Last Day

Much of our last day in Iceland was taken up by retracing our steps and driving back up along the coast to Reykjavik. We still hadn't spent any time in the capital, so when we got there we took a walking tour of the downtown area (thanks Rick Steves for all your great walking tours!). 

They had several statues with interesting stories. This statue of Iceland's first female member of parliament calls into focus Iceland's history of upholding women's rights; in 1980 they were the first modern democratic nation to elect a female head of state. It also reminds them of the time when in 1975 90% of Icelandic women went on strike to drive home their importance to society. The story goes that the country ground to a halt and the men learned their lesson after just one day.

Skolavoroustigur Street is a fun pedestrian road in the middle of downtown.

I wasn't too interested in seeing Reykjavic's main church (I've seen a lot of old churches, and buildings wasn't why I was going to see Iceland), but then I saw pictures of it- so unique! It was made to look like the basalt columns we saw examples of on our trip, and apparently, at some times of the year, the sun shines in through those top windows, lighting up the whole thing like a candle! It was worth seeing.

I thought this Viking ship sculpture on the water's edge was cool!

The food in Iceland is really expensive, and they're not really known for their cuisine, so Jason and I mostly ate food we bought at grocery stores. We were sure to have the couple of things they are known for: lamb soup and-get this- hotdogs. We had a hotdog with the works as our last dinner in Iceland, and we were actually pleasantly surprised; they were so good! (Those two and the fries were also $50!)

The next morning we headed home, grateful to have seen such a beautiful place. Iceland lived up to Jason's hopes, and may even be his favorite place we have ever visited (or at least the one he would go back to if he could)! I may have started the planning of this trip with lukewarm excitement, but once I got there it was easy to see what the hype was all about. Iceland is truly a beautiful natural wonder.