AIM: Our Time in Iceland, Part III

AIM: Our Trip to Amsterdam, Iceland and Munich
Iberia Business Class Between Chicago and Munich
The Kimpton DeWitt, Amsterdam
AIM: Our Time in Amsterdam
The Sheraton Amsterdam Airport Hotel and Conference Center
The Radisson Blu 1919, Reykjavik
The Center Hotel Plaza, Reykjavik
AIM: Our Time in Iceland, Part I
AIM: Our Time in Iceland, Part II
AIM: Our Time in Iceland, Part III
The aloft Munich
AIM: Our Time at Dachau
AIM: Our Time in Munich
The Hilton Munich Airport

One of the biggest tourist attractions in Iceland is The Blue Lagoon.  This is an artificial lagoon created from water used in a nearby geothermal plant.  Due to its high silica content, the water is a beautiful turquoise color and is quite milky as well.  It turns out that this combination of minerals is actually really good for skin and, in particular, those suffering from psoriasis see great benefit.  The Blue Lagoon now even markets their own line of skin care products.  It's fairly pricey to spend time here and now that I've done it, I don't feel a need to go back.  I don't have photos because the one photo I took from inside didn't turn out well as the windows were foggy and I have a long-standing policy of no people in swimsuits on my blog - to protect both the swimmer and the viewer.

On our last day in Iceland we did the Golden Circle tour.  This is a popular route that follows a circular path among several tourist sites.

Map made with Google Maps

AIM: Our Time in Iceland, Part II

AIM: Our Trip to Amsterdam, Iceland and Munich
Iberia Business Class Between Chicago and Munich
The Kimpton DeWitt, Amsterdam
AIM: Our Time in Amsterdam
The Sheraton Amsterdam Airport Hotel and Conference Center
The Radisson Blu 1919, Reykjavik
The Center Hotel Plaza, Reykjavik
AIM: Our Time in Iceland, Part I
AIM: Our Time in Iceland, Part II
AIM: Our Time in Iceland, Part III
The aloft Munich
AIM: Our Time at Dachau
AIM: Our Time in Munich
The Hilton Munich Airport

On Wednesday afternoon we visited the tiny village of Skógar which has a rather surprisingly large museum complex and is home to a very lovely waterfall called, naturally, Skógarfoss.

AIM: Our Time in Iceland, Part I

AIM: Our Trip to Amsterdam, Iceland and Munich
Iberia Business Class Between Chicago and Munich
The Kimpton DeWitt, Amsterdam
AIM: Our Time in Amsterdam
The Sheraton Amsterdam Airport Hotel and Conference Center
The Radisson Blu 1919, Reykjavik
The Center Hotel Plaza, Reykjavik
AIM: Our Time in Iceland, Part I
AIM: Our Time in Iceland, Part II
AIM: Our Time in Iceland, Part III
The aloft Munich
AIM: Our Time at Dachau
AIM: Our Time in Munich
The Hilton Munich Airport

A week is a long time to try to condense into a single post, so I've split our time into several posts to help prevent brain overload.

If you sign up for a tour of Iceland that's based in Reykjavik, just be aware of what that typically means.  Reykjavik is located in the southwest corner of the country and is the only city of any substantial size.  Not that there aren't hotels and guest houses around the country, but if you're going to be touring by motorcoach there's pretty much one choice.  And because the city is not centrally located it means you'll spend a lot of time on the bus.  I'm not criticizing our tour operator, just trying to set expectations.  Some of the buses may have USB ports for charging your phone or camera but many do not.  So if you have a charging pack it wouldn't hurt to bring it along.

Map made with Google Maps

The tour as a whole was billed as a Sunday-Saturday trip and we thought it was very reasonably priced.  Of course, after being gone for 3.5 weeks to China, a week-long trip certainly would seem cheap by comparison!  But when you break down the price it does seem like it's not *quite* as advertised.  First there was the hotel, which as I've already discussed was not great.  Then the first day of the trip, Sunday, is the day you fly from the US overnight to Iceland.  The flight lands mid-morning (if there are no delays) and you reach the hotel around noon.  So of the first 2 days of the trip you're only in Iceland for one half-day of it.  Of course the last day, Saturday, is the flight home.  That leaves Tuesday - Friday and they've actually scheduled a day on your own.  So now your week-long tour is really only 3.5 days of guided tour.  Granted, if you want to go even further afield from the city than we did it would likely involve an overnight somewhere but if you're planning to take a tour, just realize what it entails.

If you want to go on your own, I don't think you'd have any problems - especially if you've got a second person along to help navigate.  The Icelandic language has some non-Roman characters and some of their place names are very long so if you're trying to look at printed material to follow driving directions against posted signs it could be a challenge!  But at least in Reykjavik we had no problem with folks speaking English and even out in the country all the signs were in several languages including English.  C and I have even discussed maybe going back some day in a warmer month and renting a car to see some more of the country.

Now, on to our trip!

