Iceland 2017

At the Blue Lagoon today. It was SUPER blustery out! As in colder than last time we came to Blue Lagoon 6 years ago which was in February in the dead of winter! Luckily the water was really warm, but our heads were still kind of chilly. 

It is our last night in Iceland before heading off to Amsterdam tomorrow. So far, the trip has been wonderful. The key factors:

• no one has suffered much jetlag
• kids have been getting along really well
• minimal crying/whining/complaining. In fact, really minimal.
• we rented a car in Iceland and got to go wherever we wanted and explore
• weather was absolutely gorgeous for 2 out of the 3 days
• Airbnb place we rented was a big thumbs-up

Observations:

• they still use credit cards everywhere. We didn't pull out any cash and didn't need to. They even take credit cards at the hot dog stands.
• No McDonald's or Starbucks. The only chains we saw were Subway (everywhere) and some random shops like Bath & Body Works, etc.
• lots of small cars - lots of
  hatchbacks
• food is extremely expensive

Day 1 we arrived at 6:45am. We had driven up to Seattle that morning and eaten at DTF of course, then Dae got a haircut, and then we departed. For the first time, we gave the kids melatonin. Wasn't sure how it would work, but they were completely out once the flight departed at 4:30pm. They woke up once during the flight, but they slept quite well during the 7 hour 20 minute flight.

Hot dog (pylsur) stop on Day 1

Since we couldn't check in until 3pm, we had about 8 hours to kill and we checked out one (of many) of these naturally heated pool/spa areas in Reykjavik. This one was kid friendly, and the kids had a nice time. It was a good way to fight off jet lag during the day.

Look at the weather. It was so clear the first two days (until today)

Our kids lined up on the left for the big slide with all these local kids that were here (for a field trip?)

This was their hottest hot tub. It was SO hot.

More Blue Lagoon! This year, tickets were hard to come by. I had to repeatedly check the website to check for cancelations and finally one opened up at 5pm this evening, so I hopped on it. That is one thing I noticed about Iceland - noticeably more tourists than 6 years ago. Tons of Americans, and Chinese. haha. Anyway, I love the Blue Lagoon - the water is so green and pretty. Hard to see this year because it was so windy, but the water is very calming and warm and beautiful. I did NOT dunk my head under this time. Last time my hair was like absolute straw the entire rest of the trip so I remembered wisely!

Seeking shelter from the wind in this cave

Leelee successfully made a snorkel out of his smoothie straw. And it worked, he says!

Outside the Blue Lagoon

More Day 1 pics - posing on the streets of Reykjavik.

I cannot pronounce any Icelandic. These words are so long, and so hard. I can't believe their literacy rate is so high here. How do people learn how to read this stuff? hahaha.

More difficult pronunciation. This GPS was pretty helpful.

Leelee took this shot of Hallgrimskirkja church

Statue of Leifr Eiricsson. This is in front of Hallgrimskirkja church.

Day 1 - both Dae and Olin were fighting off the jet lag. About one minute after this photo was taken Olin dozed off for about 5 minutes.

At the grocery store. It took us a long time to figure out which of these was regular milk (vs. lactose free milk, vs. yogurt)

I love those marshmallow with chocolate and coconut covering, and licorice. I am also obsessed with this spelt bread. It's super hard (like stale bread) and I slather it with butter. :)

Skyr, eggs, bagels, milk, butter. The skyr was GOOD. Kids liked it too. I thought it would be too sour for them but it's ok.

Mailboxes

Hot cocoa on Laugavegur

Beautiful scenery on our drive along the Golden Circle

First stop - coastal town of Eyrarbakki - which used to be a big port town and now is known as home to the biggest prison in Iceland.

Also home to the oldest home in Iceland - built in 1745 (or 1765)

And this cute church, and our rental car, a VW Golf. 

License plate

Beach along Eyrarbakki

Stokkur - the famous geyser

About to blow

Eruption

Gullfoss waterfall

Boxing out mom

Lots of open road here

Cute little Icelandic horses. They were very furry.

6 gears. They didn't give us an option of stick shift or automatic.

Dinner at Messinn restaurant was SO good. The cod was delicious.

At the mall today during the big wind storm. The kids saw this play area and went in for an hour. We peeked in and saw them playing foosball with these boys. Olin said that the boy next to him didn't speak any English and the boy next to Christian spoke some English so he helped translate. haha.