Season 2 - Day 2 - The weird one

And here I am on my first winter day in Reykjavik. I woke up as usual around 8 but it was still dark...

and it started getting brighter grey around 10am

I headed down at the hostel's restaurant for a healthy breakfast...

...and after relaxing and doing some reading...

i headed downtown. Of course my first stops where....

and Harpa

Then I walked in the city and the flea market. The city looks very abandoned for a usual meditrranean man. No sun so I guess family stays home.

Anyway i headed to the public open air thermal pool (Laugardakskaug). Of course i knew that when you hit the showers before the pool you have to shower naked, then wear your swimsuit. The weird one today was that if a father brought his children (no matter gender) they would just join you in the change room....

Lets pass that and tell you that the temperature was 1oC and i was trying to find my way around (outside) with just a swimsuit on and all the signs were in Icelandic. Hehe, It was nice though

Then i headed up in the rain (English type of rain you don't even notice) to Austurvollur square by the parliament for a weird event. The event said that it was the closing ceremony of the winter games (a four day event with all the public museums, galleries and even swimming pools having event from morning till midnight for free). At this event there was a marching band, some adults with special needs wearing angel wings and giving to people hand painted hearts. Then a lady on the stage was talking in Icelandic and then people either raised their hands and laughed or gave group hugs and laugh. After that fire torched were given to people (and me) and the parade started. We walked 100 meters and stopped at the lake next to the municipality. We were offered hot chocolate and then a chorus started singing songs. And their voices were amazing. A lady was also giving free hugs.
It sound crazy but they told me that they say goodbye to winter and laugh because they made it through the darkness (some people get depressed during winter). It was fun though.

It also looks like it is still Christmas

After that i went for a nice coffee at Stofan cafe and at 8pm i had the rescheduled northern lights tour. And we went, almost 350 people driving over 100km to see these lights. And here we are waiting for them to appear...

At the horizon all the clouds had gone away and an amazing starry sky was above us, shooting stars and everything was perfect. Except the lights. At north there was something like either a white cloud, or smoke, or when you get to see the clouds being lit by the moons light, but this night no moon was around. We set our cameras with a 15 sec exposure and something magic appeared in front of me.....
Yes it was magical, or i would say an illusion. This white bow was getting brighter but we did not get to see it by our eyes. The tour ended around 1.30am and they said that during the next 2 years we can have more tours for free until we see them.


And here i am sitting at the lobby of KEX Hostel and suddenly a girl rushes in and shouts that outside on the sea side there are northern lights!! And yes they were amazing, Still whitish but at some points greenish moving along the horizon. Not as it is supposed to be but i now know what to look for.

Northern lights photos tomorrow.....Its too late


That was another wonderful day in the astonishing Iceland.