Reykjavik - Day Three Walking Tour

Day three we resumed our walking tour around Reykjavik. First up, the Catholic Basilica of Reykjavik. The architecture is very similar to the churches we saw in NYC and quite beautiful. Then it was off to City Hall. A very cold concrete building, but it was surrounded by an amazing pond. People were out feeding the ducks, geese and swans. Sheri decided that the man with the concrete head was more interesting than the city hall building itself. However, she did take a picture of the pond.

From there we headed down to the parliament building. There are 63 elected parliamentarians, 30 of which are women. Keeping in mind a that Iceland had the first democratically elected female president as well as the first gay woman prime minister, this is a very open and egalitarian society. There was a protest in the part on behalf of refugees while we were there. It was the first time we had seen any policemen in the city since we arrived.

Next stop was the statue of Ingolfur Arnanson who, as I mentioned earlier, was the person to first settle Reykjavik. Ingolfur is standing by his high seated pillar decorated with a Dragon’s Head indicating his chieftain status. You can’t see it clearly, but part of the monument is a statue to Odin the Norse pagan god of war with his two ravens, Hugin and Munin. Also on the Odin statue is the mythological tree Yggdrasil (an immense and sacred tree around which all else exists including the 9 worlds of Norse mythology) you would also see the worm of Midgard (this is not part of the Marvel universe and Sheri said it must not be important so really who cares) and Odin’s eight legged horse Slepnir.

Finished the afternoon walk with a cappuccino and a latte at Cafe Babalu.

Onto some shopping as I needed nice warm socks for tonights adventure to the Northern Lights. See the next footprint for that review. Before the Northern Lights however, dinner at an Indian restaurant. Great food. Both Sheri and I have noticed the quantity of food you get here. Not sure if the cold means you need to eat more, but man o geez do you get a lot of food.Lue lisää