Friday, June 3, 2016

Iceland 2016: Reykjavik - Penis Museum, Art Museums, Dining

Our second full day in Reykjavik was spent touring three very interesting and diverse art museums featuring the works of three major Icelandic artists.  We also visited the very unique Icelandic Phallological Museum (a.k.a Penis Museum).  To prepare for this unusual experience, we watched a documentary called "The Final Member" which dealt with the founder of the museum, Sigurður Hjartarson, how he first got started with this odd collection, and his quest to top it off with the ultimate prize–a human penis.  Sigurður was first given a bull's penis (called a pizzle) as a child.  As an adult when he was headmaster at a school, some of his teachers who also worked at a whaling station, brought him whale penises.  Thus started the genesis of the collection and the museum, whose primary mandate is to display a collection of phallic specimens belonging to all the various types of mammal found in Iceland.  Hjartarson needed this final human member to complete his goal.

The movie focuses primarily on two potential human penis donors.  First there was 95-year-old Icelander Pall Arason who offered to bequeath his penis to the museum after his death, stating "I have no use for my penis once I'm dead".  Then there was middle-aged American Tom Mitchell who is so obsessively proud of his penis that he wants to have it surgically removed and donated to the museum while he is still alive so that he can visit it and watch people admire it!  The documentary is actually quite hilarious as it follows Hjartarson's interactions with the two potential donors.  He preferred to acquire the Icelander's penis as the first human specimen, as this was more in keeping with the mandate of the museum. However, both he and Pall were concerned that Pall's advanced age had caused his penis to shrivel and shrink below the "legal length of 5 inches".  The concept of legal length is based on an old Icelandic folklore about a woman who sued for divorce because her husband was not sufficiently endowed.  On the other hand, while Mitchell's member was definitely more than legal length, he was so weird and demanding and annoying that it seemed to scare Hjartarson away from accepting his donation.  Mitchell was so enamoured by his penis that he named it "Elmo" and regularly dressed it up in various "costumes".  He even went as far as having the American flag tattooed onto his penis (ouch!).  As of the end of the movie, Hjartarson still did not have his human specimen, so we were eager to visit the museum to find out what happened.

Well armed with this background, we were ready to see the Phallological Museum for ourselves.  Walking around the small museum, we saw the penises of a variety of mammals including an antelope, elephant, reindeer, seal, porpoise, polar bear, goat, horse, dog, cat, mouse and multiple types of whales including the sperm, sei,  bottlenose, fin, humpback, minke, blue and killer whales.  The members were either mounted on the wall or sat in jars of formaldehyde.  The largest penis on display came from a sperm whale and was literally longer in length than I was in height.

An informative chart illustrates the relative lengths and widths of various mammals with the whale leading the charge both in length and girth, followed distantly by the elephant and the giraffe.  It was interesting to see that the pig penis is slightly longer than the porpoise but significantly narrower while the human penis ranks last on this chart.  It should be noted that while the whale has the relatively largest penis size, it is also the largest mammal and relative to its body size, its penis is just average in proportion.

In addition to actual mammal penises, the Phallological Museum boasts quite the collection of penis-shaped paraphernalia including a telephone, a hanging mobile, a lamp, a jewelry rack, a ry pan, cutlery, salt and pepper shakers and various liquor organizers and service trays.  Even then door handle of the public toilet was shaped as a penis and was probably the only "penis" object in the museum that we were allowed to touch.

There was also quite the collection penis-themed art.  In addition to the typical sculptures and figurines that were similar to ones we have seen in other "sex-themed" museums, there were also some unusual pieces. The entire Icelandic National Handball team, Olympic silver medalists in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, had bronze casts made of their members.  A sketch of a sea of penises seems to take on a Dali-esque feel.  I chuckled at the caricatures of iconic historic and pop-culture figures such as Hitler, Einstein, Elvis, and the Beatles, drawn with penises for their noses.  I also liked the photo of penis shapes carved out of peppers, carrots and potatoes that was labeled "For Vegetarians Only".

But what of the human member donation?  It turned out that Pall Arason passed away in 2011 and his posthumous donation was fulfilled.  Unfortunately the harvest was mishandled and the resultant penis was an unsatisfactory "a greyish-brown, shrivelled mass".   While it is still on display in the museum along with his testicles, Hjartarson is still waiting for a better specimen.  He has three other donors who have signed their donation forms–a German and a Brit who will donate after death, and American Tom Mitchell who still intends to make a "living donation", although it has been over a decade since he made that promise, so one wonders how serious he is.

