A Day In Reykjavik Is All You Need

Reykjavik was dark and gray when we landed around 6:30 am.  Okay, it really wasn't dark.  The sun is up nearly 24 hours as we head to the summer solstice.  We completed two days here in Iceland, and anytime I open my eyes, it is light out.  No, I am not staying up to watch for whatever short period of darkness there.  Heck, I'm not even staying up to watch the Capitals in the Stanley Cup Finals (they start after midnight).

Carol and I are in Iceland to both finish the job we started in 2016 AND on a mini-reunion of sorts.  "The job"?  We are in Iceland through Thursday, then flying for a day in Oslo before heading to the great white north -- the Svalbard Islands.  They are at 78 degree latitude -- well above the 66 degree latitude of the Arctic Circle.  The reunion is that we are doing the Iceland tour with nine other people, many of whom we went to Myanmar with.

So far, Iceland has struck me as a rugged beauty.  About 330,000 people live on an island the size of Great Britain (or so I am told).  I was expecting some sort of ruthless Scandinavian efficiency, but have found that not to be the case, as nothing starts on time and few are actually ready for what is supposed to be happening.  

And that's fine -- just not what I expected.  Of course, I am not as efficient as I thought I am.  After the hotel sorted through the confusion of us checking in, we had breakfast with our friends Rich and Meg Cogan (from the Myanmar trip of February 2017).  (Side note: we went to Myanmar prior to the reports of ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya genocide.  We would not have gone had we known about this).

Our next stop was a walking tor with City Walk, where we met at the high point of the city -- the Leif Erickson statute outside of the Hallgrimskirkja -- the famed church of the city.  (Don't worry, there will be pictures).  That's where my inefficiency reared its ugly head.

Turns out I had signed us up for the Sunday morning 10 am tour, confused yet again by the European calendars which go Monday-Sunday, as opposed to Sunday to Saturday.  The worst part is, whilst I was signing up for it, I told myself to not be fooled by the calendar, and yet I was.  The best part is, our guide, Nanaan (spelling?), was able to adjust and take us on the tour.

With us were a couple from Seattle, a guy from Portland who works for e-Bay, and a couple from Toronto.  We walked through the alleys and streets of Reykjavik, seeing the key buildings, (including the Parliament) the outside art, and learning about the history and culture of the city.

Highlights included the Opera and Ballet House, the shopping streets, the port area, city hall, and then lunch.  But I digress.  We were in a small park with a monument to Reykjavik's founder, when suddenly a group of guys came out with some props.  

It was a bachelor party (they take it seriously in Iceland -- around 30 men were involved).  They came to the top of the hill, playing an unusual song about men's anatomy.  The presumed-groom was dressed in a well, men's anatomy part, and they had a female blow-up doll.  They set up a slide to go down the hill involving oil, a swimming tool toy.  We left after a bit, as it all seemed pretty goofy.  Open container laws are not enforced.

At the end of the tour, we finished with lunch around 1 pm.  The traditional Icelandic Lamb Soup was pretty good, and I had an Arctic Pale Ale to go with it.  Carol and I headed back to the church, where we toured and then headed up to the top on the elevator.  That was pretty neat.

Heading back to the hotel, we stopped into a popular local bakery.  While we were waiting in line to order, one of the bakers pulled a tray of just baked cinnamon/apple rolls out of the oven.  That's what we ordered!

We walked down to the sea and ate our warm cinnamon rolls while admiring the Sun Voyager, a very cool sculpture representing the Viking longboats.  We walked back along the water to the hotel, and suffice it to say, I will spare you the details of our nap. (Okay, I sense a clamor for the details, so here you go. . we closed our eyes, and slept for a couple of hours.  And it was good.)