ICLEAND DAY ONE: REKJKAVIK

I'm writing this post rom the lobby of the Grand Hotel in Reykjavik Iceland. It is around 10 pm local time So it's been a long day. A long long long day

We arrived here in Icleand around 2 am our time, around 6 am local time. Each of us managed a couple of hours sleep during the 5 hour flight and trust me, that turned out to less than sufficiant for the rest of the day.

From the airport at Keflavik to this hotel it was about a 30 minute bus ride, during which we got to experience a very Icelandic landscape: On one side, the ocean and on the other side, miles and miles of lava fields that had a ver Lunar feeling

That landscape petered out by the time we arrived in Reykjavik. It was a sunny day, temps in the low 20 C, with a brisk wind coming off the Atlantic. Reykjavik is a pretty little town, narrow sometimes cobbled streets running dow to the harbour. Away from the heart of the town which

has become the tourist haven, you could call the city quaint, with lots of unique architecture.

It is, of course, a harbour town, an ancient haunt of Vikings after all. And although the only Viking long ship we saw was this lovely metal sculpture ...

... it is still a very active working harbour town.

It is a pretty area, hosting 60% of Icleand's 300,000 residents but still small enough for a nice brisk walk. That is, if you haven't already been up for so many hours your brain can no long tabulate said hours

So we returned to the hotel around noon local time and around 7 am our next day ... and quickly fell into a heartfelt coma. Tomorrow we are off with the Great Canadian Tour company for 9 days of adventure all over the country. We will return to Reykjavik ... and hopefully be awake enough to appreciat it even more