Other Things to Do in Iceland: Part One

Guys! Having no computer is rough on blogging. By no computer I mean no Mac computer. I have a teeny tiny net book that makes writing picture heavy posts infuriating. Slash maybe I was lazy? Who knows. Either way I am here to fill you in on some other things to do in Iceland!

Go to Hafnarfjordour, a town where you can buy a $15 map made by a "see-er" that tells you where the elves live. Seriously I know this because Fiance bought it and we walked all over that town looking for "hidden folk". We found none (obviously). 

While there are no elves, you can climb this creepy staircase to the top of an abandon house's roof to see what our guide book described as a lighthouse.

You can also observe all the houses and see many stray cats!

Speaking of cats! If you go to the park look out for our friend, Fjord! Fjord (obviously not her real name guys, we just called her that) was sitting nicely with a lady who was reading her book. Did Fjord belong to this lady in the distance? We don't know but if she did, that didn't stop us from calling her over to us! And she came!

 Isn't she majestic? We pet her for a few minutes and then we were off to climb to the top of the hill. And you guys. FJORD FOLLOWED US!

After about ten minutes, Fjord stopped to eat some leaves. Fiance and Becca went on ahead but because I was already emotionally attached to her, I waited for her to finish her snack. But then SHE GOT SICK. Vomit, you guys. So I obviously had to scream to Fiance to come fast because "SHE IS VOMITING". Becca laughed forever and Fiance told me to hurry up and leave Fjord to her vomiting. Which I did begrudgingly.  I though I would never see her again but then fifteen minutes later THERE SHE WAS!

Coming down the hill!She loved us (me)!  Eventually we had to leave her and also we felt kind of bad that maybe we had taken her from her owner? I was pretty sad, she was such a pretty kitty! I MISS YOU FJORD!

So that's Hafnarfjordour! If you see Fjord tell her I love her!

 You can also go to the giant volcano crater near the University in Bifrost!

Fair warning, you have to climb a lot of steps!

One of the coolest things about Iceland is that there is no one there once the summer ends. We were the only people at this crater, except for a University graduate student named Inca who was exercising. She was RUNNING AROUND THE CRATER. She seriously put us to shame.

 You can also leave your friend in the car to take a nap and climb this big silly hill with your Fiance!

 

But then Becca wakes up from her nap and takes this nice picture of you! 

That's Becca in the car!

Stay tuned for part deux!

Things to See in Reykjavik: Part Two

There are some things you should see while you are in Reykjavik...here's the (not so) short list of things you shouldn't miss!

The Hallgrimskirkja: the Lutheran parish of Reykjavik. Also happens to have one of the best views of the city from the tippy top. Pay six dollars to the nice parish lady in the office for your ticket up. I'm pretty positive that you could go up with out the ticket, but only if you want to get the Lutheran god mad at you.

On your way down the hill after your visit, be sure to stop at Cafe Loki and definitely get the skyr cake. I didn't and I wanted to eat all of Fiance's.

The Harpa: Iceland's newest (and coolest) concert hall and conference center. It even lights up at night! Be sure to take a picture of your group like the one below when you arrive!

The Culture House where you can see the medieval manuscripts, Eddas and Sagas, which were added to UNESCO's Memory of the World Registrar in 2009. The Culture House was my pick and Fiance and Becca made fun that OF COURSE one of the only things Kate wanted to do was look at DOCUMENTS. SHE IS SUCH A DORK that Kate. Guys, you all laugh...documents! Ha ha ha!

Becca and Fiance both said it was one of the coolest things we did, you're welcome. And we got to take some pretty great pictures in the not so serious non-UNESCO parts of the museum.

You should know that these were body parts and that the exhibit was "out of order". Make of that what you will. 

Baejarins Beztu Hotdogs: five bucks for a soda and a hotdog with some strange (read: delicious) sauce and fried onions. I ate two and I didn't even feel bad about it.

Guys those are hotdog HOLDERS in the middle of that picnic table!

The Perlan: a contender with Hallgrimskirkja for the best view in the city with panoramic views and telescopes (which may or may not work). Also, they have a cafeteria where you can get ice cream...I'd recommend the blueberry. It also has the Saga Museum which we skipped because seriously you can only handle so much viking history on one trip.

Us in front of a list of people who got married there! 

I was going to leave this out, but I just can't. You MUST go to The Tjornin and see the giant birds. Don't get too close though because I'm pretty sure they can murder you with their giant feet.

End giant post on Reykjavik. Congratulations if you made it to the end!

Things to See in Reykjavik: Part One

We spent all day Sunday (post whale watching), all day Monday and Tuesday morning in Iceland's capitol city, Reykavik! As such, its going to take a few posts to document!

On Sunday afternoon, we walked to the Reykavik 871 +/- 2 Settlement Exhibition. John was so excited to see the Viking Age Longhouse he nearly skipped into the building!

I will say, it was pretty cool and I would definitely recommend it, even if it is only accurate within +/- two years!

That's the Longhouse! Animals lived in there, too guys...WITH the people! I was never so happy not to be a viking in my life.

After the Settlement Exhibition, we walked around Reykjavik and saw some pretty cool things. Also, some confusing things? How does this get me back to my apartment via the R, Iceland? It doesn't. At all.

AND THEN we found this place! Which is where Fiance's Great Sweater Quest began...more on that later.

Fiance and Becca were such good sports about my crazy picture taking on this trip. No one even blinked when I asked for a picture with this guy!

For dinner we went to Reykjavik Restaurant (creatively named). Our guide book told us that RR is famous for its fish buffet, which none of us did, though in retrospect I think one of us should have. Becca and I both had fish and Fiance had chicken. I would say it it was a two and a half out of five...if this was a blog that used stars to rate restaurants.

Regardless of meh food, Fiance and I took this great picture! Huzzah!

Things to See in Reykavik: Part Two tomorrow! Stay tuned!