"a dream come true - the last few days" Iceland Travelogue by margaretvn

Thursday. We got up at 8.30 and after breakfast we packed the car for the journey to Reykjavik. It was showery this morning certainly not like yesterday but the rain had woken us up early in the morning. Mind you the noise of the pipes in the house had kept me awake for some time. Koos had thought that it was the fridge that was the problem and so he had switched it off. We decided to take the longer route to the city and after Borganes we followed the road along the sides of the fjords into the city. We stopped at the covered shopping mall the Kringlan and had a look around it and lunch.

Deildartunghver

Then we found the hotel, which is right in the old centre of the city. Parking the car by the hotel was absolutely impossible so we had to park it two streets and several blocks away. We checked in to our apartment and settled in with a cup of tea. The apartment is lovely, a bedroom with little kitchen and shower and toilet. We then spent the afternoon looking around the old centre and in the shops. We went back to the hotel for dinner and a relaxing evening.

on the way to Reykjavik

Friday so it is the last day in Iceland; we had breakfast in the hotel. It was very busy in the restaurant, or perhaps it was that in the last two weeks we were not used to seeing so many people together. We walked down to the harbour and booked a Puffin viewing trip for 10.30. We then wandered back to the centre because we had some time to fill in before the trip and I bought a lovely thin merino wool jumper.

Reykjavik

The Puffin trip took us out into the bay and around a tiny little island, which was crowded with Puffins. The trip took an hour and it was fantastic, I love Puffins and we could see them really well. One lady on the boat had arrived in Iceland at 4.00 this morning but she wanted to see the Puffins so badly she booked the trip. After we got back to harbour we walked back to the centre and found the cafe we had been in yesterday and decided to have lunch there. I had a lovely toasted sandwich with salad and Koos had a salmon sandwich.

in the harbour at Reykjavik

Then we went to see the Hallgrimskirkja and went up the tower for a view of Reykjavik and the surroundings. We got a good view of Snaefellsnes where we had had bad weather. Then we spent some time in the statue garden with lovely statues made by Einar Jonsson. We then walked to the Saebraut and along to the harbour. We spent our last Iceland's kronen. and went to get our tax rebate which of course gave us some more kr. but that will be enough for coffee tomorrow morning at the airport. By that time it was time to go back to the hotel to pack our things for the trip home. We had good weather today, sunny periods a bit of cloud but not at all cold.

We had to get up at 4.00 am on the day we returned home. We had only really just fallen asleep - the local night clubs had kept us awake. The road to the airport was not busy although there were a couple of touring buses and some other hire cars going to the airport. It was very busy but well organised at the airport and we joined the queue to check in. Then we went through customs, had a coffee and did some last minute shopping. The flight was about 45 minutes late leaving and we arrived in Amsterdam just after lunch time. The cases were absolutely ages arriving on the band and everyone was thinking we might have to fill in forms for lost luggage when they arrived. Off home in a boiling hot 33 degrees with very busy roads!