We set off from Laugarvatn and travelled around the ring road towards Reykjavik, which would be the final stop on our trip. Our drive took us through Þingvellir National Park, which is the site of the rift between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates. There is lots to do here, from hiking trails to snorkelling to horse riding. However, due to the weather we decided that this would be better saved for a future trip. Instead we ascended a small hill and then parked the car to watch the sun rise. We had great fun playing around in the snow, taking group jump shots and panoramic photographs. The sun was beautiful to watch come up over the horizon and it was definitely worth waiting to watch this.
It was a short drive from here to Reykjavik and we arrived at our accomodation, Hlemmur Square, at around 12.30pm. This was my first experience of staying in a hostel and our group of 8 were staying in a 10 bed dorm room. The room was filled with bunk beds and Ross and I quickly claimed our beds so we would be together. I decided that I wanted the top bunk as I felt I would be more likely to be able to sleep up there. However, I definitely needed assistance to climb up and down as I was far too stiff to do this alone! It was quite embarrassing actually and almost made me change my mind about which bed to sleep in. Thankfully Ross is very much used to helping me out and didn’t mind pushing me up the ladder or holding onto me as I clambered ungracefully down.
After getting ourselves organised we headed off into town to get something to eat. It was New Year’s Eve and quite a few shops and restaurants were actually closed. We discovered a Mexican restaurant, which looked appealing and decided to give it a try. I had a vegetable enchilada, nachos and chocolate cake. It was all very delicious. Our group was seated upstairs in the restaurant and it was honestly like our own little private party as no-one else was around. There were massive Mexican hats hung up for decoration that were just asking to be played with!
After our lovely meal we headed back to Hlemmur Square to chill out and rest before getting ready for New Year’s celebrations, which started in our room. Now I am not normally one to drink. Alcohol makes my fibromyalgia 10 times worse and I have more or less gone Tee-total these days. So to have a drink of vodka is not a usual occurrence for me. However, I decided it was near enough the end of the holiday, I could afford to sleep all of the next day if I needed to and it was New Year’s Eve so why the hell not! Sometimes you just crave to be normal and join in with everyone else. I mixed my vodka with cranberry juice rather than a fizzy mixer as I have been avoiding carbonated drinks due to them also increading my fibro symptoms. I may have been letting my hair down but I tried to do it as sensibly as possible. I only had a few drinks but ended up rather tipsy! We decided to head out at around 9pm to join in the celebrations in town.
This is where Reykjavik differed from back home. There were hardly any pubs open and most people celebrated outside. We wandered around the town and then decided to walk towards Hallgrímskirkja, which is the famous church in Reykjavik. Ross and I had been told by the owner of Restaruant Lindin that this was the place to be for the bells at midnight. He also told us that we should buy ourselves protective googles as the celebrations here were like the IRA bombings in Northern Ireland! We therefore didn’t know what we were in for! It was a brilliant atmosphere and all around the church was packed with people. After a while, I decided I was actually quite hungry so Ross and I headed off in search of something to eat. I was starting to struggle now and the fatigue was building up. I thought that eating something might help me feel better but we struggled to find anywhere that was open. Instead we headed back to our hostel where I had some food to snack on and after satisfying my hunger I duly fell asleep! Such a party animal. Ross woke me up at around 11.40pm and we raced back to the church to meet up with our friends for midnight.
Reykjavik on New Year’s Eve is unbelievable and something that everyone needs to experience. As we headed towards the church we could already hear fireworks going off (which were actually going off all around the city). People were just carrying around their own rockets in the street and setting them off. But I was not prepared for the display I was about to see. I have to say it was one of the best fireworks displays I have ever seen. Icelanders certainly know how to party and the display continued until around 1am, if not slightly later! It was just spectacular to witness. I found a couple of videos on YouTube of New Year’s Eve 2013 in Reykjavik. The first is taken from the church and the second is an overview of the city. Amazing!
