Wednesday morning was spent walking around town with my new friends Eric and Michael. Our first stop was the funky looking Hallgrímskirkja church we saw from the hostel balcony. An elevator goes up to the top of the bell tower and provides a complete panoramic view of the city. There is a nice courtyard in front of the church with a statue commemorating the 1000th anniversary of Iceland (apparently a gift from the USA). No, it was not a typo. Iceland as a country is over 1000 years old. It has the oldest parliament in the world. Old buildings and traditions are hidden everywhere. I’ve seen more than one truck with hand decals of the symbol for Thor or other old gods, but the culture can also be very modern. A short walk down the street proved just that when we arrived at Harpa. It is a brand new glass performance hall that sits right on the harbor. All of the exterior walls are made of an offset glass prism. They almost look like glass bricks that have been smashed in one direction. The result, however, is stunning. All the sunlight hitting the walls is broken down and reflected to the other bricks. Each brick glows a different color than its neighbor and the colors change depending on where you view the building. The interior can be best described as a kaleidoscope.
In the morning, we also visited a different church, Iceland University, a few national museums, the Old Harbor, a grocery store, the town hall and the city’s pond. All of this was finished before the hostel check in time of 2:00. My new friends and I split up around 2:00, and I headed back to the Loft to check into my room and relax a little.
I found myself on the roof balcony of the hostel enjoying a beer and typing my previous entry around 3:00. I met a few new travelers and after a while we headed off to find a famous Icelandic hot dog for dinner. It was quite delicious and gone before I even thought to take a picture of the dog or the hot dog stand. Back at the hostel, I met up with Eric and planned a daytrip package from a local tour company. The tour goes to some of Iceland’s most famous natural landmarks like Geysir and the divide between the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates. After it was booked for noon the next day, I went to bed. It was almost 10:00 and I was tired.
On Thursday, I slept in and then took a walk around the coast for a while and grabbed a smoothie. Right now, I am headed to a coffee shop to meet up with Eric before we catch the bus for the daytrip tour.
