Day 15 -- Iceland

We left our hotel (Bel Air) for an easy drive to the airport and car return. Barcelona airport is nice.  The SAS flight to Copenhagen was not great, but their plane had the best bathroom we’ve seen on any plane so far. It was spacious and had 2 windows.  IcelandicAir loaded their plane from back to front with no preboarding for anybody. Bo bitched to no avail. We arrived at Iceland to dismal weather - cold and rainy.  The airport is far from the city so like everybody else, we took a 45 minute airport shuttle bus from airport to town. Then it was just a 3 min taxi ride to our hotel.  Hotel/apt (Room with a View) is nice and in a perfect location on Reykjavik’s main shopping street. In the summer, they put bicycles painted in various bright colors to close the a few main streets in the center (including ours) so they become pedestrian streets only. The center consists of small, 2-3 storey houses painted in all kinds of colors. In the middle is a very tall, modern church, the tallest structure in Reykjavik. We walked our neighborhood (in drizzle). Bo was looking to buy a rain jacket. She checked out about 10 shops. All of them had fantastic outdoor gear, beautifully made and very high quality, bu a rain jacket cost about $400. She finally asked a saleswoman why they were so expensive.  She replied “because this is Iceland”.  Bo told her that she can buy it for much less in US (around $60).  She replied that is the reason Icelanders go to America to shop. Generally prices in Reykjavik are very high, maybe with the exception of the local beer. We have a kitchenette in our hotel so we went to a grocery store to buy some goodies for breakfast. Stores close early here – most at 6 pm. To our surprise, you cannot buy any alcohol in a grocery store. We were told (by a woman in a Polish store!) that there is only one store that sells wine and beer in Reykjavik center and it closes at 7 pm.  We walked some more, visited the church and then decided to have a drink. We walked into a few bars, but they were all totally full. Finally, we found a table at one quirky bar and had some local beer (very good). It was about 9 pm and the sun just came out! It does not get dark here in the summer at all…..