I had a day off touring today, so I had a leisurely morning of breakfasting a working on my blog. It was National Day in Iceland and I knew there would be parades and shows and all sorts of excitement going on in town, so I found a website that told me the schedule and headed off into town around 12:30pm.
The day was gorgeous, so I couldn't resist another photo of the bay:
There was a choir dressed in the national costume, clambered over the viking ship monument. They started singing and looked like they were having a lot of fun:
I wandered into the main part of town where the parade was happening, but it wasn't what I'd expected - it was more just families walking down the main street:
One thing I noticed was that even on festive days, adult Icelanders seem to like to wear black. I wonder if that's how they differentiate the tourists in their bright parkas...:
There were rides, stages with entertainment, and street artists set up all over the place. Nearly everything was aimed at kids, which was nice:
It was already nearly 2pm, so I decided to go looking for some recommended restaurants. Unfortunately, they were closed (and rather expensive anyway!), so I found Sjavargrillid restaurant which had quite a few locals sitting outside (always a good sign) and had their fish of the day (albeit inside!). It was delicious and reasonably priced at under 2000 kronur (so about $17 or so):
I wandered down the street to Hallgrimskirkja Lutheran church. You can see this from miles away - it's the tallest structure in downtown and easily recognisable. There's a statue of Leif Ericsson, the discoverer of Iceland, that was given to Iceland by the US on the 1000th anniversary of the Icelandic Parliament in 1930:
The inside isn't much to look at (being lutheran), though there is a nice organ and an interesting statue that reminded me of a celtic harp from Ireland:
I took the lift up to the top (which cost 600 kronur, surprisingly expensive) to get some nice pictures across Reykjavik. There will be some nice panoramas when I get home and can make them!:
Then it was back to street-level where I mostly just wandered around aimlessly.
This reminded me of making newspaper hats when we were children:
This was a quirky shop window - dolls looking out of the window at the passers-by:
Then there was this square just off the main street with street art on every wall:
I wandered past some interesting buildings, and then back into the thick of the action:
Bjorn had told us that the inside of the Harpa (Entertainment Centre/Opera House) is interesting, so I thought I might have coffee in their cafe. It cost more than I was willing to spend, so I just wandered around for a little while (hey, it was warm!) and took photos through the windows:
After warming up, I headed back into town for some people watching:
And then back home along the bay:
Along the way, I took a photo of the Hofoi House where Gorbachev and Reagan had their summit in 1986:
I arrived home just as Harpa was receiving her newest guests. They had just flown in, would only be here for one full day and half of Tuesday and didn't really have a plan so I dumped my stuff in my room, brewed a coffee and gave them some ideas. They were keen on going to the Blue Lagoon. Bob and Laurie were thinking of going tomorrow, but I couldn't (tour booked) so we decided to go straight after our coffee. Wonderful! I had been wondering how I'd get there (there's tours but they're around $50 excluding the admission costs!). I suggested a trip to Snaefellsness Peninsula for them for tomorrow and marked a few places on the map, and then we were off to the Blue Lagoon!
The Blue Lagoon, depending on who you listen to, is a must-see-and-do or a tourist rip-off.....I think it's both. Admission works out to about $45. This gives you access to the changing rooms and locker and nice shampoo and conditioner, and of course the blue lagoon itself. In the lagoon you can make use of the silicate exfoliant mask. It's quite nice - cold at first of course, since it's only around 8 degrees outside the water, but the water itself is lovely and warm, with hot-spots here and there.
We were in the water for about 1 1/2 hours or so. They kick you out at 9.45pm (last admission is at 9.00pm) but we got out a little earlier than that and went through the restaurant to the top story viewing platform to photograph from there:
After that, we stopped outside the reception area so we could photograph the outside area of the blue lagoon as well:
We headed off back to the city. It was too late for dinner at the Askur by now, so we went to the 10-11 to get some ham and cheese to go with the crackers provided at the guesthouse. Laurie and Bob bought themselves some breakfast stuff as well, and then we headed back to the Town House. We had a quick dinner of crackers with ham and cheese and then they went to bed, while I worked on my blog and chatted with Harpa when she came up to say goodnight. Harpa was so sweet - she had bought me some plain yoghurt when she found out about my glucose intolerance. Something I could add to my breakfast!
