Iceland - The conclusion with a "positive" twist

We were so excited to heading to Iceland. It was sort of bitter sweet seeing as it was our last stop on or trip but we were mostly excited. Since we had a bit of a sneak peak of the airport and terrain our interest was more than perked.

First stop was getting our dollars, pounds and euros changed into Icelandic Krona. Which was actually pretty easy. However getting used to the money was like 1 dollar = 100 ISK. Sounds great doesn't it... but it's not, everything was sooo expensive. A burger was like 30000 ISK.  Anyway we'll get to that later.

We took a bus from the airport to the center of Reykjavik, which is where we were staying. We opted for a little apartment with a bathroom across the hall. It was actually the same price as a hotel. We were very pleased with the look and feel of the room and we settled in quickly. We originally planned to go shopping and cook for ourselves but the close grocery store was closed. We decided to walk through town and see the shops until we found a restaurant. This is when I saw the sign. Whale or Puff. I'm thinking, tours, maybe? But not that was the menu option! After walking around for awhile and me being very unwilling to try any customs (for some reason all of them made me want to vomit) we ended up at a mexican restaurant. The food was pretty good but like I said, expensive, over 30,000 ISK a piece which is like 30 dollars.. the portions aren't like the American style mexican restaurants and the food wasn't near as spicy, but I was fine with that since I had been experiencing terrible indigestion and fatigue. I really just wanted to get to bed early and sleep off some of the travel so I could enjoy the Iceland and not feel all foggy. 

Mexican Restaurant

Bookstore next to our apartment

Graffiti about how to tie a tie

The apt had videos we could take up to our rooms and the guy suggested a cult classic of Iceland. I really don't remember the name but it was sort of funny and really bizarre. I do feel like it offered up some cultural insight which we needed as the restaurant/bar across the street turned out to be the biggest and best club in the country....... now let me go ahead and remind you that this is Iceland. None of the building have a/c nor do they really need it because it never got about 70 but at 3 in the morning when your apartment over looks the biggest club in the country even with the windows shut and our room stuffy we couldn't sleep. Actually I was so tired I kept passing out but Jason was beyond miserable and kept waking me up to be miserable with him. The part that really made it hard was it never got dark. I took a picture at 4 am when it's supposed to be "Dark" but the color it really just like a cloudy day all night. As the club closed at 6am, there was a quiet until around 7 and then... the city began to bustle as people went to work, cleaned up all the night before and started their work days. 

Vegamot, THE club

It hadn't been the night I'd hoped for and I still wasn't feeling so great, I felt like I had to worst case of PMS ever, my period was late, which doesn't typically happen, as a matter of fact some of you know me well enough that if my period is a few hours late I'd get nervous. My period was officially due back while we were in Glasgow... I had the cramping and the breakout but no period. I decided it was probably due to all the travel and time changes but I wasn't going to let it get me down. We decided to take it easy and go grocery shopping first because if everything was this expensive we'd have to hock a kidney to be able to pay for the last few days of our trip. The grocery was really interesting. You all know how I love to go to grocery stores in different countries and see all the differences. Let me just say Iceland my be the least likely to click with me food wise. :) 

Grocery

Tree cozy ('cause Icelanders like to knit, and trees get chilly too)

More graffiti

We decided to take in some of the museums. We started out at the Culture house to read and see some of the original texts of the country. They call them Sagas. They are the historical stories of the Norse medieval times.  This is where Jason had a horrible and life exchange experience of seeing someone kill a Puffin by hand. I was lucky enough to cover my eyes and leave. I probably would have started crying histerically. Also in the US, people would have audibly gasped.. but that did not happen here. 

Þjóðmenningarhúsið (Culture House)

Icelandic Runes

We took a long walk and stopped for some dessert on the way because I had HORRIBLE indigestion and I just didn't feel well. We stopped at a Parisian type cafe. I sadly can't remember what I had but it was yummy and included Ice cream.  We saw Parlement  and then spent some times watching everyone feeding the birds and ducks. I have always enjoyed such things being a Florida girl but I soon realized Jason must have missed this experience because he was having such a good time. :) It was cute and awesome to get to see that childish look in Jason's eye. 

