On Thursday morning I tramped around Reykjavik - a city centre which is even tinier than I'd been led to imagine - it really is like an English county town, except with a slightly strange collection of buildings, a mix of corrugated steel and concrete. There's a lot of building work going on, not all of it popular (the locals really don't want yet another hotel, and who can blame them?) and the graffiti "taggers" as well as the artists have made it this far north - so I wouldn't call it picturesque, though it has a charm and of course with an incredibly low crime rate it has no edge to it. I saw a police car today, and apparently that's quite rare!
It's very laid back (service in some places a bit too much so!). For lunch yesterday I was in search of traditional lamb soup, but couldn't find it so ended up with some jolly nice fish soup in a restaurant called Laundromat - it's the first time I've paid £14 for soup, but I was in a rush to get to my free walking tour and desperation had sunk in. If you want a burger or any other kind of fast food in Reykavik, it's easy! I did succomb to a hot dog from the famous van today - been here since 1937. It was only a couple of quid and actually quite nice for a hot dog. Fastest service ever!
I was recommended a nice little cafe bar called Kaffe Konsul and can report back that both coffee and cake are excellent, and service with a smile in easy chairs.
The walking tour was taken by a wag who fancied himself as a bit of a comedian, and gave us quite a lot in the way of history, but not much in the way of walking and I'd like to have seen a few more monuments, historic buildings and such - it didn't help to orientate me the way that other tours have done. But I met 3 really nice women and met them again on the Golden Circle tour, and we've been out for dinner tonight as it's the last one for all of us. And despite the Icelandic comedian where the only part of his act we understood was the strangled cat, we had a nice evening listening to some Christmas songs, eating fish and drinking wine. Kate, Tracey and Annie, I hope we meet again soon - it's been a pleasure.
Also on Thursday night I got on a coach that took me to another coach that took us out south east of the city to see the Northern lights. I did see the aurora borealis but not in colour - it was white and subtle but very pretty nonetheless, and I was quite mesmerised. Once it had ebbed away, we went on to Thinvellir to try and catch some more - though sadly they didn't materialise, I did see the best starry starry night ever, plus shooting stars and more twinkle than I could every imagine. No pictures whatsoever have come out - :0(
A first this trip - going to the theatre to watch something in a foreign language! I'd been lucky enough to be given a free ticket to the National Theatre of Iceland's version of the RSC's Robin Hood - I was told as it's very visual so I should be able to work out what was going on and I could - it had a lot of As you like it about it, with Maid Marian being Martin and so on. It was very physical, almost circus-like, with lots of music and performed with great vim and vigour. But considering it's a production aimed at families, was quite surprised by the level of suggested violence. Really - hangings, threatened beheadings and throat slittings, a tongue cut out - plus quite a lot of sexual references that even I and the kids could understand, plus a wet camisole (there was much use of an on-stage pond, and a fiery pit - really well used) . I guess Icelandic children are brought up on Vikings....enjoyed it nonetheless, with very inventive use of a massive sloping backdrop covered in green velour.
However, having gone straight home to bed on my return the night before, apparently I missed a spectacular show visible from the city itself if you were high up enough. So last night after the theatre I went out to the beautiful church (below)which is fairly high up and was treated to 4 little shows - I got very excited and cried a bit.
When I came back I checked out the National Gallery of Iceland and was a bit disappointed as the main exhibition by Nina Tryggvadottir didn't float my boat. They're very proud of a Picasso they acquired 'Jacqueline au ruban jaune'
and I really enjoyed the scupture of Nina Saemundsson, who also has a work just down the road of a woman and child. There are lots of great sculptures around the city too
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| Mother and child |
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| From a distance - yes I thought he was real... |
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| Sculpture in the park |
My last day was the Golden Circle coach tour which took in Thinvellir the rift valley where the tectonic plates of Eurasia and North America meet, Gulfloss with the amazing waterfalls, some exploding geysers and finally a little show at Fakasel of the very cute and very talented Icelandic horses, who have 2 extra ways of moving beyond a walk, trot or gallop - they also have a tolt and a pace move where their legs go 19 to the dozen and their rider remains remarkably still. And here are some photos of all these beautiful things
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| Sundown near the geysers |
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| My name is Mushroom, and I can trot really really fast |
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| Golfloss |
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| The rift valley - America meets Europe |
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| Orgasmic guyser |
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| |Little ponies in action |
I left early this morning with a slightly tight and fraught journey to the airport in terms of timing - and Mr Minneapolis was in my departure lounge, but thankfully although he didn't recognise me I still hid anyway. Home is very mild in comparison, and the first load of washing is done. I now have 9 weeks til I go back to work and it's going to be so tough....
Iceland is beautiful place - it's so dramatic and wild, yet Reykjavik is so parochial. Can't decide whether I want to return for the land of the midnight sun or again when it's snowing with a second chance to see a more animated northern lights and the beauty of the snow and ice. Gotta save up first though....thank you Vikings....
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