That said, the weather itself was a bit of a feature for being intense in every way possible for its extremes (fire and ice, I get it now) that shifted to the next from instant to instant. When we landed, it was a torrential downpour. I was a little worried that our car doors would rip off in the wind, which is apparently the most common vehicular damage in Iceland. But hey, we had fun with it because Icelandic adventure.
Bonus Supermarket
Iceland isn’t exactly known for their cuisine (fermented shark, sheep head, licorice), and we also knew it’d be expensive (I spent $22 USD on a bowl of lamb soup in a deli one night), so we stocked up on Icelandic groceries. It was an amazing excuse to get lost in packages of mystery foods, deciphering the bags of potato chip flavors and candies. Unfortunately for Gwen, one of them turned out to be chocolate covered licorice. Angie and I were the Sephora VIBs examining the skincare aisle. We later learned at check out that the cream with the picture of the shepard on the tub is for babies, specifically according to our Icelandic cashier, “For the ass”. I had reasoned, “Don’t you want your face to feel like a baby’s ass?” And to my delight, Angie bought it. Note: Never listen to me. Icelandic diaper cream is greasy and goopy – would not recommend.
Blue Lagoon: Nature’s Spa
What’s better than an Icelandic lagoon? A geothermal heated Icelandic lagoon with cocktails, mud masks and a good soak! The first hour at the lagoon pelted freezing shards of rain at us with the lagoon violently lapping at our shoulders. The clouds eventually cleared up and we were toasted by the sun, and because it had been raining, there were no orcs — I mean, crowds. Cue the start of many Lord of the Rings references as we did on our trip.
Icelandic humor has its own charm. Maybe you had to be there, but when we asked for a group photo, the security guard who was bundled in winter clothing exclaimed “Very lagoon-y!”
Hotdogs at Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur, Reykjavic
Interestingly, the country has adopted a love for hotdogs. As Gwen explained, the hotdog casings have a “snap” to them. Ketchup, sweet mustard, fried onion, raw onion and remoladi, a mayonnaise-based sauce with sweet relish. Fried onions change everything. 10/10 would eat again.
Nightlife in Reykjavic
After hotdogs, we went to the main drag and had delicious cocktails and debated eating puffin but eventually decided against novelty. I’d imagine it’s similar to visitors coming to the US and inquiring about eating say, buffalo or alligator. Also, we can’t eat faces that are cute.
I remember going to sleep earlier than I wanted to. I wanted to stay out all night! But I really had no idea how [expletive redacted] cool day two would be.
