Wait...you're going to Iceland for Spring Break?

So I decided that I would revive my blog and write about Iceland (since the blog's supposed to be about my travels after all). Kristin and I got to Iceland at 6:25 in the morning (Icelandic time) on Monday, March 6th. I took the MTELs right before going to the airport on Saturday, so finally I could just relax and enjoy Iceland! When we got to Iceland, it was really dark, but because it was 6, it wasn't a big deal. We travelled for about an hour and then got to the hostel where we were staying (Baldursbra, named after the Norse god Baldur which I realized about halfway through our stay.

We were exhausted when we got in (since it was about 3am American time) so we ate a quick breakfast and then took a three hour nap. We were still exhausted, but much less so, so we decided to go out and explore the city. It was "snailing" all day (snow/hailing) which was super fun, let me tell you. Also, the wind was ridiculously strong (and it stayed that way throughout our entire trip), so to answer everyone's questions, Iceland was really really cold. We went into tourist shops and then got a cream puff and tea at a cute cafe, mostly to stay out of the cold. We decided to go to the Maritime Museum because it wasn't terribly far away and we were still really cold, so we walked there and saw some cool ship things and information about fish (and smelled salted cod...disgusting)

From there we went to the Photography Museum which was alright, but took us about 10 minutes to walk through the whole thing. We then went to the library and hung out for a bit, and then went to a cafe and hung out for longer. We then travelled to Icelandic fish and chips which has the most amazing fish and chips I have ever eaten in my entire life. Kristin and I both got fish with 8 different dips and garlic potatoes...amazing!

Then we finished off our night with a dip in the hot tub outside of our hostel, which was amazing, especially considering how tired we both were. The next day, we were going on the Golden Circle tour, which is a tour that everyone who goes to Iceland should go on. We started off at Flaxafoss (foss means waterfall) which was a smallish waterfall above a salmon river which was really cool.

We went from there to geysers, which included the most famous geyser in the world: Geysir (what all other geysers are named after).

It was really cool, and erupted four times in a row when we were there, which seemed pretty unusual. From there we went to Thingvellier National Park (not sure if that's spelled correctly) where we saw where Viking lords made up the rules for all of Iceland back in the day

 and is also where the Eurasian and American plates are separating and pulling Iceland apart

 which was really cool to see. However, it was freezing, so we quickly snapped pictures and then were on our way. Oh, so the Icelandic language is one of the weirdest languages I have ever seen, just see if you can read this:

Anyway, after that the tour was over so we headed back to Reykjavik. We went to the first place we saw for food because it was absolutely freezing outside and we didn't want to be outside any longer than we had to. We got Thai food which was awesome, and then headed back to our hostel where we had a chill night. On Tuesday, we started with our caving excursion. Our guide (Loki) picked us up and took us to what looked like a barren field filled with just snow and volcanic rocks. However, he stopped the car and told us that this was where we were getting out. We trekked through waist deep snow (really should have brought knee length boots) and finally made our way to the cave with sopping wet jeans. The cave was named "Journey's End" or "The End of the Road" depending on your Icelandic translation, and it was awesome.

We got really awesome and beautiful gear to wear also.

The cave got small at parts, so we had to crawl a lot, but it wasn't as bad as I was expecting and for the most part it was really easy to get through. We had to walk back through the hellish snow to go back to the van, and from there we went straight back to the hostels. We, of course, showered right away and then decided to explore Reykjavik again. We went to the Hallgrimska church first which had an amazing view of the city from the top of it

And the church itself looked really cool also:

