Our Icelandic adventures consisted of two coach day tours, one "hop-on hop-off" city bus tour and some time spent wandering on our own in the city.  I can describe up my trip to Iceland with two very different thoughts: middle-earthen and financially inflated.  Each of these thoughts brought their own distinct experiences.  One completely captured my thoughts, while the other I had no choice but to ignore, pushing it to the back of my mind to be addressed once I returned home.  

The landscapes and scenery of Iceland, particularly the countryside, could have easily been ripped right out of any Lord of the Rings movie.  There were snow capped mountains jutting out of the horizon, oceans of grass plains mixed with Alaskan lupines interspersed with random boulders.  In other places on the island, rivers of lava, solidified in mid flow, dripped and swirled, broken up with mosses and lichens creating islands of green in a sea of black and grey.  Icy streams from melting glaciers wove their way across the landscape like ribbons of silver growing into thunderous rivers that crashed down precipices resulting in breathtaking waterfalls.  Some areas had Geysers and bubbling lagoons of geothermic water spraying and smoking, with a faint smell of sulfur hanging in the air.  Here and there a small house built into the hill or mountain, used as a residence or a sheep shed, dotted the land.  Should I use more flowery language? :)  All that was needed for a LOTR movie were elves, orcs and maybe a band of dwarves running around.

The city of Reykjavik was in complete contrast to the countryside.  A mix of angular modern buildings with smaller European style older homes, gave the city a distinct character.  With graffiti and street art painted between statues and monuments, it truly was the definition of eclectic.  Wandering around you couldn't help but feel the relaxed vibe.  Small cafes lined the narrow streets of the city center, while down by the harbour people sat or walked on the promenade watching sailboats and jet-skis in the water.  I give those in the water credit, they all had insulated wet suits on, which hopefully kept the chill off from the 10°C / 50°F water.... there would be no fucking way I'd get in there.

I did get one training session in while in Reykjavik.  Mjolnir MMA is the premier martial arts facility in Iceland and probably one of the top facilities in the world.  Home to UFC fighter Gunnar Nelson and frequented by Conor McGregor, it is an impressive place.  Built into the side of Öskjuhlíð, it's 9000 square feet of pure bliss for any combat sport participant.  I won't get into many of the details of the place as you can look them up yourself, but I made it in for Sunday's open mat session, where 8 of us rolled for an hour or so.  Everyone I rolled with had some pretty solid Jiu-Jitsu and I definitely got some work in.

Now...getting to the idea of "financially inflated"... holy crap were things expensive.  Let me give you an idea of the exchange rate.  Basically this means that if the price on the item is listed as 3,000 ISK, it will cost you around 29 USD (move the decimal two place to the left)  We had dinner out one night which incurred a sweet charge on my card of 252 USD.  The food was excellent, but not 252$ excellent.   Another night we went out for a few drinks after one of our excursions and my beer, and a local whiskey came to 37 USD.  Needless to say, we didn't do either (go out to eat or get drinks) the rest of our stay, we cooked in the Airbnb.  I get why things like food and drink are expensive, living on an island, especially one that can be a bit inhospitable means that things will have to be imported.  Other than the tours we went on, one thing that was amazing, cheap and plentiful was the water.  Hands down it was the best, most refreshing water that I have ever tasted.  I managed to fill four bottles to bring home but they won't last too long.

Overall, Iceland was a great experience.  Regardless of the cost of the food and drink, I really had an amazing time.  Would I go back?  Absolutely.  I wouldn't mind taking another class or two at Mjolnir and then going on some different excursions.  Do I recommend that people check it out at least once?  Absolutely.