It's always exciting landing in a new country and getting your first look at the culture and people on their home turf. Our first experience in Iceland after leaving the airport was the Blue Lagoon. The Blue Lagoon is a geothermal spa, or more specifically, it's a geothermal power plant where they discharge the heated water into a giant pool that people have decided has therapeutic properties. Whatever it is, it's actually a quite stunning stunning site. The geothermal plant water is an unEarthly milky blue juxtaposed with the absolutely alien landscape of a lava field.
Being it's roughly situated between Reykjavik and the international airport in Keflavik, the Blue Lagoon is used to people stopping by on their way into or out of Iceland. They have facilities to store large luggage while you swim around in the lagoon. Their system is actually quite clever. You get a water proof RFID braclet that you can use to lock and unlock the lockers. It also lets you buy food and drinks around the lagoon.
Iceland has some pretty strict cultural moires when it comes to public bathing. Specifically, all visitors shall shower completely nude in the public shows (segregated by gender) before donning a bathing suite and partaking in geothermal goodness. I'll admit I found this ritual to be somewhat intimidating and was grateful for being half-asleep and my myopia sans glasses. Of course later when I was in the Lagoon and spotted some blurry shapes that might have been shapely ladies in bikinis I went back to cursing my myopic eyes.
To be honest, I think the Blue Lagoon has to be the most pleasurable way to unwind from a long flight that I've experienced yet. Considering that I'd been awake for more hours than I cared to count, I left the Lagoon feeling refreshed and ready to tackle Reykjavik.
Tackling Reykjavik was a joy. The day was mild and gorgeous and the town is extremely pedestrian friendly. We walked all around central Reykjavik to get the lay of the land. I was impressed with the architecture of the town, especially of the performance hall by the coast.
There is a famous landmark of a church and as we approach it I commented looked like the Newton's approximation of a church. (If you got that, then congratulation you remember calculus.)
When we finally decided to stop for dinner we opted for full cultural immersion and picked a "traditional Icelandic restaurant." Dawn got the traditional sampler which consisted of whale, fish stew, lobster, (and surprisingly) haggis. I got the monkfish and salad. Both plates were very tasty but we agreed the haggis we had in Edinburgh was superior. The whale was tasty, but the star of dinner in my opinion was Icelandic fish stew. Not really a soup or stew as I was expecting, it had the consistency of chicken salad. It also had all the hallmarks of a comfort food designed to battle chilly nights by a people who know cold. This will be a dish I am definitely going to endeavor to recreate once we're home.
Number 8, really? I guess you can add haggis to anything. We were pretty tired so we opted for sleep instead of dessert.
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