Fred’s Adventures in Iceland - Part 1

Saturday afternoon was totally wasted. I had been awake over 24 hours. I wasn’t sleepy, I was just physically exhausted. We went to do some grocery shopping since Kelly didn’t know what I would be in the mood for so she waited until I got there.

I met a bunch of Kelly’s friends that I recognized from the pictures that Kelly had posted on her blog. There were Becca, Chrissy, Mathieu, Harold, Tom, Remy, Lief, Yassu and Liu. Did I forget anybody? It was like I had known them all.

We walked to downtown Reykjavik to the Bonus store and got a bunch of things. It was around 3:30-4 PM and it was already pretty dark. Reykjavik was all lit up with Christmas colours and there were real Christmas trees hanging from the sides of most of the shops. The trees weren’t very big but they were everywhere. Everything looked so beautiful. It wasn’t too windy and it wasn’t too cold, yet. It was just dark.

As we were walking back to Gamli Gardur (Kelly’s residence) with our supplies we stopped by the City Hall, looked around and got some maps and other flyers. We got back and Kelly made some dinner. I don´t recall much after that.

I finally went to bed around 8 PM, 31 hours after getting up at the Comfort Inn in Boston. You´d think I would sleep like a log for a long time. Fat chance. At 10 PM I was wide awake. I tried to stay in bed to see if I would fall back asleep. I was thinking about my ordeal over the past two days.

I got up and started to write it down on paper. Occasionally I would crawl back in bed to see if I could sleep. But no I kept getting up and continued to write my saga down.

Finally I was almost finished and it was getting onto 6 AM. I managed to fall asleep for a couple of hours. I got up, showered (That was an experience in itself. The basin kept filling up and I´d turn off the shower to let it drain and then I would turn it on again. The hot water was really hot and the cold was really cold so you had to get just the right mix to be comfortable. I finally finished my shower and turned the water off. The shower head fell out of its holder and almost crushed my toes.) and got myself dressed.

I continued to write down details of my ordeal for a while. Nobody was stirring as yet so I lay down on the bed and the next thing I knew Kelly was knocking on the door and it was now 10 to 12 PM. I had managed to get about 6 hours of not so great sleep in the past 16 hours.

Kelly and I decided to go up to the Perlan (The Pearl).

The following is taken from the internet.

There was a picture here but it got deleted when I posted.

“Perlan (The Pearl) is a remarkable building, built in 1988, unique in Iceland and probably in the whole world. On Oskjuhlid hill, atop the huge tanks in which natural hot water is stored for heating the city, a glass dome has been constructed: under the dome is a rotating restaurant serving fine cuisine.

In addition, the dome houses a café, while around the outside is a viewing platform with panoramic views of the city and its surroundings. Below the dome, between the hot-water tanks, is a spacious atrium where various exhibitions and other events are held. Inside the building is a small artificial geyser which spouts every few minutes.

Interestingly, one of the tanks contains, not hot water, but a museum: at the Saga Museum, waxwork figures bring old Iceland to life. The museum, like the Pearl itself, is open from 10 AM.

Close to the Pearl, to the left of the car park, is STROKUR, a man-made geyser that imitates the natural spouting hot springs at Geysir in the highlands of southwest Iceland.

Oskjuhlid hill, on which the Pearl is located, is a pleasant wooded area with many footpaths, ideal for a relaxing walk.”

We decided to walk. It is not very far from her residence, only about 20 to 30 minutes. When we set out the weather was ok. It was overcast and dreary. As we went along the wind started to pick up and it felt colder. By the time we got half-way up the hill it was very windy and very cold. I had my winter coat on, that I use all the time in Canada but it seemed like the wind and the cold was going right through it. I was chilled to the bone.

We finally got up to the top and into the building. We looked around a bit and then decided to go up to the restaurant to have some lunch. After lunch we went out onto the deck for a few minutes. It felt really cold and windy. I think it definitely was.


We decided to go through the Saga Museum that´s at the Perlan.

The following is taken from the internet.

“The history comes to life in Perlan - Saga Museum
For the first time you can see historical figures and major events in Icelandic history from the time of the earliest settlers right up to that of the Reformation, brought to life in a unique and exciting way. A guided tour on CD is included in the entrance fee and guests can choose between 30 min. and one hour tour.

