Iceland Part I

I love Iceland. It is one of the most beautiful countries.  And every day Conde Naste and Travel and Leisure send me articles about beautiful places in the world and Iceland seems to always make the list.

I’ve recently come home from an 8 night journey in Iceland and I must say, I am going back soon.  I mainly stayed within Reykjavik, and there is so much more to see.  But due to some storms I didn’t get out as much as I would have liked, hence needing a trip back.

Monday, November 23, 2015/Tuesday, November 24, 2015

I took an overnight flight and landed at about 5 in the morning (Tuesday, November 24, 2015) local time, midnight my home time. With the flight being 4 hours and 14 minutes from Boston there wasn’t much time for sleep, let alone once you subtract the take off and landing time.  I did however have an entire aisle to myself, so for those 3 hours where I was able to lay out I most definitely did.

I didn’t book a room for that day, so I was forced to stay up until at least 14:00 when I could check in. (I ended up doing much better and staying up until almost 2 AM!)

I opted to watch the sun rise from The Sun Voyager.  I was staying about a block and a half from the Harbor so I dropped my bags off, added on some extra layers for warmth in the bathroom, and made sure my phone and camera were fully charged before heading out.

Later in the afternoon I went up to Hallgrimskirkja Church.  It appeared that there may have been a funeral of sorts going on, and so I did not go inside.  I regret not going back to make such a visit.

There’s supposedly a sculpture garden behind the church, I myself couldn’t find it. If you do, please let me know so on another trip I can check it out.

That evening I met a girl from DC and it was her last night in Reykjavik.  Even though it was a Tuesday she wanted to go out one last time and I myself wanted to see the Reykjavik nightlife options so I’d be ready for the weekend.  Note that the Travel Channel did an article about the night life in Reykjavik that I wish I had seen before just now.  (I do a lot of research before trips and during trips, and somehow missed this one.) Read this article and consider yourself warned by it and me, who experienced it first hand over the weekend nights, the pushing and shoving can be a lot to handle to smaller stature people like myself.

We made our way in and out of many of the bars and restaurants to see what was out there.

• Chuck Norris Grill
• Dillon Whisky Bar
• The English Pub
• American Bar
• Kaffibarinn
• Lebowski Bar
• Bravo
• Microbar

It was only a Tuesday but I was already beginning to get a sense of the scene. Whisky lovers check out Dillon and beer lovers check out Microbar. Kaffibarinn and Dillon had at atmosphere that I could find myself in (as a local) at any point really through a week. American Bar and The English Pub are both sports bars, they seem like big spots for the tourists, or locals that want to pick up tourists. Lebowski has trivia nights but other wise if your a fan of the movie, it’s worth it to check out for that alone, the same with Chuck Norris and his fans. Bravo has a step going up right after entering the door way, do not miss this or you will end up on the floor like I did.

From MircoBar (the edge of downtown) to where I was staying it was all of a 4 minute walk so I was easily home once the bars closed at 1 AM.