Day One: Rachael’s Version
This trip has been a long time coming. The last time I was on a plane, I, and a whole lot of other American ex-pats, were essentially evacuating from Japan in the midst of COVID. Before the pandemic, I was a world traveler. For the past few years, however, I have had my feet tied to the ground. Needless to say I'm pretty excited for the whole "Iceland" thing.
Our flight to Reykjavík was a red-eye. After a slight delay, we departed somewhere around 9:30 and started our five hour flight across the North Atlantic. Everyone else was awake for the duration, but I dedicated myself to the art and science of sleeping on planes and got a few hours in in a variety of less than comfortable positions. The in-flight entertainment, or the little I saw of it, seemed mainly to consist of ads for the same products and locations, over and over. I found myself wondering about the relative probability of an American and an Icelander knowing a model for a national ad campaign. The total population of Iceland is currently around 370,000, so I call those pretty good odds.
Coming into the Keflavík Airport, we quickly made our way through the passport check and customs, and picked up some Icelandic Króna. So far there have been no problems either with T-Mobile's Icelandic coverage or with tap-to-pay, but it's always good to have some cash in a pinch.
We climbed into a van along with a number of other travelers, some better dressed for the cold and the rain than others. A couple with heavy Southern accents were notable for their dedication to T-shirts and shorts. Perhaps they meant to get on a plane to Bermuda and made an unfortunate mistake. If so, I hope they make the best of it. As for our party, we were safe and secure in our rain jackets and hiking boots. We picked up thr grey Jeep that awaited us at the car rental service's HQ and set our GPS for Central Reykjavík.
My first impression of Iceland was of some sci-fi moonscape. Every so often an anemic pine tree would peer over the horizon, but Southern Iceland is for the most part barren and distinctly volcanic. When the early Icelanders arrived at the beginning of the Settlement Era, about 40% of the island was covered in birch forest. A combination of deforestation in the name of civilization-building and aggressive foraging efforts by non-native sheep led to the destruction of 95% of Iceland's forests within a couple hundred years. The effect upon the current landscape was obvious.
Coming into Reykjavík, we walked a few blocks to find some excellent coffee and pastries, then explored Hallgrímskirkja, an impressive church which is one of the tallest buildings in the country. Named for a famous poet, the church's architecture was meant to mimic the basalt columns found along Iceland's coast. The interior is rather stark with only a couple of statues and two rows of tall columns for decoration. It's also home to an impressive church organ, which was being played during our visit. Currently the church is holding a collection to replace a recently-burnt church on the northern island of Grímsby, population 600. Icelandic churches being wooden as a rule (Hallgrímskirkja being a notable exception), this is apparently a frequent problem for those Icelanders with a religious bent.
A quick drive from the city center found us at the National Museum of Iceland, where we set about improving on our scant knowledge of Icelandic history. The museum has a very informative audio guide, although the English narrator does insist on referring to Pagan Icelanders as "heathens" every few sentences. Although the museum is organized by numbered exhibits, finding the next intended stop on the journey was by no means simple, and by the time I reached the third floor I had largely given up on doing so.
The museum introduces the Settlement Era and the subsequent disolution of the first Althingi when Iceland came under the rule of the Norwegian and then the Danish monarchy. Dad complained that the museum spent too much time on religious matters, but Robin and I were interested to learn about the murder of Iceland's last Catholic bishop. My favorite fact from the audio guide concerned the adoption of coffee. Apparently early into its history on the Icelandic table there were some complaints that native juniper berries were just as good and had the same effect. Apparently this argument failed, and coffee is now quite popular on the island.
Following the museum, we were all thoroughly exhausted and managed to check into our hotel a bit early. The Hotel Viking is nothing if not kitschy, designed to mimic early Icelandic wooden construction and with an attached restaurants where tourists can arrange to be "kidnapped" by hosts dressed as Vikings and force-fed mead, or something to that effect. We wouldn't know; we opted for pizza and schwarma instead.
The price of food is probably the most shocking thing about Iceland so far. With high labor costs, as well as tight regulations on farming and on the price of goods, any meal will set you back a good $25 or more a head. As another tourist put it to me today, "At first you're shocked, but then you start thinking, 'Hey! $11 for a hot dog! What a great deal!'"
We bought some snacks for the road and took turns with the geothermal shower (it smells of sulfer amd the heat is shockingly inconsistent, but supposedly it'll make your skin the softest it's ever been!). I braved the outdoor "hot pot" (a small pool heated by the geothermal spring below the hotel). At first I was nervous about strutting around in a two-piece swimsuit in 50 degree weather, but I found it was no problem at all! I hope it'll be the first of many such experiences.
With that, everyone in our party was thoroughly exhausted, and it being 9pm I say "Sjáumst á morgun!" (See you tomorrow!),