We'd had the phone alarms set for 8:30. Evidently, our daughter J next door, got up at 8. She came over at 9:05 to go down to the basement for breakfast with us. The breakfast room had a large seating area and the food was in a room next to it. I was happy to see the cold cuts and to find the Skyr, the Icelandic yogurt. I put the cold cuts and cheese on some hearty bread with raisins and I mixed a bit of jam into my Skyr. I'd actually had a bit of a mix up and mistook the cream pitcher for Skyr. So, I also had a bit of muesli with cream. I took another piece of the bread and buttered it and added jelly. They had orange juice, but this juice box had an interesting mix and turned out to taste good. The melon was great.
As we sat there eating, I realized that the music we were hearing was the first American music we'd heard. All the shops and whatnot yesterday were playing Icelandic music.
After breakfast, we explored the basement, finding both the bar and a game room. K went in to shoot some pool, while J and I used the selfie spot to take our photo in front of the Northern Lights. We noticed this weird hexagonal shape around and realized it was their symbol for the hotel's name, which means "rock" in English.
When J and I headed upstairs, we stopped at the hotel desk to confirm our outing for tomorrow and where we'd be picked up. (We'd confirmed today's yesterday.)
I was glad that we were having a relaxing morning, because my right knee was just plain throbbing.
We headed downstairs to wait for the bus at 12:10 pm for the first of two excursions that were included in our trip package. We'd been told to be waiting by 12:30 and we didn't want to miss our pick up. It was fairly overcast, with a temperature of 51, which felt like 49.
The bus finally arrived at 12:50. We were the last pick up and arrived at the bus station at 12:55. We were told to transfer to a smaller bus, which soon departed.
We had the chance to see more of the countryside as we went along. We could also see the Atlantic at times. It was all so interesting!
After about 45 minutes, we started to see the steam from geothermal activity.
At 1:46, the bus delivered us to the famous Blue Lagoon and the driver finally spoke. We'd been told we could come back when we wanted, but he said that everyone had to be waiting for the bus by 6 pm.
When we got out, I found these helpful, informative signs that will save me a lot of typing.
I should probably state for the record, that we are not spa people. It's just not something that we usually go for. But, the chance to be in the geothermal seawater was just too good to pass up.
As we went toward the entrance, I was very excited to be this close to lava rock. I recognized that it had been dug up and dumped here to make the lagoon, but, it was still lava rock and I find that fascinating.
Just before the entrance, there was a path that led to the left. We followed it for a few feet to get photos of the part of the lagoon that were outside of the main part. Such a color! And the fact that it went right up to the wall of the building really surprised me.
Evidently, you can walk around this path. Unfortunately, we never had the time to do so.
We joined the line waiting to go inside. While we stood there, I noticed the wall. I'm fairly certain that it was made from the lava rock.
Our visit included the use of a towel, but with the temperature being what it was, we all knew we had to pay and get robes, which would come with a free pair of flip flops. So, there's that. We were given wristbands, when we showed our reservations. These, we'd been told, would open the lockers that would hold our things, while we were in the water. Then, we got in line to get the robes. J had someone else helping her, who wound up not charging her! K and I were not so lucky and I got a 4,000 kr charge on my MasterCard, which, at least, has a good exchange rate and no fees. K and I got different wristbands now in recognition of our upgrade. J did not, which meant that she would not be eligible for the two extra masks that were part of our upgrade. We'd take care of that, though.
K went off to the men's changing room and J and I found the ladies. It was quite large, with many sections of lockers. Each of these sections had a restroom and/or a changing room. Along the wall opposite these sections were mirrored areas with counters and hair dryers. J and I went down to a less busy section of lockers. She figured out how to make them work faster than I did. We each claimed one and hung our coats and put our purses inside. Then, we found a changing room to put on our bathing suits. While we were going to have to take a shower without the suits, we would be more comfortable going to the showers with the suits on.
When our clothes and glasses, which we didn't want damaged by the silica, were safely locked in the lockers, we went down to the showers. Besides the complete shower, we'd been told to put cream rinse in our hair and leave it in. This would protect the hair from the silica in the water. The shower water came from directly overhead and was a bit of a surprise.
We finally went outside expecting to see K waiting for us, as we'd planned. However, he was already in the water. We hung our robes on one of the hooks on the long rack, put our towels above and flip flops below, and braved the temperature. The water was 100 degrees, which quickly made up for the air temperature. Not only that, but my knees positively loved it. They haven't felt that good in ages!
