Reykjavik

 June25 (driving to Halifax NS) with flight to Iceland to June 26 (Day in Reykjavik

Drive to Halifax was uneventful. Of course stopped at Masstown for an ice-cream and gas fill up. Picked up some Cranberry tea biscuits as well which would come in very handy.

Dropped car off at hotel for parking, so much cheaper than parking at the airport. $55.00 per week plus tax, about twice that at park and fly.

Our flight left a little early, and with it only being a 4 hours flight from Halifax we arrived in Reykjavik at about 4:15AM. Very easy to clear customs, we got in the line that the guy wanted to chat with everyone, of course we did.

Got a bus to our AIRBNB in downtown Reykjavik, which is about 50 minutes from the international airport. Key was under the mat waiting for us, and since it is just before 7AM managed a 2 hour sleep before we hit the road. Breakfast was the rest of the cranberry tea biscuits for Andre, and a package of oatmeal that Wendy had brought along. It's been ages since I had packaged oatmeal, it is going to do the trick for breakfasts for most of this holiday.

One of the must sees was Hallgrímskirkja church. Beautiful on the outside but very plain on the inside. We are finding our way around the city by looking for this church in the skyline. The largest church in Iceland, also houses the largest organ. The shape is inspired by basalt columns formed by cooled lava flows. There also were a couple of examples of hooking and fabric art on display, reminded me of friends back home and how they would have liked to see this.

Walked around the city for about 2.5 hours, souvenir shopping done for us, fridge magnet purchased.

Headed back to the apartment at about noon with a stop first at the Kronan grocery store, picked up enough for lunch today, supper tonight and breakfast tomorrow. Prices are a little higher here than at home, but restaurant prices are much higher than home.

Arrived a the Airbnb and our front step is being repaired, a big chunk of the step has fallen away. We received an email yesterday to be careful as the step was falling apart, well it has now been fixed.

Off to our free walking tour at 1:30PM. We had a fantastic guide, but so many people. We walked around for a little over 2 hours with the group. Lots of good stories. He is Icelandic, which he said will be rare to find as we spend more time touring around. In the last 2 decades many immigrants have moved to Iceland and it is now made up of about 30% immigrants, and most of them are in the service industry.

Also learnt that Iceland is the safest country in the world. They average less than 2 murders per year. The only place that you will see guns is at the US embassy. The police don't carry guns, no security officers at parliament building, banks etc. The only people are hunters but very strict process to get a license. 

Lots of stories about folklore. He showed us a huge rock that caused issues with construction and moving the rock due to elves. They needed to have someone come in and explain to the elves that they needed to move on as the rock needed to be moved. He told us to watch as we tour the island and we will see places where the road goes around rocks because of the elves.

One of my favourite stories is how children are named here. Instead of traditional Icelandic last names being passed down for generations, Icelanders use a unique system based on their parents’ first name. Here’s how it works: if your dad’s name is, say, Johan, and you’re a boy, your last name would be “Johansson” (literally “Johan’s son”).

If you’re a girl, the ending of the Icelandic last name is dóttir. It would be “Johannsdóttir” (“Johan’s daughter”). So if you have a son and a daughter you would have 4 different surnames in the same family.

After the tour continued on walking and exploring further ourselves. Visited Harpa Concert Hall, unfortunately we could only visit the first 2 floors. Wish that some concerts were happening while we were here, but I think there would have been a problem with us staying awake tonight for a concert anyway. We then walked along the waterfront. We could see lots of cruise ships in the distance. Lots of busses waiting to pick up passengers to take them back to the cruise ships.

We also visited the Sun Voyageur sculpture. Along the waterfront a windbreaker was nice, but it was pretty warm when you got away from the water. I think it got a little over 10 degrees today. A stop at a local shop to look at local knitting. Passed on the $100.00 mittens, and $550.00 sweaters. They are beautiful but a little out of our price range.

Back to the apartment for a rest and some supper. Snuck in a nap, maybe too long, hopefully won't interfere with sleep tonight.

Around 8:30 decided to head out for another walk. We walked around the waterfront to a grass hill we had seen on the other side from the Sun Voyageur earlier today. Lots of restaurants and bars along the way. Some of the old sheds have been turned into different things, one was an ice cream shop. $10.00 for one scoop, none purchased today, I'm sure some will be purchased another day. The grass hill is some kind of art that you climb around and around to reach the top. On top they have a little shed with drying cod. Not sure of significance, but some nice views of the harbourfront from the top.

Headed back home after a very full day. Not sure how we are going to handle sightseeing for the next days. There is no dark, we can tour all day and night, except of course if we want to go inside buildings. Starting tomorrow most of our touring will be all outside. We are picking up our campervan tomorrow afternoon and the real fun and exploring begins as we hit the road to head to the country. How many of the 10,000 waterfalls in Iceland will we see, how many pictures will Andre take of these waterfalls? Will the elves trip us up? What time will we do our touring? So many questions to be answered, can't wait!

A bit tired going to be as we walked 20KMS

leaving Halifax at 9:30PM, probably last time we will see a sunset in the next 2 weeks

The only option from REK to Reykjavik, 45 minutes

Walking around Reykjavik

Self serve parcel pickup, saw these in Germany for DHL. You get an email with a PIN

Lots of places to buy puffins

Every year they paint a different street for pride week and remove it after but this one was a walking street and the left it

A few mural around town but not tons

Lots of coffee shops and bar/restaurants plus gift shops

A few interesting building

Hallgrímskirkja with the outside resembling basalt volcanic columns

Sod roof on this bar

Best place for cinnamon buns, a lineup

tempting

Gay bar, surprise

Used to be a book store now a bar but the kept the books on the wall. It's called the bookstore bar

The bureaucrat  

Lilac are just about done

From our walking tour

Guide on our free walking tour beside the statue of Skuli Magnusson, the first Icelandic sheriff that ran the country

The elves rock

Wish the had English subtitles

City founder Ingulfor Arnarson. If you are a truly Icelandic then you are related to him. There is a database so you can check to see how closely you are related to someone, especially used for dating.

Harpa Hall

Famous hot dog place

Harpa Hall

Sun Voyager

French Hospital to take care of the French fisherman/sailors from the early 1900s

Braud, the famous bakery

On our after supper walk around the shipyard/harbour

Cute bike rack

Hard to believe I said no. 950 is equal to $10.50 Canadian for a 1 scoop cone. $15.50 for a 2 scoop which is usually my size.  I will never complain about gelato prices in Italy again

A spiral pathway leads visitors up a small hill to this outdoor installation by artist Ólöf Norda.

View of Harpa from the top

Air drying cod on top just to give you the full experience including the smell

Lots of fisherman sheds are now shops or restaurants in the area

This picture was taken at 10PM, never got dark last night