The Reykjavik Art Museum is a bit of a misnomer since it is actually three separate and distinct museums run under one umbrella.  Each museum is dedicated to the works of a famous Icelandic artist.  The first one, called Ásmundarsafn, is actually the former house and studio of sculptor Ásmundur Sveinsson (1893-1982).  Ásmundur designed and built the house between1942 to 1950, using a Bauhaus style reminiscent of Le Corbusier.  The white structure with the striking domed centre is flanked by two of Sevinsson's sculptures.

Ásmundur was one of the pioneers of Icelandic sculpture, finding inspiration in Icelandic nature and literature.  Behind his house is a beautiful sculpture garden with around 30 works artistically placed to blend in with the green backdrop.  His themes were often of men and women at work including ones of  a woman washing clothes in a basin and another who appears to be churning butter.  In the 1950s, Ásmundur's work moved more towards the abstract.

Misunderstanding the price structure for the three museums, we thought that it was 1500ISK ($18 Canadian) per museum and did not bother going into the Ásmundarsafn since we had already seen so many examples of his work for free by wandering through the garden.  As it turns out, the price was 1500ISK for all three museums so we could have gone into this one anyways since we planned to pay for the other ones.  I looked up some photos on the internet to see what we missed, and while the sculptures were smaller examples of the similar styles we saw outside, what was really spectacular was the way they looked against the background of the beautiful architecture of the house.  It's too bad we did not take the opportunity to see this in person.

To reach Ásmundarsafn we walked about 40 minutes east away from the touristy downtown core of Reykjavik and into more residential areas.  The museum is definitely off the tourist beaten path and we had trouble finding it or even finding someone who knew where it was.  Finally we ran into a local who pointed the way and also told us that this was the up-and-coming residential area for Icelanders who could not afford to live in the downtown area anymore.  After seeing Ásmundur's works in his sculpture garden, we started noticing more examples of his sculptures near our hotel.

The next art museum we went to was Kjarvalsstadir, named after one of the most beloved Icelandic painters, Jóhannes S. Kjarval (1885–1972).  Kjarval specialized in painting Icelandic landscapes including mountains, glaciers and lava formations, capturing the beauty and mystic of the land.  He is credited for teaching Icelanders to appreciate the splendour of their own natural environment.  If you look closely at some of Kjarval's pieces, they seem to be a cross between cubism and pointillism.

Some of Kjarval's works deal with myths and folklores, as he paints faces and mysterious images into mountains, oceans, and even what seems like depictions of the wind.  It is said that he spent so much time out in nature that he started to feel that there were beings out there beyond the "visible world".  This seems to tie into the common Icelandic belief of gnomes, elves or trolls that live under rocks.

The most impressive works on display are a series of black and white works called "The Course of Life" which Kjarval painted on the wall surfaces, radiators, trim and floor of his attic studio.  The description for the murals indicate that they display Kjarval's usual themes of landscape, working life and fantasy.  When I first saw the murals, I thought it was a depiction of Vikings, especially based on the mural with what seemed like Viking ships.  Looking closely, you can see that many of the images are comprised of a bunch of black and white diamonds, again leaning towards the Cubist style.  One interesting fact from Wikipedia is that Kjarval is featured on the Icelandic 2000 króna banknote.

The last art museum, Hafnarhus, formerly functioned as the harbour's warehouse and fisheries office but parts of it look more like Kilmainham Prison in Dublin.  We were confused about where this museum was, even when we were standing right in front of it, since we were looking for something called "Hafnarhus" but the sign on the building read "Listasafn" (which we later found out meant Art Gallery).  It now displays the works of pop artist Erró (nee Guðmundur Guðmundsson 1932), the only one of the three artists that is still living.  Erró's early work deal with themes of oppression and include images of  skeletons, corpses and other grotesque figures.  His piece "Death of an Art Collector" reminds me of a ghoulish version of the iconic "Dogs Playing Poker" painting.

Erró went through a robotics phase where his paintings, sculptures, photographs and documentary films all seemed to deal with human body parts adorned with mechanical components.

