After saying goodbye to John, Deb, Marty and Maryanne, we filled in the time in the hotel lobby, then transferred to Montreal airport. It has been a fabulous four weeks, just brilliant, with too many highlights to list. Loads of laughs, great food, fascinating people, Uber rides and aching limbs. But not one lousy Mountie! John revealed that we had covered 330k on foot! He and Deb did more than the rest of us, but conservatively, we would have walked about 290 - 300 I reckon.
Hell!
Montreal airport was interesting. Our plane, Iceland Air, was out on some distant runway so we were herded into a Star Wars pod with spider legs, that enclosed us all the way, obviously a transport for a snow laden airport. It didn't seem to matter that it was 28 degrees. It was so, so slow, but eventually we were on board. Little leg room, but good in flight entertainment. Relived the entire first season of The Office. "Ge' out."
Our first experience of Iceland was walking out to our bus. Oh yeah! Proper bone chilling wind, even with our puffer jackets on, for the first time in so long. What a shock. But in a weird way, refreshing.
Reykjavik is very different to any capital I have been in. The architecture is low rise and a mix of shapes and sizes. Because it was 7 am, the streets were quite deserted, giving it a bleak feel.
We couldn't get into our accommodation till 12 so we had time to kill. After dropping off our bags, we walked into a little nearby cafe for a bite to eat. It was full of people but the place was completely silent apart from the clinking of cutlery. We were whispering to each other, ordering some coffee and toast, thinking this was some ancient Icelandic breakfast tradition that we dare not meddle with. After all, we just got here. The mystery was solved when I noticed some frantic signing and grunting from the next table. A deaf tour group. We could talk as loud as we liked. We could yell at each other, without disturbing anyone but the waiter.
We did note the 9 dollar coffees. Hold the phone. This place is pricey.
We spent some time in the enormous Kirk, a few blocks from our accommodation. It is magnificent, a huge Lutheran church in an architectural style I had never seen before.
Jet lag had me by the throat, so a lengthy silent meditation in the warm Kirk was just the ticket. Michele was on hand every time I threatened to collapse onto the pew in front. We decided to fill the time on the Hop On, Hop Off bus. This was a top idea. We got the feel of the city, lots of info and a comfortable seat while we waited to get into our digs.
Siggi and Sunna's joint is really cool, in a peculiar, Nordic Noir way. I really like it. I reckon Siggi was at Woodstock, or the Icelandic equivalent.
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