Iceland is quite strange. We are currently staying in the capital city called Reykjavik. However you wouldn't believe it was a city! It is pretty much a little village... The main high street is probably not even half the size of Dunedin's one, and all the buildings are all very little with tiny front doors. The buildings are built very differently to what I have seen before too - most of them are very solid, concrete and dull looking. I assume this is because in winter the conditions must get REALLY harsh.

It's been a bit of a shock for us being in such a cold place! We have spent the last month in places that are usually between 30c-40c, and now suddenly we are in a place that is only about 5c! It is also very windy and very rainy. It's not that bad though - I'm not too fond of the heat so this has been quite a pleasant change! It's making me super excited for Poland because I can't wait to buy a nice chunky, warm pair of boots and a yummy winter coat! I'm also REAALLLY looking forward to a pretty christmas season with darkness at 4pm and lights everywhere! New Zealand, I absolutely LOVE you, but I will always, always prefer a winter christmas over a summer one!

Our hostel is alright. I mean we didn't expect anything flash since we paid the same amount as we have done for the other hostels but something that really annoyed me is that you have to PAY for a blanket? It's the dumbest thing. I understand like paying to rent for a locker, a towel or whatever. But when you're paying for a night of accommodation, especially in a country as cold as here, you kind of expect a blanket... It's like paying for a flight ticket but then having to rent a chair on the plane. So dumb! But apart from that it's all good. We shared a room with two other people - one of them snored SO much Matt and I couldn't stop laughing!

We haven't done that much here to be honest. We were absolutely EXHAUSTED when we arrived! We got to the airport at about 6am. Then we had to catch a bus to Reykjavik from Keflavik (where the international airport is) and it took about 70 minutes, and costed 9000isk (think that's around $40 each?). But you have to pay it since there's not really any other way of getting to the main city! It was a cool bus ride though. The terrain is really crazy. For New Zealanders - you know when you're driving high up in the mountains and it's all like rocky with no trees? It was like that, except the sea was next to us too! Also whenever there was a tree it was a christmas tree!!! It's really hard to accept that it is summer here right now haha.

When we arrived at the hostel we found out we had to wait until 2pm to check in. You honestly have no idea how tired we were haha we could barely even walk. But we managed to - we went down to a local "Bakari" and bought some yummy baked goodies. Then we walked around the main part of town to check things out. We quickly noticed that Iceland is a VERY expensive place to holiday in. Even buying a cheap thing of fries from like a kebab shop is about $6! And good luck finding a place to eat out at for less than $45 for two main courses. They have some really interesting dishes though. Like tonight Matthew is going to try the lobster soup and whale steak!

After walking around yesterday we ended up sitting in the common room of the hostel and falling asleep for two hours - whoops! Then we went for another walk. There was a really cool massive church that I will upload a photo of! I also learnt a few things like how during WWII Iceland wanted to remain neutral, but it was "occupied by allies" (Britain and U.S.), and the U.S. built Keflavik airport (international) and U.K built Reykjavik airport.

By the time we were able to check in we decided to go have a proper nap in a bed. I fell asleep at around 3pm and didn't really wake up properly until 9.30am the next morning. That proves how tired I was! It's a shame because we're not in Iceland that long so I shouldn't be sleeping it all away, but at the end of the day I knew my body needed to catch up on rest and I've been getting sicker and sicker, so it was definitely necessary! So now we both feel a lot better. ESPECIALLY after drinking lots of chocolate milk yuuuuuuuuum which is really cheap here! Plus we haven't really done cool things like the day trips out to the waterfalls etc. But we have justified this by the fact that obviously we need to rest, especially before heading to mainland Europe, and also because we can see all the stuff in New Zealand so it wasn't too big of a deal for us anyway. The biggest thing Matt wants to do here is try the whale steak!

We went to the bakery again for our breakfast. They do this really yummy chocolate thing... I don't even know how to describe it because I think it's an Icelandic treat, but it's really yummy! And we checked out some of the fancy buildings like the big conference centre. We were sitting down chatting, since we didn't want to go back out in to the rain, and a random woman gave us a piece of paper covered in Icelandic writing and told us it was for soup. We were like hmm.. ok.. and walked over to the nearby restaurant and got some free fish soup! I obviously didn't eat it since I'm vegetarian - but Matt was impressed :)

We checked out their local super market to see if it was particularly different to New Zealand. What I noticed the most is that they have heaps of English products! I guess England is probably the closest country to Iceland, but it was still strange to see lots of English products that I haven't seen in years such as caprisun drinks, maryland cookies and so on!

Oh another thing we noticed is that this place REALLY smells hahahaa. Like really smelllyyyy! I was having a shower and it smelt so unbelievably bad, it was really confusing. Then we walked around outside and it still smelt the same! It's like that yucky eggy smell - Matt said it's the sulphur in the air - similar to what it's like in Rotorua!

So yeah, Iceland is pretty cool! I like being here because it's a very different experience again for us. I like being in a country where the language is different, and there is a very strong and different culture. For example, they have their own viking beer haha! The buildings are all totally different, there's a strange currency, and so on. This is why travelling is cool!

Tonight we leave for Paris at 1am! It's going to be another horrible night where we barely get any sleep since our flight is only about 3 hours long. But we will be there for three full days so that's good :)

By the way HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE BROTHER JONATHAN <3 you amazing cute little cutieeeeeeee!!!! I miss you heaps and I can't wait to see your cute face again when I come home!!!!

P.S. this is the closest I have been to England since I left which is weird! There's only 1 hour time difference now!