By Karlie Marrazzo

Day Two started out much later and much more well rested than Day One. We slept in and took it slow in the morning. I took advantage of the huge soaker tub as I knew this would be a one time luxury on this trip.

By the time we got rolling, it was almost lunch time. Iceland is strangely famous for their hot dog obsession,  so we walked a couple of minutes to arguably the most famous hot dog stand in Reykjavik, Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur, by the harbour. There was already a lineup of about 15 people when we got there – a mix of families of tourists and Icelanders still up from the night before. The girl in front of me was wearing the hottest pink running shoes I’ve ever seen. The sky was grey but the wind wasn’t high and it wasn’t cold.

We got to the counter and ordered like old pros “Two with everything”. (Everything being Icelandic style mustard, crunchy fried onions, raw onion, ketchup and a mayo-like sauce). These would be the first of many hot dogs we would eat in Iceland as they are super cheap, about 370ISK ($3). We ate our dogs at the stand up hot dog bar, complete with little hot dog holders. Along with the giant bag of paprika chips in my purse, we had a nice little lunch.

I had read about the Kolaportið Flea Market before leaving home and wanted to check it out. It was right across from Baejarins so we went in for a peek. The most interesting part was the food section, which was absolutely exotic. Blue and black speckled eggs, frozen shark and horse meat displayed neatly in freezer chests. Otherwise it was pretty much just like any flea market I’ve been to at home. Instead of hockey jerseys there were lopapeysa, mitts and scarves. There were Icelandic beer glasses and old Icelandic books and postcards.

I wanted to do some more shopping so we wandered back downtown. We popped into a few bookstores and visited the Handknitting Association of Iceland, where they sell many types and colours of Icelandic wool. Much to the chagrin of the knitters in my life, my aunt Shirley and my mother-in-law Lorise, I still have not learned to knit, but I picked up a few beautiful balls of yarn for them. It started to rain, so we did as the Icelanders do and ducked into Café Babalú to warm up with some tea.

My birthday was a couple of weeks before we left, so Dave thought it would be nice to make reservations for us to have a birthday dinner for me in Iceland. I know he didn’t realize it at first, but the date he picked for the dinner also happened to be the anniversary of the first time we ever met 13 years ago. He picked Fiskfélagið (Fish Company), a very cool restaurant in 101. It is a very unique space, with wooden beams on the ceilings, a giant picture of a cow in the bathroom, a wall covered in fur, and many more unexpected little touches.

We made plans to hang out with Inga again to do something mellower than the night before. I half jokingly asked her if there were any bowling alleys in Reykjavik, and, lucky for me, there was. She picked us up downtown and we drove a few minutes to the bowling alley. Unlike in Canada, but like everywhere else in the world, it was 10-pin. The only difference I saw was that we paid by time rather than by game, which added an element of racing the clock. We had a fun time and laughed a lot. It was nice to do something normal and not touristy at all.

It was an early night for us as we had a big day the next day – snorkeling in the Silfra Fissure!