Iceland Day V.

9-22-17 REYKJAVIK, ICELAND: We headed back to Reykjavik in the tourist bus after a last lecture from Mike Neufeld of the Smithsonian. Lunch was at a hotel when we were in the city. We checked in at the 1919 Hotel in the historic district. There were tours of the new performing arts center and of the Northern Lights Center offered, but Judy and I opted to walk around on our own. The hotel was near the waterfront, so we walked uphill to the cathedral, stopping at every clothing store on the way looking for a particular kind of sweater. The cathedral is very modern, very tall and at the top of the hill.


Guardian of the Sweaters

The Cathedral is modern like much Scandinavian architecture and design.

Lief Erickson guards the Cathedral.

Cathedral organ. I'd love to hear it in action.

Cathedral Nave.

After a peek at the inside, we walked down hill toward the lake in the center of the city, City Hall was built in the lake. I should mention that the city is on the southwest coast of Iceland tucked into the upper corner of the Keflavik peninsula. It rained off-and-on during the walk. We found ourselves in the upscale embassy district with prosperous looking houses.


The siding and roof are of corrugated metal.

Slate roof and stucco walls are unusual.

A landmark in the city. The only onion dome we saw. It's a private house.

These row houses have metal roofs, skylights, and very typical windows, as you can see from some of the other houses.

The lake was full of water birds, all quite tame.


Lake, City Hall and waterfowl.

Black-headed gull, non-breeding phase.

Graylag goose shaking off the rain. Check ou the serrated, tooth-like beak.

Mallards, above and below.


We continued downhill to the harbor. There were coast guard boats, giant cruise ships, big cruise ships, fishing boats and small boats offering whale watching, puffin watching, orca watching, northern lights watching and the big, green glass arts center. The coastguard is the only military force on Iceland.


That green box behind the ships is the arts center. There are construction cranes everywhere.

The rocks show that there is a big tidal excursion.

Watching options.

The farewell dinner was at Apotek Restaurant. It lasted hours and we were offered small tastes of traditional food, some of it raw, including whale, puffin, cod, lamb, salmon, but not horse. We staggered back to the hotel.