Back Tracking

Okay, so now that I am officially jet-lagged and not sure what to be doing, I thought I'd go back and fill in some gaps in my narrative.

From the plane ride: Even though I had reminded myself several times, I still forgot to bring one of my dozens of sets of ear phones. This was actually a good thing, because I wasn't even tempted to look and find out what was available on our individual screens and was forced to think about sleeping. But, as we approached Iceland, I knew it was time to wake up so I explored the children's menu and they had this drawing program that allowed you to color in their images or draw your own. Here's what I did!

 

Sorry it is so out of focus. The white dots are actually snowflakes, but you can't really tell.

Here is a shot of some of the clouds we passed over.  You can see that the sun is rising in the distance. I htink this must have been about 5:30 AM (CST).  We'd achieved full sunrise by 6:08.

 

On my morning walk, I pretty much zombied around and took random pictures.  This is another one that didn't turn out well, but I found it interesting because it was some kind of comedy theater with two guys in overalls - obviously farmers.  As far as I could tell they were Minnesota farmers - so you can see the Scandanavian influence is far reaching (obviously they are Islandic farmers - but I'm sure I've seen these guys hanging out in the Old Country Buffet.  (wink!))

 

After passing the theater, I passed this lovely wall.  Some of you may be familiar wit my endless quest to make an outdoor mosaic in our climate challenged Minnesota yard.  I thought this showed that it could be done.

 

My hotel host, Eugene, from Belo-Russia tells me it doesn't get all that cold here (at least not compared to where he comes from (only to minus 10). That wouldn't be as cold as MInnesota, so maybe I still don't have the answer to my quest.

 

This clean, but colorful street scene really captures my first impression of Reykjavik.

 

I've encountered a couple of dogs and cats already on this trip.  This cat was very affectionate. I always take a picture of the first cat I see on a trip for my partner. I don't know why. It seems like a tradition that I dare not break.

I wound my way through the shopping district (everything was closed because it was like 8:00 AM on a Saturday morning)!  So I headed to the shoreline through what seemed like the scuzzy part of town. There was a store called (of all things) Romantik.  There were dozens of huge posters of women dressed in sexy costumes, nurse, temptress, etc. (Of course it turned out to be the same 2 or 3 women in a lot of different costumes. (I wonder if they are models and have nothing to do with the women at the establishment.) Anyway, you can check out the website if you want to know more. I headed towards the water. There is this really cool looking sculpture in the harbor.

Ya' gotta love all the orange! it really makes the image pop!
I guess no one is immune to the "charms" of urbanization.

Here are a few additional pictures from my visit to Hallgrimskirk. To me one of the most prettiest parts was the entry, where you could see a series of fresh green Rothko-ish abstract paintings before entering the actual church.
 

 

Here is the obligatory interior shot.

It had a gorgeous organ (that I actually got to hear playing when I returned back later this afternoon hoping for a less rainy picture from the bell-tower.

I also loved this huge bronze door.  I went home after going up to the top of the tower. Pictures from that part of the walk next time around. Of course I was completely lost by then after all my meandering, but I remembered if you followed the street that goes out the back of the church in a straight line you would eventually (after only a ten minute walk) reach the hotel.  That worked just fine
AND of course on the way back I just happened to see a souvenir shop that had decided to open - so guess who has already made her first yarn purchase of the trip!  (I doubt it will stop there!)