Well, instead of starting a new blog, I thought I might as well just carry on the last one. So all the hordes of dedicated readers can feel free to remind themselves what I did in Cambodia and Australia.
I'm now in Copenhagen, but I've just stepped into the hostel and have a few hours (6) to kill before I can check in and sleep. So I thought, while I have computer access, I'd blog about Reykjavik (due to popular demand of people to 'keep them updated'...) So I spent 3 and a half days there and could spend another week without doing everything I wanted to. For a city of around 200,000, which you can cross on foot in under an hour and still stop for coffee, there's just so much to do, even without leaving the city area. I think the only word I learnt of Icelandic was "Islanka" (nope, you don't get a prize for guessing the translation - Icelandic) - they all speak such amazing English. And, true to their Scandinavian roots, they're all so friendly and great looking!
My first day, Sunday, after wandering around a bit and exploring the high street to again waste time, I again checked into my hostel and went promptly to sleep. After getting up, I then headed back out to explore the local church with a long, complicated name (there's no point even copying and pasting, you'll not be able to pronounce it)! It's a huge, amazing, 20th century concrete structure, which looks incredible and absolutely dominates the Reykjavik skyline. The clock/bell tower is also really high and gives brilliant 360º views of the city. I couldn't go into to the church itself, as there was a concert going on, but did manage to get in on Monday for another choir concert. Everything is pretty expensive over there (and there's an unfortunate number of Yanks...), but it really is a beautiful country; the city itself isn't that attractive though. Then, back to the hostel for my tea and compulsory hostel drinking/socialising (on free alcohol left by someone), surprisingly the only night I really got drunk - which isn't bad going in a hostel with a bar.
For Monday, I'd booked a day at the Blue Lagoon - the local geothermal pool, which is incredible, but quite self-explanatory - a large pool complex with naturally heated saltwater a little outside the city which is great for a hangover. So, after a few uneventful hours relaxing there, I went back to the city hoping to get time to fit in a museum visit before they all closed (according to my Lonely Planet guide) at 5pm. I didn't have time, but it was amazing (for Iceland) weather - sunny and over 20º - so I just wandered round the park and sunbathed for a while before going back to the hostel for a pretty boring evening, as we'd drunk all the free alcohol, so no one was really doing much.
I had thought about going caving on Tuesday, then whale-watching on Wednesday with a museum or two in the afternoons, but I decided caving was above my reasonable budget (around 90 quid or 18,000 Icelandic Krona). It worked quite well though to go whale-watching on Tuesday morning, then up to a swimming pool, which again has geothermal seawater, and other heated jacuzzi pools, with an olympic-size pool. The whale-watching was brilliant - it cost less than a tenner, to be out for a few hours and get to see a pair of humpback whales up close, diving and resurfacing, for half of that with a very informative and entertaining guide. Then, with a couple more hours at the pool, back to the hostel for just a couple of quiet drinks at the hostel bar as it costs a fiver a pint out there.
Wednesday was then just filled with museums. First to the Reykjavik 871 +/-2 museum - a really well-done museum underground at the excavation site of one of the oldest buildings ever found in Reykjavik. The reason for the weird name was that there was a large volcanic eruption in 871AD (+/- 2 years) and evidence that the first Icelandic settlers (Norse men and Celtic women) had already started building before that - although it could have been months or decades before. Then to the National Museum - one of the best I've ever visited. Cheap tickets for a museum which takes several hours to see all of, with a very good audio guide, which takes you through the entire history of Iceland, from that first settlement in Reykjavik, to the modern day and all the influences which shaped their country. After that, I went down to the Old Habour to the Maritime Museum (via lunch at Bergsson Matthus cafe, which deserves an honourable mention) which, although it had one decent exhibit about Icelandic women at sea through the ages, wasn't really my thing. From there, I went on to the Harpa building - a very modern (post economic crash) glass building overlooking the harbour with some good views inside and out, of the snow-capped peaks on the other side of the bay. Knackered, but with another 4 hours to kill until my airport transfer - and having checked out of my hostel - I went back to the pool again (as the last museum I wanted to visit was closing as I got there).
After an uneventful swim and journey, on an overnight flight with very little sleep, I arrived in Copenhagen and managed to immediately pick up a 24h Metro ticket at the airport from someone leaving, which lasts until tonight and means I'll only need a 72h ticket (200 Danish Krona, about 20 quid) to fill my time here. So I'll try to keep this updated every couple of days to avoid such long posts, but it kind of depends on which hostels have computers and whether I have time.
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