Reykjavik

On our 1979 trip to Europe, we flew on Icelandic Airlines, and stopped at the airport in Reykjavik for refueling, then on to Luxembourg. When we returned on Icelandic Airlines from Luxembourg, we stopped for two days at Reykjavik, on a packaged tour offered by the airline.

Due to a mix-up at the Luxembourg Airport, our luggage was placed on the wrong airplane, so when we arrived in Iceland we had to wait an hour for that plane to arrive, then we rode the bus ride to the hotel.

We checked into the very nice hotel, and since there was a sauna available, that’s where I went immediately, while Emmy rested in the room. There several men in the sauna, a captain and crew from Icelandic Airlines, and I almost had to laugh when I heard them talking in the Icelandic language. The sounds of this language, and of Finnish (our daughter-law’s native language), are so different from the other “strange” sounds we hear while visiting Europe.

A trivia question: In what way are homes in Iceland and homes in Hawaii built the same? Answer: Neither have chimneys! Iceland uses piped hot water for heat, and with its wonderful weather, Hawaii homes need no central heat.

We were taken for a bus tour of the countryside toward the middle of the island. Iceland’s landscape is basically dull and drab, with no trees. Part of the ride was up and over a mountain on snow and ice, with a driver who drove too fast for the icy road conditions, and we did not trust him at all. We visited a green-house filled with flowers and other exotic plants, in the middle of an Icelandic ice storm. Since it's heated with hot water from underground, the room was very warm, and there was no concern that heat might be wasted, when we opened the doors and stepped outside to enjoy the landscape that was so very different from any other we had experienced.

We rode the city bus to downtown Reykjavik and walked all around the city center. It’s a very clean city, as it's heated by hot water, but we found nothing much of special interest in the stores. Don’t misunderstand, the stores had everything that anyone would want or need, we just saw nothing special that we couldn’t live without.

We visited the capitol building, and after a buffet lunch we rode the bus to the airport for our flight to Chicago.