Monday, October 11 Reykjavik, Hotel, Aurora Museum, Harpa, Sun Voyager

 Monday, October 11

We arrive at Reykjavik's Keflavik Airport around 10:00 and go through customs, long wait for passport check and then luggage pickup.  (The airport is named for a nearby town.) Our taxi driver,  Thordur is in arrivals with a sign with our names - yeah!  (Apparently he knew we were arriving late.)  He is a friendly guy who tells us about growing up on a farm in Iceland. He patiently answers our many questions and points out some places of interest, like where the most recent volcano erupted and old US army barracks which are now apartments.  

We arrive at hotel Muli at 11:30 and although check-in time is 3:00, they say our room should be ready around 12:30.  Meanwhile, we put our luggage in a storage room and head next door to an Icelandic restaurant for lunch.

Mulakaffi is a popular cafeteria-type spot with lots of locals from construction workers to office workers and others. The posted menu is in Islandic but Beth is able to get a translation app to read it.  Beth has fish, Greg a beef stew and Gwynne a roasted chicken dish.  There is also a "salad bar" type area but we don't recognize much there.  But we did try some tasty cakes - chocolate, of course, and one that we think was carrot.  Tasty!  

Back to the hotel, we go to our room which opens by punching in a code.  We have a "family" room with a big double bed and a smaller bed - bigger than a single but not quite a double...?  Nothing fancy, but clean and basic with a tv, desk a shelving/closet area and a chair. Nice fluffy duvets.

Our first adventure is getting a taxi, which the person at the front desk does for us. Our Icelandair package includes entrance to Aurora Reykjavik Northern Lights Center today, so we head there.  The weather is cloudy and probably in the 40's.  Our driver is a young redhead who says he grew up in the north, in a small town and has 7 (I think) siblings all over the country.  There were 13 kids in his class at school. 

The Center is near the harbor and is a collection of information about the science and history of the northern lights.  Lots of photos, as the couple who created this venue were photographers, and it includes a virtual reality part.   Nice intro but pretty old school, imho. 

Modern, unique buildings near Harpa

Viking heritage 

  From here we decide to walk along the harbor to the Harpa, a beautiful concert hall.  Interesting boats including lots of Whale Watching businesses (more popular in Summer).  Interesting statues, architecture and shops.

The Harpa dominates the area and is quite beautiful.  We can go into the Harpa lobby, but most areas are closed due to an event.  Several displays inside and loads of glass. A shop with icelandic wool sweaters, of which they are very proud.

From here, we walk farther along the shore to a sculpture called The Sun Voyager, someone's take on a Viking ship.  Quite nice!  

 We have a hard time dialing for a taxi,  so call the hotel and ask them to send a taxi to The Sun Voyager.  The rain starts in earnest and taxi arrives in 5-10 minutes.  Taxis here are private vehicles which are coordinated by a central company,  and all electric so far - many Teslas. The drivers pay a one time annual fee and don't have to share their fares.  This driver is a woman who tells us a few humorous stories about people she has driven.

Couldn't get a good picture from the taxi, but several beautiful rainbows appear on the drive back to the hotel.  The most beautiful one I've ever seen was a full arc,  from horizon of the city to the horizon over the water. Gorgeous!

Iceland is one of the first countries to elect a woman president, and gender equality seems to be well established.

The front desk recommends a nearby restaurant called Brasserie Askur for dinner.  (There are quite a variety of places within walking distance. )  We've been warned about high prices for food, and a $32 hamburger and fries makes us tend to agree!  Greg and Gwynne share a meal along with some Icelandic beer, while Beth gets a light tiger prawn dish.  The water, I should add, is good and plentiful.  They say it is extra pure as it is filtered through lava rock and there are pitchers of it available everywhere.

We shower and call it an early night, since we're adjusting from the all-night flight and the 4 hour time difference. Iceland is on Greenwich Mean Time.