Meandering Through Reykjavik

 While Rob has been conferencing away, talking about German-speaking esoterica, I've wandered the city. The downtown is very walkable, and it seems like everything we want to see is within 10-15 minutes from our house. Here is a ship I thought Joss would like, down next to the harbor.
 This is Lake Tjornin in the downtown. The city hall is at its edge, swans and ducks float around on it and it is very pleasant. There is plenty of this autumnal light. Reykjavik would be a photographer's paradise during the summer (to have such great lighting for so long). During the winter with four hours of daylight, uh, not so much unless you are working on your night photography.
 This is the back side of city hall. This is of course on purpose, but it does remind me that moss is not hard to come by here. One of Rob's high school friends told him that when she lived her, they called the moss-covered rocks "teddy bear rocks".
 I wandered up the main shopping street here, called Laugavegur and thought of Curtis, because there was so much grafitti. I like this little poem, and the top of the building actually sparkles like the Alhambra water man's truck.
 And here's a grafitti park where they just went wild.
 But just to prove that I did, in fact, walk the shopping street, here is one of my favorite store names. I should have gone in to see what constitutes bad taste in Icelandic music.
 Another picture for Joss -- doesn't it look like Emily or Percy? This was down by the harbor again.
 And here is where Rob was -- this is the university. The buildings have names like Oddi and Gürri and I am not even exaggerating.
 This picture is for Mike, who really wanted to come with Rob on this trip -- Icelandic snuggies! They even come in wee bairn sizes. It appears that once you put them on, you will walk like a seal. Rob has challenged me to knit him one because these would cost you many many pounds of whale meat.
And finally, a representative street sign. We've actually been pleasantly surprised by how many cognates we've found in Icelandic. Some with English, some with German, and no, not any with Spanish. But we've also found that all but one person so far has been able to speak to us in beautiful English.

Comments

Curtis said…
Thank you for the photo of the beautiful graffiti. Also, thank you for accepting dare #1. Here's #2. I double-dog dare you to go into a shop where they sell those Icelandic snuggies, try them on, and post a photo. Are you up to it? Extra points if you bring one home!

Popular posts from this blog

Mohr im Hemd

The Trip Home: A Report Card

Gumdroppapalooza