Blue Lagoon

This morning after a bountiful buffet at the hotel, we (Sy) drive down to the Blue Lagoon. We arrived at a couple minutes after 1000 so the sky was lightening. 

On the way down, the wind buffeted the car. When we parked and walked (trotted) to the entrance we learned quickly that the wind was blowing strongly (25? knots with stronger gusts), it was raining hard (sideways), and it was cold (36 degrees F)

We hustled along the walkway, pushed by the wind and pelted by the freezing rain.

Inside, we checked in, got our electronic bracelet, showered, put on our swimsuits, and hurried toward the warm water of the Lagoon with the wind whistling in my ear. 

Wind whistling? Wait... Oh no, I neglected to remove my heating aids. By this time I was well out into the Lagoon so opened the battery cases, left the aids alone and hoped for the best.

I'm used to the Japanese onzen where the water is uniformly hot, so it was a shock to discover that this water was warm overall but hot in places and cold along the floor in places. There were lots of minerals and chemicals in the water, and it was extra warm compared to the cold air, and cold wind-whipped rain, so overall it was refreshing. 

After soaking for two hours, and sipping the included drinks, I took my warm body and chilled head up to the shower, dressed and headed back to the car. 

Tourists Aaron, Russ and Sy braving the wind and rain near the cold lagoon water waiting to return to the ocean. 

A sample of the volcanic rock in this part of Iceland. 

Through a glass (windshield) darkly, I took a photo of the nearby mountains. 

Back in Reykjavik, we stopped at the Lutheran cathedral to make an inspection. 

As you can read, above, if you enlarge, there are 5,275 pipes in this organ.

A smaller, more practical pipe organ nearby. 

This Leif Ericsson statue was in the courtyard of the church 

Our Northern Lights tour for tonight was cancelled because of the cloud cover, so we took a short rest and then went to dinner to replace some of the calories burned at the Blue Lagoon. 

I ordered the appetizers so I could try the things I wanted without an overload like last night. Below you see smoked lamb shank on thin rye bread; Minke whale, and dung smoked salmon. 

I had room for dessert today so had Citrus Skyr in a deep fried pancake with blueberries and blueberry syrup.

Here's the menu page with appetizers in case you'd like to read the fine print. 

I'm beat, so actually glad the Northern Lights tour was cancelled so I can get a decent night's rest, I hope. This morning I was up at 0330 doing emails and blog update.