The flight went from daytime to night back to day as we flew 'ahead of time' 7 hrs. The children are really amazing considering all the lack of sleep and adjustment(s)...very plural :-) Niall was sleeping by the time the shuttle left the Reykjavik airport and once in our room the four of us fell like bricks in water from exhaustion/jetlag and slept half the day - to move Kai and Alexis afterwards was like encouraging cement to get up and walk to the shower to awaken. Once we got out walking to check out the University, their schools, streets & found a comfy coffeehouse to enjoy our first americano, caramel lattes (Kai learned to order caramel latte, not carmel macchiato which came as a small espresso shot w caramel in it) and homeade apple cake n cream...things started to feel warm inside. The little supermarket had hardly any vegetables, when I asked if they had any lettuce the clerk looked at me with a "do not compute" look. A customer had to translate and they were out of lettuce! I read of the lack of lettuce & fresh vegetables which is understandable from its climate and volcanic rock...now confirmed, wow will miss that! Shoulda packed a suitcase full of lettuce & sold it for profit at a pretty penny lol. It was soooo nice to walk for several hours along the Atlantic Ocean & past the shops, restaurants w their scents of wonderful seafood/fish, coffeehouses after sitting & sleeping. I can see there is lots of exploring to do...volcano trips, excursions where we see how the locals bake bread in the hot earth, whale watching, etc. The season is cool fresh weather with people wearing parkas, boots, raingear, hiking gear yet lots of cyclists on all kinds of bikes.
Things to do on another trip where there's another adult with us (or if you venture here one day) are two hiking trails thru the centre of Iceland called Laugavegur and Fimmvorduhals, taking anywhere from 7 hrs thru a pass btwn glaciers or a nature reserve that is supposed to be other-worldly in scenery; a 5 -day Earth Science field trip starting in one of my classes tomorrow I won't attend but there will be opportunities for the children and I to either take one of the numerous excursions or drive the circle rd around Iceland to discover the nature.
We are staying at the Gardur Inn until our apt is ready Sept 1st. The Gardur Inn aka Gamli Gardur is Iceland's oldest residence hall & the oldest bldg on campus. During the World War II the british army took the house in their custody in 1940. The complimentary breakfast has jars of unknown substances, a bottle of cod liver oil, pickled herring were a lil different but it gave us the giggles from being overtired with weird substances on the table!
Niall, Kai and I are up at 4am wide awake so will take awhile to get into the groove! :-)
Things to do on another trip where there's another adult with us (or if you venture here one day) are two hiking trails thru the centre of Iceland called Laugavegur and Fimmvorduhals, taking anywhere from 7 hrs thru a pass btwn glaciers or a nature reserve that is supposed to be other-worldly in scenery; a 5 -day Earth Science field trip starting in one of my classes tomorrow I won't attend but there will be opportunities for the children and I to either take one of the numerous excursions or drive the circle rd around Iceland to discover the nature.
We are staying at the Gardur Inn until our apt is ready Sept 1st. The Gardur Inn aka Gamli Gardur is Iceland's oldest residence hall & the oldest bldg on campus. During the World War II the british army took the house in their custody in 1940. The complimentary breakfast has jars of unknown substances, a bottle of cod liver oil, pickled herring were a lil different but it gave us the giggles from being overtired with weird substances on the table!
Niall, Kai and I are up at 4am wide awake so will take awhile to get into the groove! :-)