Iceland, 20-25 August 2016

Day 1: Sunday, 21 August, part 1/5

Reykjavík Peace Center Guesthouse — morning

We got up at 8:00 after maybe four hours of sleep, and left at 9:15 after taking some photos outside the building. Our host said all the sculptures scattered on pedestals in the grass next to the building were made by the guy who lives over there. I had seen through the window in the room that the back yard was full of lush green plants with purple flowers, and had to check those out. The morning was misty and overcast. I heard a few high-pitched bird sounds I thought might be redpolls, but we didn't see them, nor any bird, the whole time we poked around outside here.

The plan for today was to bird some of the Reykjanes Peninsula, particularly the lighthouse which we'd read about being good for birding, then to head north. On the drive through Reykjavík, we passed a group of Greylag Geese - my first - in the grass on the side of the highway, like our Canada Geese here. Also plenty of Lesser Black-backed Gulls and European Starlings. Stopped at Subway for subs to bring for lunch, then at Kornid, the coffee shop next door for breakfast. This turned out to be the only place on the trip we encountered no English speakers. Two women were behind the counter, one of whom spoke only Icelandic, and the other who also spoke Spanish. We were able to get by with gestures and a few Spanish words. I really wanted something with egg in it, so "huevos" was useful. I ended up with a sandwich with egg and lettuce, tomato, and bacon. Done with breakfast at 10:30, we stopped briefly in the supermarket next door for some fruit.

We had made our lodging reservations before our route plans had solidified, so my words of wisdom for anyone planning to visit the lighthouse at the beginning of their trip is to find lodging closer to the airport, which we passed on this morning on our way to the lighthouse. That would've cut out 40 minutes of driving both ways.

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