Puffin, Whale and Rock N'Roll

My quest to consume all the animals of Iceland continued tonight. I looked up a great little Icelandic restaurant called 3 Frakkar which serves traditional dishes in a small but crowded dining room. Starting off I ordered an appetizer of smoked puffin. It came in small strips about three inches long with a mustard to dip it in. The meat is a dark reddsh brown and smoked, but not heat cooked. The flavor was really good, strongly smokey and salty, however, the texture of raw poultry was a bit odd. I enjoyed it quite a bit and even got Erin to try a couple of bites. She wasn't a huge fan.

Smoked Puffin

Shortly thereafter (the service was really fast, despite being crowded) the waitress brought out our main courses. Peppered whale steak for me and a smoked haddock dish for Erin. I was surprised by how much like beef the whale looked at first, though I really don't know what I was expecting. The meat itself was very rare and surprisingly lean (I was expecting it to be very fatty) and rich though fairly mild flavored. I really enjoyed the whale, the meat was tender and tasty and the portion was pretty massive, so much so that slow eating Erin finished long before I did.

Whale Steaks, bummed the picture quality isn't better, it was so delicious.

As I finished the next table over was brought a skyr brulee. Skyr is an Icelandic cheese that's something like a cross between cream cheese and yogurt. The brulee was amazing, one of the most delicious deserts I've ever had. The skyr itself is not terribly sweet, but the caramelized sugar on top and fruit sauce and cream on the side made it absolutely perfect. I can best describe it as a very light cheesecake that's only mildly sweet. Hands down the best (of many awesome) meals I've had so far in Iceland. As yet the cuisine of this country does not disappoint.

Forgot to take a pic of the skyr brulee until after we devoured it.

We then headed back to the main drag that runs past many of the cities nightclubs and bars. On the way we passed the Hallgrimskirja, impressively standing in front of the full super moon. The night was clear and calm and provided some great photos of the scene. By this point it was only 11 or so, still very early by Iceland standards, and not many people were out and about yet. We did find a very neat little bar next door to our hostel which was playing live music. We went inside up some treacherously iced-over stairs. The bands inside played some pretty cood rock, only the first sang in Icelandic. After listening to three bands we walked down to another section of downtown where we found a bar called, simply enough, the Icelandic bar. It was a large but not overly crowded place. In the corner a particularly boistrous group sang, chanted and initiated bar-wide toasts. They really don't mess around when it comes to drinking and merry-making here.

Leif Erikson in front of SUPER MOON!

As lance was coming in early this morning we thought better than staying out all night so we could meet him when he got in from the airport. As we made our way back to the hostel it was nearly 2am and things were just starting to kick into high gear. Groups of drunk people stumbled around everywhere, sing and chanting. This seems to be a pretty average weekend night.

Lance arrived this morning, we go some breakfast and checked them into the hotel. As I write this Lance is taking a nap to recover from his flight. That's all for now, we're meeting up soon to hit some museums this afternoon.

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Day 1 Recap, Lobster and Accidental Mass

Following our short nap yesterday afternoon, we headed out to get some dinner. The hostel recommended a little restaurant called the Sea Baron, saying they had the worlds best Lobster Soup. Walking down to the harbor we found the little shop tucked away down by the fisherman's wharf and ordered our bowls of soup. They were right, it was pretty amazingly delicious, and very rich. We met an older couple from Florida and a couple of girls from Colorado. Something about this place leads people to strike up conversations with everyone around them, people seem very eager to find out about those around them.

After our soup we wandered around the harbor for a bit, the fishing fleet is moored very close to the restaurant and I wanted a look, so we strolled down a peer. Erin, however, made very poor choice in shoe selection and started complaining she was freezing, so we didn't stay long and we headed back into town where the sidewalks were more clear and the wind wasn't battering us quite so furiously.