Erró is best known for his work in collage, where he re-assembles imagery from a variety of popular sources including advertisements, comics, and posters to create a new piece.  He mixed iconic works by famous artists like Picasso or Van Gogh, as well as photo clippings from magazines with cartoon images including ones from fairy tales, children stories and Disney characters.

Right next to the Hafnarhus gallery was the Grofarhus Museum of Photography where an exhibition called "Vanishing Culture - West Fjords" by Olarfur J. Engilbertsson, which consisted of beautiful black and white photos of scenery and life in this large peninsula in northwestern Iceland.  It was interesting seeing what Iceland is like in the cold, stark winter.  I can only imagine how cold it might be, since I was cold in their July "summer".

We had some interesting dining experiences in Iceland.  Surprisingly the most famous eating establishment in Reykjavik is the Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur hot dog stand, reputed to serve the best hot dog in Europe. The steamed sausages are lamb-based, mixed with pork and beef, and are served in a bun with a choice of condiments including ketchup, sweet mustard, remoulade, crisp fried onion and raw onion. We had an excellent meal at Icelandic Fish and Chips, starting with a mesclun salad with orange slices, spring onion, spiced sunflower seeds with a lemon vinaigrette.  Our fish (cod and redfish), as well as pieces of cauliflower and broccoli were all perfectly breaded with a coating similar to Japanese panko, and accompanied with roast potatoes and three sauces that we selected from the long list of choices.

At Islenski Barinn, we started with deep-fried cod skin, and a green salad in a jar with blueberries, skyr, pickled red onion, herbs and the tiniest slivers of grilled puffin meat. For my main course, I had the grilled fin whale, bacon glace, mashed potatoes, and a bacon & herb salad.  The puffin and whale tasted a bit like gamey beef steaks and were moist, tender and tasty.

For dessert, we shared Icelandic pancakes, with whipped cream, salty caramel sauce & nut crumble, and a hot chocolate.  I had forgotten to bring my reading glasses to the restaurant and was squinting and holding the menu at arms length towards the light of the window.  The waiter took pity on me and brought over an entire bucket full of reading glasses so that I could borrow one.  What a great idea!

Saegreifinn Seafood Baron was another unique place to eat, as it specialized in skewers of seafood, cooked on demand.  We went into what felt like a fish store, reviewed the choice of skewers, made our selections, then waited for the grilled skewers to be brought out to us as we sat on wooden bench tables.  We ordered bowls of lobster bisque, whale steaks, as well as skewers of pieces of grilled scallop and chunks of trout.

We thought we were eating like Icelanders when we tried puffin and whale but on a walking tour of the city, we learned that this was no longer part of the local diet and that restaurants served these items more as "tourist traps".

Our short 3.5 days layover in Reykjavik gave us a good sense of Iceland as a country and allowed us to check another destination off of our bucket list.

Thursday, June 2, 2016

Iceland 2016: Golden Circle Tour

To break up the 2.5 days that we planned to spend exploring Reykjavik, and to get a taste of what the countryside was like, we signed up for a bus tour of the "Golden Circle" area of Iceland which stretches almost 300km into Central Iceland.  There were many companies offering this tour and we were trying to find one that would take a smaller group like the 7-person minivan tour of the Dolomite Mountains that we took in Venice.  While we could not find one quite that small, the tour group Iceland Horizons offered a mini-bus holding about 25 people, as opposed to the larger coach buses from companies like GrayLine that probably hold around 40-50 passengers or more.  We were picked up in front of our hotel at 8:45am for our 8 hour tour.  We were warned to be careful not to get on the wrong bus, since multiple buses stop to pick up passengers, and many are not worried about poaching some other company's customers.  Surprisingly Iceland Horizons did not expect payment up front and took a "no-show" pickup in stride as it was business as usual.  Even more surprisingly, the pickups were not limited to hotels but seemed to include private residences.  I guess in such a small city, no address is too much out of the way and no potential customer is worth losing.

Our tour cost 10,900 ISK per person (approximately $120 Canadian) and consisted of four main stops–Thingvellir National Park where we would see lava rocks and the effects of shifting tectonic plates, Geysir (land of geysers), and two magnificent water falls at Gullfoss and Faxafoss before heading back to Reykjavik.  Our tour guide Dooley claimed to be descended from the Vikings and regaled us with stories from his childhood as he drove along.  It was interesting listening to him since he had spent quite a bit of time in the USA and so his English-speaking accent was a strange mix of Icelandic and Southern American twang.  During the drive to our first stop, Dooley explained to us the topography of Iceland.

