Days 71 20 June 2018
A great day today-our friends Gerd and Liz had arrived safely and the sun was shining.After the last two grey and drizzly days this was a wonderful event.
We headed along the harbour towards the city centre pausing at the Sun Voyager sculpture.A beautiful structure of aluminium it reflects the sun and the colour varies according to the time of day.
We then went on to the concert centre (Harpa) a building covered by individual glass panels.Those panels represent fish scales, a major food source for Iceland and are also placed to reflect the northern lights when they appear.
Ambling through the city centre we arrived at the city hall where we gathered information for our journey ahead and discovered that there was a free walking tour departing from the parliament building.The friezes above each window represent the four protectors or Landvaettir of Iceland.The represent the four quarters of Iceland: the dragon (Dreki) in the east, the eagle (Gammur) in the north, the bull (Griðungur) in the west, and the giant (Bergrisi) in the south.
After a quick fish and chip lunch from a food van we headed on to join the tour.Our guide Disa was amusing and informative as she led us through the old part of Reykjavik past statues of the leader of Icelandic independence-Jon The President-and the Danish envoy Magnusson who gave Reykjavik its start as a commercial centre.
Going past Reykjavik’s best hot dog stand (with a huge queue) we headed up the hill past the Prime Minister’s office and the statue of Reykjavik’s discoverer, Ingolfur Arnarson until arriving at a view of the city’s major landmark the Hallgrimskirkja.
After leaving the tour we headed up to the church and went up to the top of the tower to look out over the city and its coloured roofs.
Day 72 21 June 2018
Summer was over and the rain had come back but we persisted and set out for the old harbour area.We walked through to the old harbour area which is being rejuvenated, which had various presentations about the importance of fish to the Icelandic community.Also a narrative on the “Cod Wars” which were waged with Britain over fishing rights from 1958 to 1976!.
We visited the Saga Museum which was a series of tableaux on the settlement of Iceland by the Vikings and the tradition of writing which is considered to be the best example of medieval literature available.
We then visited Reykjavik’s best hot dog stand which had no queue today because of the rain before repairing to the city square to be the only Australian fans in Iceland watching the World Cup.We had another hot dog and ended up watching a giant TV screen in a pub basement having feasted on chocolate cake with cream and ice cream.
The afternoon was spent in the Phallogical (‘Penis’) Museum. In between smirks I must report that the founder was given whale penises when a headmaster in the North of Iceland which started his collection.Although one could claim that this is a serious biological study there are several exhibits where one would question the academic intent. My favourite exhibit was silver casts of the Icelandic handball team who had the silver medal at the 2012 Olympics.
