Europe- Part 2- Iceland
Let's talk about Europe! Woo! Sorry, you're gonna get lots of pictures!
We decided to fly Icelandair and got great prices and also didn't have to pay for Addison. Yes, a lot airlines make you pay for a baby on your lap if you are flying internationally! Crazy. Anyway it ended up being great, aside from them not having baby cots. The lights at night on the plane were reminiscent of the Northern Lights (cool!) and we ended up having a seat for Addie on every flight because my dad moved to the exit row for more leg room.
The biggest bonus though, was spending a day in Iceland on the way over! Barrett and I agree that it's definitely a place to spend a full 24 hours, not just 11, like us, because you could do a cool tour and there are some amazing things to see there. We did manage to fit two stops into our day. First, we drove to Reykjavik, the capital and walked around. It's the first time I've really seen tundra, so that was awesome. I'm a sucker for a nice, barren, landscape--so the drive to town was definitely my cup of tea.
The town was SO not what we expected. I'd have to explain it as having the vibrancy of color and eclectic-ness of San Francisco while having the size and feel of a ski town--if you could picture that. Also, lots of waved sheet metal building facades. That might not do it justice.
We started our morning with a sub-par pastry at a small coffee shop after failing to navigate the Icelandic streets to the bakery I'd been hoping for. But what can you do. After successfully copying a man who luckily walked up to pay for parking moments after we couldn't figure it out (Icelandic words simply look like jumbles), we ventured off to check out some exorbitantly priced Icelandic Wool shops. We hiked up a main street to the Hallgrimskirkja Cathedral and Leif Eriksson monument and then around some side streets and eventually back down to the harbor. Awesome blossom. I'm pretty into just walking with no purpose around cities, so vacation was off to a good start.
Then we were off to the coast. This drive was slightly less awesome. For one, it was like 10:30 or 11am, my second least favorite time for sunlight. Also, everyone was going on about 1-2 hours of sleep. Our flight had left Denver at 5pm and arrived around midnight our time, 6:30am Iceland time. Luckily, I could picture the maps I'd previously googled since everyone was passed out, including my navigator, who fell asleep mid-sentence. We ended up in the right spot, though I really doubted we were in the right spot until about the last 100 yards.
I was secretly happy it had taken longer than planned because Addison could nap more. I know she's not mentioned a lot but that's because she is truly an undemanding little human. But we were feeding her and making sure she got to sleep etc. :), so don't worry.
The coast was AWESOME. Definitely worth the poorly marked, initially missed, road to the middle of nowhere, that then went right into a field, that then turned into a dirt road that we thought might ruin the rental car. It was chilly to say the least. The wind drove my parents back into the car to hang out with Addie, but Barrett and I climbed an awesome cliff and looked at awesome birds nesting in awesome cliff nests and gliding around above the sea. Thank you Reykjanesta, for giving me a glimpse of Iceland's natural beauty.
On the road again, we easily made it back to their airport since we'd ended up at the airport a few hours prior when trying to get to the coast. But alas, we had not filled up the car! By now we were experts at navigating the roads in Iceland and ran back out to get gas and finally dropped off the car and got to the airport. Luckily I had planned time for such a mishap. It was pretty difficult to find directions that didn't differ from one another during the planning stages of the trip so I had guessed weird things would happen and was pretty pleased with the fact that we only got lost once and that we'd had such a successful day. Also, I was the only one who stayed awake the whole time! So it was good I was driving! Waking up with Addie every night had given me the upper hand.
After a little meal at Keflavik Airport, which has ample space to eat, but zero space to wait for your flight, we were off for our 3 hour flight to Amsterdam!!!!!!!!!!!!
We decided to fly Icelandair and got great prices and also didn't have to pay for Addison. Yes, a lot airlines make you pay for a baby on your lap if you are flying internationally! Crazy. Anyway it ended up being great, aside from them not having baby cots. The lights at night on the plane were reminiscent of the Northern Lights (cool!) and we ended up having a seat for Addie on every flight because my dad moved to the exit row for more leg room.
The biggest bonus though, was spending a day in Iceland on the way over! Barrett and I agree that it's definitely a place to spend a full 24 hours, not just 11, like us, because you could do a cool tour and there are some amazing things to see there. We did manage to fit two stops into our day. First, we drove to Reykjavik, the capital and walked around. It's the first time I've really seen tundra, so that was awesome. I'm a sucker for a nice, barren, landscape--so the drive to town was definitely my cup of tea.
The town was SO not what we expected. I'd have to explain it as having the vibrancy of color and eclectic-ness of San Francisco while having the size and feel of a ski town--if you could picture that. Also, lots of waved sheet metal building facades. That might not do it justice.
Then we were off to the coast. This drive was slightly less awesome. For one, it was like 10:30 or 11am, my second least favorite time for sunlight. Also, everyone was going on about 1-2 hours of sleep. Our flight had left Denver at 5pm and arrived around midnight our time, 6:30am Iceland time. Luckily, I could picture the maps I'd previously googled since everyone was passed out, including my navigator, who fell asleep mid-sentence. We ended up in the right spot, though I really doubted we were in the right spot until about the last 100 yards.
I was secretly happy it had taken longer than planned because Addison could nap more. I know she's not mentioned a lot but that's because she is truly an undemanding little human. But we were feeding her and making sure she got to sleep etc. :), so don't worry.
The coast was AWESOME. Definitely worth the poorly marked, initially missed, road to the middle of nowhere, that then went right into a field, that then turned into a dirt road that we thought might ruin the rental car. It was chilly to say the least. The wind drove my parents back into the car to hang out with Addie, but Barrett and I climbed an awesome cliff and looked at awesome birds nesting in awesome cliff nests and gliding around above the sea. Thank you Reykjanesta, for giving me a glimpse of Iceland's natural beauty.
On the road again, we easily made it back to their airport since we'd ended up at the airport a few hours prior when trying to get to the coast. But alas, we had not filled up the car! By now we were experts at navigating the roads in Iceland and ran back out to get gas and finally dropped off the car and got to the airport. Luckily I had planned time for such a mishap. It was pretty difficult to find directions that didn't differ from one another during the planning stages of the trip so I had guessed weird things would happen and was pretty pleased with the fact that we only got lost once and that we'd had such a successful day. Also, I was the only one who stayed awake the whole time! So it was good I was driving! Waking up with Addie every night had given me the upper hand.
After a little meal at Keflavik Airport, which has ample space to eat, but zero space to wait for your flight, we were off for our 3 hour flight to Amsterdam!!!!!!!!!!!!
Comments