Unfortunately, Mike had to leave at 4:30 a.m. to catch his flight to Sweden. My flight did not take off until 4:30 p.m., so I had the day to myself. Since it did not get light until around 10:00 a.m., I went back to bed.
Around 9:30 a.m., I headed out the door of the hotel and walked down to the shores of the North Atlantic Ocean. It took a short time before I was walking the wide walking/bicycle trail headed towards downtown Reykjavik.
The sky was just starting to lighten. This is looking Southeast.
There is a huge rock wall separating the ocean from the walkway.
On the right side of the previous photo you can see this building.
It is the new Harpa - Concert and Convention Center.
Microsoft is everywhere!
The sky is starting to pick up the morning hues of the sun.
Looking directly South from the walkway.
Looking Southwest.
The sky was ever changing and beautiful on this morning.
Partnership by Pétur Bjarnason
The sculpture explained in Icelandic.
And the sculpture explained in English.
I found many Icelandic words and names to be very long.
These were on the side of a building.
Sun Voyager, a stainless steel sculpture by Jón Gunnar Árnason
And from another angle.
I am not sure what the pipe along the top of this building is for
but it must have something to do with the geo-thermal water supply.
The way the windows are positioned on the Harpa building causes
reflections of light to bounce in all directions.
This is a side view of the front of the building.
And this is a view of the top of the building.
Inside looking Southwest.
Closer look out the window.
Again, not sure what this structure is outside the Harpa.
I was surprised there was not more art work inside the building.
This label was the only information I could find on the above art piece.
The ceiling inside was mirrored, giving another great perspective.
Close-up of the ceiling.
Where the ceiling met a wall.
Another view of the ceiling meeting a wall.
Looking closely at an outside wall from the inside.
Looking up an inside wall towards the ceiling.
Another look at a wall. This building was fascinating!
It is hard to see in this picture, but there are seating areas to the
left of the stairs for people to rest and take in the view.
Unfortunately none of the concert halls were open for viewing.
I did not realize I had cut off the building on the left side until I was reviewing my pictures.
Vatnsberinn (“The Water Carrier”) by renowned Icelandic sculptor
Ásmundur Sveinsson (1893-1982).
Backside of The Water Carrier.
How to tie a tie.
Iceland is known for its fashion sense for women,
but this suit for a man was quite interesting.
It would surely draw attention to the wearer.
People complain about our gas prices. This is the cost per litre.
Converted to a gallon, this would equal about $8.20 a gallon
On the way to the airport and some of the countryside on the way.
This looked like a nice place to live.
Lots of lava. It must be hard to deal with when building a house.
There were a lot of people with ocean views along the way.
Again, notice the lack of trees.
It has to also be a lot colder living here with the wind blowing off the water.
Town along the road to the airport with rocks stacked like statues.
Closer look at one of the rock statues.
A larger (unknown) town along the ocean with a great view of the mountains.
And another great view.
The Reykjavik airport is a very modern building with lots of amenities and shopping possibilities. I still had some cash on me and stopped by a duty free store to spend it. I bought a 2 pack of liquor with a birch branch in each bottle. One was Björk, mentioned previously in the post when Mike had a Manhattan, and the other was Birkir, a snaps, as they call it. I also bought some licorice that Iceland is known for.
Going through Customs and check in was pretty quick without any hassles. Then it was just sit and wait. Oh for the old days when you did not have to get to the airport two hours in advance! In smaller towns you can still wait a little longer before heading to the airport, but in larger ones you never know how long it is going to take you to get through security.
I flew Icelandic Air and for the most part I was satisfied. On the flight to Iceland, my screen quit working and they could not get it fixed. Luckily there was no one in the middle seat and I was able to watch movies by using that screen. On the way back however, the seats were filled and when my screen again did not work, I was not able to watch any movies, making the time go by much slower. I did have a book of Sudoku puzzles that did make the time go by a little quicker, luckily. Also, I was by a window seat and could look out at the fascinating ground below us when there were no clouds. The following pictures give you a sense of the seascape/landscape. The nice thing about this flight is the time difference...I arrived back in Seattle about the same time I left Iceland (actually about 8 hours difference, but because of time zones, the time was the same during the whole trip).
The stewardess handed out the usual Customs form to fill out when entering the U.S. Once we arrived it was an easy trip through Customs. There is a new system set up at SeaTac Airport for Customs. Each person is sent to a machine to enter some information and it takes a temporary picture of your passport photo. Then it was on to the gates where you presented your passport, the Customs agent stamped it and you were on your way. They never did take the Customs form that we were told to fill out on the airplane.
All in all it was a wonderful trip to a part of the world I had always wanted to see. It was great to spend most of the time with my good friend, Mike. The one thing I would have liked to do and didn't, was check out their hot springs like the Blue Lagoon. That would have required another tour and devoting most of a day however. Maybe that requires another visit...
