1st March

Spent most of yesterday travelling. Touched down in Reykajvik to 0 degrees and guess what......it's snowing!! Couldn't see much 'cause it was after midnight when we landed but it's really cold (what did l expect). Arrived at the hotel at around 2am and went straight to bed.

Got up at 8am and it's stilll snowing. We are just about to go out and do a bit of exploring. We only have a full day here before we head off to Akureyn which is further north. We'll get back here to do a few tours before we leave Iceland though.

We explored downtown Reykjavik on foot starting at Laekjartorg Square where the Government offices are. We found the maritime museum so stopped in to have a look. Entry fee was 1,000 kroner. Quite interesting. Had a lunch of soup, cake and a coffee (4,400 kroner for two)at the museum cafe. Still snowing.....reminds me of a song in "The Sound of Music" because the snow was falling on my eyelashes.

We headed to the old cemetary which was filled with beautiful sculptures and gravestones and then it was onto the Catholic Church. After leaving the church we enjoyed a little detour around the city pond. It's after 3.30pm and it had started to snow a lot harder so we thought it was time to head back to our accommodation. On the way back we picked up a few things at the supermarket as we've decided to eat in tonight, also stopped in at a bakery for bread (what else do you get at a bakery) and a few other shops for souveniers.

It was 1 celsius today but it didn't feel too cold 'cause we were doing heaps of walking. So glad we bought all our waterproof clothing.

Iceland comprises of one large island and numerous smaller ones and is situated near the Arctic Circle. It's sometimes called the land of "ice and fire" for the striking contrasts in its landscapes, where grand glaciers and magnificent fjords coexist with over 200 volcanoes, many of which are still active. The Icelandic language belongs to the Nordic family and is virtually unchanged from the ancient viking tongue spoken since the settlement. Icelandic is one of the oldest living languages in Europe.

1 Aussie dollar = 184.48 Icelandic kroner