We had big plans for this morning and actually thought we'd jump out of bed to visit a slew of culturally enriching museums before our 2pm bus to the airport. Then the alarm went off and it was 34 degrees/pouring down rain so...pffffffffff. Back to sleep we went.

Eventually we were approaching the end of breakfast so we had no choice but to excise ourselves from that blissfully warm bed and drag ourselves downstairs. We saw the buffet. This time, we knew exactly what we wanted. Like jungle cats stalking wary prey, we struck hard and we struck fast. The problem then was that we had several more items on our list of "things we must eat in Iceland" but no place in which to put them. With only two hours of free time before we needed to pack things up and catch a bus, we walked out to the harbor. Unlike on our first day, we could now clearly see the snowy, rugged mountains that surround the town. Boats for whale tours and puffin adventures sat empty, moored next to a quixotically located Haiti Cafe. I know Haitians. I now know Iceland. These things do not go together! After taking a picture as physical proof for our Haitian friends, we walked down some of the main tourist streets that were consistently lined with souvenir shops. We did pretty well and only came out with a giant bag full of Icelandic wool for Brittany's mildly disturbing knitting obsession. As far as Icelandic souvenirs go the wool was pretty cheap and I'm glad she's happy. I almost got a tee shirt but couldn't get myself to drop fifty bucks on it. Yeah, tourists are suckers and the prices prove it.

Graffiti is a problem here but the city is trying to combat it by promoting (and even paying for) "street art". It's all over the place and a lot of it is pretty amazing. I took quite a few pictures of these massive murals, many of which cover the sides of entire buildings. Some of them were just straight up weird but hey, that's Reykjavik. We finally arrived at our destination, a famous fish and chips restaurant. There was a only a handful of people inside and I've been really surprised at how quiet things are. Construction is going gangbusters but outside of that the streets (and restaurants) are all very quiet and low key. On the plus side, we didn't have to wait long for what were the BEST fish and chips we've ever had...EVER. I thought England had that one wrapped up in a neat little bow but Iceland takes the crown. It was so perfectly crispy and juicy and salty and lemony and (cue Homer)...gggaaaaarrhhhhhhhhhhhhlll

We weren't all that hungry before the fish and now I REALLY wasn't hungry, but we had one last stop to make: the hot dog stand. Iceland is famous for its hot dogs which have lamb added to the standard mix of bovine mystery meat. It was a whole lot cheaper than going to a restaurant but I was a little too pleasantly plump to enjoy it. The dog was good but it definitely didn't stand up to that fish and chips and...gggaaaaarrhhhhhhhhhhhhlll

By this time we were running late and hustled back to the hotel. I hugged the room goodbye (and even snapped photos of linen labels so I can track things down online) before starting the two hour odyssey that was getting to the airport. It turns out when they say the bus picks you up at the hotel they actually mean it will make a minute-long stop a block away from the hotel, completely out of view, and then ditch you. Awesome! We only ever got on the thing (after missing at least one) because Brittany just happened to be looking around the back side of the hotel when it went by. Whatever, we made it to the airport and used our last 2,000 krona to buy a couple of sandwiches for the flight home. I'm not particularly looking forward to work at 7am tomorrow but I wouldn't change a thing.

We've got a long layover here with Kim and Joe on our way to Munich next September. I wonder if the hotel will serve that bacon to go?