Walking up the hill from the harbor we found a church that looked pretty cool and seemed to have some other tourists mulling around out front. We walked up to the front door and as we did were hearded inside by a Catholic priest. He was trying to get peopl inside and close up the doors because they were in the middle of a mass... oops. We looked at one another and quietly tried to get out without notice. Of course, everyone turned and looked. It was a bit awkward, but oh well. From there we headed back to the hostel, it was getting a bit late and we were starting to get tired. Only problem is in Iceland no one starts going out until much later at night. So e decided to hang around in the hostel until it got later, get some downtime and perhaps meet some people. One of Erin's roommates was sitting in the bar, so we joined her, grabbing glasses of Polar Beer. Claire, Erin's roommate, is from Newcastle England and currently is living in Iceland milking cows for a living. She's pretty interesting, having been travelling for almost 10 years, milking cows in several different countries. After a few hours and several beers we headed out to a club called Factory, a dimly lit place crammed full of people and pumping loud dance music. Even here the Icelanders were super friendly and eager to talk about pretty much anything and everything. We only had a few more drinks and stayed a couple of hours before heading back to the hostel as we were running on such little sleep. It was about 1am and the party was really only just getting started. People were all over in the streets, despite the snow and cold and there wasn't any prospect of things slowing down. In spite of the noise and activity I was asleep nearly as fast as my head hit the pillow. Erin said this morning that the noise continued well into the early morning, something I was completely oblivious to whilst sleeping very soundly.

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First Taste Of Iceland and Naptime

Before I go any further I feel like I must provide a bit of a disclaimer: I'm typing these posts from the slideout keyboard of my Droid in a blogspot app that doesn't seem to have spell-check and makes formatting with pictures rather cumbersome. Please stick with me, I plan on going back through on a desktop, cleaning things up and adding more photos with better captions. That said, on with the blawgins.

Having checked into the hostel Erin and I ventured out to find some breakfast. It had been some time since our meal at SeaTac so we asked the attendant at the hostel for a suggestion where to get a bite. She said there was a good little place across the street. Neither Erin nor I listened very well as she told us where it was, so we wandered down the street the wrong way until we realized we weren't making any progress. We turned around and quickly found it once we started paying attention. We went in and found a very cozy little café decorated in all sorts of Icelandic memorabilia. The food was delicious, two eggs, fried tomatoes and potatoes a waffle, toast and a pile of bacon that would put a giant grin on any Redditor's face. So good, I hope all of our food lives up to that first meal here.

First Breakfast

The weather continued to be windy and snowy... mostly, again the weather here changes on a dime and can suddenly calm and the sun comes out. We left the cafe and began taking a stroll down the street. Kollafjoder bay lies just a few blocks north of the hostel, so we wandered down to the waterside, where were were pummelled by winds that quickly chill to the bone. We were treated with a pretty incredible view out over the water to Videy, a large island that juts rather abruptly from the water. It didn't take long before we decided we should retreat back up the hill and seek shelter from the biting winds amongst the buildings and narrow streets of the city center.

A bit about Videy

Walking back up the hill we headed toward the most conspicuous landmark in the city, the Hallgrimskirkja church. This large Lutheran church occupies a commanding location on top of a hill, giving it a fantastic view of the surrounding city. Inside the spacious church was dominated be the sound of an organ player filling the building with rather impressive, if a bit imposing, music. In front of the church a bronze statue of Leif Eriksson (the Viking discoverer of North America) stands atop a monument, a gift from the US government in 1930 commemorating 1000 years of the Althing (Iceland's parliament, the oldest in the world).

The church and statue

At this point we both realized it was time for a break so we headed to a café, claiming to be the oldest in the city, where we had a coffee and perused brochures. We've started to build a rough framework of our plans for the next few days in the city. We then decided we had best head back to the hostel and grab a nap and a shower before we did anything else as we were both dragging, having not slept in 20 plus hours. We got back to the Backpackers and laid down for a little over an hour. Getting up to take a shower I discovered the hot water to smell quite sulphurous, a side effect of the geothermal heat used rather ubiquitously here. It wasn't terrible though and I hardly noticed by the end of he shower.

