After sleeping most of the day yesterday I found myself up at 4am this morning after only 4 hours sleep.   I have to say I am getting extremely good at wandering around quietly in the dark.   It truly is an art form being able to rummage through your bag in the dark while being quiet as a mouse.

I was happy that I had a good nights’ sleep last night as I slept straight through without coughing.   After taking an early morning shower I felt completely refreshed and ready to tackle the day.

Unfortunately it was only 6am and there really isn’t anything to do at that time of day.   I hung out on my laptap in the common room for a bit before heading out to another cool little cafe a block over called Grái Kötturinn (The Grey Cat).

I was the only customer and ordered their breakfast platter of eggs, bacon, potato with salsa, toast and pancakes for the low, low price of 2200 krona (about $20).

Yes, food is very expensive here but I gots to eat so just gotta suck it up and pay the piper.

Later in the morning I headed back to my dorm to find everyone still asleep and the room still pitch dark (still no sunrise).   I grabbed my gear and headed down the road to the bus depot.

I caught the #6 bus for a 15 minute drive to the mall here in Reykjavik.   My mission was to pick up an Icelandic sim card.   Basically get a phone number here in Iceland so my phone works here without outrageous roaming charges.   Now when we hit the road tomorrow we’ll be able to call for help if heaven forbid something happens.

At noon I headed back to the hostel to meet up with Dorianne so we could walk over to the meeting point for the GoEcco walking tour at 1pm.   During the winter season, Fridays are the only guaranteed tour whereas the other days you contact them and hope they have enough people to do one.

For a second straight day, the sky was overcast grey on the verge of rain.   In fact I reflect back to our first day touring the Golden Circle and realize how lucky we were to have landed that day and witness both the sunrise and sunset of the day.

A group of 10 of us soon departed to tour the older part of town.   Our guide had alot of information to share on Iceland’s history, it’s politics, religion, the financial crisis and even a story or two about elves, trolls and the way they celebrate Christmas.

At the end of the tour 3 hours later I had unfortunately caught back my cough that I thought I had banished for good.   It seems that Iceland is not the place to recuperate from a cold.   Go figure!

I had heard long ago about the infamous hot dog stand here in Reykjavik – apparently the best in Europe.   Celebrities and dignitaries have eaten there and they even have a picture on Bill Clinton on the wall outside the stand.   For only 380 krona (about $3) I got a hotdog with everything (ketchup, sweet mustard, remoulade and fried onion).   It was amazing and I know it won’t be my last.   Although we leave tomorrow morning to head up northwest, I will have an extra day here in Reykjavik at the end of the trip as my flight leaves a day after Dorianne’s.

Before I knew it the sun was setting and I headed back to the hostel now coughing violently.   This truly has been a frustrating thing as I have no control over it.   I keep sucking back the cough medicine and eating soup but being outside in the cold brings it all back.

I took it easy yet again tonight and while Dorianne headed out for the night I headed back to bed by 7pm.   Thankfully before she left Dorianne was a little soup angel and went down to the Noodle Station to pick me up some to go.

And now to sleep…. Crossing my fingers for tomorrow as we head out of town onto the Ring Road and our next adventure of our trip…