, the clouds moved in and they cancelled our trip due to "unfavorable conditions". So Mark and I headed into Reykjavik, found a top-notch restaurant and ate what I would call the best Fish n Chips of my life before wandering back to the hotel to play cards, drink wine and end the night with an old Tom Cruise movie. 

What?! That is what vacation is really about. Relaxing, spending quality time together and feeling guilty about nothing.

Iceland: Direct from Denver!

 Icelandair flies direct from Denver to Reykjavik these days. 7 short hours... unless you count the bus to the airport, meandering through TSA, perusing the stores for all sorts of things I don't need while the plane is being sanitized and the transit time from the airport to the hotel in Iceland. I don't count any of it, which is why I'm confused and tired when we finally arrive! However, I do have pics to remind myself later.

Goodbye Boulder! See you next week.

Spare hair, in case one needs it for the flight, vacation or life in general. I declined. Saving my money for other things, obviously.

Nope, wasn't saving my money for this either. 

A beautiful evening to fly turned into a beautiful evening. We were blessed to witness an AMAZING Northern Lights display from the plane for about an hour somewhere over the far north of Canada. Some folks on the left side of the plane got earlier and brighter shows... and were actually able to take pics with cellphones! They let us briefly lean over their seats to see it, then it was back to the right side of the plane for us. Later, I got a couple of fuzzy, under-exposed pics, but they moved so quickly... like dancing clouds and the best way to witness this was actually with the naked eye.

We landed at 6am, which was midnight at home. 

Was an early check-in meant to be? Alas no. At 8:30 it was still pretty pitch black and owing to sleep deprivation, it was getting harder and harder to tell it was morning or night too. In either case, without a room to recover in, we decided to brave the cold drizzle and made our way along the seaside path, to downtown Reykjavik to explore and eat and pass some time. 

New friends were made. 

Eyes were opened... 

This churchly beauty was constructed over space and time between the end of WWII and the 80's. It is said to be of Icelandic architectural style and symbolic of a geyser. Located at the highest point in Reykjavik and being the tallest thing around, it is also easily seen from almost anywhere in the city and would, over the next few days, become the landmark that we used to navigate our way (homing pigeon style) around the city.

And I ticked a very important thing off my trip list: Find local bakery and indulge.  (Bear in mind we'd had a bite to eat a the hotel, but that was a porridge, cucumber, toast and instant coffee - so not really that much since yesterday.)

This is Braud. It's spectacular. We took vanilla buns back to the hotel and after a 3 hr nap, woke to a delicious treat. 

(It's conveniently located about a half block down the hill from the geyser church... making it easy to find and revisit!)

Our first Icelandic excursion took place later that night. We searched and searched and failed to find the Northern Lights and these church and fish-pier pics are all I have to show for staying up so late!

Northern Lights excursion rebooked for tomorrow... stay tuned.