Do it for the likes!

09052019

Day 2

My mother had booked us a day in the Blue Lagoon, but neglected to go with the package travel because it was so pricey. So yesterday Laura and I looked at alternate options, everything we were looking at was around $180 for the 4 of us, and there weren't any cheaper options, but you can get next day rental cars in Reykjavik for €63. So we rented a car.

We got up a lil early to run to grab the car. This is one if the first times Laura an I have rented a car, and the first time we had done it in a foreign country. When we showed up the attendant had upgraded us to a nicer compact car than what we ordered. It was a pretty normal experience, the attendant was very clear the car wasn't prestine, and we should only note extreme damage.

The car was far from prestine, at some point it had eaten gravel or maybe experience an Icelandic dust/Ash storm, damaging the hood paint, which was now rusted and chipping the windshield in a few places.

The attendant was rather non-chalant about the whole thing and let us take the car. We grabbed some yogurt from a quick-mart type place (1-11 or some other odd hour named store), and pastry from a local bakery.

Vegan blueberry roll, vegan cinnamon roll and a raspberry scone, all were great.

Lighting isnt great, but I'm not a food blogger so deal with it.

We hopped back in the car to drive the 45 minutes to the Blue Lagoon.

He roads are great and pretty well signed. It's also rather easy to find because it's part of a large geothermal power plant so there are huge columns of steam rolling into the sky. And given that there are no trees in Iceland, you really just have to look up.

We roll up to the place, and here is a Hybrid H-RV in the parking lot, which is basically my new favorite car (unnecessary information, but HR-Vs have had good reviews and a hybrid just makes you *feel* better about it).

You approach the facility through a small canyon of rocks.

And you get in and they have everything set up, they give you a towel, that you will inevitably lose, but it's ok cause you just take someone else's (kinda like the army, there are no thieves in the army, everyone is just trying to steal their shit back). And a wrist band that is hooked up to your account. You use the wristband to pay for drinks and snacks and at the end swipe your card to pay.

You go into the locker room and there are clear instructions in various languages, you take a shower (without the swimsuit, very clear instructions on that) put a bunch of leave in conditioner in your hair (put the swimsuit back on) and head out.

It's probably cold out, cause it's Iceland, and your wet. So you have your towel up and scurry into the water.

It is splendid they say it runs about 100°F, and has a milky color from all the silica in the water. You feel extra boyant, you feel it abrading all the dead skin off your body, and you see all the people takes pics for the 'gram.

It was a wonderful hodgepodge of older slightly out of shape Scandanavians and hot young people thinking they are influencers.

We bobbed around the water, eventually got a white silica face mask. My mom went to get a fancy in water massage that I still don't fully understand, and after our requisite 10 of the mask drying Laura and I went under a 104°F waterfall and got beat up by the hot water/cleaned our face.

We also sat in a sauna and baked, putting a little water on the rocks to make sure we developed a good crust. After we were sufficiently heat-stupified we went back to the lagoon to meet with my mom and head home.

Ultimately it was a fantastic experience, and I would recommend everyone do it. We didn't bring our camera in there because it's really something you need to experience for your self. Here is a pic of one of the pools outside the swimming portion (that would definitely kill you if you went in).

For a lil more info on it

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Lagoon_(geothermal_spa)

Because we had the car, we decided to hit an area of Reykjavik that was a little far to walk. And with the previous nights success at a foodhall we went to the Hlemmurmatholl.

We again got a spectrum of food.

I ordered a lamb burger which was delicious. Most lamb burger are hunks of ground lamb, too greasy to eat properly, and sometimes the gamey-ness of the lamb overpowers all the other flavor. But that was done very well, it helped to there was lamb bacon on it as well. The lil potatoes it came with were also fantastic they must have been pre-boiled because they were perfectly cooked after the roasting process.

Laura got the traditional Icelandic lamb soup. My parents got a seafood platter and a salmon ceviche.

This foodhall was in an old fish-saltery, so it was in an maritime industrial area, reminded me very min of fisherman's terminal in Seattle.

There were several other restaurants in the area, including an ice cream shop, and a cake shop, both of which we patronized. Salted caramel is a big thing here, which is great because it's my favorite sweet flavor nowadays. I got straight we all got salted caramel, my mom got black licorice in addition and Laura got vanilla. The good happy cows they got here to produce good ice cream. It prolly comes out of the udder as already ice cream given the ambient temperature around here.

After sauntering around the pier finishing our ice cream we dropped the car off, and the same attendant was just as nonchelant about checking us back in. Laura even asked if she was gonna inspect the car and the attendant said "nah, I trust you".

So far we've only been charged the €63.

We walked home, and napped, researching what to do for dinner.

Ultimately we settled on a quick close bite,

https://www.google.com/search?q=101+reykjavik+street+food&oq=101&aqs=chrome.0.69i59j69i57j0l2.1892j0j4&client=ms-android-verizon&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#istate=lrl:iv&lkt=LocalPoiReviews&rlimm=7939043340378079618

Their soups were solid, but go there for the fish and chips. It has no right to be so good. The batter is a lil spicy, and it clings to the fish well, but it's not too heavy. The fish (cod) itself is super soft and moist and has picked up the spice flavor somehow. It carries almost no fishy taste. We were debating stopping there again later in the trip.

And that wrapped up the day, we ate the cupcakes we brought home from the cake shop (caramel with salted caramel frosting and chocolate with salted caramel frosting, like I said salted caramel is all the rage - still not as good as Molly moons in Seattle...).

Went to sleep shortly thereafter.