The lagoon ranges from 2.6 to 4.7 feet in depth. Since the air was so chilly, it seemed prudent to try to keep the water to at least the shoulders. So, that meant that moving along in the seahorse fashion that we do in water aerobics worked rather well. The legs are in front sort of in a seated position and you kick down with both legs with the knees bent. The hands scoop the water backwards.
While waiting for us, K had done some exploring. He led us to a side arm of the lagoon, where he'd discovered a mound with an opening at either end. Inside, it was like being in a cavern. There were even sort of seats built into the sides.
After exploring and getting used to the water, we headed over to a small building with large windows at one side of the lagoon. Our wrist bands let us try three masks, while J's would allow her one. So, K and I started with the lava scrub. However, the woman had scooped so much into our hands, that we were each able to share with J, when we'd moved away from the window. We rubbed the mask on our faces, avoiding the eyes, and necks and let it work a bit, before rinsing it off some of the water from the nearby running spigot. Then, the three of us went over and got the silica mud mask. That was a truly huge scoop. We left that on for about 10 minutes, which we were able to time by virtue of a huge clock over near the boardwalk where the robes were. After rinsing that off, K and I went back for the algae mask. Once again, we had enough to share with J. The lava was to scrub, obviously. The silica is what they are most famous for and it is to make your skin feel tighter and more refreshed. The algae, which is actually patented, is supposed to reduce lines and wrinkles. Whatever the claims, my skin did feel good afterwards.
When we'd finished the masks, we headed across the lagoon to what seemed to be the bar to our myopic eyes. We were correct. Our visit included a beverage. K got an alcoholic cider. J got lemonade. I chose a sparkling strawberry wine. We took our drinks over to the side and it felt truly decadent to be soaking in this water and drinking. I could get used to that.
We knew that we still had to eat before we left and we hoped to eat in the restaurant next to the lagoon. So, we got out and were happy to have robes there. I wanted to take photos. So, I went back to my locker to grab my phone. It would let me take a panoramic, like the one above. I also wanted to show how quickly the water became opaque. I stood on the ramp and photographed my feet in the water.
There were more people arriving, when we got inside. We actually lent some assistance on figuring out the lockers. There were attendants around, but we were handy.
We showered again and grabbed dry towels. I did put the blow dryer on my hair for a few minutes after I was dressed. I didn't want to freeze because of wet hair.
In order to exit the spa area, we had to put our wristbands up to a screen to check out. My screen claimed I owed money for K's cider. I had to get one of the workers to come clear the bill. Then, the band got scanned at the exit and dropped into an opening. I later found out that K had had trouble exiting, too. He'd had to get someone to come clear the bill, too.
J and I found K was at the cafeteria area at 4:45. He'd looked at the restaurant prices and said they were just too outrageous. That was disappointing, as this was to be my early birthday dinner. J and I left him at the table with his food and went around to get food. Weirdly, you could see the restaurant through a thin black curtain just beyond the food counter area.
There wasn't much of a choice. We both picked out ham and cheese sandwiches for 1690 kr each and let the woman at the cash register warm them. A bottle of water cost 450 kr. J got a Pepsi and paid for it herself. We got Nacho Cheese Doritos and Lays Salted Chips for 400 kr each. A chocolate cookie to split cost 480 kr.
After eating, we had time to go to the shop. Of course, they sold all the masks we'd had plus other skin care products, all of which was very expensive. They had some cold weather clothing items. I did manage to find some postcards.
The bus was actually out there early and we boarded at 5:55. Once again, the driver was rather taciturn. We did not understand, when he announced our hotel was the next stop and we missed it. However, we got out at the next one at 6:53, which put us near our lunch stop from yesterday.
We thought that this was fortuitous, as it gave us a chance to see if the gelato place was open. It was! K didn't want any, which was not a surprise. J got a small with lemon and vanilla. I got chocolate and strawberry. It was very good. We'd thought we'd be eating this in Italy this summer on the last iteration of our cruise that was canceled.
We hiked up the hills (two, I've decided, since you go up one way and turn and go up another way) and got there at 7:20. J hung out with us until 8:30.
K was in bed by 11:30, but I was up until 12. This photo at 11:53 is significantly darker than yesterday, but that is just the clouds and coming rain.
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