Packed with considerable effort to meet the EZIJET baggage limits. Wore 2 coats and had all our pockets filled with loose items and the bag was exactly on the 20kg limit. Bristol was cold and rainy as we arrived at the airport at 5am and Iceland at least promised to not to be raining. The flight from Bristol to Reykjavik is about 2.5 hours. Once again no-one was particularly interested in terms of customs and we found our way to the airport bus for the 40 min drive to the city centre - 9C, cloudy but fine.
Booked online accommodation while we were staying at Devizes. We have a room in a private flat about 5 mins walk from the city centre - very convenient - complete with Spock the black cat. The city centre is tiny and can probably been seen in about an hour but has some very interesting shops.
Two Icelandic questions you should apparently not bother to learn.
1. Hvar er naesti McDonalds? Nope there are none!
2. Hvar er naesta lestarstod? (train station)? Nope.
Other interesting things in the first 5 mins . . .
They have lots of coffee shops, they make great bread, you can use as much hot water as you like as long as you don't mind the smell of sulphur (as it comes from the geothermal springs - but is not as strong smelling as Quilpie) , the cold water comes from a different source and has no smell or taste, they use Icelandic krona and it is very odd speaking in hundreds of krona just for a cup of coffee never mind thousands for anything else. There are no trees left - those pesky Vikings! The cathedral is stark but majestic. 5000 pipes in an organ make for some sound! The local ponies are NOT ponies but Icelandic horses. They have been here so long they have invented two extra gaits in addition to walking, trotting and galloping. There is a language committee to keep the language pure - no simple adoption of foreign words - they either invent a new Icelandic word or they re-use an old word. Alcohol is only sold by government owned shops - there are 48 - and there is no place to buy cheap booze. Because there is not much wood - many of the houses use corrugated iron - at least the older ones.
Booked online accommodation while we were staying at Devizes. We have a room in a private flat about 5 mins walk from the city centre - very convenient - complete with Spock the black cat. The city centre is tiny and can probably been seen in about an hour but has some very interesting shops.
Two Icelandic questions you should apparently not bother to learn.
1. Hvar er naesti McDonalds? Nope there are none!
2. Hvar er naesta lestarstod? (train station)? Nope.
Other interesting things in the first 5 mins . . .
They have lots of coffee shops, they make great bread, you can use as much hot water as you like as long as you don't mind the smell of sulphur (as it comes from the geothermal springs - but is not as strong smelling as Quilpie) , the cold water comes from a different source and has no smell or taste, they use Icelandic krona and it is very odd speaking in hundreds of krona just for a cup of coffee never mind thousands for anything else. There are no trees left - those pesky Vikings! The cathedral is stark but majestic. 5000 pipes in an organ make for some sound! The local ponies are NOT ponies but Icelandic horses. They have been here so long they have invented two extra gaits in addition to walking, trotting and galloping. There is a language committee to keep the language pure - no simple adoption of foreign words - they either invent a new Icelandic word or they re-use an old word. Alcohol is only sold by government owned shops - there are 48 - and there is no place to buy cheap booze. Because there is not much wood - many of the houses use corrugated iron - at least the older ones.
