Michael and I were able to get away for our 15th Anniversary and our 40th birthdays. We had a week to work with and since I have never been to Europe, we decided to go to Iceland! It's relatively close and has the shortest plane ride. I have dreamed about going to Iceland for a while. This was definitely a big bucket list trip for me.
Michael is ready for our overnight flight! Unfortunately, I had a good amount of fun in the Delta Sky Club and felt a little motion sick on the ride there. So I went right to sleep and skipped dinner.
We landed around 6am in the morning and headed straight to pick up the rental car. We were both very groggy. It took a while for our rental car to be ready. Once the car was ready we headed to Reyjavik and attempted to check into the hotel. It wasn't ready yet, so we grabbed a pastry at Braud and Co. and then headed to Sky Lagoon.
Sky Lagoon was absolutely gorgeous and we had the perfect sunny but chilly day for the hot springs. We participated in the 7 step ritual and it was really fun.
Step 1: Relax in the warm water
The infinity pool looks out over the ocean and it is gorgeous!
Step 2: Cold plunge- this was freezing and I was only able to stay in for 20 seconds or so before my feet were numb.
Step 3: The sauna room. This was such a pretty room with a gorgeous view, but the hot coals felt like my face was melting off! We stayed for a little less than 10 minutes in here and weren't sweating but couldn't handle the heat on our faces any longer.
Step 4: The cold mist. This felt great after the Sauna
Step 5: Body Scrub. This left our skin feeling so smooth!
Step 6: Steam Room. This step felt so nice and we stayed in there as long as we could handle it!
Step 7: We showered and then headed back to the lagoon.
We went back to the hotel, our room wasn't ready so we sat in the lobby for a little while. We finally got into our room and took a quick hour nap. Then headed out for our Food Tour. We met at the beautiful Harpa Concert Hall.
The first stop was Fjallkonan Restaurant. We ate lightly cured arctic char on chickpie bread and lamb on flatbreads from Vestfjords. Michael's favorite of the whole food tour was the lamb on the flatbread.
The next stop was Messin. This was my favorite stop. We had Arctic char baked in honey, butter and lemon with cherry tomatoes and almonds and Plokkfiskur which is a cod potato mash. These were both delicious!
The third stop was the Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur. Here we tried the famous icelandic hot dogs. The icelandic hot dogs have raw onion, fried onions and icelandic ketchup on the bottom, then the hot dog which is made mostly out of lamb and topped with icelandic mustard and remoulade sauce. It was SO good! We learned that multiple famous people have been here to try the hot dogs. We also learned not to be like Bill Clinton and order it plain with mustard. They have pictures of him in the hot dog stand with warnings on how to correctly order! There wasn't a long line when we were there but our tour guide told us they have to give vouchers in the summer because the line can be an hour long!
The fourth stop was Íslenski Barinn. This is our guides favorite bar. We tried traditional icelandic meat soup and Viking Gylltur Beer. There were a few brave souls that tried fermented shark, but I did not participate. Michael attempted but was not successful. It smelled horrific!
Our 5th and final stop was to Café Loki. We tried rye bread ice cream with whipped cream and caramelised rhubarb syrup. It wasn't either of our favorite desserts, but it was good.
It was a fun food tour. We were stuffed and learned a lot about the food in Iceland.
We were off to bed after a fun first day in Iceland! Or at least we tried to go right to sleep. It was storming in Nashville and we had to stay up to let the grandparents know about all the rainouts!
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