Our Last day in Reykjavik

Last Day in Reykjavik 

The wind was blowing just like in Wyoming and nothing opens till 1000 so we had a leisurely morning in our room before striking out. 

A short walk from our hotel is the Domskirkja, The Catholic Church, which was also designed by Guðjón Samuelsson who also designed the Hallgrímskirkja. In many ways he is the Christopher Wren of Reykjavik. 

We stopped inside the chapel and said a prayer for safe travel and  to light a candle. It is a rather simple chapel and has a reverence all it’s own simplicity. Outside of the chapel we found another geocache.  

A general theme of the architecture of many buildings in Reykjavik is the basaltic columns.  As Iceland is known for it’s volcanic activity one can find many basaltic rock formations. Basalt is formed from cooling magma and forms in a hexagonal shape. Thus many of the buildings from the Harpa to the Churches, to the museums has a basaltic column somewhere in their design. 

From the church we walked through the old town area of Reykjavik admiring the old houses. The residential structure started as stone and beam, earth covered house, which were next replaced with timber and wood siding. The wood sided houses only had a lifespan of about 30-40 years, they were soon sided with irrigated steel. Many of these residences still exist and some display a plaque stating their construction date. 

We made our way to the city lake where the heated water keeps a small area open where the waterfowl gather. Here there are Whooper Geese, (they look like swans to me), Greylag Geese, ducks and a few Black Headed Gulls, all begging for scraps of bread. 

Lynn was on a quest for  a different small carry one for the flight home, so a bit of shopping was in order as we headed to the Photography Museum at the Reykjavik Library. Here one finds modern photography exhibits. The real treasure to me is the black and white photos from the 1900s into the 1970’s. 

These black and white photos depict the daily life in Reykjavik from commercial fishing to school life, to hunting and swimming and so on. These had been placed for viewing at various computer stations and it is well worth the time to sit and view these images. I found some very stunning in the use of light. 

We made our way to a bus stop and hopped on board heading to our local swimming pool. We were hungry so a hot dog was in order before our swim, again yes they are that good. We are getting known at this stand and the pool. 

This pool has the very nice feature of a salt water pool. The water is drawn from the ocean, heated and placed in this pool. It is super relaxing to say the least. The only down side on a windy -1C day, it is the furthest pool away from the locker rooms. Thus one must stop at a few of the other pools to warm up before getting to the Salt Water Pool. 

The girls at the hotel reception desk said on this weather kind of day it was very Icelandic to have a hot dog and a swim. 

After our swim we bussed back to town and Lynn purchased her carryon totes. As we had a no room cleaning credit we went to happy hour here at the hotel. As a table snack they offered a licorice flavored pop corn, yes it was very very good. 

Tonight we splurge and will have fish as Iceland is known for it’s cod.