We landed in Keflavík INTL airport at 6 am Iceland time and were immediately impressed by the spacious and pristine white bathrooms. After claiming our luggage, we got on a tour bus and drove across the flat, rocky, snowy landscape at sunrise to Fosshotel in Reykjavík. We got pastries and coffee at Brauð & Co to wake up after the long flight, then walked around part of Reykjavík as a group. We visited Hallgrímskirkja, the church built to look like it’s made out of basalt columns, then walked down the rainbow road, and made our way to the Sun Voyager, an abstract sculpture of a Viking ship overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and mountains across the bay. It was like being inside of a Deer Park water bottle! We walked along the coast of Reykjavík to visit the Recycled House, an abstract sculpture garden made by a famous filmmaker. Landon found a damp copy of Markadurinn Fréttabladid paper and Anna worked on the sudoku while we enjoyed the view of the bay and the mountains from the rusty porch.
After a lunch break, the group ventured on a bus/walking tour of Reykjavík: we walked through the Perlan museum and got a great view from the balcony of the sprawling city and distant mountains, went inside Hallgrímskirkja and stared at the beautiful pipe organ and vaulted ceilings, visited the Harpa concert hall and stared at the mesmerizing patterned windows, walked by Iceland’s parliament house and learned about their government, and went inside Reykjavík’s city hall and looked at a giant, to-scale map of Iceland while our tour guide went over the exciting itinerary. Then everyone split up to get dinner and prepare to sail out on the ocean to look for the aurora!
We had great luck on our first day. The weather was clear and not rainy, and the aurora was very colorful and lively! At the beginning of our aurora boat trip, the northern lights put on a beautiful show, and we even got to see pink and blue on top of the more common green color! The setting was lively, with many people on the boat, and music playing softly in the background. The wind was a bit harsh, but the auroras made up for it. Throughout the boat ride, the auroras faded, but they never really disappeared. Once we began making our way back to Reykjavík’s port, the northern lights flared up again! It was the perfect way to see the auroras, and was extremely fun!
By Isabel and Sumin