Today was our extra day in Reykjavik. As this was an unplanned day, the cruise company had organized two options to keep us busy. One option was a full day bus trip up to the Snaefellsjoekull peninsula, the other option was a morning city tour, followed by a free afternoon. I decided against the full day trip, as I was simply not eager to be on a bus for the full day.

We were picked up at the ship in the morning after breakfast. The weather had turned bad (as to be expected – – the low pressure areas, that we had avoided, were clearly showing their effect) – it was both rainy and cold.

The bus did circle around town and the guide was providing some background on the city, its inhabitants and the local culture. We had a first stop at he Perlan viewing spot – though the wind was simply to heavy to fully appreciate the viewing platform (and the horizontal rain did not help either).

From the Perlan we continued to the Hallgrimskirkja. Today the organ was playing, which quiet added to the experience compared to yesterday. Obviously the inclement weather made another go for the tower pointless (so good, I had that covered on the previous day).

We left the downtown area and made it over to Bessastaðir, the residence of the president of Iceland to see the attached church (Bessastaðakirkja) and (from a distance) the residence itself.

From here it was back to the ship with stops at Höfði House and the Sólfarið sculpture one the way.

On the ship lunch was waiting for us; today only served in the main restaurant (so the only day on the ship, that I did not have lunch outside).

After lunch three of us made our way into town for an Icelandic thermal pool experience. The original idea had been to try to get into one of the famous big thermal pools (like the blue lagoon) – but those were essentially sold out. So we decided to try one of the public pools in the city of Reykjavik – and ended up in the Vesturbæjarlaug public bath – which had your normal 25m pool, but also some thermal pools with water at different temperatures … it turned out a good experience and also a good introduction into Icelandic bathing culture (which tends to take a slightly higher focus on hygiene – similar to the Japanese onsen culture).

After a relaxing a bath and another stroll through town it was back to the ship for dinner and a post-dinner drink (at affordable ship prices).