Well, that pretty well catches you up, right now I'm waiting for the sister to meet me here in the lobby so we can continue our journey! Stay tuned.

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Of Rapidly Shifting Weather and Hostels

Upon arriving in the city of Reykjavik our bus pulled into a transfer terminal. Here we waited for a few minutes for our shuttle into the city center. This where we first noticed ho rapidly the weather can turn here. When we pulled in it was fairly clear and calm, by the time we boarded the shuttle it was a blustery near whiteout. The wind really cuts, though the temperature really isn't bad.

The shuttle took us through the narrow and winding streets of town and dropped us right at the door of our hostel, Reykjavik Backpackers. We were greeted by the attendant and a couple of girls who spotted my Sounders scarf and asked asked if we were from Seattle. Turns out, they also hail from the Emerald City. The hostel seems nice and clean, rather spartan as hostels can be, but it will be a nice place to lay our heads for a few nights.

We've dropped our gear, sent a few emails and such and are about to head out into the weather to really begin our adventure. First up, find our first breakfast in Iceland!

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We have arrived!

We have arrived! The seven hour flight was smooth and comfortable. The plane came equipped with in seat monitors that allowed me to watch a couple of pretty good Icelandic films. I'm tired and mentally blocking their titles, but I'll get back with those later.

We arrived to a snowy and blustery Keflavik airport, as of landing it was 24 degrees. The airport is small and very clean, oddly enough the building seemed larger from the inside as it winds you through customs and passport control. We made it through passport control in a matter of seconds as a smiling agent took my passport, glanced at it and stamped. Nice to not be greeted with a blue-shirted, disgruntled looking TSA agent...

As we board the bus (which cost 2,500 isk) to the city light is breaking to the east revealing a quiet, flat and snow covered area. Visibility isn't great, but i can faintly see hills in the distance. The ride will take about 40 minutes. Erin and I both chuckled as an automated announcement told us we were required by law to wear the seatbelt and every American on the bus latched up.

More to come from Reykjavik!

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St. Paddy's in SeaTac

Just met Erin in SeaTac after slogging my way through a rather brutally long security line. We've got quite a while before our flight so we're sitting down for a mini-St. Paddy's day celebration. Beer and a shot, get a little rad before the flight! When next you hear from me we'll be in the land ice and snow.

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The Conquest of Iceland: Prologue.

Tomorrow I leave for Iceland. The trip has been in the works since November and its finally almost here. Originally the plan was for myself, my sister Erin, brother-in-law Lance and my heterosexual life partner Travis to come along. Unfortunately, Travis returned from a trip to Thailand last week with a Thai quadruple super plague, which very nearly killed him. He's still in the hospital, so sadly he won't be coming with us. This has tempered the excitement somewhat and led to a very stressful last week. Travis is slowly getting better but looks to be facing a fairly long recovery. While its sad he can't come, I'm relieved he's improving and it will give me an excuse to make another trip when he's back on his feet.

My gear, pt. 1

We've made little in the way of plans for when we arrive. We have lodging booked in Reykjavik for the first four days. From there we plan to head out from the city and see the countryside some. Where and what we do depends, we plan on talking to locals and find out what they think is the best stuff to see and do while we're there. I've got a few things I would like see and do; see the Þingvellir park, go to the Blue Lagoon and perhaps make our way to the Westman Islands. However, I'm not too stuck on any one thing, if we discover something that locals insist is better, we'll do that instead.  

My gear, pt. 2 (yes, I am taking my dice box, in case a game of D&D breaks out)

As of now I've completed packing and have nothing to do but wait. The adventure begins tomorrow around noon when I'll head to SeaTac to meet Erin (Lance won't be joining us for a couple of days, stupid work). Beings as tomorrow is St. Patrick's day, we'll have to do a bit of celebrating in the airport. So, stay tuned, hopefully I'll be able to post some every day and keep everyone updated on the trip.