We went to Cafe Loki to eat where we heard an Icelandic rendition of "I could have danced all night" which was hilarious, but amazing. We then went down the main shopping street which was cool, but really expensive so we didn't buy anything until we got to a store called "Gaga". It was overall a really strange store with really expensive woolen sweaters, but we both chose something out of the sale section: I got nice arm warmers for about 8 dollars. For dinner we went to O-Sushi for dinner (mmm Icelandic sushi) where I bought sushi (of course) and some other stuff. It was on a conveyor belt which was awesome! When we got back to the hostel, the hostel owner told us that we had to go on the Northern Lights tour that night because the sky was clear and it seemed like a good night to go. We headed out at 8:30 and didn't end up seeing anything until 12. However, when the Northern Lights did come out, it was totally worth it. They were beautiful and amazing and one of the coolest things I've ever seen. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures (because my small camera wasn't adept enough to do it), but Kristin did: however, the pictures for some reason won't save to my computer, so I can't put any up here, however take my word for it that it was awesome! It was 2:30 by the time we got back, but it was totally worth it! Wednesday was of course my 22nd birthday (weird) and it was also Icelandic Halloween (even weirder). All of the kids of Iceland were wandering around in costumes (mostly Mexicans or clowns) and singing in the stores to get candy. It was amazing! We used this day to go to museums since they were free and to walk around the town and shop some more, so that's what we did. We started off at the National Museum of Iceland where we saw really cool Viking artifacts and stuff from old school Iceland.

Then we went to the 871 museum where we saw a longhouse that was dug up from the year 871 (obviously). It was really cool, but a really short museum so I don't have much to say about it. We went to the 1 Kilo store after that, where you could buy 1 Kilo of clothing for about 45 dollars. Unfortunately, all of the clothing was really strange so we just looked around for a while but didn't actually buy anything. I bought a new ring (bringing my total up to five) at an inexpensive Icelandic jewelry store with a really nice man as the owner. It was amazing and I really like my ring! Next we stopped by the National Gallery which was just weird, but free so whatever. For dinner, we went back to Icelandic fish and chips which was, of course, amazing! I got fish and a basil dip and chocolate cake for dessert (it was my birthday and I earned that cake). We then went back to the hostel and had another relaxing night in the hot tub again, since we were still exhausted from our long days. Thursday we woke up early again to go horseback riding! It was my first time horseback riding, and I hung out for dear life the entire time and was really sore afterwards, but it was still amazingly fun and I loved it!

Icelandic ponies might be the most adorable ponies ever:

And it was awesome! From there, we went back to the hostel to shower a bit of the pain away (sooo painful) and then went to lunch. Well, we wandered for a while and got lost, but we ended up going to a place with really good lamb stew (the national stew of Iceland) so I was happy. We then went gift shopping where I bought gifts for my parents (be excited mom and dad!). We then decided to actually go out that night so we went to our Swedish friend's apartment and hung out for a while, and then went to the English pub. We listened to American music played by a live band all night and it was wonderful! Apparently the coolest songs in Iceland are Cotton Eyed Joe and Take Me Home Country Roads, which was weird, but awesome! It was an amazing night, and we went right to bed after going out. On Friday we woke up at 7:45 (ew) to go on the South Shore tour. We stopped at a couple of waterfalls which were beautiful, and we could see the volcano that ruined everyone's spring break last year, from afar (try to pronounce it)

Then we went to Vik, our main stop of the day. This was a small town with awesome black sand beaches. The beach was amazing and beautiful (and warm because the cliffs prevented the wind from coming in), so we walked on them for about an hour:

From there, we went to a glacier where we saw ice caves and it was amazing! But really really really really cold.

That was the end of the tour, so we just went back to the hostel where we met with Christine! We showered and then got dinner, which was Mexican Icelandic food. It was alright food, but then I got an amazing piece of chocolate cake for dessert, so it was all completely worth it. We went out again at night and did karaoke where Kristin and I sang Larger than Life (Backstreet Boys) and Heartbreaker (Pat Benetar) which was so much fun! We then went out to a club which was also fun, and then got a famous Icelandic hot dog (Bill Clinton ate where we went) before heading back to the hostel to sleep. We woke up early on Saturday to finish packing and then went to the Blue Lagoon.

It had beautiful blue water and we just hung out for a while with 3 other Americans. It felt really good (although we got really pruney by the end of it) and then we were ready to head to the airport. It was very sad leaving Iceland because it was such an amazing week, but I had an amazing time and don't regret any of it (besides waking up early and the freezing wind). I would highly recommend that everyone who reads this blog goes to Iceland, but maybe go during the summer (so you can see the puffins and whales!). So start booking your tickets before the economy recovers completely and go to Iceland!