After our epic road trip yesterday we all agreed to spending the day at “home”. We had tried to stay up for the “sunset” at midnight but the sky never seemed to change.
We all managed to sleep until about 8:00 and then Tracy and Ella went for a run while Kelly and I walked around town to pick up some groceries. We found an amazing bakery and bought some pastries to share, pumpkin seed bread and rhubarb jam.
A few blocks down the street we found a cute little coffee shop where we purchased a pound of their house blend and had it ground. We finished our errands at the grocery store for more eggs and some fun Icelandic snacks.
The runners had returned before us and we all shared an amazing breakfast of all the wonderful things we brought home.
Everyone needed a little down time so we spent about an hour hanging around the apartment reading and relaxing.
We decided we couldn’t spend all day indoors so we headed out to explore a little. We shopped our way down Reykjavik’s Main Street and ended up at the “World Phallological Museum” – or the penis museum. We spent a very entertaining hour. Wandering around looking at over 200 penises and penis parts. It was actually surprisingly educational – and not surprisingly very funny.
After the museum, we had a wonderful lunch at one of Reykjavik’s oldest restaurants. The girls all ordered onion soup and Tracy had an amazing platter of “Icelandic Taste” that included cured salmon, smoked duck, dried fish, fermented shark (in the jar) and a shot of anise schnapps.
We spent the late afternoon at the largest public pool in Reykjavik. After facing our American shyness and completing the compulsory pre-pool suit-free showers (there were giant signs showing where on the body to wash and stern looking woman watching from a booth) we swam laps, soaked in hot and freezing pools with the locals and tried the psychedelic water slide. Our conversation on the way home was about how the European bath culture is something we feel is really missing back home.
(No cameras allowed inside – here is the entrance)
After a little more downtime at home, we headed to dinner. I had made reservations at “The Fish Market” after hearing it was fantastic from Charlie’s cousin Julie. We enjoyed cocktails and nine courses of amazing modern Icelandic food. It was truly a meal to remember. I took a photo of every single one…
Pre-Dinner cocktails and brown bread with buttermilk butter and smoked sea salt.
Course 1: Arctic Char with pickled onion, rye bread crumbs and shaved dried fish on top of an edamame and cauliflower purée.
Course 2: Smoked Puffin (yep – that cute little bird we saw on the beach yesterday) with lychee sauce and spring veggies.
Course 3: Rock shrimp tempura with jalapeño sauce and lime.
Course 4: Smoked Whale (yep – more whale) with ginger lemon soy sauce, horseradish, red currants, and shaved daikon.
Course 5: Scallop Nigiri Sushi and Langostine tartar Maki with salmon roe and spicy mayo.
Course 6: Lightly cooked cod with celery salad and cherry glaze. Accompanied with dried cranberries and mashed potatoes.
Course 7: Mussels in Langostine broth over a dry ice presentation.
Course 8: Grilled mountain lamb with artichoke purée, braised lamb shank, beets, mushrooms and browned butter.
Course 9: Dessert
Peach, pineapple, and passion fruit sorbet. Fresh fruit. Chocolate caramel lava cake, licorice raspberry smoking volcano, and white chocolate cheesecake with passion fruit sauce.
Needless to say, we didn’t all love everything, but everyone tried everything and we managed to clean every plate as a team.
We left the restaurant to find that the square outside was filled with people watching the Germany vs Italy soccer game. We are excited to see the crowd gather for tomorrow’s Iceland game.
We finished our evening with a long stroll home past the landmark church.
It’s after 11:00 at this point and the sun is still shining through our window – I am not sure I could ever get used to this but I am not ready to leave.