The country of Iceland is an island that sits upon two large pieces of the earth's crust, which are called tectonic plates.  The north-west section rests on the North American plate while the south-east portion lies on the Eurasian plate.  The boundary between the two plates is called the "Mid-Atlantic Ridge", which runs mostly under water in the Atlantic Ocean, but surfaces as it traverses through Iceland (in a section called Reykjanes Ridge).  This ridge is known to be spreading further apart at a rate of about 2.5cm per year and contributes to Iceland's many earthquakes and volcanic activity.   As we drove towards Thingvellir National Park, we actually crossed over from one plate to the other.

 
Thingvellir National Park is spelt "Þingvellir" in Icelandic, with a symbol that looks like a cross between a "b" and a "p" standing in for the "Th" sound and spelling used in English.  Thingvellir is of geological importance because it is a "fissure zone" where the continental drift is especially pronounced.  We saw this for ourselves as we stood above a section where the land had split apart and the gap was several feet wide.  Massive volcanic eruptions 10,000 years ago formed layers of lava that can be seen today throughout the park.  The fluid lava flows also created two shield volcanos–Mount Skjaldbreiður, which is 1,060 meters high with a crater 300 meters in diameter and Mount Hrafnabjörg.  Walking on top of and through these giant mounds of lava made us feel like we were walking on the moon.  Unfortunately we were only given 30 minutes to make our way through the main path from one parking lot to the next where our bus would be waiting for us.  As we hurried by, I looked longingly at the people who were not time-constrained and who were able to leisurely wander farther afield to climb on the lava cliffs and more closely explore the landscape.

While the geological features of Thingvellir are quite unique and fascinating, the site has an even greater historic significance for Iceland.  It is the site of the first Icelandic Parliament, called "AlÞing", which was formed by the Vikings in 930A.D. and remained there until 1798.  The site was chosen for its accessibility from other populous regions of Iceland.  An Icelandic flag marks the spot where the Parliament potentially assembled.  Further down the path, we saw our first waterfall of the day and were duly impressed.  Little did we realize that there were much bigger and more beautiful waterfalls still to come.

Our next stop was to a geothermal field in the Haukadal Hot Springs area, where we would see an active geyser.  The word "geyser" and the area are both named after the oldest known spouting hot spring called Geysir, which means "to gush" in Old Norse.  Research showed that Geysir was active up to 10,000 years ago, probably corresponding to the times of the earthquakes and volcanic activity that covered Iceland with lava.  Geysir has gone through periods of activity and then inactivity throughout the centuries and is currently mostly dormant.  However, the nearby geyser Strokkur is extremely active, erupting approximately every 5+ minutes.  This was the geyser that we came to see, but first we passed by a bunch of smaller geysers which were smoking but not regularly gushing.  One in particular is called "Litli Geysir" (little geyser) which was once the principle spring in the area but now only bubbles like a "smoking cauldron", emitting heat and sulfurous smells.

We learned that geysers are formed when geothermal activity, generated by the transfer of heat from magma (underground lava), heats an underground source of water until it reaches boiling point.  The pressure from the boiling water builds up until it explodes, sending a tall column of steam and water into the air.  Armed with this knowledge, we were eager to see Strokkur in action, but first we were warned to stay safely away from the roped off areas for fear of being severely burned by the extremely hot water flowing out of the ground in this area.

Again we felt crunched for time at this stop, since we had only one hour to look around, wait for Strokkur to spout, and also have lunch.  Such is the downside of being on a guided tour, but we wanted the convenience of being ferried around from place to place and not having to incur the costs of a car rental.  Putting aside the need for lunch, we decided to spend as much time as we needed to watch Strokkur erupt.  We stood along-side the crowd of people impatiently waiting with cameras poised.  For what felt like the longest time (but was merely minutes), all we saw was steam rising from the centre and water bubbling.  Suddenly it happened as the geysur expelled its load and a huge burst of steam and water shot out, rising higher and higher.

At its peak, the gusher reached almost 100 feet high, dwarfing the spectators below. It really was an amazing sight to see. Then just as suddenly, the water dissipated and the geyser went back to its original steaming and bubbling state, and the wait resumed for those who wanted to see the process again.  After watching this thrilling phenomenon a few more times, we reluctantly left to find some food before heading off to the next stop on our tour.

