TIDBITS & SNAPSHOTS: LONDON 2014

The Blue Lagoon

Today was a day of utter and complete relaxation. We had bought tickets to the Blue Lagoon, a hot spring attraction where you literally go hang out in the most beautiful natural looking hot tub in the middle of nowhere for as long as you want. A 45 minute drive from the center of Reykjavik, you drive over the “moss lands” seeing nothing but flatness against a backdrop of mountains far in the distance. The Lagoon comes out of nowhere, the only hint its there is the massive billows of steam rising up from the water.

Getting off the bus you enter through this pathway of lava rocks until you get inside, where you are given a bracelet and instructed towards the communal showers. People here don’t really care about public nudity, its quite strange but you get used to it real quick. Once you step outside into the 10 degree wind, you are confronted with the most beautiful sight. A giant pond of ridiculously blue water inviting you to get in as fast as possible, which is exactly what we did. On the edge of the lagoon there are a couple of pots of algae face mask, a white smooth snad like substance that you can rub all over your face and body that makes your skin feel soft as a baby’s bottom. There were saunas, hot baths, massages and probably a bunch more exciting things, but we were completely content with just hangin out in the main pool.

Definitely the most relaxing day i’ve had in the past 3 months, very much so needed. I will 100% be coming back to this place at some point in my life.

Surprise Mountains, Museums and a Church

This morning Bria and I awoke to the shuffling of our hostel roommates, so we decided to head downstairs for our breakfast. As we walk down the hall, I looked out at the window that was previously pitch black to find an AMAZING view of the ocean and mountains. The view brought on the morning with a renewed eagerness to explore ad enjoy the outdoors. After a delicious breakfast on bread with cheese and tomato, oatmeal and a fruit pot we decided to head out and explore Reykjavik. The city in which everyone said was so large, is actually relatively small. A couple hundred meters away we arrived at our first tourist location, a sculpture of a sun ship set beautifully agains the mountainous background.
 A quarter mile down the shoreline path is an amazingly designed building called the Harpa, an enormous concert and meeting hall. The building is filled with windows, all geometrically placed a a strange honeycomb pattern that takes the light and throws it back at you making it glitter in the sun. Although they don’t let you inside the doors to see the concert hall, the rest of the building and the outside were still an amazing sight. From there we ventured on to a couple of museums and then finally one of Iceland’s best known landmarks, the Hallgrimskikja Lutheran Church. The massive church looms over the city, a simple design echoing the lava flow of the landscape, an intimidating structure that makes you want to check it out. Once inside the decorations are even fewer, but the fact that it is so simple is what makes it so amazing. There is also an enormous organ towards the front of the church that apparently weighs 25 tons and is 15 meters high. I can only imagine what it must sound like.
From there we decided to grab some tea and warm up before heading over to a pond in the middle of the city called The Pond. They’re very creative in naming their landmarks, i’m not sure if I could have though of a better name for i myself. Afterwards we continued on to the National Museum of Iceland, a very educational and interesting experience through Iceland’s history.
Once we were all museum’d out we decided to head back towards our hostel and sit on the rocks overlooking the mountains, a sight I will never get tired of staring at, basking in the sun until we were too cold to stay out any longer.