Iceland 2014 | Reykjavik & Thingvellir

We landed at Keflavik International Airport, and our scheduled ride picked us up. We had heard that Iceland is like landing on the moon, and the landscape near Keflavik is like that. It's the youngest part of the island, so there's a lot of activity in the area in terms of geysers, thermal baths, etc.

We found out that we can't use our heating system in the camper van for longer than 1-2 hours...so no heat overnight. What?! In sub-zero temperatures? So we rented two sleeping bags and hoped for the best.

After grabbing lunch and groceries, we stopped somewhere to take a much needed nap. This was our view:

We grabbed dinner at Lauga-ás. Justin had grilled mink whale with red wine pear, sugar glazed potatoes, and a pepper sauce. I had fried monkfish with almonds and bananas, roasted vegetables, potatoes, and lobster sauce. We also had chocolate cake, ice cream, and fruit for dessert. The meal was fantastic.

We bundled up in sweatpants, hoodies, the sleeping bags, a fleece blanket, and a thin comforter, completely expecting to be frozen in the morning since we had no heat. Thankfully, we were actually really hot. As long as we kept every part of us under the blankets, we were more than warm enough. So I think we've figured out a procedure in terms of sleeping. We'll try it out tonight.

Today we spent some time in down town Reykjavik. We went to the Hallgrimskirkja church. Pretty neat Lutheran church with some great views. We also did a little shopping on Laugavegur, the main shopping street, and had some fantastic doner kebab!

Afterward, we headed to Thingvellir National Park, which was the site of the first parliament around 930 AD and continued until 1728. It is still a very sacred and important place to Icelanders. They recently celebrated 1100 years of settlement of Iceland at Thingvellir. It's now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It's also the area where the American and the European tectonic plates are pulling apart. The Thingvellir Church is a beautiful old church built in the 1850s, but it sits atop foundations from a church from the 11th century. We also visited Oxafoss, a waterfall that provides water to the parliament meetings. Absolutely incredible place!