Iceland Day VI.

9-23-17 REYKJAVIK, ICELAND: We checked out of 1919 Hotel early and loaded on the bus for an early visit to the National Museum of Iceland before it opened to the public. I guess the Smithsonian, our tour sponsor, has connections. The museum tells the story of Iceland from medieval times to the present, mostly through the collection of artifacts. I found the carvings most interesting and assumed that there wasn’t much else to do in the long, dark winters.


carved and painted wooden panel.

Carved wood door from a church. In the upper circle a knight slays a dragon and rescues a lion who becomes his friend. The lower circle is an intricate pattern. It's suspected that originally there was a third, lower circle that was cut off when the door was moved to a new location. This is considered one of the best exhibits that the museum offers.

Carved wood mirror frame. The top image is very similar to the earliest gravestones in New England.

Whale bone carving depicts Norse or Christian myths.

Carved animal horn drinking vessel.

After the museum, it was off to the Blue Lagoon. The lagoon is a huge outdoor hot water pool. The operation is impressive. The entry fee gives you a towel and a locker opened with an electronic bracelet. You strip, shower, put on your bathing suit and then go outside through the cold air and rain and into the hot water. The color is from a reaction between the lava and the geothermal water. The water has been used by the next-door power plant before it goes into the pool.

There were about a hundred people in the pool and a long line of people waiting to get in. Reservations are required.

The water is chest deep requiring, for me, a crouch to stay warm or a cold shoulder. Included in the entry are silicon and algal facial treatments and a free drink from the full bar. The bartenders were wearing parkas as they served the patron in bathing suits. While in the pool, you can hardly see across it because of the fog, rain and steam.

After an hour or so, I was pretty well pruned and so got out, showered again, dressed and found Judy who had stayed dry at the Lava Restaurant. We all had lunch there.

After lunch it was time to go to the airport [KEF] for the flight back to EWR. The airport is just a hop from the Blue Lagoon. We had a last rainbow as we drive through the rain on our last bus ride.


Blue lagoon extends out in the distance and is scheduled to be enlarged.

People clustered around the bar.

Lava Restaurant, with lava piles outside.

Last rainbow on the last rainy bus ride.

A few final thoughts—Iceland has less than 350,000 inhabitants who host about 5,000,000 tourists a year, and the number of tourists is growing. Tourism has probably saved their economy after the financial crisis of 2008. There is construction everywhere in Reykjavik. The Icelandic krona is worth about a US penny. The language is Scandinavian and difficult to understand and speak. There are several strange letters. The island’s climate is fairly mild because it’s in the Gulf Stream even though it’s near the Artic Circle.