Quick birthday blog

 

After a very early start ( 2.30am wide awake), I made it to the airport ( 3 min walk from hotel) with lots of time to kill, so in true Lady Lainey style I went into the lounge and  had a bloody mary  or two ( 5.10 & 5.45 am).

I watched a bit of TV and caught up on social media, 7.30am saw us north bound, I was able to grab an hours sleep.

Arriving in Keflavik, it was snowing, which quickly turned to sunshine and equally quickly turned to rain, as they say here, if you want to know the weather wait 5 minutes.

The drive from the airport to Reykjavik, was through lava fields and you could see a distinct lack of trees on the landscapes, any hills/mountains are likely to be volcanos, active or otherwise.

As we came into the city we drove along the promenade, with fabulous views of the sea. No buses allowed in certain parts of the city so we were dropped off at a specific spot and dragged our cases through the streets ( yes really!!! and me a Lady!!! on my birthday!). It was actually less than 3 mins to the hotel.

And what a great hotel, central for everything and I have a room with a fabulous view!

And it has a bath, which for me it a massive thumbs up.

I went out for a burger for lunch and then dipped into a real Icelandic tradition, ice cream, apparently they love it and so did I , I had ricotta and fig

I managed to have a quick trip round to the Cathholic cathedral, but tiredness forced me home and  feet up with a bottle of cava. It was also nearly 4pm and getting dark, so I thought a good nights sleep and full day tomorrow ( including out to hopefully see the Northern Lights).

I had heard so many stories of how expensive it is here.

my lunch of Burger fries and chicken wings (it was  a special deal they were on it, I have never eaten a chicken wing in my life, its really not worth it) with a beer and my ice cream came to £16.96. I didn't think that was bad.

I then went to  Vinbudin ( the bottle shop) and checked out the wine.

Red wine that is relatively cheap at home was  around the £15/16 mark, Prosecco ( never touch the stuff!) was around £18 a bottle.

Champers was untouchable starting at £35( it was moet, I don't drink that ) and going up to  £150, however......... a decent bottle of Cava was £9.37, and believe me I do love cava ( at least its made by  a traditional method ), so I will be seeing my birthday out with a couple of glasses.

Oh and I also knew that Icelanders really like liquorice, and so do I .........................or did until I had 'Nellie Dellies salted liquorice'. That is definitely an acquired taste

And so I am signing off for today. 

Happy Birthday to me