Iceland: Day 1 & 2

Today’s the day we travel - yay! Vic already picked me up and we’re on our way driving to Toronto. Toronto? in Canada? but you’re going to Iceland….?  Yes, we are flying out of Toronto direct to Reykjavik because the flights were cheaper and it’s a relatively short drive. (Plus, why not add a third country to our trip?!)

US - Canada border on bridge

Crossing the border was a bit confusing as I’ve never driven across, nor has Vic, but there was almost no line and we had no hassles driving over. We got to the Toronto-Pearson Airport in good time, including the shuttle for the off-campus parking. After getting checked in and bags dropped off, security in Toronto was a breeze, taking no more than 20 min total. While waiting for our flight to start boarding, we grabbed some dinner at Caplansky’s Deli for some good Canadian cuisine, noted for their smoked meat. I kicked off the culinary delight trip with Meat Poutine, one of their Knishes, and their own Stout - all of it was utterly delicious! Vic had the meatloaf, which she also enjoyed.

Meat Poutine, Knish, and a stout beer!

The flight actually ended up leaving almost a 
half hour before scheduled departure, and ended up being a tad shorter than initially allotted! The downside to this, in addition to the fact that the flight itself was only about 5 and half hours, was that for an overnight international flight where we lose time - it was not very conducive to getting decent sleep. I might’ve dozed off for about a half hour at most, though Vic got a little bit more. The awesome thing was that while we were over Greenland, I happened to look out the window and caught something odd. After pulling out my camera and taking a test shot I had my answer - the Northern Lights!

Aurora Borealis from the airplane

So I spent a good bit taking pics of the Northern Lights from the air (and continuing to test out my camera settings!) They were faint and very slow moving compared to what I was expecting. The rest of the flight went well, though the trouble was that when we landed, it was still dark but around 06:00 with the whole day now ahead of us. Oi! I think we both napped for a bit on the 45-50 min bus ride into Reykjavik.

Reykjavik with snow covered mountains in backg

Once at the bus terminal, of which we got to know very well over the course of our trip, we then had to figure out how to get to our Guesthouse - which meant using the local bus network as it was actually just outside Reykjavik in Kopravogur (the immediately southern “suburb”). We aimed to get the 3-Day City Pass, not only to have full access to the buses, but for the museum admissions and discounts to use today and on Sunday (we’d lose out on the perks Saturday due to our daylong South Coast tour - but was still worth it). The trouble was, we couldn’t buy that pass at the bus terminal! After debating options, I finally got some cash out of the ATM (retrospectively much more than I needed or wanted… oops!) and got some exact change we needed from the guy at the cafe/restaurant at the bus terminal. From there, it was actually a very short bus ride to our stop, maybe 10 min at most. After getting off, it was then another 12-15 min walk to our Guesthouse but overall the access was quite easy for staying outside of the actual city area.

Back view of the Hamraborg area in Kópavogur

I had booked the Guesthouse Grima off AirB&B - it was amazing and definitely made our trip enjoyable! Our hosts were able to quickly meet us when we arrived to let us in, get us our key, and quickly show us around before having to go their ways but that evening and throughout our stay, we got to know them a bit better. Both Agnes and her husband, along with the brief meeting of their daughter and son, were friendly and willing to help out with tips and advice.

After settling down from our long journey and a quick shower, we decided that rather than push through the entire day (of which we both were beyond the 24 hour mark already…), we’d grab a short 1-2 hour nap. Then, the plan was to wake up and head out to grab lunch and check out Reykjavik. Yeah…. that didn’t quite happen as we were both exhausted! We ended up waking up around 16:30 - oops! After chatting some more with our hosts, we grabbed our stuff and headed back for the bus trip into downtown to grab some dinner and possibly check out a Northern Lights tour. I had already noted on the Aurora forecast that it was our highest chance while here at a 4/10, so my goal was to make an attempted to see them from the city without having to go on a tour and thus be out late since we had a full day’s tour planned with our pickup from the bus terminal at 08:00. Agnes and her husband though noted that they were very hard to see from the city, and to best grab a tour. So our first stop in town was back at the bus terminal where we booked the 2100 tour. 

We ended up grabbing dinner at Hressó who’s dinner specials posted on placard outside caught our eye - after walking around a couple places and eyeing the prices too! I had a Viking Stout, which was delicious, along with Reindeer meatballs, blue cheese mashed potatoes, and a variety salad. The reindeer was delicious, tasting gamey like I expected, though there were also some spices mixed in for the meatballs. Either way, I loved it! Vic had the lamb filet dinner with wine, which she enjoyed. Afterwards, we made our way back to the BSI terminal for our tour, grabbing some coffee and snacks before boarding.

Downtown Reykjavik

Downtown Reykjavik, near Hressó

For the Northern Lights tour, they ended up taking us towards the airport to the lava fields. After the drive, they found a spot and we all unloaded. I saw a concrete block and pounced to set up the tripod! Overall, the northern lights were pretty decent but definitely nowhere near as great or impressive as any photos make them seem. But though my nice new camera, lenses, and playing around with the settings, I think I captured quite a decent set! After a bit, we all loaded back up and returned back to the city. They actually let us off before the city at our bus stop, which was neat. Then it was a short time to relax after such a long day to prep for the next day.

Northern Lights from Lava f