Honeymoon Day 3 – June 3 – Reykjavik, Iceland and Copenhagen, Denmark

We were up at 6:30am again on our last day in Iceland. This time we got all packed up, and then caught a bus to the Blue Lagoon. This is another ‘must see’ spot in Iceland, according to the guidebooks. And there are buses set up to make it really easy to see it on the way to the airport.

The drive there takes you through mossy lava fields – Jeff thought it looked like we were driving on the moon. Then (after about an hour) you come across more dark lava rocks, and some milky-blue pools. You go into the actual complex, rent a towel and a bathrobe, and then head into the blue lagoon. It’s really, really pretty – the water is light blue, but almost entirely opaque, and its’ surrounded by black lava rocks. The water is naturally heated and really warm and comfortable.

Jeff and I soaked and floated around the pool for about an hour or an hour and a half, and then got back out to head to the airport. Not a bad way to end the trip in Iceland!

We arrived in Denmark at about 6pm local time, but it took until 7pm to get our luggage. We couldn’t find the hotel we’d booked on the map, so we went to ask for help at the info desk. Apparently, the hotel we booked is not technically in Copenhagen, which was a surprise to us. Not sure what went wrong, but our hotel was pre-paid, and the very cheapest hotel in Copenhagen (according to the info desk) was still going to be more than $200, and our hotel was accessible via public transportation (about 50 minutes on the above-ground train, and then a 10 minute walk – though we had no map and no idea which way to walk when we got off the train…) So we decided to go for it – a bit of Denmark adventure. It took us a while to get the train (there were some cancellations and track changes we didn’t understand), but we did eventually make it to the right stop. The stores were all closed (it was about 9:30pm at this point), but there was a family loading into the car, and we asked them for directions, and the guy took out a map and showed us where to go. After that, we had no problems. We checked in, and decided to get some much-needed sleep!

Also, the hotel – Herlov Kro – is actually pretty cute, and now we’ve had a chance to see some of greater Copenhagen!

Honeymoon Day 2 – June 2 – Reykjavik, South Shore, and Golden Circle, Iceland

On the second day of the honeymoon, we got up at 6:30am – which is super early, except that our internal clocks were still way off anyway, and it was completely bright and day-time looking outside. We had breakfast in our now-favorite lounge (Jeff says the lounge is his favorite hotel space ever, because of the great view, quiet atmosphere, and, of course, the free food and drinks.)

At 8am, we met our tourguide downstairs for our 2-in-1 tour from Volcano Tours. The plan was to see the South Shore of Iceland and also the Golden Circle. We thought this would be perfect, because the Golden Circle is all of the really famous stuff that you can’t miss, but going to the South Shore would allow us to see things a bit more off the beaten track, even though we were only in Iceland for a short time. The tour was supposed to be with a small group in a small bus or jeep. We found out soon that it was actually a very small tour – just me and Jeff! So for the same price as a group bus trip, we were able to get a personal tour around Iceland!

The only catch is that our driver, who I think was honestly trying to be nice, was pretty creepy. He had kind of crazy hair and a lazy eye, which definitely shouldn’t lead to stereotypes about his personality, except that practically everything he said made me grate my teeth. Within the first hour of driving (it’s a ten hour tour), he had made a joke about domestic violence (a 70-year-old-man had recently been arrested for killing his wife, and Clint – the driver – joked that she had probably been nagging him for forty years.) He also talked about his recent divorce and told us (the newlyweds) that “sometimes people just grow apart.” His stories continued throughout the trip – about his friend getting bit on the tongue by his pet tarantula, about how new research had just come out proving that global warming wasn’t caused by humans (which he explained to us as we were touring a glacier and seeing the markers showing how much it had shrunk in the last 20 years), jokes about how Vikings killed people to steal their wives, and lots more I can’t (or don’t want to?) remember. Also, when either of us would fall asleep on the drive, when we’d woke up, he’d be like, ‘Oh, I saw you sleeping!’ which always made me feel like he was watching us sleep, which also seems creepy. I really do think he was trying to be friendly with all of his stories and jokes, but we were not on the same wavelength, so I tried to just stare out the window. Luckily, Jeff was less affected than I was, and he carried the conversation for basically the whole trip. Essentially, Jeff had no problem with the driver, so he just laughed at me (in a friendly way, of course) every time we'd walk on our own and I'd vent about my annoyance whatever Clint had said since the last stop.

The driver was not always bad – he sometimes did have interesting information to share about the landscape, Icelandic history, and things like that. Also, if he noticed me trying to get a picture of something out the window, he'd try to stop and pull over so that I could get out and get a good shot, which was really nice. And the one joke I did actually laugh about was about forests in Iceland. For some reason, Iceland doesn’t really have forests (they died off or got cut down), so they call any little group of trees a forest, and lots of them are young trees. So in Iceland, they have all these jokes that start:
If you get lost in a forest in Iceland…
…stand up. (Because you can see over the trees.)
…walk one meter in any direction.
And there were a few others. (Re-reading them, they don't seem that funny... maybe it was just in comparison to all of the other jokes that I thought they were funny?)

