Reykjavik, Iceland

Day 7   Reykjavik   Sunday, Sept 17, 2017

It was a cold day due to the strong wind. In Iceland's capital city, this is their landmark church (Lutheran), built in the late 40s and early 50s but not completed until 1986. Our two-hour bus tour was within the city, but we took an all-day tour into the fascinating countryside the next day.

Here's a view of the church and town from a stop we had at their Pearl, a new structure allowing panoramic views. Reykjavik's population of 190,000 makes it one of the world's smallest capital cities, but more than half of Iceland's total population lives here.

Our tour did not actually offer all that much in the way of information or interesting stops. This was our first stop, after just driving around and hearing what years various suburban neighborhoods were built. This was where their prime minister lived, and you can see how hard the wind was blowing by the flag in the background and Janet's coat.

The prime minister's house is behind this church (both of which were closed to tourists, so nothing really to do at this stop but get cold). It took half our entire tour for the guide to explain the legislative crisis they were having that had begun only two days earlier. In a nutshell, their progressive party resigned due to the prime minister's involvement in fully exonerating a pedophile who had completed his prison term. The party's resignation meant that they had no functioning government.

A view of their municipal airport and university behind.

Iceland became completely independent from Denmark in 1944, although the move had progressed in that direction since 1918 when the Kingdom of Iceland was formed. The city seemed stark, probably because the country has no natural trees. Buildings are concrete or made of metals, although some are painted to provide a little color. 18th century settlers used driftwood for homes or shelters, covering them with corrugated tin.

The most fascinating aspect about Iceland to Janet and me was their geological features, and how they've utilized them to provide hot water and electricity. Their geothermal springs provide hot water directly to almost all homes and buildings, and power stations use the heat or steam to turn turbines to generate electricity. 90% of all electrical needs in Iceland is from geothermal.

 

This was a strange sculpture outside the Pearl. You do see trees back there, but they were all planted to provide SOME wooded landscapes and hiking.

Back at the church, this photo shows the stair-step design.

It was tall, yes, but I didn't think it was very attractive. Its appearance mirrored the stark city look of grey and white.

The organ, completed in 1992, has 5275 pipes and weighs 25 tons.

In front of the church was this statue of Leif Eriksson, a gift from the U.S. in 1930 to mark Iceland's 1000-year anniversary of the world's first parliament (which we would learn more about on our tour the next day). We had learned in school that Eriksson, a Norwegian, discovered America some 500 years before Columbus.

This is a wall painting I shot when we had a brief stop at their inner harbor. We had read about the many murals painted in their downtown, but saw only a few because our tour barely went through any of the downtown.

Reykjavik was also said to have modern art here and there, but again, this was the only one I saw during the brief stop at the harbor.

Our final stop was to view (from the outside only) this waterfront house, Höfdi, where Reagan and Gorbachev met in 1986. As the marker states, this meeting is regarded as the beginning of the end of the Cold War.

I took this photo of the marker there at Höfdi.

One story from our tour guide that we found interesting was that Icelanders do not carry forward their surnames (their last names).  Rather, their surnames become their father's first name followed by "son" or "dóttir". As an example, my son's name would be Brian Kensson. Then HIS son's name would be George (or whatever) Briansson. My daughter's name would be Katie Kendóttir, and her daughter's name would be Lexie Jeremydóttir.  Janet and I wondered how they refer to their family reunions or perform genealogical searches? Also, first names not previously used in Iceland must be approved by the Icelandic Naming Committee before being used! The criterion for acceptance of a first name is whether or not it can be easily incorporated into the Icelandic language. Wow.

We stayed overnight in Reykjavik, and our tour the next day was much more interesting and scenic.