The Gullfoss waterfall is located in the canyon of the Hvítá (White)River, which is sourced by Langjokull, Iceland's second largest glacier.  It is a two-tiered waterfall that first plunges 11 meters and then 21 meters into a canyon 32 meters deep.  The resultant view is spectacular to see.  Also known as the "Golden Falls", Gullfoss may be one of the main reasons why this area is called the "Golden Circle".  There are several theories regarding why Gullfoss itself got its golden name.  The plausible ones are related to the golden hue of the water in the evening or the colour of the rainbow as it meets the spray of the waterfall.  A more amusing but unlikely story tells of a farmer who could not bear to have someone else possess his gold after his death and instead, chose to throw it into the waterfall.

The trail that we walked down to Gullfoss is named after Sigriður Tómasdóttir, who lobbied to save the waterfall from investors who wanted to build a hydro dam to generate electricity.  A stone monument depicting her profile sits at the top of the falls.  When we first started the Golden Circle Tour, it was so cold that I had on 4 layers including a turtleneck sweater as well as hat and gloves.  But by the time we reached Gullfoss, the sun finally came out and the weather warmed up significantly.  By the time we left, I had stripped off most of my layers and was walking around in a t-shirt.

Our last stop was to Faxafoss, which was yet another waterfall.  You would think this would be anticlimactic after the magnificent Gullfoss, but Faxafoss had its own charm.  Although nowhere near as large and powerful as Gullfoss, Faxafoss did have a unique feature which I had not seen before, which was a "fish ladder".  Also known as a "fish pass" or "fish steps", this structure helps fish swim up over the waterfall in order to facilitate their natural migration patterns.  I have watched salmon struggle unsuccessfully to jump into and over mini man-made waterfalls back in Toronto's Humber River.  I think those poor fish would have appreciated a fish ladder.

Having traveled over 3 hours east of Reykjavik, we now sat back for the long ride home while our guide Dooley continued to point out areas of interest as well as amuse us with more tales from his childhood.  The tour was not as personalized or efficient as our 7-person van tour of the Dolomites in Italy since we still had to wait around at each stop for 25 people to return, but it wasn't too bad and we did see some amazing natural wonders.

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Iceland 2016: Reykjavik Downtown, Harbour

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After spending a sunny 25 degrees day in Venice, it was quite the shell shock when we landed the next day in Reykjavik, Iceland to rainy, blustery 7 degrees weather with gale-force winds so strong that the stewardesses struggled to get the door open and I almost got blown off the stairs while lugging my carry-on bags down to the tarmac.  We knew there would be a temperature difference between our two vacation destinations and this made it very difficult to decide what to pack, since I wanted to take only carry-on luggage and had to limit my load.  Rather than bringing really warm clothes that I would lug around for 12 days in Venice, just to wear for 4 days in Iceland, I decided to bring lighter wardrobe and layer. Good thing I brought my ear muffs, gloves and cowl since I needed these for our first 2 days before the temperature warmed up a little.  The Kevlavik airport is 45 minutes from Reykavik.  There is no public transportation into the city, so we took the Grayline coach, which supports dropoffs at all major downtown hotels.  Perhaps it was inclement weather that made it appear so, but as the countryside passed us by, we saw miles and miles of what looked like drab, desolate-looking landscape.

We chose an apartment-style hotel called Apartment K which is right in the heart of downtown Rekyjavik, just off of Laugavegur Street, the main shopping drag of the area.  We always like getting an apartment or hotel room with at least a mini fridge so that we could have cold water in our water bottle and possibly buy fruit or yogurt for a quick breakfast the next morning.  We were given a large airy loft on the top (4th) floor, which we thought was great until we realized that the WIFI did not reach our room.  For the next 4 days, we had to go down to the lobby to check our email or surf the web.  The bathroom was quite interesting as it was covered floor-to-wall-to-ceiling with what felt like smooth pebbles. There was a see-through glass sliding door with the toilet directly behind it and the shower off to one side.  The shower had a nice large rain-head system but also non-adjustable jets that were supposed to spray water at your back.  The only time that I tried it, I realized that I was too short as the spray shot into and over my head.

