After our day traveling the Southern Coast of Iceland, we went back to the apartment to get ready for our final meal. We stayed closer to the city center and ate at a traditional Icelandic restaurant called Messinn. There was plenty of fish on the menu, and their main fair was called “fish pans”. These were dishes served in what looked like a skillet.
I chose the Icelandic “Ploffiskur” which came with béarnaise sauce and potatoes and rye-bread. It was so incredibly delicious. The texture reminded me of warm tuna salad, but the deliciousness was well beyond that.
We then ventured back towards the bar scene for a final night cap. We were recommended to hit up the Lebowski bar, designed after the movie “The Big Lebowski”. Inside, much of the bar was designed like a bowling alley. Paying homage to the movie, there was also a HUGE list of varying white russian drinks. Talk about creative!
We each ordered a drink, but finished them quickly as we were being annoyed by some of the men seated nearby. It’s one thing to get hit on, but another to not get the hint that we don’t want you to stick around.
I was annoyed because I worried this would be the end of our night. But interestingly, my friends and I have a habit of venturing into the token Irish Pub many European towns have. Maybe it’s because Amy’s husband is Irish, or maybe it’s because we’ve never been disappointed by these establishments. In almost every one of our previous trips together, we somehow end up in Irish Pub.
Either way, we decided to share one pint of Guinness and then be off to bed. Well wouldn’t you know it, there was some fun live music, and one pint shared amongst us quickly turned into…….well, I actually don’t remember.
As I had shown my friends the Eurovision movie the night before, I asked the musician to play “Ja Ja Ding Dong”.
At first he said, “you can do better than that”, to which I frowned and sat down. I thought he meant I could pick a better song and felt embarrassed. Of course the stupid American asks for that dumb song from a movie that Icelandic people might not even like.
But Dana understood it differently. “He means you have to ask like that guy in the movie!” Dana encouraged. “Scream it!”
And so a few songs (and a few Guinness) later, I tried again. He looked at me and said, “you have to scream it”. Dana was right! And scream it I did!
Needless to say, I was very happy.
By this point, my friends and I were laughing so hard we could barely stand up. The song, this Irish Pub, the laughs, were all the perfect way to wrap up this unbelievable trip. We staggered home trying not to fall down from the laughter.
The next morning, after a quick breakfast, we did a last round of shopping before getting on the bus back to the airport.
Aside from these awesome sunglasses…
……guess what else I got?
Thank you, Iceland, for making our 40th year so amazing, incredible, spectacular and……unbelievable.
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