Reykjavik is a really picturesque city.  It had walking paths all over the place that led to just about everywhere you wanted to go... it was nice.

The town was settled in 928 or so by Viking explorers from Norway.  They chose the location of Reykjavik by throwing a pole carved with runes to a Norse god into the water about a mile off shore, then waiting to see where it washed ashore.

The location wasn't the greatest for growing crops, but it was laden with geyser activity, most of which have been capped and used for heating and hot water in the city.  Two-thirds of Iceland's 300,000 citizens live in the city limits, making it, by far, the largest city.

On a hill overlooking the city, the Saga Museum sits atop of a hot spring that has been capped for its hot water source.  The hot water tanks support a dome that encloses the museum, as well as a fairly nice restaurant. 

The "Sagas" are narratives written about 1000 years ago by the Viking Explorers relaying the early histories of Norway, Denmark, and Greenland, as well as the events of early Iceland, and the exploration into Vinland... the documents hold history that has been lost in Norway and Denmark, and have proven invaluable in preserving the history of the Vikings.

We hiked up to the museum through the park, which had practically the only stand of trees we saw.... there's not too many trees to be found on the island.

The joke is that if you get lost in an Icelandic Forest, all's you need to do to find your way is stand up.

Photographic proof they have inch worms in Iceland.

I bet we watched this guy for 15 minutes, making his way across the side walk.

Inside the museum, they had life-like dioramas set up to describe the various events of Icelandic lore... sort of a high-tech wax museum of gore. 

The smiling Viking outside didn't really paint an accurate picture of the carnage depicted inside.  This wasn't a place to bring kids, to be sure.

It was very interesting, though, and it was interesting to see the changes in direction the culture on the isolated island took over time, starting with the landing of Erik the Red, and growing into the country it is today.

Along the way, though, they had some serious conflict to deal with.

They were Vikings, after all.

A lady eating a fish was a bit disturbing, but the story of a nasty beheading was a bit worse, but Even that paled in comparison to the lady who put a sword against her chest, and threatened to kill herself to scare off a bunch of Native Americans, in "Vinland"... I'd have ran away too.

Strangely, there is no period of transition that they point to from when they stopped being Vikings, and started being Icelanders... they've preserved the old language - they still write in the same style and language as the Sagas, and some of the food and customs have been preserved... In a way, they're STILL Vikings.

Inside the museum, a geyser erupts every 5 minutes.

Before you get too impressed, though... its from a high pressure pump, and its a fountain.  :-)

 

On the day we walked to the Saga Museum, the weather was awesome... we even got sunburned - which is pretty funny when you think about it.

The view from the hill the museum was on really showed off the bay VERY well... it was a great view.

 

On the grounds of the Saga Museum, there's a geyser that erupts every 15 minutes or so.  We thought we were lucky finding an open picnic table, but once it erupted, we realized why it was open... that's where the water came down... the crooked pictures are from me trying to film, take pictures, and run away at the same time.

Behind the museum (this shot is from the church, actually), you can se the lava dome that grew out of a fairly recent eruption... there's rift volcanoes within view of the city...

The view from the top of the domed museum is pretty impressive... here's a shot back at the church tower, and over the city.

The output from the geyser is pretty impressive...

This map is in the Reykjavik city hall building.  Built in 3 years by 4 guys, it uses layers of paper cut to scale, and glued in place, one on top of the other... each layer is twice as thick as the scale would have made them, to enhance the relief.

It was huge, and must have been very difficult to create.

 

The City Hall is the gray arched-roof building on the left edge of this picture, and it sits on the edge of Tjornin ("The Pond"), which had a walking path around it, and a fairly sizable assortment of birds.

The Tjornin Ponds in Reykjavik were a great place to take in some stunning views of the city.

They were also in between the downtown area and our Hotel, so walking the paths around the ponds were a recurring event - not that we minded in the least.

The ducks were familiar, of course, but their coloring was quite a bit different than ducks we find locally.

Our hotel, the Hotel Holt, was right up the street from the German Embassy, which shared a building with the England Embassy.  The hotel had writing in German as well as English, so I guess it was a good spot to house visitors.

I took this picture of the Shadow Lady in front of the US Embassy, which also was right down the Hill...  You'll notice the security guard bolting out of the door - He took town my name and passport number, and wanted to see the picture I took.

I took several of the German/British facility, with no one batting an eye... as a US Citizen, I was sort of put off.

I blurred it for security reasons... I don't want them to come after me.

OK, yeah, I'm a tourist...

I'd seen quite a few photos of this ship in tour guides and the like of Iceland and Reykjavik... But when I saw it in person, it wasn't as impressive as I thought it would have been.

It did have a commanding view of the water front... there's a path set up along the water front that we walked on to get to the ship.

While we were there, quite a few people showed up to take pictures of it, using the same walking maps that we had... so I guess everyone thought it was a pretty big deal.

The plaques in the foreground are in English, Icelandic, and Russian, and read: "In this Historic House on 12 October 1986 the Reykjavik Summit meeting took place between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev.  This Summit Meeting is regarded as heralding the beginning of the end of the Cold War."

It was pretty cool to be standing near a place where such a historic event happened!

History is awesome!

The plaques were in Russian, English and Icelandic.

The house sits off by itself, a monument to when times weren't as peaceful as they are now, and Iceland was a much more strategic location than it is now.

Wedged in between eateries of Icelandic delights, a Subway provided a great lunch break... the names were different, but a "BMT" is still a "BMT" in any language.

It was quite yummy.

 

Some of the artwork on the buildings in Reykjavik heralded the Viking era.

This is the Parliament building in Reykjavik, dating back into the 1800's...

Above 4 of the windows are Iceland's emblems of the coat of arms... the Eagle, the Dragon, the Giant, and the Bull.

We visited the National Museum, and by chance we did it on a Wednesday, so it was free.

We didn't have much time once we go there, so we decided to check out the older section, which they called the "Settlement period" - when the Vikings first arrived.

They showed artifacts from the early period, and commented on the fact that some of them were Celtic, while others were Norwegian in origin.

The Vikings sailed from Norway, obviously, but they seemed to have brought women here from Ireland and Scottland.

These broaches went on women's outer garments.

I guess it goes without saying why they're in pairs, and when you think about it, the one's with spikes are pretty funny.

There were interactive displays showing the layout and design of the early sod and stone homes... and how they developed over time into the traditional farmhouses that dot the rural areas across the island country.

It was pretty interesting, actually.

We got Lamb Soup here, and met a couple of Americans here, who gave us advice on where to go to see a nice glacier bay.  Unfortunately, we didn't have time to add that to our trips... so its on the list for "next time".

Just so you know where it is... the Main Shopping Street is clearly marked.

Reykjavik was a very interesting place, and we enjoyed exploring it!

We didn't know it, but that weekend was the weekend of an annual gay pride parade.

Not exactly entertainment you'd expect on a honeymoon, but that's OK... we missed the parade - we were out touring Gullfoss and Strokker, but they did whoop it up in the streets all night, which kept waking us up.

< Back to Iceland