Another half day of explorations begins.  Out a little early for the shuttle – supposedly there is an Azamara only shuttle, but we never did see it. There is a bus sitting out in the bus lane with no sign, which we figure is a ship’s tour bus waiting for their charges (actually, we will come to figure out that it is the shuttle – but it has absolutely no signage or marking, so who knew?) so we hop on the Orange Port shuttle and make our way slowly into the city.  The bus gets caught up in a traffic jam at the 312 pier where the Majestic Princess has just docked and the queue for the shuttle is huge. Fortunately, we have absolutely nothing planned today except wandering up Laugavegur Street, one of the oldest streets and the main shopping street of Reykjavik, visiting the Hallgrimskirkja – the Hallgrimur Church – presiding over the city from its perch atop a knoll near the center of Reykjavik, and last but not least, hitting the grocery store for cabin snacks. 

Arriving in town, we hop off the bus, explaining to the Princess people that this is the only stop.  Half the people on the bus are trying to stay on to “the next stop.”  Well, ok, but that is back at the pier!  We quickly make our way out of the confused cruise folks, passing the Harpa Center and pretty flower beds (how these flowers survive, and really thrive, in this chilly, wet environment is beyond me), as we head toward the old city area and Laugavegur – which means “water road” because women used to bring their laundry here to wash in hot pools. 

Because we are so early, we make an unplanned stop at Prikid, one of Iceland’s longest-running coffee houses and restaurants, opened in 1951. Like a little old fashioned diner/bar, with punk style locals  (and bartender) who are hanging out with their dog at a booth, we settle in for regular brew coffee – the best bargain of the trip!  Only $3.25 each with unlimited refills!  Oh, and little cookies too.  Sweet. 

Then it is back out on the streets, snapping pictures of the some of the hundreds of murals and street art that dot the city, the colorful buildings, and rainbow street – the avenue that leads up to the church and is painted in LGBTQIA rainbow colors. 

The church is really quite stunning, rising 244 feet above us – the largest church in Iceland and the 2^nd tallest structure in the country – with the statue of Leif Erikson presiding in front of it in the square.  Designed to resemble the rocks, mountains and glaciers of the country’s landscape, it looks more like a pipe organ rising up to the pointed clock and bell tower.  It took 41 years to build, construction not being completed until 1986, has an interior of over 18,000 sq feet, a 25-ton pipe organ and 29 bells in the tower, the 3 largest of which are named after the devotional poet, Hallgrimur Petursson, to whom the church is named and dedicated, and his wife and daughter. 

Sightseeing complete, we hit the grocery store, scoring a freshly baked little loaf of the local rye bread, Rugbraud, that we’ve been wanting to try, then walking back down to the shuttle – with a quick stop to buy some Puffin socks!  Can’t not have Puffin socks! (I will admit it was a hard choice between socks and the Puffin tights in the window, but the socks won out.)

Then it is back to the ship – waiting for the Azamara shuttle that never appears (although, as I noted above, it was actually right there – just without any signage) – hopping on the Orange shuttle, well, actually pushing our way on to a bus full of Princess cruise passengers who, once again, didn’t think they were getting off there.  Does no one do any research?  Ah well – no harm, no foul, we got seats and comfortably made our way back to the Quest where we spent the rest of the afternoon – lunching in Windows, reading and generally just hanging out and relaxing.

Our evening routine was the norm – gym, drinks (although it is so packed in the Living Room because trivia was running late that we took our drinks back to the cabin), pre-dinner drinks in the Den, then getting to Discoveries at our normal time, but missing out on Table #4 by 30 seconds!  Vicson had taken other passengers to their table, and the Maitre’d didn’t realize we were there apparently!  We tried to look to see if #2 was available, and Joel, our great waiter saw us and told us to just come and sit! Ok – we’re good.  Poke on the menu tonight.  Sigh. Still a disappointment, but hey, its getting better.  Double the number of tuna cubes this time – 10 vs. the 5 that was on the dish last year. Yes, I’m keeping track! 

Take 2 tonight, again, so we hit the Living Room, chat with Roy, then the cabin, watching the gulls fly alongside us before a lovely night of Netflix.  Off to the North Atlantic Sea we go!