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Last Full Free Day

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It’s Dec 6, the first and only full free day on our one week trip. As we didn’t need to get on the bus, we didn’t set our alarm. Because we got to bed late the night before, I didn’t wake until 0748, and then woke Merrianne.

We’re now in room 425. It’s different from our previous room, 766.

425 has a view of the Plaza, downtown, even the Basalt Church in the distance, none of which could be seen from 766.
However, the 425 shower is small. Only one person can fit, and maybe not even that, if the person was really big. The stepless shower in 766 was big enough for a wheelchair to roll into, and then some.

At breakfast, we found that Susan and Marcus had already finished, and were planning to go to the 10 am show of Flyover Iceland. We wanted to join them, so it got delayed until 11 am. Thing is, the tickets are about $60 US at the door but if you reserve at viator.com, they’re $45 – the caveat that if you don’t show up on time, the prepaid money is gone. I scrambled to get 11 am tickets on my phone, using the credit card number I memorized, rather than our Travel Card which has no conversion fees.

We rushed to walk to the event. We had 25 minutes to get there, and fortunately, I had downloaded the Google map of Iceland, and it worked even without a data connection.

Got there in plenty of time. Great show, about 20 minutes for the immersive ride. Pictures were prohibited, so nothing to show here.

After that, Merrianne and I went to see a nearby Nettó supermarket, while Marcus and Susan went their own way.

Nettó. 3 chain supermarkets were right next to each other.
Kronan.
Bónus. Note the numbers outside stores, like 8-21, or in this case 10-21. I finally realized those were business hours, 10 am to 9 pm.
Saturday morning, not far from the bars. Some of our fellow travelers mentioned conversing with a drunk girl in the vicinity. Could it have been her?
Wandering around town, we passed this construction site. Construction is rampant here, even in winter when the ground is frozen, even when it’s dark.

For lunch, we finally made it to Apotek, which I had wanted to try ever since seeing their signboard with the Icelandic Platter. Cheaper than the Tapas restaurant, too. Turned out to be really good. We got just one Icelandic Platter, and a bowl of Soup of the Day.

Included with the meal was a wonderful sourdough bread with a bit of dried cranberry and chocolate baked in. It came with whipped butter and coarse salt to sprinkle on top.
The soup was Paprika, which I think is the vegetable that we call Red Bell Pepper, and they seem to have every day for breakfast. Tomato base, and very good. The platter came quickly, and the server explained in detail what each thing was. I don’t remember all the details, but took a video. Roughly, it was Lightly Grilled Horse, Sashimi-grade raw Arctic Char, Smoked Puffin (rich, tastes like duck), and Lamb Tartar (tasted cooked to me).
After lunch, we went up the Rainbow Road to the Church, and also visited some shops.
Reminder at the bottom that this is a house of prayer.
Wandering around town, we came upon what I thought was a Nativity scene, but it was Grýla cooking her stew of cut-up bad children. Her lazy husband is bringing wood.
We also visited the open market, which was only open on weekends. I thought Whale Steak was illegal, but I guess Iceland disregards the standard? I also heard it’s not real whale, but farmed porpoise, which sounds even worse.

We were surprised to run into Susan and Marcus on our way home, and at that point decided to join them at the Perlan Museum. It was already getting dark.

The four of us shared the taxi at the front of the queue at the front of the hotel, which cost 3750 KR. The driver had a handheld terminal to scan my card. I pressed the Custom button for a tip, and he thought I made a mistake when I was calculating the complement to make it exactly 4000, so he pushed a button to back out, and pressed the 10% button. I told him, no, I want to do the custom, and pressed custom again, entering 250 to round it out to 4000.

We got to the museum at maybe 1630 – plenty of time, as it closed at 2130.

There were some exhibits on wildlife and geology, but the big star was the Volcano show, and immersive ride similar to Flyover Iceland. Except, you can go again and again. Merrianne liked it so much, that we went twice. Unfortunately, pictures were not allowed.

They also had the only artificial ice cave in the country, made from glacier ice. It was 100m long, with some twists and turns. -15 ℃.

After that, we watched the Aurora show at the Planetarium. It was warm, and the seats reclined, so I kept falling asleep.

The museum has a special area for couples who want to snyrt.

We visited the observation deck on the 4th floor, which was cold and windy. I bought a spicy tuna sandwich (not that spicy) from the self-service display case, since I had no dinner. As is common in Iceland, there was a card reader for payment, but no human monitor. All honor system. Merrianne wasn’t that hungry. Susan and Marcus had their own food that they bought at a convenience store back at the room. We had ice cream at the ice cream bar on that floor. I had Liquorice (that’s how they spell it), which was actually a good flavor. Merrianne had Raspberry Liquorice. Marcus had Rye Bread flavor. I didn’t notice what Susan got.

For the taxi ride back, Marcus gave the woman his card, and she registered 3750 without the opportunity to tip.

Tomorrow, we leave. It has been quite a task to update on this kind of tour. So little rest.