Iceland 2024: Some Final Photos of Reykjavík,

After a week in Iceland, one is bound to have a few leftover images of Reykjavík. These are mine:

Tjörnin waterfowl

 

Horfur [Prospect] (2000) revisited in daylight

 Steinunn Þórarinsdóttir

Surveying the square

The same view, zooming out

Parliament is on the left.

Lava Show

The Settlement Exhibition

The Settlement Exhibition:  A model of the longhouse with its actual base filling the room behind it

The Settlement Exhibition:  A plaque in the museum reads, "Geir Vidalin bishop is said to have joked about the cooking in his home:
'There are two places where the fire never goes out: at my home, and in Hell.'"

The Settlement Exhibition:  Bishop's sitting room, 1807-1846

The Settlement Exhibition:  Bishop's bureau, 1807-1846

The Settlement Exhibition:  Silli & Valdi grocery store, 1927-1975

The Settlement Exhibition:  Comparative 19th century wages

The Settlement Exhibition:  Walrus skull with tusks

Coke Hore [sic]

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Iceland 2024: The Northern Lights

The skies over Reykjavík were overcast the entire week we were in town and the boat tour we had booked to experience the northern lights was canceled more than once. When it was our last night in Iceland, January 26th, and the boat was canceled yet again, we did what any reasonable group of adventurers would do: we booked instead a land tour by passenger van, the one with the homemade hot chocolate and the cinnamon buns. When we called, we learned that the hot chocolate machine had broken down. Some travelers might consider that a bad omen.

No aurora borealis in sight

The van, I faintly recall, went to three sites searching for the elusive lights in areas where there were breaks in the clouds. The lights tend to come and go, and they can be fleeting. Eventually, though, they revealed themselves.

No northern lights yet

Northern lights

A last glimpse of the aurora

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Iceland 2024: Hallgrímskirkja

The Church of Iceland's Hallgrímskirkja dominates the skyline of Reykjavík. The denomination is Lutheran. Its outline recalls the pipes of an organ. In front of the nations largest church stands a statue of Leif Erikson by Alexander Stirling Calder, a gift from the United States in 1930 to honor the thousandth anniversary of the nation's Althing or parliament. The statue occupied this location before the church, which was completed in 1986.

We visited the site on January 26.

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Iceland 2024: Thingvellir National Park

Iceland's frequent volcanic and seismic activity is due to it's location at the juncture of the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates. These plates are separating at the geologically significant rate of two centimeters a year. You can see the site of the growing rift at the Thingvellir National Park.

The North American tectonic plate is on the left and the Eurasian plate is on the right.

Lying in the rift valley, Thingvallavatn is the largest natural lake in Iceland.

When a hole in a gravel footpath opened up in 2011, it was excavated to reveal a large fissure.

The wooden footbridge on the right has replaced the old gravel path.

Again, that's the North American tectonic plate on the left and the Eurasian on the right.

Walking back, the Eurasian plate is now on the left.

Will this rift eventually split Iceland into two separate islands?  Stay tuned.

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Iceland 2024: Gullfoss

On January 25th, our day tour of Iceland's Golden Circle continued at Gullfoss, which translates to Golden Falls, or so Wikipedia informs me. The impressive river is largely glacial runoff.

The footpath was closed for icy conditions.

Gullfoss

Tourists at the lower level are not permitted beyond the lookout point. A discarded paper mask, a sign of the times, is visible in the foreground.

The view from the lower level lookout point

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Iceland 2024: Strokkur Geyser

The next stop on the Golden Circle tour was the Strokkur Geyser.

Litli-Geysir

Strokkur

Strokkur

Don't touch Thor.

Fun fact:  The Vikings never wore horned helmets.

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