OK, I changed my mind about the blogging thing

I lied earlier. I said I wasn't going to blog this trip. I am. So, sorry Auntie Krissy. I didn't mean to mislead you. I guess I like having everything laid out in my memory and the events of the days recorded. It's a little more solid feeling than putting pictures on Facebook (which I will probably do as well). Bases covered.
So here it is. A summary of my first day of my 4th Iceland visit.

Leaving Minneapolis

Having a friend (Erin Jones) next to me on the airplane made the flight seem much faster and less stressful. I still didn't sleep for a single second, but it was a peaceful sleepless night flight. My biggest worry was the young teenage boy on my right sneaking a look at the contents of my iPad Nook app, which was sporting an inappropriate romance novel, and trying to remember if the movie Chocolat had any sex scenes I needed to fast forward through as it played on the screen in front of me.

Erin is heading to Iceland to complete an Icelandic Language program during the month of July. Jealous. As some of our transportation plans from the airport to our destinations in Reykjavik were...spontaneous, shall we say, it was good to have a travel buddy.

We took the Fly Bus into the bus station in Reykjavik, and a cab to our other friend, Erin Johnson's cousin Oli's apartment. My cousin Selma, whom I am staying with here in Reykjavik picked me up there. At this point I hadn't slept in almost 24 hours and was starting to feel a little off. Nap time. I slept like the dead on Selma's couch. 4 hours later I woke to the smell of hamburgers cooking and almost cried with joy.

The Erins (Johnson and Jones) were also napped and ready for action. Low key action. Selma and I met them at vesturbæjarlaug, one of Reykjavik's many awesome pools. Pools in Iceland are not anything like pools in Minnesota, at least not like any I have experienced. This isn't just the place that overwhelmed parents and nannies bring children to splash around in the kiddie pool while they check their phones and inflate the occasional water wing. Yes, I'm sure that happens here too, but pools in Iceland also a huge damn social deal. This is where people of all ages come to sit and chat with friends and neighbors in their heated outdoor hot tubs and pools. It's like a really soggy bar that doesn't serve alcohol. The air was deliciously chilly, especially compared to the heat that I know is lurking back in Minnesota, but the water is toasty warm. After a long airplane ride, and the feeling of being totally grimy and exhausted from an oddly timed nap, the waters at the pool were as close as I could imagine to a perfect way to spend the afternoon. Mind you, the bathing butt naked in front of strangers before and after taking your dip can take a toll on the feelings of rest and relaxation, but this wasn't my first rodeo. I've come to terms with that slightly (way) outside my normal comfort zone rule.

Cool mural

Selma kindly drove me and the Erins to Kringlan, one of the malls in Reykjavik to buy SIM cards for our phones. My iPhone 5c through Verizon is already unlocked and ready for international travel apparently, which is great. I just bought a new card and now for the duration of my trip I have an icelandic phone number and data plan. So legit. Pretty slick.
At the mall we also slipped into Bonus, the grocery store to stock up on goodies. Kòkòmjòlk, snuður, kleinur, skinka, brauð, etc. Should stave of the hunger pains for a day or two.

The word is free

Childrens´art display

I wanted to take a walk, so Selma and I headed out after a quick dinner and fairly aimlessly wandered up and down the streets of Reykjavik. I was last here in 2012, and I noticed many changes to the city. New businesses, lots of cool street art that wasn't around on prior trips, and construction like you
wouldn't believe. Reykjavik is running full speed into beefing up the tourist industry. New hotels are
springing up all over. Local 101 residents are fighting rising rent prices and a lack of homes and apartments to rent as more and more housing options are put out there for visitors, not permanent residents of the city. It's not always a pretty sight.

On our walk, being naturally observant students of life, Selma and I noticed a lot of black, scary smoke, coming from east of the main part of Reykjavik. A business fire, Selma heard from a friend via text. We walked back to her apartment and got in the car to go for a little closer look. The fire, in Skeifan, attracted a large audience. We were not the only ones that wanted to see what was happening. Given the not funny circumstance, it was a pretty amusing number of people that turned out to snoop. It looked like a parade. Cars packed along the streets, people sitting on blankets and standing at the sides of the roads, people on rooftops a safe distance away, everyone wanted to be able to say they were there. The fire appeared to have spread to several other nearby buildings. Big, scary mess.

Fire in Skeifan

One more adventure before settling in for the night. I think I had about 3 days worth of events crammed into today, as seems to be typical of my trips here. We stopped at Grasagarðurinn, a beautiful botanical garden just outside the city, not far from where the fire was burning. This is in a place called Laugardalur Valley. Next to the botanical garden is the site of an old natural hot spring where people would come to do their laundry back in the day. It was a dangerous task apparently. Over the years, several women and children fell into the hot springs and drowned or were burned to death. It is all dried up now, but you can see the layout.

Found my Icelandic house

We wandered around the gardens for awhile, and I started to feel the lack of sleep really catch up to me. Probably only one or two more winds left in me, I thought. I'm just managing to get this typed up, hopefully with some pictures attached before I lose my mind. Kindly disregard the typos. Goða nott.