I made it! Slept about 2 1/2 hours on the plane (less than 5 hours in the air). Had no issues getting my bag or finding the driver. The airport is very easy to get around. It was rainy, windy and in the mid 40’s when I got in.
Decided to rest a bit before going out on the town. Once I went out, the first thing I did was head across the street to a church called Hallgrimdkirkja. It is a huge church. After the church, decided to walk around awhile, before my walking tour. It took me almost the whole time to figure out where I needed to be for the walking tour so glad I headed out early. Overall, the tour was good. Our guide joked around a lot, but we weren’t a very lively group. Some interesting info. There are 340,000 people in Iceland and this year they are targeting 1.8 million visitors. Walking around town you could definitely see a lot of tourists. Iceland was formed in 930. They became part of Denmark for a time, the parliament building was built in 1881. They gained there independence in 1944. Iceland suffered in the 2008 economic crisis as their 3 major banks went under. Thirty bankers ended up being jailed. They have 650 police officers in total and 5 jails. At the end of the tour, we stopped at City Hall which was more like an art museum. After the walking tour, I went to a place called The Settlement which is an excavation of the oldest relics of human habitation in Reykjavik. A wall fragment from around 871 and a hall from the tenth century. They also have historical texts referencing the first farmstead in Reykjavik.
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