First Stop: Reykjavik

Reykjavik at 2:00 AM

We touched down last night just before midnight, and I can now attest that I aptly named this blog prior to our departure! The airport is sleekly designed with luxurious details: gleaming wood floors and giant slabs of glowing pink stone. There are baby strollers waiting for travelers as they deplane. After we grabbed our packs, we went to the Icepark kiosk to pick up keys to our friends’ car. The cutest detail of our trip so far were the two dozen or so car keys hanging on the wall representing an entire country’s worth of vehicles tucked in at long term parking at Iceland’s international airport. Wow. It’s a different scale here!  After receiving said keys, we headed outside to a world that is 40 degrees cooler than tropical Brooklyn. “Feels like Seattle,” I laughed. “Alaska,” said Andrew.

As we drove towards Reykjavik, the vast, rocky landscape with mountains in the distance alternately reminded us of the U.S. southwest, eastern Oregon, and the moon. We stopped to fill up on gas on the outskirts --243 Icelandic kronor for 1 liter. We’ll let you know as soon as we know what that means, but we got about 10,000 kronor worth. Max and Cedar went nuts in the Icelandic version of a 7-11, ogling every toy and candy they laid their eyes on. We settled on a bag of diamond-shaped donuts: kleinur. Quite tasty, with hints of cardamom. I assume the non 7-11 version are even better.

“Night” lasted for about 90 minutes. It started to get slightly dark around 1:00 AM, as in: “Oh, look, it’s not so bright anymore,” and after we tucked Max and Cedar in their beds at 2:30 AM, I noticed that it was brighter again. Sleeping wasn’t a problem, though. The bedrooms have heavy blinds or curtains, as do our travel-weary eyelids. Cedar snuggled up with the Hello Kitty doll she happily discovered in the baby’s bedroom.

We’re staying at a friend’s house, who have offered Andrew the use of their home, car, and backyard trampoline, as they vacation elsewhere, presumably somewhere warmer with real sunsets. Their house is cozy and sweet, with heat softly radiating in the living room, supplied gratis to all Icelandic households, thanks to abundant geothermal sources.  Max’s research prior to our journey turned up that Iceland has the second largest geothermal plant, after one in Brazil. Next up: perhaps a dip in the Blue Lagoon, but not before we get our bounce on with the backyard trampoline!

Love,

Alissa Alansdottir

Andrew Donsson

Max Andrewsson

Cedar Andrewsdottir