The sun actually sets in the north!

After landing in Keflavik, we took the airport shuttle to Reykjavik's bus station. From there, we walked with our backpacks for about 20 minutes to the KEX Hostel, which was located near the northern coast of the city. The flatlander Johanna had slight sweat outbreaks while the mountain dweller and Swiss Pascal crossed the hill without any effort. After checking in, we spent the 2 extra hours strolling through the city to the harbor. We walked through Reykjavik's only shopping street, went to the harbor, and saw a ship under repair. Based on the appearance of the ship, we suspected it to be a whaling ship, as whaling is (unfortunately) still legal in Iceland. We found a street food hall in the harbor with different stands that were reasonably priced. In the city center itself, there were restaurants that were even more expensive than Swiss prices! For dessert, we enjoyed the famous Icelandic ice cream in the evening sun. At the harbor, we also randomly saw a huge sailboat belonging to the Danish military. From the harbor, we walked back along the promenade on the northern shore of the city. There, we briefly looked at the architecturally interesting Harpa Concert Hall and continued to the Sun Voyager sculpture (a stainless steel sailboat). From there, we had a breathtaking view of Mount Esja, which was on the other side of the bay. Back at the KEX Hostel, we ended the evening with some beers and planned our further stops on the Iceland trip. On the first evening, time could easily be lost as it was still not twilight at 11 p.m. After a quick look at our phones, we found out that the sunset was not planned until 11:15 p.m. the next day! The next morning, we had a relaxed breakfast at the hostel and continued our walk and sightseeing in Reykjavik. From the hostel, we walked directly to the highest point of the city, where the white Hallgrimskirkja cathedral was located. From the outside, it looked architecturally very impressive and modern compared to other cathedrals in Europe. Inside, we were a little disappointed by its simplicity, but we were impressed by the organ and the small baptismal font, which looked like a small ice bowl. From the cathedral, we walked down the hill, crossed the city's only major four-lane road. Since the traffic was really very little, we asked one of the Icelanders if they knew what a traffic jam was, as there was no sign of it. Then we reached Öskjuhlid Park, which went up a hill to the Perlan Museum. There, we visited the 'Wonders of Iceland' exhibition with interesting facts about the geological formation and history of Iceland. The admission also included a film about the Aurora Borealis in a dome cinema. We particularly liked this film, as it explained the formation of the northern lights with a lot of love and creativity. As a secret tip from us, definitely watch it. In the museum, there was also a real ice cave to see. The ice in the cave came from the glaciers of the Eyjafjallajokull mountain range. The museum ended with a 360° view on the upper platform of the Perlan Museum. After a short coffee and ice cream break at the museum, we continued our walk in the park, passed the University of Reykjavik, and reached Nautholsvik Beach. This is a geothermal natural beach with hot pools. Johanna dipped her feet in the water and it was pleasantly cool. Even the sand felt slightly warm. Near the beach, there were a few chairs where we stayed for a moment and let the sun shine on our faces. Then we followed the path along the coast, past Reykjavik Airport and some beautiful villas overlooking the sea. We dreamed of how nice it would be to have a house somewhere on the coast. After the long walk, we slowly made our way back to the city center and paused again on a bench at 'The Pond,' a large man-made pond. Then we got hungry and had cheap street food near the shopping street at the 101 Streetfood Reykjavik restaurant. Johanna had lobster soup and Pascal had fish 'n' chips. Then we returned to the hostel. We met our roommate M, a relaxed doctoral student from Berlin who was attending a conference. We had a few beers while a small concert took place in the hostel with some Icelandic bands. It was really funny to watch the Icelandic hipster audience go wild. The song 'Dangsa og Bangsa' by the band Inspector Spacetime will forever remain in our memories and has already landed on our Spotify playlist. After a few rounds of beer from the hostel bar and free cans of beer given to us by some Australians, we decided to go out again around 11 p.m. as it still felt like 9 p.m. due to the daylight. The sunset on the coast was really impressive, and we realized that the sun actually sets in the north. We spontaneously called our former host families in the USA as the time difference was much smaller this time. We fell slightly tipsy into bed around 1 a.m. and looked forward to the next few weeks on the island. We had no idea what to expect.