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| fin whale- look VERY closely |
First stop this morning was Nesbraud bakery in Stykkisholmur. They didn’t have any kleina - none, nada, zip. We couldn’t believe it; we were planning to spend the better part of our drive across the Snaefells peninsula eating our way through an entire bag. They did have assorted other deliciousness and so that was fine.
Back in Reykjavik, we headed straight for the Saga Center. It’s housed in a refurbished set of old water towers that has been converted into exhibition and restaurant space, complete with indoor geyser. This particular Saga Center covered the highpoints of Icelandic history from its days as a volcanic speck rising from the North Atlantic to the period after the Reformation when Iceland became a Lutheran country. The exhibit consists of a series of 17 life-sized dioramas accompanied by an informative audio guide. The mannequins were extremely life-like. The faces and bodies were constructed from plaster casts of actual people from the city. There was a movie showing at the end of the exhibit detailing how the mannequins were built.
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| Hallgrimskirkja and Leif Ericson. The statue was a gift from the USA on the 1000th anniversary of the first Alping |
We climbed to the rooftop viewing deck for a panorama of the city. It was a fairly cloudy so the picturesque snowy peaks around the city were not visible but we rejoiced that it was not, for the moment, raining. The roof has the requisite café where we enjoyed lunch of Belgian waffles with ice cream (Brad and Zada) and mushroom soup (Kimberly).
Next, we went to the National Museum of Iceland which houses artifacts from the whole human history of Iceland. It is an amazingly well done museum. The exhibits are labeled in Icelandic and English (thank you people of Iceland). As you walk through the museum you can a real sense for how hard life must have been here for the early settlers. Everyone knows that the life of a pioneer is never easy, but at least the European settlers who came to North America didn’t have to bring their own logs to build shelters.
Our last stop of the day was Hallgrimskirkja, the church that towers over the city’s skyline designed to look as if it was built of columnar basalt and painted white. We have noticed on our travels through the country that uber-modern churches are something of a fashion in Iceland. We passed though several quaint villages where the church resembled a clam shell or whale vertebrae.
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| Reykjavik from Perlan |
On our second day in Reykjavik we decided that, in our quest to see all the wildlife possible, we should go on another whale watch. According to the brochures the most commonly spotted whales in Flaxafloi Bay are the minke. So we drove downtown, bought tickets and window shopped until it was time to go. Predictably, it was quite chilly out on the water but beautifully sunny with excellent visibility. The first whale we encountered was the rarely seen in these waters fin whale. The fin is the second largest of the whales, being only slightly smaller than a blue. It is also the fastest, able to reach speeds of 25 miles per hour. When they surface, their spout is 18 to 30 feet high and so easy to see from distance. Unfortunately, they do not, like our good friends the humpbacks, show their flukes before a dive which means the photos I got are pretty underwhelming. Still, pictures or not, we all got a good look which was awesome. Later, we got to see a minke whale. These are small, by baleen whale standard, about 33 feet long and when they surface there is almost no visible spout. Kimberly describes them as “slow dolphins” because they look like dolphins surfacing in slow motion. On our way back to port we passed Reykjavik’s local puffin island. (Most puffin islands in Iceland are called Lundey which is Icelandic for “puffin island”.) There were not so many puffins, or perhaps we were simply spoiled by the volume and closeness, but it’s always nice to see puffins.
Upon our return to land we took chance on a place called Café Haiti which promised crepes, both sweet and savory, with a delightful variety of toppings. There was also a tempting chocolate cake on display. I got a crepe with chocolate and banana while Kimberly went with cheese only on account of them being out of mushrooms. And yes, we also ate cake. Everything was extremely delicious right down to the coffee and hot chocolate. Sated, we waddled back to the car and returned to the hostel.
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| Blue Lagoon |
Our last day in Reykjavik was mostly given to packing for our week in the Westfjords, shopping, and eating. I confess that we returned to Café Haiti for more deliciousness. The real excitement of the day was our visit to the thermal baths at the Blue Lagoon. The Lagoon is, like the Myvatn Nature Baths, the outflow from a geothermal power plant. The dissolved minerals in the water are supposedly good for your skin and such. We soaked in the hot water for about 3 hours, leaving only when they appeared to be setting up for a disco. Having visited both, I’d have to give the edge to Myvatn. The water was warmer and the view was better. Also, Myvatn was less crowded as the Blue Lagoon is on the road from the airport to Reykjavik every person who visits Iceland drives right past it and takes a dip.
slideshow here: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjAKRcho
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