Alþingi

Traditional Icelandic sweater (for the low price of $300)

Pond in the middle of Reykjavik

I was getting cold, yes cold in June, so we walked to the next Museum and enjoyed learning all about Iceland, the history, the people and their religions. Oh and the best part, I thought was all the different Icelandic drinking horns. :) They were beautiful and intricate.  We also enjoyed the walk back and different types of houses.

Halgrimmskirkja

Walking around a random neighborhood in Reykjavik

The next day we decided to go on the Golden Circle Tour, which everyone pretty much has to do if they go to  Iceland. It takes you to see 3  of the nations top sites in a half day. But before we went I decided I needed a pregnancy test. Jason kind of laughed at the idea. I mean we've been together 11 years, we've had 3 late periods and each time I've bought tests on my own, but this time I needed him. I didn't know a lick of Icelandic. Luckily I read pregnancy tests were cheap because of all the teen pregnancies and we found a pharmacy right next to our apt. We loaded the bus to see the Þingvellir National Park, Gullfoss waterfall and Geysir hot spring area, we felt like we had a little Icelandic secret in our backpack. I don't have a ton of words for the day, like I said I was exhausted, but it was cold, beautiful and the best part, we literally went to "no mans land". I'll let the pictures do be my words. I still didn't feel very good and riding a bus didn't help all that much. I couldn't wait to get back and get to bed even though I knew it wouldn't get dark and now I knew even better since our tour guide told us, the Icelanders basically don't sleep all summer to make up for the dark winter.

Delicious orange soda!

Icelandic horses (I can tell you all about them  another time)

Location of the original Icelandic parliament

North America (left) and Europe (right)

Best pay toilet I've ever used

Gullfoss waterfall

Geysirs

Eden Greenhouse

Check the temperature

I woke up day 4 or 5 (depending on how you count) grabbed the Þungunarprof (pregnancy test) and went across the hall to pee. I sat there with wonder and doubt and then before 2 minutes had even passed there were 2 lines.... I sat for a second with wide eyes... Um.... what did Jason say?! 1 line? 2 lines?! OMG?! I jumped up washed my hands and ran over waking Jason up with "Um... what does tow lines mean?!" Next thing I know he's jumping up to get the instructions and his phone to use an internet translater. As you already know 2 lines means pregnant. 1 test in Iceland wasn't enough and as we laid around in bed a million thoughts flooded through my mind. We hand to get another test and an American one. We found another pharmacy on the other side of town and decided after seeing the cathedral we'd stop. 

"Translator" yoga pose

The cathedral was amazing and totally different from any other cathedral we'd ever been in. The views were stunning and the world felt calm. 

Windy!

We hiked to the next pharmacy and the people were so excited to see two "older" people buying pregnancy tests together that they were speaking all kinds of Icelandic and smiling. It was indeering.:) We had a delicious soup bowl with some sort of chili.. I decided not to ask what kind of meat it was and just eat it... then we took another test. It was positive too. I saved the 3rd one for the next day. Since it was our last full day we had to go to the Blue Lagoon. This is one of the coolest things they show on the internet about Iceland. It was beautiful but not what I thought. In my mind I thought it would make my skin and hair feel beautiful but it didn't. Don't get me wrong it was relaxing and beautiful but my hair felt gross and everything was horribly over priced yet again. 

Our last day we took our last pregnancy test and I worried about all the traveling we'd done. :) Then we went and had a massive burger. Meeting a women who obviously spent some time in the US south. We listened to her discuss everything with some obnoxious americans. Long story short she moved to the US for a man... obviously got burned and moved back to Iceland to sell american like massive burgers which has become legendary.  We shopped and then started our long journey to NYC for our overnight layover. We slept so well in our NYC hotel room after our chinese take-out and the next day I called the Vanderbilt Midwives to set-up my first appointment. 

Taking the scenic route

I have to admit this trip was amazing and life changing in a way I never imagined. I wish I had al the money in the world to travel like that regularly. That being said It felt so good to be back in Nashville and see my sweet Babies and parents. So much can change in a month.

So there we have it... Iceland- The end of my graduation celebration and the beginning of becoming a parent.