Norway

With my legs still feeling like jelly, I boarded a red-eye flight to Oslo (because, what could be better for sore legs than not sleeping and being cramped in an airplane seat?). The flight was only 2 hours long, but because of the time difference, we arrived in Norway in the wee hours of the morning.

We attempted to take a train into the city, but ended up getting on the wrong way after asking a local guy. He felt so bad and kept apologizing to us since the mistake ended up adding an hour or so to our trip. We didn't mind too much since we couldn't check into our hotel anyway, and the trains in Norway are super comfortable, so we were able to squeeze in a quick nap. A very tired me explains all of this in video form here:

After napping on both the train and in our hotel's lobby, we bought tickets for the Hop On Hop Off bus.

We were clearly more excited than anyone else (or perhaps just slap happy from sleep-deprivation).

Our first stop was the Viking Ship Museum. I had been to a Viking ship museum in Copenhagen before, but the ships in Oslo's museum were way bigger! I was amazed by their size and detail.

We walked around Oslo, rode the tour bus around (where I snapped the below pictures), and napped it up in our oh-so-IKEA hotel room. I also stopped at a local burrito place (kind of like a Norwegian Chipotle) where the guy working there was an American from Miami. Again, I had visions dance in my head of moving to Scandinavia and working there. Unfortunately, the line was too long for me to fully inquire how he was able to work in Europe as an American (especially since, he admitted to speaking no Norwegian), so instead, I just imagined myself living in Norway while wolfing down my guacamole.

At night, we headed out to see more of the city. First, we grabbed a coffee at a cute little outdoor restaurant that epitomizes everything I think of when I think outdoor, European cafe. It was filled with flowers and made people-watching quite easy.

Can you tell I was tired?

Some of the buildings we saw:

The Nobel Peace Center.

City Hall.

I'm pretty sure I took this picture so we could remember how to get back to our hotel, but I think it's kind of pretty.

I had heard so much about the unique architecture of the Oslo Opera House, so we headed there as well. Unfortunately, the pictures I took at night didn't really do it justice, but I did get a shot from the Opera House of the building across the street.

We also saw some street performers, including this guy:

We didn't go out to dinner because we were so tired. Instead, we just bought way too expensive things at 7-11 (I believe I paid $9 for a bag of popcorn and an orange juice) and called it a night. 

Last Day in Iceland!

I woke up bright and early and made my way down to the starting like of the Reykjavik Marathon.

Truth be told, I didn't exactly do the marathon (I did the 10k), but calling it the Reykjavik Marathon just sounds so much cooler. 

I didn't sleep very well the night before since I was nervous about finding the starting line. I should have known there would be a sea of red racing shirts that were headed to the exact place as I was. 

So, I followed the masses and waited for it to start. 

And we're off!

 The course was a relatively fast, and scenic as well since we ran along the water.

What struck me the most though was the number of people who came out in their lawns to cheer us on. Some had costumes, and several were banging pots and pans. But what was the most touching was that so many people set up their own snack tables where they offered food (and wine and beer, too) to complete strangers. It was pretty remarkable! I've seen a lot of spectators cheering people on at races in the US, but never ones who bring out whole spreads of food. I just wish I would've been able to read what all of the spectators' signs said. I mean, I assume they said something along the lines of "go!" and "good luck!," and not "go piss up a rope."

 My legs started to feel the miles (or kilometers as the case was) after about the second mile. I suppose that's what happens when you don't really train much. But, the energy of the crowd kept me going. 

 I crossed the finish line, and my legs felt like jelly. 

But I was so happy to cross 'running a race in another country' off my bucket list. 

Just like the Olympians...if Olympians wanted to collapse after the second mile. 

I celebrated finishing the race at my new favorite place in Iceland, Vinyl. It's this cool vintage record shop/vegan cafe. I had a Thai curry soup that was really delicious. Of course, the beer was quite nice, too. I wanted to buy have the dessert menu, but I somehow pulled it together enough to show some restraint (it was hard!). 

For the rest of the day, we walked around Iceland's cultural festival. 

We went to museums, listened to outdoor concerts, and watched kids go down the longest slip n' slide I've ever seen. We also met and chatted up some really interesting people: an American soccer coach who was staying at our guesthouse, and an elderly German woman who we shared a table with a coffee shop/restaurant. In her youth, she had been a nurse with the Red Cross in remote parts of Southeast Asia, and she told us all about her adventures traveling around the globe. She was quite witty as well and had us cracking up!

I finished the day off with a convenience store sandwich and headed to the airport to catch my flight to Norway.

 I said this in 2014, and I'll say it again now: I must return to Iceland soon for I am absolutely in love!

Day 6 in Iceland

As I mentioned in the video, today, we began our trip back to Reykjavik. More waterfalls were on the agenda (surprise, surprise). This time: Gullfoss.

I was surprised to see ropes aimed at deterring the selfie/might-fall-in crowd.

After Gullfoss, we went to check out some geysers.

