Time to get to the airport at Berlin Schoenefeld and with the SBahn, there is a lot of the previous Eastern Germany can still be seen even though rebuilding efforts are in progress. At the airport was a long queue and the comfortable 1.5 hours dwindled away and I got a little bit uncomfortable but made it to the gate with only 7 minutes to spare.

Now heading north to Reykjavik which is 1 hour behind Berlin. The flight itself was uneventful but the inflight meal sale was already significantly more expensive than Eurowings.

Upon arrival there are buses just outside waiting to take passengers to hotels in Reykjavik. After more than an hour , arrived and checkin at the hotel. Time to go find some food.

So my researched map did unfortunately not show that a lot of shops are closed on Sunday. To be honest, I expected a capital city like Reykjavik to be lively still on Sundays. Anyway one shop selling Noodles was open and hot soup doesnt sound at all bad in this cold and windy city.

Pleasantly surprised that they have this kind of Pho on sale. As you will know if you read my other blogs I am Pho-crazy .. It tasted superb but still costed a hefty 13 Euros.

I wanted to walk more in the city but a lot of shops are closed. And this artic wind dampen my enthusiasm to be outside longer than I have to. Braved the winds for a look at the sea and the landscape. Here see for yourself!

So went back to the hotel to update this blog before preparing to go aurora hunting.

At 8:30pm a lot of people were already at the bus stop when we arrived. All at different degrees of coldness , the wind was cruel this night. Bus after bus came to pick up people, the crowd was thinning when finally our bus rounded the corner. Yay!! I had changed my initial booking from Monday to Sunday as i was tracking the aurora activities closely. So I was thankful they properly updated and our names were on the list.

The guide asked us all to buckle up because there were known to be accidents that happened when the wind was too strong or icy roads. I started to believe him when we got to a stretch of open space and the bus was swaying from the cross winds!

There was a monologue from the tour guide about Iceland in general and the Northern lights.. I had the impression he was not convinced we would see anything this night and his speech bordered on preparing us for disappointment. We formed a chain of buses going toward the lookout spot. I thought I was suitably dressed to brave the cold but I was wrong. 5 minutes into the watch I was shivering and could not stay still. We all looked to the northerly direction to wait for it to appear if it will. But the biting wind came full blast from the north. Luckily we could still go on the bus to get out from the cold.

Around half an hour after we arrived, the activity started. Slowly at first but then changing shape across the sky. Interestingly it was in black and white shade with a tinge of lilac but no doubt that was it! I only took a photo which didnt show up much because I didnt have a good enough camera nor the right settings. Plus my hands were numb from the cold. I decided just to look at nature’s wonder and appreciate it in the moment and not tinkering the settings with my camera. So I don’t have any picture of it but Im going to try to see if i can get one from the guide later!

The display went on for a good hour before we had to go home. Another thing off my bucket list!

-End of Day 3-