Iceland day 1

I have arrived!  The sun was shining as we landed and can already tell it will be an amazing week!

The flight was bumpy, miserable, hardly slept, and was unable to get out of my seat the entire 7 hour 15 minute flight . . . to make matters even worse my neck pillow had a hole and would not stay inflated.  It felt so good to stand up and walk around.  We arrived early so I had a couple of hours before my transportation to my first stop so it was nice to walk around and people watch.  The airport is very small but a lot of hustle and bustle of excited tourist poking around.  I soon found the bus that would take me to my first stop, Blue Lagoon.  The sun quickly disappeared and it was very windy with a drizzling rain.  The drive from Keflavik International Airport to the Blue Lagoon was just amazing.  It is always fun to see a new place for the first time.  By the time we arrived it was raining and just yucky weather outside.  I stowed my carry on bag and headed for some relaxation.  The line to enter was long but since I booked a premium ticket I went right to the front and was in the changing room in no time at all.  I followed the rules of showering before putting on my swimsuit and headed outdoors.  The lagoon is large.  There were a lot of people but they limit the number that can enter each hour.  It never felt crowded as there is plenty of room to spread out.  I walked around the entire lagoon area . . . I totally forgot to take a picture of the entire lagoon area . . . photo from the internet . . .

. . . and then headed to get my free mud mask . . .

. . . my face felt so good even if I did look a little ridiculous.  I tell you this was a perfect plan to go here after arriving from the long flight.  Not only was it relaxing but it would hopefully help me fight jet lag too.  After about 2 hours, I decided I had had enough soaking and relaxing so went back indoors to change for my late lunch reservation at Lava Restaurant.  As part of the premium ticket, you received a free lunch reservation and glass of champagne . . . still had to pay for the food so not sure how the free reservation is a selling point.  I decided to go with the seafood menu.  Before my food arrived they brought a plate of bread with a huge scoop of butter . . .

. . . I ate the two slices of bread and then wondered if that black round thing under the butter was bread too so I asked.  Good thing I did not try to eat it as it was a piece of lava.  I laughed at myself!  My meal was langoustine soup for starter and for the main course, cod.

Let me just say they were both very good!  That cod and barley and whatever else was under the fish was just melt in your mouth amazing.  There were so many pops of flavors in my mouth!  So can you guess what this two course meal might cost?  60.000 ISK (Icelandic Krona) which is about $56 USD.  I know right . . . good thing the food was excellent and had that free glass of champagne too.  By our standards this is a very expensive meal but for Iceland this is about what it cost to eat a meal out in a restaurant.  After a lot of research, I knew to be prepared for high cost and enjoy my meal; which I did.  I had a few minutes before the bus arrived to take me to Reykjavik city center so I wandered around the area of the lagoon where you were not allowed to swim.

The bus ride was about 45 minutes and it hit me . . . I fell asleep for about half of the drive.  My head was bobbing and I could not help myself.   I tried so hard to stay awake but the relaxing water and no sleep got to me.  The bus dropped me at the nearest tourist bus stop 7, and I quickly walked to the hotel.  It was nearing 5pm when I got to my room.  I am staying at the Canopy Reyklajvik City Centre and it is a delightful hotel!

The room was very trendy and roomy by European standards . . .

Since I will be here for the next five nights, I unpacked and organized all my stuff.  Hardly ever do I stay at the same hotel for this long . . .

I am starting to feel the jet lag but really do not want to go out of the room so I watch the television, unpack some more, read my book, go over my plans for the week, and finally around 8pm I hit my limit so I took a shower and crawled into bed.  It doesn't get dark so pulled the curtains and hope for a good night of sleep . . .