Iceland Day 9

On our last day in Iceland, we got to experience in full the luxury that is the Blue Lagoon. Since the Blue Lagoon is so close to the KEF airport (literally only like a 20 minute drive), I high recommend doing it as the first stop after your get off your flight or as your last stop before you leave for the airport. After 8 full days of adventuring, we felt so relaxed soaking in the silica and other mineral rich warm beautifully light blue-colored spring. The locker room floors were heated (SO LUXURIOUS), the mirrors had little cotton pads and q-tips, and the showers were mostly in enclosed stalls (unlike many other bath areas) with complimentary conditioner and shampoo as well! We felt like royalty.

The Blue Lagoon gives you wrist bands to lock your lockers and also to serve as a sort of credit card where you can accumulate transactions and pay all at once later. We put this to use when we all ordered drinks at the swim up bar. You can even buy waterproof phone cases there! We then sipped on our beverages as waded on over to the complimentary silica mud mask station. You can also purchase a sample of the algae mask (non-complimentary) but the silica mud mask was good enough for us! Our skin admittedly felt quite nice after. 

PC: Wei's Psick Pics

Quick tip for the Blue Lagoon: make sure to book your ticket online very early on (like a couple weeks in advance just to be safe) because the good time slots fill up very fast! Don't miss your chance at exploring one of the 25 wonders of the world. After exploring all the bridges and wall of water, we then enjoyed the steam room and sauna with a passing couple of Americans who had just flown in as it was their first day in Iceland. We traded stories and tips for a quick bit, slightly jealous that they were just beginning their adventure as ours was coming to a close. We then slowly took our showers, then head out to return our return car, eat lunch, and prepare for our flight.

ICELAND you have been one of the most amazing countries I have ever visited in my entire life. I hope your landscapes remain untouched in their beauty and natural wonder. I can't wait to come back and visit you again in the summer when you're green all around and dance in fields of the purple lupine flowers. I'm already planning in my head the next time I'll be back to see you and I'm hoping that it won't be too far from today. 

Iceland Day 8

So sad today is our second to last day in Iceland! Last full day! We are back on the southwest coast near Reykjavik and we have named today to be our tourist day. Honestly it was a little bit difficult to adapt back to these tourist swarmed areas after having been in the empty lands of nature for so long. We decided first to visit a little geothermal pool park in Hveragerði where we got to see more stinky steam vents, a "killer pool" named so because it's a dangerously hot spring pool, and the coolest attraction was a hot steam vent where Wei and Janae both boiled their eggs in! The eggs were only 100 ISK (less than $1) to buy with the little wooden sticks with nets at the bottom. We left it in the vent for exactly $8 and the eggs came out and apparently tasted surprisingly normal. We expected it to carry some of the sulfur steam vent taste but it didn't at all! 

Next, we decided to hit the Golden Circle. First stop was the Þingvellir National Park where there were hundred of tourists gathered. We got to see some cool tall green moss covered rocks that created a really awesome walkway and the Öxarárfoss waterfall! 

Then we drove over to see Geysir. It was a gorgeous blue color and constantly steaming, but unfortunately the sign stated that Geysir only erupts after earthquakes. The one named Strokkur did erupt every 8-10 minutes and had a huge crowd of tourists around it waiting for it to just burst and shoot up in the sky. 

Then we visited Gullfoss which was super cool because it was basically two waterfalls in one. There is apparently a love story of two sheep tenders that tended their sheep on each side across the huge river right before the waterfall fell. The man apparently braved the dangerous river to cross to see her and then they proceeded to have "many respected descendants" haha. Unfortunately when we went the path that went down close to the waterfall was closed due to weather conditions so we had to watch it from a distance. Lastly, we tiredly trekked to Kerið Crater lake that was frozen over with a thin layer of ice and lined with red and green plants on the edges. The ticket booth guy was scarily cheerful, shouting "I AM IN SUCH GOOD MOOD. SO WARM OUTSIDE" and we all looked at each other buried in scarves, jackets, and beanies, while this guy was in a t-shirt. Haha his cheer definitely brought up our energy levels. 

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After a week of eating hot dogs, ramen, chips, and candy, we decided since we were back in the city that we wanted some real nutritious food. We splurged a bit and treated ourselves to some delicious bowls of soup noodles at Noodle Station downtown Reykjavik, and booooy it was a wonderous idea. It was exactly what our bodies were craving. For 1540 ISK (around $14.78), we got a fat bowl of noodles and a choice of chicken, beef, or veggie (cheaper). It was warm, flavorful, full of nutrients, and hit the spot perfectly. My stomach was the happiest it had been in a while. We felt more energy after this meal too after having fed our bodies well!

PC: Wei's Psick Pics

Since it was our last night in Iceland, we decided to go to this suave jazz performance at Bryggjan Brugghús Bistro & Bar. Since the entire crew (minus me) are musicians, I got to watch them talk jazz and music for a good while while sipping on my beer. I felt pretty high class and the music was indeed top notch. 

PC: Wei's Psick Pics