Reykjavik - a Relaxing Day

A more relaxed day today, which is not a bad thing after this week! I was dozing with the TV on at 8am when there was a knock at the door. I didn't realise it was my door at first, didn't pay much attention, but then room service walked in. Even though they must have see me, they still wandered into the bathroom and collected the clean towels. After she left, I sat up and when she and another came in again, it was so weird I ended up apologising to them and saying I'd be out soon. I realised later that was stupid! I think tonight I'll be hanging the 'do not disturb' for the first time ever. It's also the first hitel I've seen without an internal lock or a chain - coz I always use those.

After I came outside, I realised I was staying in one of the beautiful buildings I had seen on the CityWalk. We had, in fact, sat inside for a bit of the tour, away from the street noises outside. It's in the old part of town, with the corrugated iron buildings.

I'm so glad I did the CityWalk - I know where I'm going and I know a bit about the things I'm passing!

I went for a walk up the Main Street where the Hotel Fron was. I had taken an early morning walk the other day and went past the open door of a bakery in full flight. It smelt amazing. Thought I might go there for breakfast - the Sandholt Bakari. Had a scrumptious Danish and latte!

Did a bit of googling while breakfasting and came across this - had to see what it was about...

A museum of penises! The phallological museum! Very odd. It's just a collection from all sorts of animals - whales, giraffes, zebras, down to the smaller species - rats, raccoons, etc. 

There is a room with bits and pieces of information plus signed letters from men promising to 'donate' after they die. Very odd exhibition! But one that if it's there, you sort of have to see it...

Onto the nicer stuff - I walked to Hallgrimskirkja to have a look inside. It wasn't open when I went the other day - at 7:30!! It's beautiful inside...

There was a guy playing the organ - massive organ pipes and it provided quite an atmosphere with the music.

You can see him on the right.

There's a gift shop (of course!) where you can buy a ticket to take the lift up to the top floor. Despite my fear of heights, I thought I'd better do it. The guy at the tickets took my money then handed the ticket to a disabled man to hand to me - very sweet. 

It's an odd setup as the lift itself is not in the same room as the ticket desk. I did hear a couple of people say there was no one watching, they could just go up anyway. Seems a bit wrong in a church.

Up to the eighth floor, takes a while, and you come out where the clock faces are - four, one on each side...

..then you go up the stairs to the lookouts. It's very enclosed so you don't feel that you're up high - great for us scaredy cats! 

And the view is amazing...

For lunch, I'm trying to find another of the vegetarian restaurants (I had eaten at Glo on the first night - really good lasagne and salad). I found Gardurinn...

..and it's like a home kitchen run by mom and pop. They have one main and one soup, a different one each day. Today's main was spelt and spinach lasagne, so I had that - good thing I like lasagne.

On the way back to the hotel, I pop into a bookshop - I want to get the Jon Gnarr (pronounced K-narr, the woman corrected me) autobiography on running for mayor with no experience at all - Marteinn had talked about him. They didn't know what I was trying to ask for so I said I would come back with the proper name and author.

Came back and sat for a bit, googled the book details and headed out again. I went first to the Harpa to have a proper look inside in the daylight, what an amazing building it is! There's a lovely statue out the front...

And the inside is amazing!

The bookstore doesn't have the book in English. It does have it in German but I'd like to read it now, not in a year when I've learned German. So I head back down to try and find it. Nice view of the church and a typical street...

..and the street sign...

I find the book, and a calendar and a 'Wiking' too!

Then back to the hotel to book my shuttle for tomorrow morning and to get sorted because I'm going to the Blue Lagoon hot springs! Not really my thing, but you sort of have to do hot springs in Iceland.

It's a 30-minute bus trip there, out through Grindavik - which was one of the places I had wanted to see and now I am! It's a lava field again - this whole island is either lava field or glacier! The landscape has all been created by the fire and ice.

We get there and there's a lot of people, a bit of a queue before checking in. You get a wristband that you swipe in, swipe an empty locker to put your things in. If you buy anything, you swipe it and then pay on the way out, where you swipe as you leave.

The girl asked if I needed a towel (at a cost) or a bathrobe (at a cost). No to both. She asked if I had a hair tie because, "You don't want your hair in the water, it dries it out". I don't have one. They will sell me one. I say, "Don't worry." And she's quite concerned about the possibility of my hair drying out. What she doesn't realise is I don't care.

Then into change - thankfully there are private changing rooms! Then you have to shower and wash your hair - again private showers. There is a queue for the private ones while the open ones are fairly empty - so lots of tourists, not many locals.

Then into the springs. It's raining and it's getting dark but the springs are all lit up and pale blue. It's nice and warm. There's a swim-up bar where you can swipe your wristband and get a drink. Lots of people with drinks. They also sell plastic ziplock bags for your mobile phone - they are squeezing every buck!

There are two girls going around with bowls of stuff that they are giving to people. I ask them what it is and they tell me the first is a cleanser and the second is moisturiser. They gloop it out with a spatula and you put it on, leave for 5-10 minutes then rinse it off. So I do both - if I'm going to do this, I'm going to do it fully! 

Obviously you can't take a camera in - not without their plastic ziplock bag - so here's a photo of the brochure...

So I sort of paddle about for a while, the ground is a combination of sand and solid - bit odd. The temperature is warm but there are degrees of warmth as you move around. It's nice and I'm glad I did it but I came in on the 5:00 time slot and was back on the bus by 6:10. It was nice but I just don't really see the point. They did supply plastic bags that you could put your wet stuff in - I'm surprised they didn't charge for it!

On the way out...

So that was the hot springs - a perfect way to finish my sensational week in Iceland. 

Back on the bus and it takes a while as they drop people off at the various hotels. Finally back at mine and I stop for a small dinner of two entrees - mushroom soup and then deep fried Camembert with plum sauce - delicious and so very good for you! Back to pack...