While we were struck by the beauty of the geysers (also the magical ability of the earth to shoot steaming hot water out of itself), we were more struck by how entertaining it was to watch unsuspecting people gather around the geyser, only to get sprayed when it erupted.

Ah, schadenfreude at its finest!

When we arrived in Reykjavik, we celebrated coming full circle (literally) since we began our journey there.

Making friends.

Attending the Marathon Expo was our second order of business in the city (hanging with Viking gnomes was clearly our first).

Marathon expos always get me so excited for the upcoming race! They make me feel like I'm a speed demon, like I can do anything, and like I've actually trained for the race (even when, like in this case, I haven't).  And, honestly, who doesn't love free protein bars?

My "ready to run in Reykjavik" pose. A more accurate pose would have been me dragging myself across the finish line while onlookers ask if I'm okay, but for now, I'm all smiles.

After working up an appetite at the Expo (hey, pretending like you're running in pictures is hard work), we went to Glo. Ever since visiting Reykjavik in 2014, I'd been dreaming of their food. This time I had the raw lasagna, and it was fantastic!

At night, we had to return our rental car to the airport and then head back into the city. Unfortunately, not many buses were running from Keflavik to Reykjavik, so we got to navigate the Icelandic bus system. We were told we would have to transfer buses in a small town in between the two cities since there were no direct buses operating at that time.

There was a man on the bus who offered to help us navigate the transfer. He then asked where we were going and told us he was getting off at the same stop. He said his girlfriend would be picking him up, and that she would be happy to give us a ride to our destination as well.

Keith and I immediately looked at each other, confused and hesitant. In the U.S., at a bus station, I would never accept a ride from a complete stranger. But, then again, this is Iceland, and there's virtually no crime. So, we decided to take a chance.

We ended up chatting with him for a while. Turns out, he was the son of one of the most famous actors in Iceland, and he was also on Iceland's Olympic handball team.

So, despite it seeming like a completely foreign concept to just be nice and offer strangers a ride, that's exactly what he was doing.

It turns out, our stop was a bit farther than his, so we didn't get the ride after all, but there was another passenger on the bus who offered to walk us to our destination so we wouldn't get lost.

My mind was completely blown. That's one of the things I love most about travel: you have to trust people. Whether it's asking for directions, taking restaurant recommendations, or getting rides from strangers, you have to go out on a limb and believe what the new person is saying is true. In the States, I'm so quick to be leery of people and to question their motives. But, when I'm traveling, I rarely do. I go with the flow, I dive in, I take people at their word.

And, that feels so refreshing.

Day 5 in Iceland

I woke up in Djúpivogur to this view.

Taken from the bathroom. The cars aren't exactly sightly, but what can you expect from sitting on the toilet?

And a video showing a little more:

While we were making breakfast, we met a married couple from France. We swapped travel stories and shared some laughs. The husband then told us how he was in Nice during the recent attack, and explained how he had to help apply tourniquets to some of the victims (this was after he escaped injury by running away from the truck, which was ramming into the crowd). I can't even imagine how traumatic that must have been.

After chatting with them for a while and exchanging contact information, we headed out and climbed one of the tallest hills in town, where I got this shot:

We had our longest drive of the trip (five hours without stops) ahead of us. And, in addition to trying not to get lost, our agenda for the day included seeing the glaciers. Of course, we made some stops along the way for all of the gorgeous scenery.

Once we made it to the glacier park, Jökulsárlón, my mind was absolutely blown. Words nor pictures can truly capture how beautiful and serene the glacier lagoon was. We even saw a few seals popping their heads up from the water. Apparently, they weren't big fans of the paparazzi as every time I tried to snap a shot, they immediately popped back down. 

After seeing the glaciers, we stopped at N-1 (but of course) and later, at Dyrhólaey to view the scenery there.

And then we drove to Skógafoss. I was absolutely amazed by how close we could get. I was also pretty pumped about the double rainbow. Although, I promise I didn't freak out like the guy from YouTube. 

After seeing the glaciers, we picked up our first hitchhiker (a woman from Spain who was working in eastern Iceland and trying to maker her way to Reykjavik to meet up with some friends). She told us that since tourism has exploded there is a shortage of workers in Iceland so restaurants and hotels often recruit from other countries. Of course, my mind immediately started jumping to possibilities of living in Iceland because, holy wow, would I ever love that! 

We made it to our guesthouse (which used to be a boarding school) in Hvolsvollur in the early evening. The bathrooms were a little gross, and the shower drain was so slow that I felt like I was taking a bath all the way up to my calves, but everyone was super friendly. The inn keeper even taught us how to count in Icelandic. Sadly, I don't remember beyond 1,2,3.

We met two British families and chatted with them for a while (one of the couples was into running, so we talked about half marathons). One of the women even let me use her cell phone to call the guesthouse inn keeper since the guesthouse put Keith and me in the wrong room. I especially love traveling for that reason: you meet such nice people. I can honestly say that everyone we've met so far (tourists and locals) has been so incredibly kind.