We rented our apartment for a fairly good price considering that it was right downtown and that night we found out why.  Despite being fairly cold outside, the geothermal heating used in Iceland made the room extremely warm, so we had to keep the windows open any time we were in the unit.  We were visiting in June, which is described as the time of the "Midnight sun" since it does not get dark until after midnight, as opposed to the winters in Iceland where there are only 5 hours of sun between 11:30am to 3:30pm!  I think there are actually is 24 consecutive hours of daylight per day, since I have awakened at 3am, 4am, and 5am and at each hour, it was still not dark. Having been starved of daylight for so long, the Icelanders (and tourists) are out and about on the streets all "night" long.   While we thought it was loud during the week, we didn't know what we were in for until Friday night, when we realized that our apartment was located right next to a youth hostel and at least one bar that stayed open until almost 5am.  There is nothing like lying in bed listening to thumping music all night long, culminating in Justin Bieber's "Sorry" at 4:30am.

Living right by the touristy streets meant that it was a short jaunt to reach our choice of restaurants, coffee bars and gimmicky shops.  The Kaffitar Coffee Shop was a favourite haunt of ours for breakfast since it had free WIFI and unlike many of the other places that opened between 9-11am, it opened at 7am, which I guess can be considered "North American hours".   Since Iceland is an isolated island where most things need to be imported, we were prepared for the prices to be quite outrageous.  But it was still shocking the first time we shared a coffee and two muffins and the total came to almost $20 Canadian!  We did find a few surprising items at prices comparable to or less than what we would pay back home–the smoked salmon and jars of caviar each cost around $6-8 Canadian.  We are not big caviar fans but we bought some smoked salmon to eat for breakfast.  A large part of Laugavegur Street is pedestrian only and is blocked off by barriers made of painted bicycle sculptures.  So many European cities have their main shopping streets turned into pedestrian only avenues.  I wish Toronto could learn from this.

The shops in downtown Reykjavik are rife with stereotypically Icelandic items such as gnomes, puffins, and Vikings, which are found on everything from T-Shirts, hats, mugs, stuffed toys and figurines. Beautiful Icelandic Sweaters, going for around $300-400 Canadian, are so plentiful that it makes you wonder whether every Icelander knows how to knit them.  These sweaters are made of wool from Icelandic sheep and have the iconic design of the an elaborate yoke pattern typically created by two or three contrasting colours.  This pattern is usually repeated on the ends of the sleeves and the bottom of the sweater.  It is too bad that I find this type of yarn (called lopi) too rough and itchy for me, but I have become inspired to try to knit my own version using a less scratchy cotton or acrylic yarn.  I thought it was appropriate that we found a store featuring stuffed polar bears, since I was freezing that day.  You know the old saying that "Greenland is icy and Iceland is green" (relatively speaking)?  I'm not sure about Greenland, but Iceland lived up to its name on this cold June day, and the landscape is more brown than green.

Many shops featured fun and quirky items.  My favourite were the Ryan Gosling or Leonardo DiCaprio socks which formed their entire face when you put the pair of socks side by side.  There were also the set of four cups stacked one on top of the other, where the the art painted across all four cups form a single cartoonish image of an animal in human clothing.  Stacking the cups in the right order almost becomes a simple puzzle or game.  Boogie Bites consists of the figure of a dancing male or female with a spike protruding from the neck where you are to stick a piece of cheese or other hors d'oeuvre to act as the head. In one clothing store was a pair of skinny jeans where one leg was made of lace instead of denim.

I have always loved street art murals and there are many large-scaled examples in Reykjavik that cover the entire sides of buildings or sometimes even multiple walls of a building.  I was immediately drawn to a Gothic rendering of a Dracula-like figure presumably sucking the blood out of the neck of his female victim and the cartoonish image of Godzilla and King Kong attacking the city.  On the wall adjacent to the Hrim Design & Kitchen store, the mural of a descending eagle uses the same the shapes and colours as the patterns on the store window-front, directly tying the mural to the store.  Unlike the graffiti found in many other cities, the graffiti in Reykjavik did not seem to include much use of tagging or stylized signatures.

