Day two in Iceland started off with exchanging American dollars for kronas. This is 20,000 ISK which is about $175. The money is really pretty and colorful but also really thin. I can't imagine it lasting terribly long in circulation.
We hoped on the city bus and headed down to the fisherman's area of Reykjavik to pick up our rental car. We rented it through a company called Sixt. It was very reasonable $328 for four days with GPS. I cannot stress enough how highly I recommend paying the extra money for a GPS in Iceland. It was definitely a lifesaver a few times!
There were a few Icelandic products I fell in love with while we were there. I loved their chocolate milk. I don't think they drink as much milk as we Americans do. The biggest size you could buy is a quart and there were only a couple of brands to choose from.
We wandered north to see Hvitserkur aka Dinosaur Rock. It is a volcanic plug, or volcano neck, that has eroded and what is left behind is supposed to look like a dinosaur. It was supposed to be a 3-4 hour drive. That would be with great road conditions. We encountered a lot of icy dirt roads with no guard rails and steep drops. Because of this, the journey was slow going.
Nothing like driving into nothing I tell ya! Not scary at all. Sure.
It didn't take long until we were free of snow and low visibility. Apprently it was a pretty cloudy day. I don't remember it being that way but the pictures don't lie. How funny our perception is in the moment when it's new and exciting.
We detoured into a little town called Hvammstangi. We thought we would try and catch a glimpse of seals but there were none.
This is the parking lot of pure ice. You can't even see the gravel underneath it is so thick. This was standing between us and the car. We are lucky we didn't break our necks!
Close to the marina they had a fish cleaning station and drying racks.
We pulled over to check out what was at the top of this staircase. You can't see where it leads at all.
This is the view from the top. It's hard to see in the picture but you could see for miles and miles, or kilometers and kilometers as they would say in Iceland.
The countryside is absolutely beautiful in Iceland. It seems that every farm, cottage and house is perfectly placed to extract the most awe value.
This Coke can building was in the middle of nowhere off of a small road we had to take. Random Iceland.
No big surprise that there are lava rock fields just about everywhere you go.
I love lighthouses. We saw this little one on the terrifying ice/dirt road of sure death. The ocean is such a beautiful teal color.
Between the icy roads and our dawdling around we made it to Hvitserkur as the sun was going down. Have I mentioned yet how incredibly cold it is in Iceland in February? The temperature isn't bad, around 30-35 degrees, but the wind is a different story! Stinging cold. We didn't care. We were just so excited to be in Iceland!
This is Hvitserkur. Legend has it Hvítserkur was actually a troll who did not make it back home in time to retreat from the coming daylight and was turned to stone at sunrise. Icelanders love trolls and legends. Me too.
- See
more at:
http://www.howdoyoulikeiceland.com/products/hvitserkur#sthash.6KIkbRyg.dpuf
I'm cold. Very very cold.
Aaron had to pick up a couple of lottery tickets. He ended winning $50! Ha!
I love this shot of the moon!
We finally made it back to Reykjavik about 10 pm. It happened to be Museum Night of the Winter Lights Festival and 40+ museums had free entry and stayed open until midnight. There were so many to choose from and we went with Reykjavik 871.
They were doing construction and underneath a building found a Viking
longhouse from 871 plus or minus two years. They preserved it in it's
original location and set up a museum to educate you on Viking life in
Reykjavik in that time period. It was really cool to be standing right
next to where a Viking family actually lived.
The oldest man made structure in Reykjavik. So cool! We are such history nerds, I love it.
This is to show you the layout of the longhouse. The family who lived there shared the inside space with their livestock. That must have smelled nice. They family lived here for about 70 years. Underneath the longhouse they discovered a natural spring and think the family left because of the humidity the spring caused.
This is the only fragment of a Viking-Age drinking vessel found in Iceland.
After the museum we walked around the city. It was Friday night and people were out everywhere. Right by this church is a little square of restaurants and bars packed with people.
We found our way down to the waterfront to Baejarins Beztu Pylsar, which has been operating since 1937 and is known as the best hot dog in Iceland. The hot dogs from this stand are pretty much the national food. No really, they are. Icelanders really love their hot dogs!
Some famous customers of the stand are Bill Clinton and James Hetfield of Metallica. It was even featured on the first season of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations. To eat it the Icelandic way you have to order it "with everything". Everything includes ketchup, sweet mustard, fried onions, raw onions, and remoulade. Remoulade is a mayo based sauce with relish.
They were delicious!! And one of the few affordable food items you can get in Iceland at 380 ISK, about $3.33. If you go to Iceland, you have to stop by and try one. You will not regret it. Make sure you order it "with everything"!
What a day! We didn't get to bed until 4 am! Reykjavik is a wonderful city at night!
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