SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 1st - Back to the Big City
We briefly discussed making diversions to the Western Fjörds, Snæfellsnes Penisula or the interior but realized we simply wouldn't have enough time to do any of those diversions justice. Instead, we made a beeline back to Reykjavík sticking to Route 1. The journey along the western end of Route didn't feature any major landmarks or stops but the drive was quite pleasant and once again different than most of the rest of the country. Most of it follows a large river valley with fairly large mountains along both sides of the valley. Unlike most of Iceland, there was a lot of green in this area. The area featured literally hundreds of small waterfalls but nothing spectacular enough to make us stop. The only major choice we had left was whether to take the tunnel near Akranes or drive the extra distance around the fjörd. Our final decision was based on price. Since it was less than 1000 ISK ($16) we decided to take the shorter route.
Back in Reykjavík we found ourselves some parking close to our hotel, the Radisson SAS 1919. This was much easier than we anticipated. Fortunately, we were there early enough to grab a space before the evening crowd rolled in. This time we got an even nicer room on the corner of the hotel. The view from the corner was really neat because it was right on a fairly busy intersection and we could people watch for the hours leading up to the pub crawl. After dealing with relatively simple farm house accommodations, it was really nice to be in a big city hotel. The bathroom, showers and beds felt huge and having a couple more TV channels to flip through while we relaxed was certainly welcome.
The next step was to go out and gather up some souvenirs. This is really easy to do in downtown Reykjavík as there are numerous gift shops and book shops. Because it was some special Saturday shopping day, the streets were pretty full of shoppers but not so full as to be a hindrance. The weather was cold and wet but after circling the countryside it really didn't phase us. I picked up a book for myself, a sweatshirt and socks for my daughter and a couple things for friends before calling it quits. After some more rest at the hotel we set off in search of dinner. We walked around for almost an hour trying to find the perfect place.We kind of hoped to find some uniquely Icelandic food. Something like whale, smoked puffin or reindeer would have been nice. However, we didn't want to overspend on it and settled for good fish and chips. Afterwards we had some coffee and cake to kill some time before a mini-pub crawl.
Since out flight was early the next morning, we considered staying awake all night. However, it became apparent we were pretty run down from the trip and some sleep was going to be necessary. We waited until the crowd began to come out around 11:30 and hit a local bar. We had a few drinks, called it night and I quickly few asleep in the very comfortable bed.
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