hey big spender

The view from the [bathroom] window this morning (seriously - no filter)

We had to leave our lovely little cottage in the snow today, we were sad but adventure awaits in Reykjavík. There was a lot more ooo-ing and ahhhh-ing at the countryside on the way and diversions for photography. MGM the indomitable drove our four wheel drive places we thought were to scary to drive, down ever increasingly snowy and unbeaten paths so that Tony the Intrepid (I'm liking these names for the boys, I think I'll keep them) could to this

I sat in the car and took these photos out the window - Wendy the slothful (I hope that name doesn't catch on though).

In Reykjavík we visited the iconic church and watched as a student learned to play the most enormous pipe organ. You don't think about people learning to play these instruments, can't be easy - not like you can practice at home, and any lesson is probably going to be in front of onlookers, even if it is just the church property committee meeting but in this case it's all the tourists you could never hope to be learning in front of.

Lunch was not had in the first cafe we entered because ... too busy/fully booked/you do not look look like our kind of people, snooty staff member told us, even though I'd been sitting at a large un-bussed table for ten minutes waiting for the others and there were at least three other empty tables in the room. So if you're ever in the main street of and Reykjavík think you like the look of a place called Kol, I suggest not. My suggestion would be to walk down the street a bit and go into quirky little cafe Babalú, where the staff are friendly and fun; the food is delish and the ambience is well ... Icelandic and by that I mean quirky in the nicest way possible. Judging by what I've seen so far the feel in this town us vibrant and slightly eccentric.

The walls are eclectically decorated, the ceiling is festooned with bunting made of foreign currency bills. We asked if he had an Aussie note and he said yes of course, somewhere.

the soup is hearty and very yum, when I mentioned this to the waiter he said yeah I know, with an equally hearty laugh.

The toilet is Star Wars themed, with music and life-sized decals watching you ... well you know what they're watching. The tap lights up, light sabre style and it is an all-round treat to relieve yourself in this way.

We wandered the main street, did a very little bit of shopping because man o man it's spendy here!\, and then the cold drove us into the loving embrace of our hotel room. Four nights in one place ... yipppeee!

 Grandma and Grandpa Quirky were on hand in the hotel lobby to show us to our rooms.

 not original but I like it

Tony was weary from all his intrepiding and was pleased to have a seat next to Mr Quirky

and unless my exchange rate app is not mistaken we had a very spendy staff meeting & dinner before retiring, because we have a BIG day of adventuring tomorrow. 

Good night peeps, kisses.