Ducking Through Scandinavia

Attempting to follow the walking tour suggested by a guidebook, we ended up walking clear across Old Town and reached the bus station at the other end of town without finding any open cafés in which to have our breakfast/dinner. Neither locals nor tourists were to be seen on that early Saturday morning. I would not have been surprised to see tumbleweed-like snowballs drifting down the deserted street and to hear someone whistling the theme song to The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. Doubling back, we found Kaffitár, the #2 champions in the 2003 World Barista Competition. We were surprised at how good the bagels were in Reykjavik, and Kaffitár became our favorite coffee/bagel hangout. (Fun Fact #2: USD$8 for a bagel with cheese and a swiss mocha!) We watched some ice-blond children feeding ducks and gulls at Tjörn lake until the chilliness and bone-tiredness hit us, and we returned to our mini-room for naps.

Refreshed, we strolled around the town until we reached the end of the main street again which did not take very long. Apparently, the exchange rate is one American step to five Icelandic steps. We leaped and bounded back up the street and decided to try Icelandic Thai food for lunch at Nudlehaus. The black noodles were topped with what we originally suspected were raw shrimp and then figured were canned shrimp but at any rate were gross. Score negative one for Icelandic cuisine. We strolled around Austurvöllur park which had an amazing exhibit of Yann Arthus-Bertrand's "Earth from Above" photographs. Afterwards, we parked ourselves at Café Paris for a three-hour coffee break and before we knew it, it was 9 p.m. and the sun had disappeared! It had been completely obscured by clouds all day, but by night, it was really "night" - no midnight sun, no insanity, nothing. We later learned that only in July are there a couple hours of darkness in southern Iceland. Since it was dark and surprisingly quiet for a Saturday night, we decided to pack it in.

Day Two: Bláa Lónið

After a good night's sleep on comfortable beds with thick blankets, we stacked up our beds, packed our few belongings, and said goodbye to the weeping baby portrait hung on the candy-colored walls of our single room to shift over to a double room. Kaffitár did not open until 10 a.m., so we occupied ourselves by walking along the main street, loitering by the harbor, and counting ducks. Over breakfast, we leafed through the local paper where several newsworthy ducks made the front page (seven ducks on the front page and another five geese on the second page). Bellies and minds fed, we returned to our spacious double room to get ready for our excursion to Iceland's famous Bláa Lónið, or the Blue Lagoon. The geothermal spa boasts healing power water that is warm (38°C/100°F year-round), silky (from the mineral salts, silica, and blue-green algae), and dreamy (clouds of vapor surround the pool and the lava rocks beyond).

The bus picked us up at the Guesthouse and we arrived at the Blue Lagoon about 40 minutes later. We ran from the bus through the chilly mist to face our biggest fear: the communal shower. Icelandic protocol requires all patrons to shower sans swimsuits before entering the pool. All accounts thus far indicated that we would have to join throngs of naked swimmers jostling for position under the shower sprays. One helpful individual suggested we "just suck it up." Our fears were allayed when we entered the locker room with electronic-key bracelets and saw that there was a bathroom in which to change clothes and several cubicles with shower curtains. Whew! The indoor pool led to the outdoor pool where several areas were available to explore: the silica mud dispenser stations where you can glop Iceland's #1 skin-care product on your face to draw out impurities, the intense waterfall that pounds your shoulders, and the sauna that can lull you to sleep (and/or suffocation) in an instant. Definitely an experience to be had.

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