One thing that we are pretty determined to continue once we have our baby is traveling. Most people think that this wont happen. Well, we shall see. Anyways, to get off on the right foot, we decided to head on over to Iceland for our "babymoon." For those of you who don't know what that is, google defines it as "a relaxing or romantic holiday taken by parents-to-be before their baby is born." This also fits with one of our goals for the year, which was to go on a trip just to relax. So we headed out to Reykjavik, Iceland, in the middle of November.
As we were flying through the night somewhere between Canada and Greenland, Alastair suddenly realized that his window was facing the North, and that we were close enough to the North Pole that we should be able to see the Northern Lights. Sure enough, there they were, the Northern Lights! All green and moving around, we spent some time looking at them from 39,000 feet! Kind of surreal, and we are hoping to see them again before we leave Iceland.
Reykjavik is about a 45 minute drive from the international airport. We had saved some directions on our phone, and hopped in our rental car, but after some errors reading the directions, we realized that we were a little lost. Alastair just threw caution to the wind, remembering that the hotel was close to the domestic airport, and guessed his way there. As if by magic, we arrived at the hotel without making any wrong turns! Iceland was going to be good!
We took a nap at around 10, just as the sun was coming up, and then headed out to explore Reykjavik. Having made a list of goals for the trip, we started out at Hallgrímskirkja, Iceland's tallest building. It is a beautiful church, but the best part was the view of the city from the roof. We were both surprised (maybe we shouldn't have been) by the wind. It seemed like it was coming from all directions, incredibly fast and powerful. We got the pictures that we wanted, and headed back to the car.
Next was a short drive to the ocean. We wanted to see the Sun Voyager sculpture, or the Sólfar, apparently. We figured that this was a good way to appreciate the Icelandic Viking heritage. It was pretty chilly, but we got our picture and now we can say been-there-done-that!
Next was a short drive to the ocean. We wanted to see the Sun Voyager sculpture, or the Sólfar, apparently. We figured that this was a good way to appreciate the Icelandic Viking heritage. It was pretty chilly, but we got our picture and now we can say been-there-done-that!
The next part of our adventure was spent talking our way out of a parking ticket! Alastair's card wasn't working at the machine, so he had to go and get cash, then change. While doing all of that, the car got a ticket. Luckily for us, the ticketing guy was really nice and ended up walking us to the building where we could challenge the ticket, since it was "already in the system." This is a great story because it is about an ICELANDIC parking ticket!
Next, we wandered around some of Reykjavic's streets before sitting down for fish and chips. Not English chips, but yummy nonetheless. More like straight up potatoes. However, I don't think fish has ever tasted so good.
The last thing on our Reykjavik list was to have a cultural experience. There was nothing specific planned, just something Icelandic. So we met up with Josh, Alastair's cousin, and his wife and baby. Josh's wife is Icelandic, so we asked her what Icelandic cultural experience we should have. Her reply, "eat sheep's head." OK, let's go. So we headed off to a restaurant for our very Icelandic cultural experience. What happened next was probably the weirdest thing to ever come out of Alastair's mouth, as he told the man working in the restaurant, "Hmm, just the hot sheep's head, please."
I'll be honest and say that all-in-all, it was pretty good. It looked gross, the teeth were still in there, the eyeball was there, and even the tongue. The smell wasn't horrendous, but it was definitely off putting. At first, it reminded me of when my mum would try and get me to eat vegetables, but this time, I wasn't getting paid to do it! I ended up eating some of the skin, which was decent, some of the tongue, which was salty but good, and as much of the meat under the skin as I could find, because that was really good. I didn't touch the eyeball, which Unni claims was the best part. No thanks! All-in-all, it was good, but I don't think I'll be back for more any time soon!
Day one in Iceland, absolute success!
The last thing on our Reykjavik list was to have a cultural experience. There was nothing specific planned, just something Icelandic. So we met up with Josh, Alastair's cousin, and his wife and baby. Josh's wife is Icelandic, so we asked her what Icelandic cultural experience we should have. Her reply, "eat sheep's head." OK, let's go. So we headed off to a restaurant for our very Icelandic cultural experience. What happened next was probably the weirdest thing to ever come out of Alastair's mouth, as he told the man working in the restaurant, "Hmm, just the hot sheep's head, please."
I'll be honest and say that all-in-all, it was pretty good. It looked gross, the teeth were still in there, the eyeball was there, and even the tongue. The smell wasn't horrendous, but it was definitely off putting. At first, it reminded me of when my mum would try and get me to eat vegetables, but this time, I wasn't getting paid to do it! I ended up eating some of the skin, which was decent, some of the tongue, which was salty but good, and as much of the meat under the skin as I could find, because that was really good. I didn't touch the eyeball, which Unni claims was the best part. No thanks! All-in-all, it was good, but I don't think I'll be back for more any time soon!
Day one in Iceland, absolute success!