Iceland Day 4 - Reykjavik

On Thursday, May 31, we awoke to calm winds and no rain! This may be the first day that we have not experienced morning rain in Iceland! We will be leaving Iceland on Friday, with an 11:00 a.m. flight, so this was our last day to tour around. We chose to explore some points of interest in the city of Reykjavik.

When Brock got his obsidian necklace at the gas station a few days ago, he also got a simple knit cap with the flag of Iceland on it. We had spent some time yesterday searching for a matching one for me. We had not been successful in finding it at any of the touristy gift shops in town. Guess where I found the matching hat today? At another gas station!

We set out looking for Hallgrimskirkja, the Cathedral, in Reykjavik. It was easy to see, but getting close to it was quite another matter due to many one-way streets and streets closed to traffic (pedestrian only).

When we had the cathedral in sight and parked, we encountered an overweight Chinese couple. They were scurrying around like they had five minutes before they had to get back on the bus. He was having her pose in various random places of little significance, taking her picture quickly, then they were dashing to the next photo op a few feet away. At first they were headed away from the church, but somehow they beat us into the church. I joked that was because they were running! They resumed the same behavior inside: pose, click, run, pose, click, run, etc. Brock had to get away from their nervous energy!

This is what the church looks like:

There was a beautiful pipe organ inside:

We bought tickets and went up the elevator and some stairs to the top of the 240 foot high tower. We were rewarded with 360 degree views of Reykjavik. Thankfully, the Chinese couple did not make it up to the tower while we were up there!

Here is what the colorful city looked like from the top, from several angles:

Here I am with my new matching knit cap:

Brock is not wearing his Iceland cap today!

In front of the church is a statue of Leifur Eiriksson, the discoverer of America, which was a gift from the United States on the 1000th anniversary of the founding of the Althingi in 1930. Here is a shot of the statue, with the church behind it:

Next, we were interested in seeing the Reykjavik Art Museum. However, the exhibit was very limited, as they were in the middle of changing exhibits, and most of the museum was closed.

They charged us a reduced price and recommended that we go to see Asmundarsafn, the home and studio of the late sculptor Asmunder Sveinsson. He had sculptures in a garden all around the house, and more sculptures inside. We got a good tour, and we were favorably impressed.

This is what that museum looked like from the front entrance:

This is what the gallery looked like on the inside; there was a lot of natural light:

This is a picture of the late Asmunder Sveinsson:

This statue is called "Venus Rising from the Waves" (1925):

This bronze sculpture is called "Viking" (1928):

We grabbed a delicious lunch down near the harbor at "Ristorante Caruso"; we both had salmon prepared two different ways, and it was wonderful! We were absolutely stuffed. Here is a photo of Brock in front of the restaurant:

While we were walking around downtown, I made friends with this very aloof Icelandic cat:

I liked this colorful mural:

The sun finally came out after lunch; this seems to be a pattern! So we enjoyed a walk on the same bike/walking path where Brock ran on Wednesday. It was wonderful to get some exercise.

We had a very light dinner, packed, and prepared for our big travel day to come.

Here is a photo of the hotel where we have spent the past five nights. The layout of the room is so poor; we had more room on the cruise ship; at least on the ship there were plenty of places to store our clothes. This room was very tight for two people with two pieces of baggage each. But we appreciated having a warm, dry place to sleep.

We will be very sad to leave Iceland. We are proud that we were able to get around speaking English. It is a beautiful country. The weather was quite harsh; the tulips were just starting to bloom, so they are about 2 months behind Nashville weather-wise and just starting their spring. The people are very hardy, friendly, and easy-going. The scenery is amazing; we saw so many beautiful things. It's so far north that the sun never set at night; it stayed light out 24 hours a day, just overcast and grey at night. We would love to return sometime and maybe ski in-bounds or drive around the whole ring road.