Anyway, driving around in Iceland is fun – the scenery changes all the time – sharp cliffs, mossy lava fields, black sands, mountains. It often looks like you’re on another world.

On the South Shore, we stopped and saw big waterfalls coming over sharp cliffs, we walked on a glacier (so cool!), saw some old fashioned Icelandic housing (made out of lava stone and grass, since there is no wood in Iceland – now houses are made of concrete), and took a little stroll on a black sand beach. While on the beach, we saw a seal in the water, which was also really cool!

We had lunch at a little Icelandic fast food grill – burgers and fries. It was not bad. Apparently Icelandic people really like fast food, but, when McDonalds and Burger King came to Iceland they did really poorly, and it’s apparently the only country where McDonalds has gone out of business. Now there are no McDonalds’ in Iceland!

The second half of the day we saw the Golden Circle, which is probably the most famous sites in Iceland. We saw a bunch of geysers, including “Geysir,” the one that every other geyser in the world is named after! It was the first time I’ve ever seen a geyser erupt – very cool!

We saw the most famous, two-tiered water fall, and got lucky, because a rainbow appeared while we were standing there.

Our last stop was at the location of Iceland’s historic parliament, which also happens to be the place where two tectonic plates are moving away from each other (at a rate of 2cm per year).

Everything was really beautiful! Usually, I would learn the names of the different places we went to, but it’s really tough to do in Icelandic!

The tour was over by about 5pm. Jeff and I were tired, so we decided to go to the lounge for snacks and drinks and to relax and collect our thoughts. After that, we decided to have a quiet night in. Jeff ran to a nearby store and got “Icelandic Chipotle,” which was not particularly good. But it was a nice relaxing end to a full day of sight-seeing!

Honeymoon Day 1 – June 1 – Reykjavik, Iceland

Jeff and I arrived in Iceland at 6:30am local time. (I think it was about 1:30am Minnesota time.) We were tired, but excited. We got our bags, found the bus into town, and headed to the Hotel.

We had gotten a great deal (half price!) on the Hilton Reykjavik Nordica hotel. It’s about 10 minutes walk outside of downtown, but it’s a very nice hotel. Our guide book listed it under ‘Top End,’ and also chose the restaurant in the hotel – Vox – as its top pick for Icelandic Cuisine.

We got to the hotel at about 8:30am, and not surprisingly, they weren’t ready for us to check-in yet. However, somehow I am an HHonors Gold member, even though I can’t remember the last time I actually stayed at a Hilton. That meant we got access to the executive lounge, which was serving free breakfast at the time.

The executive lounge was beautiful – it’s on the 8th floor and has a great view of the ocean. Jeff and I hung out up there for a couple of hours and then went back down to get our room. They put us on the 9th floor – the executive area – which was also really cool! Great hotel luck for the first stop on the honeymoon!

The first order of business was to watch the episode of Doctor Who that had come on the Saturday before the wedding – it was the second half of a two-part episode! Then we took a nap for a bit.

Once we were refreshed, we headed out for a nice walk around downtown Reykjavik. It’s fairly cold in Iceland – probably in the 50’s – so I was glad I brought a jacket. The streets were cute and there were lots of little shops.

We stopped in Café Paris for a coffee and to warm up. They also had free wifi so we posted a little facebook update using my phone.

From there, we went to see Reykjavik’s famous church on the hill. It’s a huge concrete church – it looks really unique. The inside is really cool too – interesting architecture and very little color or detail. We rode the elevator to the top and got some views of the city from above.

After that, we headed back to the hotel for a (free!) aperitif in the executive lounge, and then we headed to dinner. We had an 8pm dinner reservation at Vox. We decided to go all out and try the 5-course seasonal menu. We were really excited, because Vox is Iceland’s first ever 5-star restaurant, and it’s supposed to have one of the world’s best chefs, and it just happened to be in our hotel! Also, Jeff got the wine pairing with the meal, which was great, and every time, they poured me some of the wine to taste as well. (Also, did I mention that Vox’s Sommelier won the Sommelier of the Year award in Iceland four times?)

We started our dinner with a glass of champagne, to toast to the first dinner of our honeymoon. The menu was five courses, but they also had amazing bread with some kind of herbed butter. There was also an amuse-bouche of lamb tartar, and another snack of bread, cheese, and jam that came between courses.

Here’s what was on the menu:

Lamb Tartar

Icelandic Langoustine
Slightly cooked langoustine with green strawberries, radishes, lumpfish roe and ramson

Scallops and Tomatoes
Panfried Norwegian scallops with horseradish cream, almonds and lots of tomatoes

Horse from Böðmóðsstaðir
Horse carpaccio and watercress with Bornholm mustard, beetroot, crispy walnuts and Gamle Ole

Beef and Angelica
Tenderloin of beef with green asparagus, morels, angelica glaze and smoked marrow

Strawberries and Flowers
Red and green strawberries from Silfurtún whith hazelnuts and rose sorbet

Every single dish was great! We ended up staying at the restaurant until almost midnight – it’s probably the longest dinner I’ve ever had. But it seemed to go by really quickly, and it still looked like it was just starting to get dark outside, so I was really surprised when I saw the clock!

Luckily for us, all we had to do to get home was ride the elevator up to our room!