Wednesday, August 14th, 2024
We left Columbus on time and flew to JFK airport in New York City. Our airline was Delta and we were bumped up to first class for this flight. The layover was about three hours in New York before we boarded our overnight flight to Iceland.
Iceland is four hours ahead of EST. We landed around 9:30 AM and went through Customs. Our luggage was delayed due to a technical issue with the baggage carousel. We waited for about 45 minutes but we finally received our luggage! We have no complaints because our bags arrived!
After going through Customs we met our Viking representative. Six of us rode together to get to our hotel, the Grand Hotel Reykjavik.
We left our luggage in a secured room and went exploring. The weather was overcast and chilly. We walked into town and enjoyed all the scenery as we headed to Hallgrimskirkja, an Evangelical Lutheran church. It was dedicated to the most renowned sacred poet of Iceland, Hallgrimur Pétursson. It was the largest church in Iceland and was built between 1945 and 1986.
It also housed the largest organ in the country. An organist was playing the organ when we arrived.
Wednesday, August
We purchased tickets to take the elevator up the tower in the church to see views of the city. The tower was 73 meters or 239 1/2 feet high. Below are a few panoramic pictures from the tower.
Some pictures from our walk around the city.
We had lunch at Reykjavik Kitchen. We used the “Find Me Gluten Free” app and found this restaurant. It had great ambiance. Our soup and salad was delicious.
After walking around the city, touring the church, and having lunch, we were exhausted when we got back to the hotel. We went to our room and finally had a chance to shower and put on fresh clothes. It was amazing how much a shower can rejuvenate you when you’d been awake for 36 hours!
We had our lunch late in the afternoon so we skipped dinner and just got a snack from the hotel and we were ready for some sleep by 9:00 PM! We will be ready for more adventures tomorrow after a good night’s sleep!
Wow, fantastic pictures and video. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you!