Iceland Road Trip Day 5: Akureyri to Hvammstangi
Day 5! Day 5! Day 5!
Day 5 was comparatively relaxing to the days preceding it. Our room at the Backpackers Hostel in Akureyri, though remote all the way up on the fourth floor (a veritable skyscraper), was very cozy and comfortable, so we didn't rush out of it. We packed up and checked out and loaded our stuff into the car, and decided to have breakfast in the hostel restaurant. It was a good decision.
We had budgeted a decent amount of time for the day to be spent in Akureyri; it's a lovely, compact little city with lots of cute shops and restaurants. After a bit of tourist browsing and shopping, I decided we'd spend a couple of hours on a mission to find a place that sold the necessary mobile data top-up I needed, which led us on a very, very long walk across town to an American-style shopping mall.
It's customary for me to decide on a very mundane task I absolutely must complete when in a foreign place (like that time I was determined to buy Lucky Charms in Paris), because how else will you really feel like a local? After hoofing it to the edge of town, I purchased my credit, some pick 'n' mix candy, and we got the supplies to make cocktails later in the evening. Things were really falling into place.
After the urban hike across the city, we were getting hungry again so headed back into the city's downtown for a leisurely lunch at Akureyri Fish before getting back on the road.
Next stop: Hvammstangi, the self-proclaimed "Land of Seals," where we'd be staying the night in an adorable little cottage on a hill and hoping to spot the Northern Lights while so removed from... well, everything and anything. We got situated in the cottage and once it was dark I went outside and sat in the snow to wait for Northern Lights, like they were the ice cream truck and I need only be patient. Alas, it was an overcast night, and had there been any aurora activity, we couldn't see it. It was snowing though, in a thoroughly magical, Icelandic way, so we played around with glow sticks anyway.
After a little while we were good and snow-covered and wet, and so we retired to our tiny home-for-the-night to watch Icelandic television and prepare the ridiculous Cocoa Puff cocktail we had shopped for in Akureyri. And actually Coco Pops were cheaper, so that's just the way it'd have to be.
The most duck-filled pond I ever sat by
Psychadelic doughnuts
