Hallgrímskirkja – Reykjavik
We made it! After a harrowing adventure into Boston – Logan Airport, during the beginning of New England’s February school break, we cleared security and made our way towards Terminal E. We decided to scope out the Icelandair gate, before grabbing some eats. Afterwards, we popped into the Air France Lounge with my Priority Pass – if you don’t have the Chase Sapphire Reserve card….get it. The Priority Pass access along was pretty damn cool. Before and after dinner we were able to pop into the Lounge and relax, charge our phones, grab an espresso and extra glass of wine…but I digress.
The flight out on Icelandair was solid – kind staff, organized boarding process, plenty of room for an economy seat and decent entertainment for the 5-hour flight. The seats in economy only come with a single USB port for charging, so plan accordingly if Icelandair is in your future.
The Keflavik Airport was a dream – we landed and deplaned on the tarmac (from the back of the plane, because thank god they deplane from both ends) onto a warm bus – and were shuttled to the airport, just as short distances away. Once inside we quickly got through Passport Control (a whole 2 people in line ahead of us) and made our way to the bus terminal outside. We reserved two open-ended seats on the FlyBus earlier in the week, so as we walked outside we were greeted, had our bags stowed away, and we walked onto the bus. Forty-five minutes later we were at the BSI bus terminal throwing on our hats, gloves, and jackets, since we decided to walk to our AirBnB versus take a connecting bus. It had just snowed right before we landed, so the sidewalks had a good 3-4 inches of fresh powder on them. While a mile in the snow carrying our carry-ons may sound terrible, it was actually a welcome walk after having sat for 5 hours on the plane and almost another hour on the bus.
Peaking out the garden window from our AirBnB
Our AirBnB hostess was gracious enough to let us check in a whole 7 hours early so we could drop our bags and crash for a brief nap. Usually, I’m a firm believer in just powering through to get on the timezone, but in the end, the 3-hour nap was well worth it, since neither of us slept on the plane.
Rested, sulfur-showered (because yes, that’s a thing (the water smells lightly of sulfur because of its geothermal origins), instant-coffeed, and changed, we headed out into the city to start exploring a bit – the itinerary for the day was as follows:
Hallgrimskirja Church (outside, we’ve yet to go up for the aerial city view just yet)
Brunch at Rok for a fantastic americano, omelet and avocado toast
Walking on the Tjornin (the frozen lake) as kids threw bread at ducks and geese
Shopping (window and otherwise) up and down Skolavordustigur and Laugavegur
A beer at MicroBar
Dinner at Bryggjan Brugghs – a beer flight, veggies burger, fish and chips, and the most amazing chocolate cake we’ve ever had…something between a pistachio encrusted-Snickers bar, toffee, and cake – all wrapped up in a thin, dense bar
A great deal of snowy-city walking (10+ miles today)!
We did also receive a call mid-day from Pink Tours in Reykjavik letting us know that our glacier hike was canceled due to weather predictions, but we’ll be going on a volcanic cave tour instead – headlamps and all. Rolling with it!
Just a couple of photos from today down below – more soon!