We landed in Iceland 7am on Tuesday and it rained for the next 3 days. Luckily, we were on our honeymoon and nothing was going to dampen our spirits! Here’s Richard, (in a raincoat!) driving us through the rain.

Our first day was spent in the capital, Reykjavik. After we found our AirBnb (with a rooftop hot tub!) we headed out to find some food and walked up to the famous church (Hallgrímskirkja) to get our bearings. A few blocks downhill, we found Salka Valka (aka. Fish and More) and stopped in for an Icelandic delight, Plokkfiskur! (It’s the mashed-potato-looking pile, left of the beer and it was full of fish-DELICIOUSNESS!)

This is our first time seeing $20 soup on the menu. Food was very expensive in Iceland but for some reason, we never saw soup for less than $14! We thought it was an anomaly at Salka Valka and since we were SO pleased with our Plokkfiskur, we didn’t think much about it. That night I was still recovered from a bit of jet lag so we headed back to relax in the hot tub.

The next morning we walked through town, admiring the graffiti and trying to keep our umbrella from blowing inside out. We ended up at Café Loki, right across from Hallgrímskirkja where we discovered that no one really eats eggs for breakfast in Iceland. Mostly they eat fish on toast or muesli with yogurt. Here you can see Richard enjoying his breakfast fish in front of a calming mural of Norse mythology. (FYI: The food you see on the table cost $34.)

On the walk home, we found the Einar Jonssan sculpture park and museum and I was enamored by Enar’s the Art Nouveau sculptures. This one is called, Protection.

To escape the rain, we decided to pay ($10) to go inside the museum. Turns out that Einar studied art in Europe and after he made it big, he told Iceland that he’d give them all his art if they’d build him a museum where he could have a studio and apartment. The kitchen was installed along one of the walls in this room below.  You should go, it was very interesting.

We packed up and headed out of town, taking the Golden Circle road towards Laugavartn. We drove through Pingvellir and admired the dramatic volcanic cliffs and waterfalls.

Soggy and tired (of being soggy) we arrived at our darling old-school hotel, Héraðsskólinn. We checked in and asked to borrow a hairdryer to dry our shoes. This is when we learned that the weather was caused by the tail of hurricane Matthew, slapping Iceland with unrelenting rains as it spun past. 

Tomorrow, geysers, more waterfalls and lunch in a greenhouse! (Spoiler alert… we bought the $20 soup!)