Last Days in Iceland

After I published my last post, on the evening of Tuesday, Thursday 16, we went out to view the Northern Lights over Höfn and Hornafjarðarfljót. The sky was clear, and despite the intense light in the harbor, we were able to see stars, the Milky Way and the best aurora borealis so far as we walked along the waterfront on Ósland. 

Northern Lights at Höfn

Northern Lights at Höfn

Milky Way in the glow of the aurora borealis

The next day, Wednesday, September 17, we walked through town, stopping in an easily missed general clothing store where Peter purchased a handsome hand-knitted sweater for himself. He also looked for another pair of pants since the zipper on one of the two everyday pairs he brought has broken, but he had no luck. After that, we spent a couple hours in the hot pools at the public swimming pool, enjoying the water slides, the warmth of the water and the sauna (which was too hot for me). 

We returned to the boat and immediately gathered up all our laundry, including bed linens and towels, to clean at the nearby, brand-new laundromat. There are six washers and six dryers, but two of the washing machines were in use and two had no power and one was not operating, so we could only start with one load. Peter noticed a phone number for assistance and called. The woman who owns the business came almost immediately and re-set the non-operational one, so we put in another load (We had four.) and went out and around the building to the upper level, where Peter and I had found a nice restaurant called Heppa.

It was easy for one of us (Enis, the youngest) to run down and moved the load of sheets to the dryer. 

We decided not to do the rest last night. I am now at the laundromat waiting for the wash cycles to end. Now I will go back to last week and finish writing about the rest of our stay in Reykavík.

Monday, September 8

This was Ula's last day to be with us before she flew back to Florida and to work. She had wanted to prepare us one last breakfast, but I had scheduled a walking tour for Peter, Shalako and me in the morning so she and Enis could have a couple hours by themselves before our departure, and there wasn't enough time. However, not easily deterred, she fixed it all for us and left it to be re-heated on our return. All of us were sorry she had to leave, not just because of her culinary skills but mostly because of her positive, bubbly personality. 

The walking tour was interesting and took us to some outdoor spaces we had visited on our own before, but it was fascinating to have the perspective of a native about the history and culture associated with them. The Icelandic people are, quite reasonably, proud of their heritage and their peaceful, equitable society. The guide told us that there are approximately two murders a year in the country and very little violence. Gun ownership is very low, and even the police do not carry guns. The guide told us armed security could be seen in only one place in Iceland and asked us if we could guess where that was. With chagrin, I immediately said, "The US Embassy," and I was correct. 

Our tour ended at City Hall, which is beside the Tjörnín (the Pond). It is a modern structure, with the glass of the windows and the surrounding water reflecting older architecture. Since the tour ended by the Pond, we decided to walk around it, admiring the sculptures. There are many species of birds, including mallards, lesser black-billed gulls and whooper swans. We were surprised and delighted when a few of the swans came in and landed with big splashes in the water. The rest of the day was spent in a lazy manner around the boat, doing laundry and other chores.

Skúll Magnússon statue

City Hall

Sherri with a bench statue of Tómas Guðmundsson, Reykjavík's most famous and revered poet

Peter and Shalako walking around The Spell Broken

The Free Lutheran Church by the Pond

Whopper swans alighting on the water

Tuesday, September 9

We went to the public swimming pools and rested from our frantic week of sight-seeing while Ula was here. Enis had contracted a cold and was not up to anything other than work. Sometimes you just have to slow down.

Wednesday, September 10

Peter and I walked through the city and around the Tjörnín, Reykjavík's first formally planned park. The swampy ground was filled in with ash and refuse in the early 20th century, and trees were first planted in 1914. Hljómskálinn (Music or sound hall) sits near the southeast end of the water. Constructed in 1923, it was the first building made specifically as a venue for music. The Reykjavík Brass Band has been based there since it opened.

Hljómskálinn

The whooper swans predominated at the northern end of the Pond, but a new species of goose to us, the greylag goose, pecked and pooped around the southern end. 

