Reykjavik Day 2

Waking up to our thirty second consecutive hour of sun, Gabe and I headed into downtown Reykjavik to the LAUNDROMAT CAFE for a proper and uncharacteristically gluttonous American breakfast. For the majority of our trip, we had grown accustomed to a light pastry and cappuccino. Confidently far away from mainland Europe, we regressed -- Gabe had pancakes, while I had a croque madame, a grilled cheese sandwich complete with bechamel sauce and the gratuitous addition of a fried egg. We were pleased to find a pot of french pressed coffee and cream, which had been surprisingly impossible to find in every other country we had visited on the trip.

After further ambling, Gabe and I returned to our hostel, from where we were picked up by a chartered bus company to complete a tour of the Golden Circle, Iceland's famous driving route that includes stops at Pingvellir National Park, Gulfoss Waterfall, and the Strokkur and Geysir geyser's. With only two days in Iceland, the Golden Circle, along with the Blue Lagoon, is a must, affording one the opportunity to sample much of Southern Iceland's natural beauty in only a half a day.

I mention chartered bus company because it in part represents my primary criticism of Iceland, which is that it is not conducive to budget travelling. As I've told many friend since returning from Europe, Reykjavik has two major streets on interest, and is similar to Newport in terms of the time it justifies; it quickly became apparent that in order to experience Iceland competely, we had to venture out beyond the city. Given the number of Icelanders (only 200,000), cheap and efficient public transportation, something to which Gabe and I had come to regard as our new reality (sorry Amtrak), is sparse. Therefore, one either has to rent a car (prohibited due to our age) or take an equally expensive private bus company.

Nevertheless, we signed up for the tour, and Gabe and I did enjoy all of the sites. Of particular note was Pingvellir National Park, the site of the world's first parliament. Though we only had the chance to see the area briefly from a viewing balcony, I would love to return one day to SCUBA dive along the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates and to hike throughout the area. I also really enjoyed picking the brain of our bus guide, who had a lot of insight to the Icelandic response to the '08 financial crisis.

That evening, Gabe and I "dinner-hopped," sampling famous lobster soup at Saegreifinn (http://travel.nytimes.com/2006/11/12/travel/12bite.html) near the wharf and then heading back into town for Nepalese food. Following dinner, Gabe and I went to KEX HOSTEL for live music, returning at an unknown hour given the complete sunlight which would suggest 6pm anywhere else in the world.