The Center Hotel Plaza, Reykjavik

AIM: Our Trip to Amsterdam, Iceland and Munich
Iberia Business Class Between Chicago and Munich
The Kimpton DeWitt, Amsterdam
AIM: Our Time in Amsterdam
The Sheraton Amsterdam Airport Hotel and Conference Center
The Radisson Blu 1919, Reykjavik
The Center Hotel Plaza, Reykjavik
AIM: Our Time in Iceland, Part I
AIM: Our Time in Iceland, Part II
AIM: Our Time in Iceland, Part III
The aloft Munich
AIM: Our Time at Dachau
AIM: Our Time in Munich
The Hilton Munich Airport

This is post where I start to sound spoiled.  Our tour of China in 2017 featured 4- and 5-star luxury hotels.  When C and I and our other travel buddy go on our own, we leverage hotel points to stay in nice places.  So this hotel was a bit of a rude awakening though it's perfectly serviceable.  The Plaza is one of six hotels in this area owned by CenterHotels.  The CH website indicates that they have “six first class hotels in the city center of Reykjavik”.  But following that statement are mentions of their 3- and 4-star hotels.  Is a 3-star really a "first class" hotel?  Perhaps I just have a different definition.  Our tour package was very reasonably priced and I assume this hotel is part of the reason.  Hotels are fairly expensive in Iceland (the Radisson Blu would have gone for about $250/night and this one was only about $5 cheaper) but the difference in the Radisson vs. this hotel was huge.

Photo courtesy the CenterHotel website.

I will say the location was great and the staff were mostly young and enthusiastic.  Our rate did include the breakfast buffet each morning which wasn't extensive but had plenty of food to fill us up.

The Radisson Blu 1919, Reykjavik

AIM: Our Trip to Amsterdam, Iceland and Munich
Iberia Business Class Between Chicago and Munich
The Kimpton DeWitt, Amsterdam
AIM: Our Time in Amsterdam
The Sheraton Amsterdam Airport Hotel and Conference Center
The Radisson Blu 1919, Reykjavik
The Center Hotel Plaza, Reykjavik
AIM: Our Time in Iceland, Part I
AIM: Our Time in Iceland, Part II
AIM: Our Time in Iceland, Part III
The aloft Munich
AIM: Our Time at Dachau
AIM: Our Time in Munich
The Hilton Munich Airport

After a delay leaving Amsterdam, we arrived in Reykjavik on a rainy Sunday afternoon.  We would soon learn that there was a chance of rain almost every day in Iceland this time of year.  After the unexpectedly warm hot temperatures of Amsterdam, we had to quickly become accustomed to the cooler temps in Iceland though at least it was not a surprise and we'd packed for it.  C and I could have stayed at the Center Hotel Plaza for the first night, where we'd be staying with the group for the rest of the week, but we decided to use some Radisson Rewards points and stay two blocks away at the Radisson Blu 1919 instead.  Due to construction it's hard to tell that the building is actually rather nice and historic-looking.  In 1919, this building was the headquarters for the first steamship company in Iceland and that's where the hotel gets its name.

The Sheraton Amsterdam Airport Hotel and Conference Center

AIM: Our Trip to Amsterdam, Iceland and Munich
Iberia Business Class Between Chicago and Munich
The Kimpton DeWitt, Amsterdam
AIM: Our Time in Amsterdam
The Sheraton Amsterdam Airport Hotel and Conference Center
The Radisson Blu 1919, Reykjavik
The Center Hotel Plaza, Reykjavik
AIM: Our Time in Iceland, Part I
AIM: Our Time in Iceland, Part II
AIM: Our Time in Iceland, Part III
The aloft Munich
AIM: Our Time at Dachau
AIM: Our Time in Munich
The Hilton Munich Airport


After an enjoyable day and evening in the city, C and I picked up our luggage from storage at the Kimpton and dragged it over the tram tracks and cobblestones to Centraal Station.  After buying our tickets for the airport we made our way to the correct platform which, of course, was on the level above.  The only obvious way to reach the platform was via a staircase so we muscled the bags up only to realize that there was an elevator we could have used.  We didn't see other people with large pieces of luggage but there were a number of folks with smaller rollaboards.  We were not really prepared for how packed the train car was going to be.  It was quite ridiculous and we ended up moving into the first class section without realizing it, just because we needed the space.  Fortunately there was no way anyone official could have gotten through the crush of folks standing in the main part of the car to get to us and make us pay the difference.

Once we reached the airport it was very simple to find the hotel.  The escalator comes straight up into the main terminal.  From there, simply go up one more level toward the parking garage and ground transportation and you'll find the Sheraton Amsterdam Airport Hotel and Conference Center.

AIM: Our Time in Amsterdam

AIM: Our Trip to Amsterdam, Iceland and Munich
Iberia Business Class Between Chicago and Munich
The Kimpton DeWitt, Amsterdam
AIM: Our Time in Amsterdam
The Sheraton Amsterdam Airport Hotel and Conference Center
The Radisson Blu 1919, Reykjavik
The Center Hotel Plaza, Reykjavik
AIM: Our Time in Iceland, Part I
AIM: Our Time in Iceland, Part II
AIM: Our Time in Iceland, Part III
The aloft Munich
AIM: Our Time at Dachau
AIM: Our Time in Munich
The Hilton Munich Airport

Amsterdam is known for its "anything goes" attitude and if you've never been there you might think things are a bit wild.  I'm sure that there are parts of the city where that's true but if you're down in the Old Town which is pretty touristy, it's  clean and safe - just watch out for the bicycles and trams!  We had two full days to check things out so this isn't a comprehensive list, it's just the things we managed to see.

St. Nicholas Church

Though we were up early on our first day, ready to see things it appears a lot of the tourist things don't open until later.  But this church was close to our hotel and since it's the Basilica for the city we thought it would likely be very pretty inside and we were right.  This is the primary Catholic church for the city and it dates to 1887.