Here’s my first view of Iceland...note the blue sky!
Our new home for the next week as we hotel hop around the island! Starting mileage: 15587.
We’re going around the ‘ring road’...about 900 miles plus any detours we make. I bought a package from a travel agency here in Iceland where they book hotels, a car, and provide us with a GPS and an Ipad with directions, LOTS of information about sights we’ll be seeing, basically an electronic tourguide.
We finally, after a mysteriously long rental car line, get to our hotel in Reykjavík.
We finally, after a mysteriously long rental car line, get to our hotel in Reykjavík.
Here’s were we drop our luggage and hit the town. Of course the Hallgrimskirkja Church is our first stop after a fantastic dinner at Glo...a yummy health food chain were we got our vegi fix to balance all the meat and fish we’ve been having! The church was the Luthern response (bigger chirch on a higher hill) to a nearby Catholic church. Designed in the 1930s by a (of course) Danish designer, started in 1945 and finished in the 1980s. It’s quite stunning! Reminds me of ice.
In front of the church is a statue of Leif Erikson (970-1020). He was the first European to set foot on the American continent, about 500 years before Columbus!
From there to the waterfront is only a few blocks, and all downhill. We notice NO coblestones, which is a huge relief. On a volcanic island I don’t expect any either! Hallelujah! We also see lots of houses with painted corrugated metal siding. Pretty different!
In front of the church is a statue of Leif Erikson (970-1020). He was the first European to set foot on the American continent, about 500 years before Columbus!
From there to the waterfront is only a few blocks, and all downhill. We notice NO coblestones, which is a huge relief. On a volcanic island I don’t expect any either! Hallelujah! We also see lots of houses with painted corrugated metal siding. Pretty different!
Right on the waterfront we find what we’re after- a stainless steel sculpture called ‘Sun Voyager’. It’s shaped like an old Viking ship, and points to the setting sun....is in fact an ode to the sun, and exploration to foreign lands that brought the Scandinavians here and pushed out further from here!
Here’s our 4th country! Left to right (not in the order we saw them in) is Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland!
In the distance we see a building we’re curious about. It’s a beautiful evening on the waterfront, so we go check it out. This turns out to be one of the most amazing buildings I’ve ever seen! It’s called ‘Harpa’...the preforming arts and conference center for Reykjavík. It also was designed by a Danish designer, and has won EU design awards. It was started during a time when Iceland was flush with banking money, then when the economy colapsed in 2008 it was almost left 1/2 built. Eventually it was finished, and now is a truly amazing building...seems too big and glitzy for Reykjavík, but it seems the city of 220,000 (entire metro area) is growing into it!
In the distance we see a building we’re curious about. It’s a beautiful evening on the waterfront, so we go check it out. This turns out to be one of the most amazing buildings I’ve ever seen! It’s called ‘Harpa’...the preforming arts and conference center for Reykjavík. It also was designed by a Danish designer, and has won EU design awards. It was started during a time when Iceland was flush with banking money, then when the economy colapsed in 2008 it was almost left 1/2 built. Eventually it was finished, and now is a truly amazing building...seems too big and glitzy for Reykjavík, but it seems the city of 220,000 (entire metro area) is growing into it!
Guess what time it is? 11:16 pm, and the sun still has a bit to go! It’s SO hard to go to bed!
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