Greylag geese

Inside the museum, Peter and I learned more about the Norse settlement of Iceland and the transitions in materials and methods of building, crafting and living daily life up to the mid-20th century as well as religion's influence on society. Some of the Norse artifacts have fascinating and elaborate details. I was particularly interested in the history of making clothing. There were spinning wheels and looms on display as well as durable shoes and mittens made from wool by a process called nalbinding, a form of knotless knitting. Knitting was introduced to Iceland in the 16th century, but nalbinding continued to be used because it produced items that were more sturdy and warm than knitted garments.

Lava rocks used to keep the weft tight

Nearly 1000 year old brooches and jewelry

Nalbound shoes and mittens

Peter and I spent a few hours in the museum and had lunch there. It had started to drizzle by mid-afternoon, but we walked around the Pond some more and to the shop of the Handknitting Association of Iceland in the main shopping district. This shop had a much more diverse and colorful array of items and Icelandic wool for sale, but the prices still seemed astronomical. (Peter has really wanted to get a sweater since we arrived in Iceland.) We stumbled on a bookstore where we leafed through English-language versions of the extensive sagas of this area. 

While we were gone, Enis and Shalako went out to lunch for hot dogs at the original location of Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur, the original kiosk of the small chain of highly popular vendors. This iconic building has been operating continuously since 1937. The meat is about 80% lamb along with beef and pork, and the custom is to order it with everything: ketchup, sweet mustard, remoulade, crisp fried onion and raw onion. Shalako estimated 45 seconds from the time of ordering to the time of delivery.

Thursday, September 11

This was our final day in Reykjavík, so we spent most of it preparing to depart. The weather and sea conditions to the Faroe Islands or the Hebrides was iffy for the journey, but we had the option to go to the eastern side of Iceland, which is what we ended up doing when the conditions were predicted to be worse the farther we went.

By Thursday morning, there were a number of boats on the dock, all planning for departure the next day. One boat with eight young Polish crew on board was rafted up to us. Another boat was rafted up to the SKIRR Adventures 68-foot expedition yacht that had been the escort boat for the British endurance swimmer Ross Edgley, who had completed his approximately 1,609 km (1000 mile) swim around Iceland on September 8, having started on May 17. 

A young man, a student working on his master's thesis at the University of Reykjavík, came by on his bike and stopped to chat. Huldar is trying to create software to allow ships to use sustainable sail power for cargo shipping, particularly aluminum oxide from Brazil to Iceland's smelters. (Iceland is a major global producer of aluminum due to its unique renewable energy sources.) He and Peter had a lengthy and animated discussion about technology, and Peter promised to send him our waypoint data derived from our logs of sailing on our previous boat Epicurus. The next morning Huldar brought us local chocolate as thanks.

Peter and Huldar

In the evening, Enis, Peter and I went to hear the Iceland Symphony Orchestra with guest pianist Alice Sara Ott playing Ravel's Concerto for the Left Hand at Harpa. Also performed were Lili Boulanger's D'Un Soir Triste and Beethoven's Symphony No. 7. Interestingly, the dockmaster, Jón Arnar Einarsson, was the principal trombone player. Both the venue and the music were extraordinary, as were the views from the upper levels of Harpa.

Concert hall at Harpa

Interior at Harpa

Mantra  and other sailboats on the dock with Tara Polar Station from Harpa

Meanwhile, Shalako, who does not enjoy classical concerts, went to a performance of How to Become Icelandic in 60 Minutes, a one-man, one-hour comedy show at the same venue. 

And now, with only five minutes left on the dryers, I have caught up. The next post will be from the open sea or Scotland. Enis is feeling better, and the rest of us all have colds! It is no wonder, as each day it becomes more chilly. The temperature in the boat this morning when Peter work up was 46° F! A weather app says it is snowing on the ocean and on the ice caps!