(1:10 a.m. PDT, 8:10 a.m in Reykjavik)
Hello from Reykjavik! After arriving here early yesterday morning and managing to get through the day after essentially missed a night’s sleep, we awoke this morning to 50 degrees and steady rain, which, for someone from Portland, feels oddly familiar. Yeah, it’s September near the Arctic Circle, but we brought enough warm clothes and rain gear to keep us in good shape. Being that it’s a good 25-30 degrees cooler than what we’re used to, it’s going to take us a couple days to acclimate, but it feels good to be here. After looking forward to this trip for so long, it feels odd to actually be in Iceland.
The cold and damp aside, I like Reykjavik. It’s a small city- the entire country’s population is something like 330,000- and easily walkable, which is what we spend yesterday doing. This afternoon we’re taking a walking tour of the city and hopefully finding less tourist-oriented restaurants to eat at. We learned last night that traditional Icelandic cuisine can be something of an acquired taste. Shark was interesting to try, but the very odd aftertaste was something neither Erin nor I could get past. Puffin was good…once you get past the idea of eating a cute, not very aerodynamic bird. Skyr is something I could make a habit out of, though.
Of course, if one was not particularly gastronomically adventurous, one could eat here and feel almost as if you’d never left the States (except for the prices). Icelanders love hot dogs, and there are several stands spread around town. We also found a few American restaurants along the Laugagevur, so if shark, salted cod, and skyr aren’t your thing, a hamburger and french fries are easy to come by.
We have three more days in Iceland before we’re off to Norway, so we’ll see what we can find before we go- rain be damned.