At the top of the hill up Skólavörðuholti Street, which intersects Laugavegur, you call see the Hallgríms Church with its 244 feet tall steeple, making it the largest church and 6th tallest structure in Iceland.  Completed in 1986, this Lutheran church is named after Hallgrímur Pétursson (1614-1674), a famous Icelandic poet and author of a set of religious poems called "The Passion Hymns", as well as being one of the most influential pastors of his time.  Standing boldly with an axe in his hand is a sculpture of the famous Viking Leif Erickson (970-1020), the first known European to discover North America.  The sculpture is created by Alexander Stirling Calder, the father of the Alexander Calder that we know for his mobiles and wire sculptures.  We arrived prior to opening hours so that we could get some photos of the outside of the church and were able to see the impressive pattern formed by the closed front doors.

The inside of the church is relatively plain except for the massive pipe organ built in 1992 that is 15 metres tall and weighs 25 tons.  One of the main reasons for visiting Hallgríms Church is for its observation tower that provides a stunning 360 degree view of the city of Reykjavik, its harbour and the surrounding mountains.  It costs 900 ISK (about $10 Canadian) to ascend to the top via a small elevator, after which you need to climb a series of stairs to get to the observation deck.  I appreciated the little boxes that were provided to allow height-challenged people like me to see the views.

In addition to the scenery of the mountains and ocean, what stands out is the rainbow of colours that grace the rooftops of the houses and buildings.  During a walking tour of the city, I asked whether there was any rhyme or reason for the colours (like in Burano where the painted houses are a tourist attraction and colour schemes are mandated by the government).  As far as the tour guide knew, there was no set plan for the multi-coloured roofs–it was merely a matter of taste and aesthetics.  Intended or not, these roofs have become a tourist attraction in their own right and provide another reason to visit the Hallgríms Church.

On Skólavörðuholti Street leading up to the church are a series of easels that display a rotating selection of art including paintings, drawings and photographs.  The first day that we arrived, we noticed that the current exhibition was of renderings by children who drew their impressions of the church.  It was interesting looking at the church from these innocent young eyes.  Just inside the doors of Hallgríms Church itself is another area where rotating art exhibits are put on display.  Icelandic artist Hulda Hakon presented four new works in an exhibition entitled "Peter" which all relate to Saint Peter.

The beautiful Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Centre is built with a steel frame supporting plates of blue-green glass which shimmer in the sunlight and whose panes show the relection of the water and the harbour below.  The glass façade was designed by  Danish-Icelandic visual artist Olafur Eliasson, who also created the giant Waterfall installations for New York City. The Harpa almost did not get built since it was supposed to be part of a larger development project which included the new headquarters for the Landsbanki Bank.  When the financial crisis hit in 2008 and the bank collapsed, the project ground to a halt.  It took government funding to complete the concert hall, which opened in May 2011.

The Harpa is home to the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and provides offices for the Icelandic Opera. There are four concert and convention halls, with the largest holding 1800 people in the audience.  As a conference centre, it also offers smaller meeting rooms and state-of-the-art equipment as well as catering services for corporate meetings and functions.  The glass design of the Harpa is as spectacular when viewed from the inside as from the outside, and provide stunning views of the surrounding harbor when you stand up close.  There are two restaurants on the first and fourth floors as well as gift shops.


Tattooing seems to be a big deal in Iceland as we have seen so many tattoo shops in downtown Reykjavik alone.  We happened to be in city during the 11th Annual Icelandic Tattoo Convention, held for three days at the Gamla Bio Convention Centre.  When I first saw the promotional sign for the convention, I thought it was a wrestling match based on the drawing.  It became clear that this was indeed a convention for tattoos when we saw all the "inked" arms of the attendees.  Even the public library got into the act by prominently featuring books like "Inked" which provides photos of creative or humorous tattoos.

Luckily  the day we visited the Reykjavik Harbour, the skies finally cleared.  It was a bright sunny day and the waters glimmered with an amazing rich royal blue hue.  We were able to clearly see the snow-capped peaks of Mount Esja in the horizon.  In addition to accommodating commercial transport boats and pleasure sail and motor boat vessels, the old harbour is the launching point for Whale and Puffin watching excursions.  The Marine Museum is located here, as are a row of shops and restaurants (although most of them seemed to be closed when we were there).

While walking back from the Harbour towards our hotel, we stumbled upon "Embassy Row" on Tungata Street.  Being extremely hot and tired and wanting to rest Rich's sore knee, what better place to take refuge than on a shady bench outside of the Canadian Embassy.  I added another notch to my collection of countries and cities where I have taken an outdoors nap.