Relative Something

On our last full day in Iceland, we started with an almost 2-hour drive toward Reykjavik. This included a trip through the 5,770-meter-long Hvalfjörður Tunnel under the fjord, making the crossing in 7 minutes from what otherwise takes about an hour to drive around.

It was hard to tell if we’d arrived at typical Sunday morning activity in Reykjavik, but parking on the street was a little hard to find in the vicinity of the tall church, Hallgrímskirkja.

Our visit to Reykjavik was a quick one, exploring some streets and perusing a few shops, sometimes feeling swarmed by crowds of tourists and sometimes passing areas where Sunday morning appeared to be too early for commerce.

After more than a week of overwhelming natural phenomena in the countryside, city life just didn’t compare. Of course, I admit to being biased toward rural life.

The highlight of the day was a visit to the Perlan Museum. This place was fantastic and well worth the price of admission. We watched films about the Northern Lights, volcanic lava flows, and glacier melting, and toured an ice cave.

Each exhibition was top-notch, offering valuable information in interesting and entertaining ways.

For lunch, we visited the rotating restaurant on the upper level under a glass dome for some excellent food.

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We decided to pose with our shared dessert.

When we had exhausted ourselves of all the offerings at the museum, it was time to find our hotel near the airport and return the rental car.

We got a tip that there was a sports bar in walking distance that might show NFL games. Indeed, we were able to catch the Vikings vs. San Francisco 49rs game while having dinner. It was as if we were almost home.

All that was left to do was get up at 5 a.m. for a ride to the airport and navigate security and a couple of jet flights home. Retrieving all our luggage without complication was the cherry on top of an absolutely fabulous adventure vacation.

I was definitely ready to be home, but there is no denying the incredible experiences we enjoyed in Iceland were worth the burdens of travel that I loath. Those hassles I can forget. They have already been overshadowed by all the great memories that I’ve chronicled in the posts published here.

Thanks for following along on our 2024 adventures in Iceland!

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