A Blustery Day In Reykjavik

A Blustery Day 

Keep this in mind, The water in Iceland is very pure and excellent to drink. During the cold war when there was a US Military presence on Iceland they chlorinated this excellent water. Bring a water bottle to refill as you go about your visit. 

Yesterday we received an email telling us out Glacier Walk Tour had been canceled due to a forecast storm.   

During the night I noted there were times when the skies would be clear or a blizzard. This prompted me to be up every hour from 2300 to 0400. Alas no luck seeing the Northern Lights. 

We woke a little after 0700, cleaned up and headed to breakfast. The Hotel provides a generous breakfast of porridge, cereals, fruit, Skyr, breads, meats, as well as eggs, and a few hot dished. Well done and very nice coffee. 

After breakfast we bundled up as temperatures were colder and it was a bit windy, yet the sky was partly cloudy. We started out by going to the Tourist Information Office in the Old Town area. We learned a vast majority of the tours had been canceled  due to the pending  storm. Here we purchased a two day Reykjavik Welcome Card. This will get us bus transportation and entrance to many local attractions. 

We made our way to the Hallgrimskirkja Church. In front of the church is a statue of   Leif Ericksson.  This church sits high on a hill and overlooks the city. One can access the bell tower to enjoy the view. For a fee of 800 ISK you will be given access to an elevator which takes you almost to the top.

The weather is still holding for us and we make our way to the 871+/-2 Settlement Museum via Laugavegur Street, a main shopping street. This street is where you will find all kinds of shops selling clothing and other souvenirs. There is no wanting for various places to get a drink and a bite to eat. 

Having some change is handy for these

A place for single gloves to hang out

This was an unexpected find 

I found the Settlement Museum very interesting and the displays very well done. This is an excavation site of a Long House. The displays guide you through the various parts of the structure and gives insight as to how the people lived. Excellent interactive displays present how the house may have been constructed. Give yourself about an hour to visit this museum. 

SEVERAL OF THE LOCAL FOLKS ARE WARNING US OF THE IMPENDING STORM. 

From the Settlement Museum we walked to the  National Museum of Iceland. Another great museum highlighting the history and development of Iceland to the current day. Excellent informative displays.  Here one can find a statue of Thor, which was discovered in 1815. I expected this to be a STATUE , it is a small statue about 3 inches tall. One should plan about 2 hours or more here. There are a couple rooms which are called hands on rooms were kids young and old can play with many items. 

I will emphasize the museum visits were definitely enhanced by having taken the Reykjavik City Walk the previous day.  

Our plan was then to make our way to next make to a local pool to enjoy a warm soak, The storm was starting to arrive and it was a bit of a hike to the pool. It was now snowing and the wind was about 20MPH. Change of plans.

Lets find a cafe for a warm drink and snack. But First, lets get a hot dog. Nothing says Iceland like having a hotdog with everything on it in an icy gale.  Yes even in the inclement weather there was a line, albeit short.  The Cafe Haiti had been recommend to us by the people at out Hotel front desk and the Leader of the City Walking Tour. 

Cafe Haiti is located a few meters from our Hotel so we made a stop. Lynn had a hot chocolate and I had coffee. We shared a nice tasty brownie, worth a stop for sure. 

We then stopped by our hotel room to drop items from our packs before we made our way to the Vikin ( not a misspelling)  The Reykjavik  Maritime Museum. The weather has taken a big turn for the worse. Blizzard with strong winds. In Iceland the wind speed is measured  by Meters Per Second. The wind was at 21 Meters per second. The snow would sting your face and at times, the gusts would almost blow one over. I would say it was in the area of 60MPH. We have been told some bus routes have been closed and locals are saying this is very very unusual weather.   

This museum highlights the more modern days of fishing in Iceland. Great displays and very informative. Here one can learn about the Cod Wars, where the Iceland Coast Guard was called into action. The most common weapon used during this conflict was the Trawler Line Cutter. This was used to cut the trawling lines of those who invaded Iceland’s fishing waters.  

A statue for those lost at sea

Line cutter 

Iceland has no army, their only defense is three Coast Guard ships and two helicopters. The helicopters are used primarily to rescue hikers during the summer.

We made our way back to our room where we caught up on journals and logs and dryied out our outer clothes. I was glad we had Arctic gear and were warm and dry for this nasty weather. 

Tonight we will make our plans for tomorrow. 

Random Thoughts:  Have only seen a few folks walking dogs. The people cycling, most are riding a cycle-cross bike. The roads and bike paths are still snow covered.    

The common food at the cafe’s and bars seems to be hamburgers, followed by pizza. There a couple fish and chip shops. The only chain restaurant we have seen is Subway.