Friday, September 10, 2010

Day Two - Reykjavik

Day two was lovely. After an amazing breakfast at our hotel (a ham, cheese and cucumber sandwich has got to be the greatest breakfast ever) we took off to see some sights around the city. Our first stop was the Settlement Museum - Reykjavik 871 +/- 2. The museum is built around the remains of a house built when the city was first settled in the year 871 (plus or minus a couple years, get it?) The remnants of the house were found when construction was being started for a new building. So, instead of that building, the museum was built instead. It was a pretty interesting museum, though small.
After lunch we took a walking tour of the city. The guide admitted though, that there wasn't much walking involved. He warned us ahead of time that no one was in danger of losing any weight during the tour. The guide, Oli, was hilarious and we got a lot of insight into the psyche of the Icelanders. We went to the Parliament building (Alþingi) and also the government house where the Prime Minister lives. You can actually walk right up to these buildings -- there are no fences or gates or guards or any kind of security at all. It was weird! I just can't get over the fact that they have no need for security at these places.
We did some more walking around taking photos and stopped in at a bakery for a snack. Then we caught a couple buses which took us to the Perlan, which is a huge domed building overlooking the city with a rotating restaurant on top and the Saga Museum on ground level. I went to the Saga Museum (too scary for William, all those Vikings, you know) while John and Will took photos of the city from up above.
By the time we took a bus back to downtown and walked back to our hotel it was dinner time. It's kind of embarrassing to admit, but we ended up at the same Indian restaurant that we ate at our first night -- it was just too good (best mango lassi ever)! We became friends with the guys that worked there and they gave us a complimentary sample of their tandoori salmon, which turned out to be one the most incredible things I've ever eaten.
Since it was a Friday night, there was serious partying going on in the streets. Icelanders go out on the weekends and get crazy. The ruckus kept us up pretty late but it was fun to watch from the comfort of our hotel window.
And now, photos:





Our walking tour group.







Waiting for the bus.
Beautiful Reykjavik.
Reflection in the Perlan (notice Will is rocking out on guitar here).
The Perlan.
We don't know these people. They just happened to be in the shot and perfectly choreographed.

1 comment:

Lisa said...

Oh yay! I'm glad you are doing it as you're there. Hope you can keep it up this time around. ;)