In the summer of 2024, Mr. BooksandTea and I took a trip to Reykjavik, Iceland, to celebrate my then-upcoming 40th birthday. We had a lovely time, and posted lots of photos and detailed status updates to Facebook.
I’m debating leaving Facebook, but I don’t want to lose those posts, so I’m sharing them here for posterity. The post below was from July 28th.
Reykjavik, day 2!
We went to a historical\archaeological museum, and an art gallery in the morning. Then lunch, visiting a flea market, and wandering around the downtown area in the rain, along with some light grocery shopping. Then a concert at Hallgrimskirkja, the big church, and hot dogs (a second time!) and ice cream.
The weather was drizzly and windy like yesterday, and I even pulled out my gloves once I finished my ice cream. At home, weather like this makes me want to burrow under blankets, but here it acquires a dreamy, romantic quality.
A loom at the settlement museum, likely dating back to the first inhabitation of Iceland in the 870s. It had a very clear “do not touch” sign on it.
An old board game at the settlement museum.
A Hneftafl board! My friend Kari Maaren has told me about this game, but I didn’t know the rules before this.
The settlement museum is built around this archaeological dig site, which is the remains of one of Iceland’s first longhouses.
A closer look at a different part of the dig site.
A stuffed gyrfalcon. Apparently, falcons were a major export commodity in Iceland’s past, along with wool and fish.
A hearth in the adjoining city museum showing parts of Icelandic life from the 20th century.
A pedestrian square in Reykjavik.
A piece of comic art at the modern art museum.
Iceland apparently has a large literary culture. It’s just cool seeing an Icelandic translation of Scott McCloud, of all people.
This was a huge wall filled with tiny closeup drawings in pen. Some of them were quite intimate – not in the “sex” sense, but in the “getting an unvarnished look at someone’s interior being” sense.
One of a series of works meant to look like the inside of a book, but not containing any actual text.
Another one in the same series. The whole collection makes me think of illuminated manuscripts or Arabic calligraphy.
The exterior of the comic art museum.
A plate of fish and chips. One of the things I had to adjust to was the price for meals in Iceland – this was at least $30 CAD.
The Reykjavik flea market! I bought a nice necklace (one of my traditional souvenirs for myself when I go on trips), and a few gifts for other people.
There’s apparently a ferris wheel by the waterfront. Because it was raining, it seemed completely empty.
A really cool mural. Reykjavik had a lot of street art.
This house is not significant in any way. I just liked the pretty blooming tree in front of it.
Apparently there’s a Russian Orthodox church in Iceland? We don’t think it’s open for the public to wander in, but it’s neat to know it exists.
The program for our organ concert at Hallgrimskirkja.
The interior of Hallgrimskirkja. It’s huge inside!
Mr. BooksandTea and I bought hot dogs from a second card. However, I think they’re using a rather liberal definition of “hot dog” here. This was roast shredded lamb with a bernaise sauce.
Mr. BooksandTea ordered a pulled pork “hot dog”. His was sweeter, and I think I liked it better than mine!
Ice cream! I got one scoop of rhubarb skyr and one scoop of rye bread ice cream, which apparently is an Icelandic specialty. You really can taste the rye, but it’s mild and gives the whole thing a gently toasty, savory quality. The rhubarb skyr was the winner, though – the tartness of the rhubarb combines with that of the yogurt in a really lovely way without turning shrill or acrid.
