September, 29 2014
A new day upon us. We arose with a gleam in our eyes, and a snap to our steps. Well, Julie did anyway.
Ashley and I were a bit less enthusiastic about getting started. Salley was still in bed at 9:00.
Along the way she did a little study in the street art of Reykjavik.
Sally, Ashley, And I finally got ready, and headed out to the bus, to catch up with Julie.
According to my Strætó app, we needed to take bus 1 somewhere, then catch bus 13.
We stood at the bus stop, trying to figure out if we were going the right way, when a local stepped up and offered to help.
She told us we had to cross the street, and change busses at the second stop. Later, well, too late really, we figured out, she was counting the stop where we got onto the bus.
After driving for a while, I decided to ask the driver how we could fix it, and get to the Saga museum. He didn't know where it was, so he radioed dispatch, and asked them.
Two stops later, he told me to get off the bus, then pointed to a domed building, we later found is called Perlan (The Pearl), about a mile away, and said it was there.
We started hiking, and as if someone flicked a switch, we were in a full on gale. The wind was blowing us nearly off of our feet, and huge rain drops pummeled us. We were instantly soaked through.
As we wound along the walkways, in the general direction of Perlon, things started to look desperate. Screw the museum, we need shelter!
While skirting a knee deep puddle, I saw a bike tunnel, where we huddled together, happy it wasn't flooded. I called Julie to explain our predicament, but the call kept dropping. Finally, we settled on texting.
I told her we were stuck out in the storm, and irrevocably lost, we would find our way eventually, but she may have to wait. She admitted she had been lost too, but was now headed in the correct direction.
The storm wasn't letting up, so we decided to brave it a bit longer, to see if we could find an open business, in hopes of drying off and getting our bearings.
Around a corner and down a little side street, there was a garage for servicing Hertz rental cars. We ducked into the office, and though the roof was leaking, we found warm, dry places to stand.
The people were so nice, and willing to help. A young man got on the computer to see if he could find a bus route for us. He also told us that the Saga museum had moved in the spring, to the Old Harbor. We had actually walked 1/2 mile, in the wrong direction.
The only way to get there, by bus, was to walk a further 1.5 kilometers, to the hospital bus stop, ride for 1/2 kilometer, then walk another 1/2 kilometer.
We looked out at the storm, buckets of water were blowing sideways, the street was curb deep, with small white-caps forming across this new lake.
I turned back to the young man, utterly defeated. With an understanding look, and a soothing voice, he asked, "Shall I call a taxi?"
I replied, "Yes, thank you." without consulting the other two.
The cab arrived in just seconds, and we made a run for it. I closed the door, showed our driver the address on my phone, and the storm stopped, just like that.
Still soaking wet, and 2500 ISK poorer, we were there.
We saw these cool portraits along the way,
so did Julie. I'm glad she took pictures of them to share.
Hooray, we're here!
We beat Julie by 15 minutes. The nice lady in the cafe seated us next to the heater. We ordered coffee, and she gave us some free pastries, just to be nice.
We didn't know yet, but the cheesiness was about to begin.
Hey, that's my daughter!
Don't eat that, you don't know where it's been!
Yes, I know, it's out of focus, and a little creepy. But, it's a booby.
I was told to stand in the corner and think about what I'd done.
Ashley finally gets close to a guy that looks like he has a job, and maybe a brain. Then he turns out to be made of wax. Damn!
We've come to conquer!
Ashley wrestling with 50 lbs of chain-mail.
Done with all the fun to be had here, we got ready to go. This is when I noticed my hat was missing. we looked all over for it, the staff helped too. No luck. I must have left it in the cab, or it blew off in the storm, or something. A real bummer, since I got it from RawHyde, during my off-road motorcycle training, and really liked it.
We elected to go to the pool, to warm up and get a soak and a shower.
Not before another hotdog though. Ashley was stoked that this stand also offered fish and chips.
Note to fellow travelers. Get everything on your dog. They start with fresh onions, then fried onions, then ketchup, then the dog, then sweet mustard, then remolaude. I may have mentioned that in a past Icelandic Hot Dog love fest, but it is important.
Even though there was a pane of glass between us, Ashley was willing to fight me for those thick chunks of juicy, flakey fish, in an impossibly crunchy batter.
A nice long walk back to the hostel seemed easy after our soak. It was time to find some dry clothes, and relax before dinner. I decided to catch up on this blog, since I had so much to tell you. Sally chose to stay behind for dinner tonight. She wanted to catch up on postcards, and get to sleep early and sober for once.
On our street we were greeted by this.
Double rainbow? Really Iceland? Now you're just showing off.
The second one faded away, but the first intensified as we got closer.
We decided to meet at the Lebowski Bar for drinks before dinner. They have a menu filled with many variations of the white russian. It has a cool funky vibe, lots of fun.
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| The front door |
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| Carin and Josefine enjoying one of the other signature drinks. |
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| Others enjoyed them a bit more... |
Yep, birthday trips to Iceland absolutely rock.
We said goodnight, and went to bed. The girls hit the town, to close the bars.
Goodnight Reykjavik
