Waking up in euphoria about seeing Northern Lights and being in Iceland. Floating on clouds I still can't believe I am in Iceland.
My hotel is next to the domestic airport of Reykjavik, and outside the hangar is, so I was woken up by starting engines of planes. It is not disturbing, it makes this an excellent hotel for airplane spotters being so close to the strips. And there are not many planes leaving from here either, and not during the night.
Breakfast was excellent here, including English, American (pancakes & maple sauce), Scandinavian (including herring & smoked salmon) Vegetarian (including raw nuts, dried fruits, vegetables and salade bar), home made warm bread, countless cereals, cookies and muffins, Skyr and so much more. Incredible... and all localy produces. Because even bananas come from Iceland.
After breakfast I took the free hotel bus to Reykjavik, it was only 3 minutes. It was very nice weather again today, since the returning bus would only go at 18.00 I would walk back to the hotel.
Reykjavik is not a typical beautifull city. It is green, has lots of trees and people care for it to plant trees and have it a green place. But houses are not of any beauty. They are build to endure earthquakes and possible threat from volcanos. Making them more look like concrete boxes. Walking through the streets doesn't give me the typical I am in Reykjavik feeling. I walked around the peninsula the city of Reykjavik is build on, along the harbour where whale watching tours are departing and the navy is situated. Huge volcanic mountains shield Reykjavik in this "Vik" meaning bay. Reykjavik means Smokebay.
I walked along the suburb of Reykjavik, still the houses do not look appealing. I see a forest, which turns out to be a graveyard. Because of the forestry this graveyard also seem to function as a park. At least it is called that way on the map.
A bit later I am back in the city center and decide to go see the shops, possibly have something to eat for lunch. The locals look weird at me when I walk without a jacket. They themselves are stuffed into the woolen hats and mittens. I notice how faithfull the people are to their tradtion and being Icelandic. Many people are wearing the icelandic knitwear. They come with seasonal colors and in summer there even seem to be sleeveless Icelandic sweaters. This people are proud of being Icelandic. And I must say like the Finnish they look to me like a stable and happy nation. And not to forget they have also a high level of cuteness, both in looking and being very friendly and helpfull.
In the town they are exploring a discovered Viking settlement. I thought of maybe visit this place which is underneath the city center later. I first wanted to see the shops everybody is talking about.
Reykjavik center has no commercial shops you see world wide. Except for the bookstores, and the plenty of tourist shops, almost all shops sell only native articles, from knitwear to Icelandic jewelery made of volcanic rocks or gemstones found here. Or arts, design clothing, cosmetics. Icelandic cosmetics is all local produced with natural herbs and essences. Icelandic people seem to care for the more natural healthcare. Pharmacies here have a lot of herbal medicine. You can buy lots of Icelandic seaweeds, herbs, birch essence, berry concentrates etc. A good place for me :-) But for vegetarians the food is poor. All biological that is, but it doesnt go further than a bowl of lettuce, tomato, cucumber (all Icelandic grown) and egg. They don't know about vegetarian meat, eggplants, mushrooms or making attractive vegetarian dishes etc. Icelandic people are not much vegetarian, since in Europe most vegetarians are because of the way animals are treated. In Iceland animals have good lives, especially the most common meatsource lamb and fish. So vegetarian Icelanders are because of the wish to not eat animal at all or medical grounds. But seeing the amount of tourists (I think there are more tourists in Iceland in summer than locals) someone has to take a step forward to supply all those veggies.
The main shopping street is endlessly long. In the end I come across the street I nicknames to Snorrabout (Snorribraut). Snorrie my cats nickname appears to be an Icelandic traditional name. If I ever wondered why I nicknamed my cat Snorrie? Because she has a snorring sound and a weird Snorrie whisker. But who knows there is this Icelandic meaning too. Who can say?
It still is a very very beautifull day, but in the horizon big clouds gather. I was getting tired after this wrecked night of sleep (the bed is very good, but auroras....) so decided to get to a supermarket to buy something to eat and drink for dinner. Sandwiches are so damn good here! And then I started to walk back to my hotel. Not exactly knowing where to go, but Reykjavik is quite small, everything is in walking distance. I walked into the direction of the famous Reykjavik skyline church Hallgrimskirkja. And no I didn't take pictures of it, because that would mean I would feel happy about the fact the christians once forced the pagans to convert to christianity. I never realised this crime so much until I went to Lapland and now Iceland. How brutely they worked and tried to destroy one of the most beautifull spirits of Icelandic culture. But the native paganism still rules in Iceland, looking at the nature and the names of places and people. Thor is still very very alive in this nation. Even if thunderstorms are extremely rare in Iceland.
It is not that I have something against christianity. I have something against this pressure to convert other people to their will, like it happened in history. Like it still happens today (but not really in Iceland, as most people are no longer religious). That is all. We should have our own decisions and own ways to walk the path of life. And for me this Hallgrimkirkja is a symbol of this act. With their big building trying to overrule, making people think they are the highest power. But they are not. As long as mighty Katla and all her fellow volcanos are. And never to be overruled. Never... talking about hell. It must be the fear of nature. I was told the christians here believe that volcanos erupt because they trash out sinners with their eruptions, sinners that are rejected even by hell. They fall on the earth as the so called stonemans. Forever frozen in rocks. Twisted story....
From this Hallgrimskirkja it is not far walking to the hotel. I have to cross a busy road (for Icelandic terms, this busy road is among the busiest in the country. Iceland has no highways ;-) ). I once heard people say on internet that it is dangerous to walk from the hotel to town. I don't understand. There is a walking/cycling path all the way, very safely and traffic lights or fly over to cross this busy road. How have those people been walking? I liked the walk. Leading through a grassfield full of birds. Iceland has fascinating bird life. One day I want to explore that part. My new developed wish is to see puffins. Unfortunately last month the young puffins have learned to fly, which means they are gone now to Scotland to stay during wintertime.
Puffins are cute. But they eat them in Iceland. :-( Saw them on the menu, along with whale. The dark side of Iceland... but then again, puffins are common like chicken, what is the difference, they both are living souls. I don't want to eat puffin... fish eating birds usually taste oily. No thanks....
Later that night I heard the northernlight tour has been cancelled due to weather/clouds. I didn't understand, because there were clear parts in the sky. But it was no problem, there has not been significant chances for auroras that night. If it wouldnt have been cancelled, I payed for not seeing auroras. Now I have to see for the other nights. But it looks doubtfull. Expected 2 days of rain :-(
On every Thursday night the hotel has story telling. In their cinema hotelguests are invited to come dressed in pyamas to drink hot chocolate and snuggle up to listen to Icelandic sagas. I wanted to go, but fell asleep :-( stupid me....
So that is where this calm and relaxed day ended.
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