14 August, 2014
The middle day of my Iceland
stay, Wednesday August 13, was spent walking about Reykjavik, and it
really is walkable for the most part. Even crossing the city back and
forth, as I did, is no great chore. I’d have loved to be there
longer to get to the sites a bit further afield. The main reason I
chose that day for my walkabout was because at midday there was a
free 30 minute midday concert at Hallgrimskirkja by Iceland’s
Schola Cantorum. They were wonderful, I’m so glad I didn’t miss
it.
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| Hallgrimskirkja |
Hallgrimskirkja itself is
interesting. Unmistakably different externally, with a very plain
Protestant interior and a few well-chosen adornments.
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| Interior of Hallgrimskirkja |
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| Inside Hallsgrimkirkja |
From the tower you get 360
degree views of the nation’s capital, and only, city. Spot City
Hall!
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| View from Hallgrimskirkja's tower |
There seemed to be churches
dotted all about the place. Most were small, except for the mid-sized
Catholic church, and Hallgrimskirkja, of course. You can see the
relative size of the Cathedral by noting the size of the altar in the
background of the photo of the older baptismal font.
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| Baptismal font, Hallgrimskirkja |
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| Baptismal font at the Cathedral |
The Catholic church is home
to a beautiful medieval Madonna and Child statue.
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| Medieval Madonna and Child |
Across from Hallgrimskirkja
is the Einar Jonsson Museum. The rather stark building wasn’t open
at the time but I did spend a while wandering the grounds, looking at
the sculptures there … and dodging children on a school picnic
outing.
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| Einar Jonsson Museum, front |
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| Einar Jonsson Museum, back |
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| Einar Jonsson Museum, sculpture garden |
There are sculpture pieces
dotted about the city, mostly modern and quirky. I particularly liked
this chunky water carrier.
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| Water carrier |
And along the sea front, a modern take on an ancient Viking sailing ship.
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| Sun Voyager, a representation of a Viking settler ship |
I’d heard some excellent
music early in the morning, albeit briefly. First thing, I went on a
tour of Harpa, Reykjavik’s new concert hall. A fabulous building.
We went to go into one of the spaces but had to quickly stop at the
door, for as a long a ‘brief moment’ as we could!, because the (I
think) Iceland Symphony Orchestra was rehearsing. They too sounded
wonderful.
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| Harpa Concert Hall, Reykjavik |
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| View of Reykjavik Harbour from Harpa's rooftop balcony |
Iceland’s President was
attending a conference that was also going on at Harpa. His car and
driver were waiting outside. No security, no escort, no special
parking compound, no back door entry and exit. Nice safe Iceland.
(Crime fiction aside!!)
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| The President's car, waiting outside Harpa |
One of my current favourite
authors is an Icelandic crime writer. I have some of his books on my
Kindle so it was good to see the print version on his home territory,
if not in his language.
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| Icelandic crime - The Reykjavik Murders |
Iceland’s Parliament
building is impressive but modest in size. By contrast, Reykjavik
City Hall is quite large and also impressive, if in a different way
(depending on what you think of modern architecture!).
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| Parliament |
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| Reykjavik City Hall |
After visiting the 10th
century ruins found when excavating for a new building, the library
and the Photography Museum, it was time to head off to a memorable
evening! I took the No.14 bus to the Laugardalslaug swimming pool.
There you can swim and also sit in hot pots (still water) and spas
(spa jets so strong there are straps to hold on to so you don’t get
whooshed into a stranger’s lap!). It’s a very Icelandic thing to
do apparently and certainly, there were crowds there and, when I got
out of the water at 8pm, people were still arriving. This is outdoors
and the temperature was about 10 degrees! And it was fine!
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| The Laugardalslaug swimming pool |
What was
truly memorable for me was “acting like a local”. You have to
shower before getting in the pool, and shower naked, in communal
showers! I can’t think that I’ve been naked in public for 60
years!!! To be honest, it was almost liberating. No one looks – but, all the same, I couldn’t help noticing, with relief, that amongst all the trim bodies
there were some like mine, and some a lot more so!!! I also had cause
to thank the honest Icelanders. I hadn’t closed my locker properly
but when I got out of the pool, everything was intact – including my passport
and a reasonable amount of cash.
After the pool it was
dinner, then a walk back to my hotel. At 10.00 pm the sun still hadn’t
set.
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| 10 pm in Reykjavik |
