If I were to choose three words for our time in Reykjavik, they would be: sleepy, hungry, cold- in that order of the effect that they imposed on our lives for two very short days in Iceland.

Recovering from a no-sleep flight from Denver to Reykjavik, we drank copious amounts of coffee and black tea in various Icelandic cafes, with little energy for much else. Wide awake at 4am, extremely exhausted by 8am, we drug our feet around town, safe from the cold, only thanks to the Icelandic sweaters, hats and mittens our Couchsurfing host, Andri, lent us so generously.

Just as they say in Colorado (as well as every other place that likes to think themselves unique), you might hear a Reykjavik’ian tell you “don’t like the weather, wait 5 minutes.” In this case, it is totally and completely true. A 4:45am walk to the airport bus is not as cold as one might assume- even with frost covering the parked cars, however, a 6pm post-cafe (of course) stroll is quite brisk.

The famous Blue Lagoon Spa kept us warm on day two, which was about all we had the energy for. One day, one activity. At least until this jetlag ends.