“You can have a sandwich if you are starving to death!”

We're leavin'...on a jet plane...(this one!)

Our flight from BWI to KEF (Keflavik) was pretty smooth.  It was an overnight flight, and the seats were not fully flat, but they had a little more recline than the usual domestic first class, so, we’re not complaining.  (We were in Business Class.)  We started with a movie (Cabrini – it was good, and worth watching) and dinner.  Bill got the cod and Theresa the chicken.  Theresa took a nice hour nap, during which Bill decided to check out the music selection on the inflight entertainment.

Appetizers (the cheese crunchy things were good!).

Dinner!  (Bill's...who wants pix of chicken? :-))

I'll let you listen and see if you like this group.

I looked for something familiar, but finding nothing, went to “Rock” and chose the first artist.  The music started.  Instantly, it brought me back to a time at the beginning of college.  A friend of a friend wanted to go to this “club” where his friend was playing (they had several bands playing and I don’t know which one we were supposedly there to see).  The scene:  dark rooms, black light only; everything looked grimy and unwashed, so that the writing on the wall was possibly the only ‘clean’ surfaces due to the alcohol in the marker; and a base-thumping, metal-groaning music fills the air almost enough to displace the oxygen, but overlayed with a wailing of the lead…vocals?  Not really a “singer”.  Anyway, the first artist I chose sounded JUST LIKE THAT!!  It was bizarre, and somehow also enveloping and—not enjoyable exactly—but disturbingly pleasing?  I’ll let you judge!  The flight was only 5 hours long, so by the time Bill broke out the computer to be productive, it was time to put it back up.  (I tried!)

Welcome to Iceland!!!

Budget gave us the smallest car they could find,
but we made it fit! (that trunk cover was in the way)

We were first off the plane, the only ones in the Immigration line (for US travelers), but our bags were like 30 minutes later.  We got our car (which was in a hotel parking lot about ¼ mile away) and started the 45-minute drive up to Reykjavik.  They do not seem to have “freeways” here in Iceland.  So, we hit a LOT of speed bumps, and the top speed was 90 kph (like 55 mph).  But it was clear and easy driving as it was between 6-8AM on a Sunday!

The bizarre landscape of Iceland.

We think that is Reykjavik in the distance...but we're not sure.  (As seen on the way from Keflavik)

Our home for the next couple of days.

We booked the hotel starting “last night”, and Theresa texted twice to confirm with them we WANT the room, so don’t give it away!  As we stood in line to check in (behind many checking out), the woman in front of us was summarily dismissed—told “we were sold out, no rooms until 3PM!”.  We stepped up, said we had a room from last night, and he cheerfully welcomed us, got us all set up (with a couple of chocolates), and off we went to the top floor!!  We plopped our bags and headed back down for our complimentary breakfast!  Then back up and crashed for 2.5 hours.  We slept HARD! 

The view from our room.  Yes, that is a US flag.  We're right across from the US Embassy!

Thank you Hilton for lots of points and thus a free stay!

The stairs down from the 9th floor are 'vertigo-y'!!

Getting up and cleaned up, we unpacked, and then headed to a grocery store.  As we searched the aisles for options, we overheard a mother saying to her teenage daughter “You can have a sandwich if you are starving to death”!  Yikes!!  Well, we were not starving to death, but we did end up with an assortment of easy options (two “ramen” type bowls and two “Italian-Ramen” pretending to be instant fettuccini carbonara and some bolognaise).  In case the lounge dinner options are thin, and we have a couple of lunches, we have a backup plan.  Add a couple of Coke Zeros (they only have Pepsi in the hotel—blech!), and two local beers for like 80 cents (why not?)  Oh, and a chocolate bar with licorice bits in it.  Theresa was very excited to try that!

Theresa and her new sweater!

Dropping it all off, Theresa wanted to so “shopping”.  Now, this is a BIG deal.  First, Theresa doesn’t normally “go shopping”.  And second, she had read that the best place to get an “Icelandic wool sweater” was at secondhand stores.  We had the car, so, off we went to find a secondhand store.  The first place …was all kids stuff.  But we found a second place and it was FULL of stuff.  But she found two sweaters she liked, tried them on, and lo and behold, we have a very thick sweater to fit in the suitcase!  (And a happy Theresa.)

Free Food!!  My favorite!!

By then, it’s dinner time and the exec lounge was about to start serving dinner.  We had tomato soup, a few small sandwiches, some sushi, beer, and wine, and sodas.  And Bill began writing this tome.  We wrapped up the night with Theresa doing some sink laundry (16 days is a LOT...and we might not have enough underwear!) and then we took it easy!  Good Night!