b9 goes to Iceland Part I

That's right the whole crew (well most of the crew a few were excused for various reasons) headed off to Iceland last June to commerate the upcoming wedding of one of the brethren. Why Iceland you ask? That is indeed a very good question. We were given parameters for the trip by groom and they were as follows:

• The trip must require a passport
• The trip must not be to anywhere in continental North America
• The trip must be to somewhere that nobody going on the trip has been to before
• The trip must be to somewhere with good outdoor activities like hiking and great geology

So given these four requirements it really whittled down the list of destinations and we added a couple of additional requirements:

• The trip must be to somewhere with a good nightlife
• The trip must be to somewhere we as a group are otherwise unlikely to visit

At this point we were down to a few ideas, mainly Iceland, Brazil, or renting a boat somewhere tropical for two weeks. Brazil was ruled out so we could keep it in reserve for inevitable midlife crisis's and renting a boat and just puttering around while appealing did not seem to meet the geological requirement. So Iceland it was and in true b9 fashion I decided we needed to spite the groom by taking not one, but two red eyes to get to Iceland. So we flew from Seattle to Chicago and then made our way to Halifax, Nova Scotia before catching red eye number two (after many, many Canadian beers) from Halifax to Reykjavik, Iceland.


And we are off from Seattle, the group actually left in two groups from Seattle and another group from London.

Upon arrival it is fascinating it really feels as if you have landed on the moon as you see nothing but desolation and craters. However, only a 10 minute ride or so from the airport is the Blue Lagoon. What a place, it is a natural warm water spa and a must attend location when visiting Iceland.



While in Iceland we were based out of the capital of Reykjavik and stayed at a hostel. It was a fun and very communal time as the pictures below indicate:




Reykjavik itself is a great place to visit and explore, full of musuems, friendly people and best of all you can literally walk basically anywhere if you are willing to take the time to do it. It was probably a 20 minute walk from the Hostel to downtown Reykjavik, where there are streets lined with bars, clubs and awesomeness in general. Here are some shots taken around the city


Reykjavik Harbor


One of the downtown squares in Reykjavik


A view from a hill outside Reykjavik


One of the Downtown streets in Reyk. This was taken mid afternoon so it is quite calm, at night this street is jammed full of people.


We watched the Icelandic Women's National Soccer Team dismantle Greece and yes they were doing flip throw ins


Some of the crew even attended a Bjork concert on the last day there.



This is as close to night as we ever saw while in Iceland and the building picture (Hofdi) was the meeting place between Reagan and Gorbachev in 1986 that helped thaw Cold War relations.

Reykjavik has a well earned reputation as a nightlife spot and it was a lot of fun. The bars are open until 7 or 8 am on Fridays and Saturday so you don't even go out until 2am or so. Here are some pics on the nightlife:


On the first night out in Iceland we introduced the nation to Gladiators. It should be noted it is about 4am in this shot and that is all natural day light lighting the place!


One of our favorite places was the Celtic Cross, it was a nice bar upstairs and downstairs was an epically awesome couch lined dance area with a singer who performed such classic as Wonderboy by Tenacious D.


This shot was taken about 5am, as the photo shows the city is still alive.


Around 7am the masses flood out of the bars and even side streets like this one get fairly crowded.

These next few photos demonstrate that you just never knew how a night was going to end in Reykjavik:



It could end up in a drunken stupor on a stairway.


It could end up playing Guitar Hero at new friends house in Reykjavik.


It could end teaching hot Icelandic women American Football


It could end poorly...


Or if you were this buffoon who messed with the wrong bouncer it could end poorly and early...


However, the best part of the trip by far was exploring the amazing outdoors Iceland had to offer. Truly, the only thing we didn't get to see was the Northern Lights although they are supposed to be spectacular in the winter. Unfortunately, you all will have to wait for all that awesomeness in my next post.