Day 15, Sep 8: Reykjavik 3

Breakfast at the hotel and then walked up Tungata under sunshine but with a rainbow to the west. Attended mass in the church I described yesterday. This mass was in Icelandic but we could follow it reasonably well. Walked back to the Centrum to do a little packing and relax. Walked over to the Harpa concert hall for the performance.

The Harpa main hall is darkly simple and elegant. The same austere utilitarian style presented itself in the seating and adornments. The performance was, "Kalabante: Africa in Circus." A troop from Guinea in east Africa put on an energetic and enthusiastic combination of music, dance, drumming, acrobatics, and contortions that delighted the audience. It was a little like Cirique de Soleil, but intensely African in feel. We thoroughly enjoyed it!

Searched for a place for lunch only to find most places close around 14:00 and re-open around 17:00. Chose the Apotek and had a nice brunch while others were having Tea. Back to the hotel past the Parliament building and the statue of the first woman leader of parliament in 1922. More packing, then I took a walk around "the Pond," the small lake behind the city hall. The walk was filled with great views of the city bathed in sunshine, statues, waterfowl, and strollers. Almost back to the hotel, I finally came on something we'd been searching for, the statue of "The Faceless Bureaucrat!" This whimsical blockhead elicits a lot of visitors. Back at the hotel, lunched on the remains of our camping trip while we Watched BBC. Checked in online and printed passes. We've pretty well seen as much of Reykjavik as we want to, although there is much more to see.

Observations on having the motorhome. It was mostly positive. It was expensive but allowed us super flexibility. With the easy and wide availability of campsites, we were virtually assured of a site any night. We changed our route several times during the days' travels and wound up at a different place than where we'd started for in the morning. During high season it might not have been quite so easy because the campgrounds fill-up. Once I got used to driving it and we figured out the heating system, the van worked well - barring the high-wind days up around Myvatn. I figured the van got about 18 mpg so it was not too bad. We saved on food by bringing basics and buying at the grocery store. The van fit three of us but was a little tight. I'm not sure we'd want to fit more. We were able to go wherever we wanted. We'd consider doing it again. We spent 12 days touring the Ring Road -a day or two more would not be wasted. As I said, we saw what we wanted in Reykjavik in three days. It's been a great trip!Read more