June 20 and 21:
Church
It is Sunday morning, so we decided to find a local church to attend! We drove right by a church on our way to our campsite last night. We looked up the service times and saw they had an English service at 11:00. The church was planted 21 years ago by an American missionary. It is the only Baptist church in Iceland! It is a very diverse church and such sweet people. It seems like many folks from other countries who live in Reykjavik for work attend the English service as most other churches in the area are only in Icelandic. We were able to talk for a little bit with the pastor and his family after the service.
After the service, we learned that it was the pastor’s birthday! We stayed and sang happy birthday with the congregation, and the pastor did a…hand stand? Not sure if this is a Baptist thing or an Iceland thing, but we thought it was quite impressive either way.
Airbnb
We turned in our campervan after 8 wonderful days. We managed to navigate the local bus system and made it to our Airbnb hostel home for the next 2 days. There is a warm shower, full kitchen, and a washer/dryer. There is even a cute local cat that greets us at the front door.
We walked around the neighborhood and were able to kick back and rest for a bit in the hostel room. We had assumed that the camper van life would be really restful with a lot of downtime, but interestingly that just wasn’t true! We brought some books to read and card games to play, but didn’t get a chance to partake in either. During the day we drove all day, and when we weren’t driving we were hiking – and then we would pull into a campground around midnight, cook a meal, and go to bed. Rinse and repeat for 8 days! So this first leg of the trip was more of an adventure, and less of a time of rest – which is perfectly fine, just different than what we had anticipated.
Reykjavik – June 21
We walked into town from our Airbnb, which was towards the outskirts of the downtown area. It was about a 35 minute walk.
We found a local bakery (Braud & Co) that is known for their yummy cinnamon rolls. They were out of cinnamon flavor but we were able to try a berry and Japanese lemon roll. They were so yummy!
Next stop was a local coffee shop called Reykjavik Roasters. With it being the late afternoon and cold out, we both chose hot chocolate. Deep down we’re both old farts and caffeine in the afternoon keeps us awake too late into the night…
Icelandic Meat Soup!
We had to stop one last time at our favorite restaurant in Iceland – 101 Reykjavik Street Food. This is our third time here! The staff all know us now. Our phone’s WiFi immediately connects as we walk up to the restaurant. I’m surprised we don’t have our picture on the wall yet.
We have already pinned some recipes for the dishes we have tried here to hopefully try and make them at home when we return.
