Iceland 440: Day 3

This becomes harder and harder to write. As I type now, I'm sitting at the front of our house in our new camp chair (our thoroughly-enjoyed camp bench finally gave up the ghost), enjoying a beer and soaking in some April sunshine. We are hoping against hope that this is not the last sunny day we see this summer!

Monday 15 December 2008

Monday, finally time to catch up on our sleep. Only being able to say that on a Monday makes it a good Monday. Out at the crack of dawn, we tracked down a guidebook‑recommend bakery. Lovely coffee, danishes and a ham and cheese Panini for Slim. Another cup of copy was tempting but we had plans. We headed out of the city centre to the Perlan. This is the city's water storage facility but one of the silos has been converted to a museum dedicated to the Icelandic sagas.

Some background on the sagas. These stories are the oral history of the founding of Iceland. They have been handed down since around 1000 AD. They were actually written down starting around the 1200s. it is said that they Icelandic language has changed so little that most people can actually read them in the original old Norse. I've heard conflicting stores on whether that is true or not, but it is true that the Icelandic language has changed very little over the years. Slim and I have since our trip read Egil's saga. There is not as much about the first families of Iceland as I thought there'd be. And there is s still a lot of going back and forth to Norway. It is however as full of battles and pillaging as you'd think it would be.

Anyway, back to the Perlan. The top deck of the Perlan is open and offers an outstanding view of Reykjavik and the surrounding water. We stepped out on to the deck and were instantly blasted by a sudden squall that had blown in. The temperature was just around freezing, so the moisture that was falling was instantly formed into tiny ice daggers. Thousands of them flew at our exposed skin as we tried to make our way around for the 360-degree view. We fought the wind for a few minutes but soon found a door to get back inside. We decided to then head to the top story café for a very nice cup of soup (delicious and refillable for one price – where are we?).

Then into the museum. The museum is basically a series of tableaus with wax figures bringing the sagas to life size, if not quite to life! It is well done, but I most enjoyed the video at the end showing how they made the wax figures using locals as models.

We found a scenic way back into town enjoying a large park with a series of mostly frozen ponds. At the city end of the pond, the water is kept from freezing – not sure if it is purposely or not – but it is the winter home of several ducks, geese and swans. One of the docs was an Eider, a beautiful duck not found this close to civilisation normally. We were of course very excited by that.

Again cold and a bit peckish, we stepped into a café that overlooks the little city park. Café culture is central to Reykjavik, maybe not as central as it is to Parisians but pretty close. We decided a coffee with a little something special and a savoury crepe were just what was needed. The coffee came in a large carafe laced with kahlua – perfect!

Dusk was falling, and we headed back to the apartment, not quite caught up on our sleep…

Tonight's menu: tapas. After dressing for dinner and studying our map, we walked down to the city centre and found our place. It was on the lower floor of a building and felt subterranean, but in a cozy, homey way. We were seated in a table on the raised section at the back offering a few of the entire restaurant.

Sangria? Yes, please! Slim ordered the taster menu while I chose a few treats from the tapas menu – meatballs, potato with paprika and fish. (Additional courses for Slim: turkey, reindeer.)

Feeling the need for a little cold remedy for me, we headed to one of Reykjavik's two Irish pubs. We just can't stay away from them! We were looking for hot whiskey's – the prefect cold medicine. We entered the empty bar and interrupted the bar gal's enjoyment of CSI Vegas. We asked for hot whiskeys and got blank looks. She asked if it was just warmed up whiskey, ah, no. Her friend was also at the bar and with his translation assistance, we taught her how to make the quintessential winter Irish drink. I mean, she works in an Irish bar in Iceland, this is really essential knowledge.

Satisfied, warmed and sleepy, we headed back to our sweet Room with a View.