One More Day

I'm down to only one day left abroad! I really have no idea how this happened. There must be a wormhole behind me somewhere, soaking up all the time. That's how that works right?

I made it to Reykjavik! My last stop on this amazing adventure.

It was a super easy trip to Iceland from Glasgow yesterday, I slept through most of it actually. Don't know what it is about me and sleeping while traveling... I just can't help it! 

I arrived in Reykjavik in the afternoon and still had tons of daylight to spare. The sun doesn't actually set here. It gets sort of twilighty, but no darkness at night. Checked into my hostel, Kex (means biscuit in Icelandic) a retrofitted biscuit factory (see what they did there) which is soooo awesome. It has a bar downstairs complete with outdoor patio, book trade shelves, and amazing views of the coast.

At breakfast this morning.

I set out to explore as soon as I got my key. Being cooped up at the farm for two weeks was fun, but I missed streets and other people. 

Turns out Reykjavik is much smaller than I expected; I walked the length of it between yesterday afternoon and this morning. Hit up Hallgrimslirkja (the church in the first photo), and perused the touristy shops on the Main Street. There are a lot of really interesting design stores, and thrift shops, but mostly ones with windows filled with puffin stuffed animals, or mass-produced knitted mittens. Since the economy collapse, tourism has been the best money making enterprise, so all the businesses that closed after the banks went have been turned into tourism shops. So they are everywhere... It's a bit depressing, but at least people are here spending money. 

I spent the bulk of my first full day touring museums. I bought the Reykjavik Welcome Card which was a deal for 48 hours. So all my museum entries are free. I started with the Settlement 871 +\-2 Exhibit. It is the preserved remains of the original village where the city now stands. It looks like they built the museum over the site, but don't quote me on that.

There's one longhouse within the building, along with hundreds of artifacts like fishing hooks, swords, and wall remnants to clue us into what life was like back then. The collection is pretty extensive. 

There were interactive screens too so the kids won't get bored. 

The next one I explored was the contemporary art museum. I'm not educated on contemporary art enough to comment on most of this exhibit, but it was interesting to see the variations through the last three decades.

The next and largest museum was located at the Old Harbor, the Maritime Museum. Now that was interesting. Since the majority of the workforce was and still is fishermen, there is a lot of information and artifacts to educate us with. 

Lots of boats of course.

Finally, was the National Museum of Iceland. This encompassed the culture and history of the people of Iceland starting with settlement a thousand years ago up until independence from Norway. The modern history section was a bit lacking for someone educated in America, since our history classes tend to cover only that... I was hoping to get a lesson so I know a lot more of the country's history I'm visiting. Instead, I'm going to a really good bookshop tomorrow to do some light reading of the past 100 years of culture. Already got a book recommendation. 

Here's the pride and joy of the national museum, miniature Thor/possibly first representation of Christ in the Icelandic culture. It's talked up a lot, but it's about the size of your thumb... They're own metaphorical Mona Lisa.

The last adventure of my day was relaxing at a geothermal pool. There are several of these around the city, and while it's not Blue Lagoon (which is ridiculously expensive! What are they using those entry fees for? It's a natural lagoon, there's no upkeep!), they are all still heated geothermally and are community oriented. So I sat in a hot pot for awhile and then did the steam bath/cold pool alternating a couple times before calling it a day. 

Well, almost. I had heard about Iceland and their icecream, so I had to try one of the famous places just around the corner from the pool. Lesson #1: never order ice cream when you are starving. The smalls were still very large, but when the woman pointed, I said medium. Why!? It was the size of my head!

That's insane! It's a medium! That's huge even for American standards!

Of course, I couldn't finish it, but I'm glad I got to try their cream based (not milk based), candy loaded ice cream while in Iceland.

I finished off the night with a jazz concert at the hostel bar, and another famous food here, Icelandic hotdogs. Is it really local fair if you just keep putting "Icelandic/French/British" in front of it? Who cares, it was delicious!

Last day tomorrow, hopefully be able to post before my flight out midday Thursday.

See you soon America!