Reykjavik

Aug 5: Jen and I have been having a blast in Reykjavik. We spent our second day walking all over the city. According to her pedometer we covered 14 miles and that doesn't count a ferry trip out to a local island and then back along the waterfront. The city has a remarkable amount of open space and I'm continually struck by the large amount of residential space right in the city. Three blocks from the shopping/tourist district and you see small single-family homes each with their own neatly-kept yards. Many of the buildings are built out of concrete, which I imagine is a cheap building material for a nation that has to import nearly everything. Many buildings are unpainted, but a lot are painted in bright primary colors which reminds me of Nova Scotian towns like Lunenberg. 

Yesterday we took our first foray out of the city and went sea kayaking in a fjord north of the city. It was one of the few "packaged" tours that we plan to take, as getting our own boats here would not have been possible. The guides (one Icelandic, one British) were great and we had a too-short paddle down a magnificent landscape that was once home to British and American naval vessels. Across the bay was a whaling station that is still occasionally used. Iceland is still a whaling nation, much to the consternation of those who want to halt all whaling. We saw an anti-whaling group gathering petitions at the dock where the tourist boats come in to town. 

Last night we went into town, walking into the bright sunlight of 9:30 p.m. We walked around a bit and found a pub with live music and had a pint. Beer like everything else is expensive here but it was pleasant to sit and listen to the music and watch the local scene. Later we walked out into the twilight and strolled down along the waterfront. We didn't get home till nearly 1:00 a.m. but it was never fully dark. The entire western sky remained lit with a soft light making it difficult to see even bright stars. Jen and I tried to pierce together a couple of constellations and we figured out where the North Star was. Here at 65 degrees north, it is quite high in the sky!

This morning we are picking up a car and heading north. Accommodations will likely be a combination of camping and small hostels, so I don't know how often we'll have internet.