Iceland Diary, Part 03

We've come to the last of my recaps (check out part one and part two, if you haven't already!) of our Iceland trip! Honestly, I still can't believe that I actually got to visit Iceland, and I'm still in awe of all the things we were able to see, do and experience for ourselves. Anyway, the last day and a half was spent wandering around downtown and getting one specific thing crossed off our list...

We kicked off the morning by having a long, relaxing breakfast at Cafe Paris. It was nice to sit and chat for a long while, and to really have the time to be leisurely while we ate.

We hopped into a cab right afterwards to head to Húsdýragarðurinn, which is a zoo. Why would we go to the zoo, you ask? Well, apart from getting to see sea lions, chickens and goats, we really went to visit the Icelandic ponies! They are shaggy little things that are really easygoing and are pretty chill about letting you pet them. It was, without a doubt, one of our favorite experiences!

We had intended for our last day to be primarily focused on shopping for last-minute souvenirs, and any other activities that might strike our fancy. We wandered up and down the main shopping areas until we managed to cross off all the remaining names on our shopping lists. We ended up stopping for lunch at Café Babalú, which is a kitschy little place that had excellent comfort food in the form of grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup and chai tea lattes (for me, anyway).

After having another long leisurely meal for the day, we decided we should try and visit a library (since visiting four different bookstores clearly wasn't enough for these bookworms). We ended up at Reykjavík City Library, which was way more fun than we could ever have anticipated! First of all, the space itself is inviting, with its wide, well-lit areas and comfortable seating. But second, we discovered a ton of recognizable titles (in English and Icelandic) and stumbled across a really stellar manga section and a really stellar YA section too. It was a lot of fun playing the game where we tried to search for our favorites!

We ended up wandering around the shopping streets aimlessly afterwards, until we realized that there was one more thing we ought to do while we were in Iceland together: eat ice cream! It's tradition for us, after all. So, we popped into Eldur og Is for a quick snack break. I had two flavors (banana split and marshmallow) on a waffle cone, and it was delicious!

Our very last dinner was at Snaps Bistro. It's a pretty popular spot, so we ended up spending a little time at their underground bar area before we were led to a table. The dim lighting, the buzz of the crowds - it was all quite atmospheric. I had ravioli, Rachel had mussels and we both shared Crème brûlée for dessert; all of it was quite delicious. It was a really lovely way to end the trip together, including the glass of wine we had to toast to all the memories we'd made!

The next day, we returned to Prikid for breakfast (and it was still just as delicious as the first time!). We were loathe to bid our cozy little studio and the lovely downtown goodbye, but we boarded the bus to the airport with the fondest memories in our hearts. After the easiest check-in, tax refund and security checkpoint ever, we had a quick lunch before going to our boarding gate to get on the plane that would take us home.

I'm honestly still really stunned that I can now say I've visited Iceland. I never in a million years thought that this would happen to me so soon, but I'm so glad that we were able to visit and that I got to share the experience with one of my best friends in the whole entire universe. It's really a trip filled with moments that I will never forget and I have fond memories that encourage me to one day go back (if I can!)

I hope you enjoyed checking out all my trip recaps this week! This is not the end of the Iceland posts on the blog, mind you. However, if you have any specific questions - about the places we went, the gear, or anything at all - feel free to ask in the comments section or on Twitter. And check back next week for a couple more Iceland-inspired posts!

My Iceland Diary (Part 01 | Part 02) | Rachel's Iceland Recap (Part 01 | Part 02 | Part 03)