Vibrant museum
The Saga Museum intimately recreates key moments in Icelandic history, moments that have determined the fate of our people and which give a compelling view into how Icelanders have lived for more than a millenium.
Visitors to the museum are guided through the museum´s many attractions as well as through a chronological history of the country. In this vibrant, multidimensional museum, both Icelandic and foreign visitors are given an opportunity to learn about Icelandic history in a way that is both educational and fun.

Replicas of historical Icelandic figures
Life-like replicas of historical Icelandic figures have been created, based on descriptions found in the Viking sagas and chronicles. In order to achieve authenticity, clothing, weapons and everyday objects were constructed using traditional methods passed down through the ages. The weapons were specially crafted, and the wool and linen articles dyed by hand.

Journey into a turbulent past
Throughout the period of settlement, everyday life in Iceland was very difficult. The weather was hardly friendly for most of the year and the land was still volcanically active. The Icelanders often fell victim to eruptions, earthquakes, avalanches and other natural catastrophes that made their lot even harder. And, if that was not enough, they were also subject to the notorious Black Death that led to the destruction of more than a third of the population. However, none of this deterred those who lived here and they developed a remarkable culture with a literature that equals that of any other country in Europe.

No such museum would be complete without its tally of horrors, and among the more gruesome events which can be experienced there are the execution of Jón Arason (Iceland’s last Catholic bishop), the burning at the stake of Sister Katrín (Iceland’s first heretic), and a taste of the famous and bloody battle at Örlygsstaðir.”

I bought the booklet that complements the museum displays so hopefully it will be a good keepsake. I didn’t take any pictures.

We left the Perlan and headed into the city. Kelly wanted to retrieve her purse that she had left at Anna Vala’s place (an Icelandic friend) the night before. The wind and the cold were terrible. I was glad when we finally got there.

We rang the doorbell and were let in. There was a whole throng of people in the house. As it turned out it was the Christmas bread (or laufabrauð) making gathering at Anna Vala’s family’s place and along with her own family there were uncles, aunts, cousins and friends for the annual event. There must have been at least 25 people gathered in the kitchen some manning the kitchen counters while others were at the tables creating their designs on these thin cakes.

The cakes were the size of a plate. Actually a plate was used to put on the flattened-out dough and a knife was used to trim the excess away so that what was left was a circular thin sheet of dough. Using a knife, a fork and a leaf bread cutter, intricate designs were made into these thin cakes.

The leaf bread cutter made diagonal slices and you could remove some of the “leaves” or flip them over to make interesting patterns or virtually do whatever you wanted. I actually tried to do some designs on one piece and Kelly did two. I never got to see the final product after it was fried but then in my head it looked really great.

This was a great experience to be part of, a traditional Icelandic family occasion. Everybody seemed to have a great time.

The following is taken from the internet.

“Laufabrauð (Leaf Bread)

Iceland used to be very isolated. Everything not grown or raised on the island had to be brought by supply ships from Europe. They were often small and badly prepared for the perilous waters of the Atlantic. In the winter season with its severe weathers, no ships sailed at all. Commodities such as flour, sugar, salt, tobacco and many other things were considered a luxury and the poor could only buy it for special occasions, like Christmas.

On the farms it was customary for each member of the household to have a special bowl to store food in, Everyone got a weeks ration of food at a time to dispense of at will. It was thought a necessity to serve bread with the Christmas rations, which were always a little bit larger than normally. The poorer households couldn't afford to buy much flour and to make sure that each member of the house got his/her share of bread, the cakes had to be rolled out really thin. In fact, some said that if you could read the Bible through a cake it was thin enough. To make these plain cakes look more festive, patterns were cut into them before they were fried in tallow. There were several traditional patterns but improvisation was allowed. Today, the decorating and frying of leaf bread is a family event and part of the Christmas preparations.”

And here’s an additional item from the internet.

“Laufabrauð, the traditional Icelandic Christmas flatbread, has sometimes been called “snowflake bread” in English because of the intricate cut-through patterns. It is first mentioned in writing in the early eighteenth century and more than 100 years ago, it had become the one and only Christmas bread of Northern Iceland. Now it is made all over the island, especially by people of northern descent.”

We left with 2 or 3 of those fried breads in tow. “But the weather outside was frightful.” It was snowing, not really snow but these small ice pellets that were being whipped around by this fierce wind. On the way back to Kelly’s residence we went by the Hallgrim’s Church. The wind and snow was at its worst by now.

I was holding the paper bag that the girl at the Saga Museum had given me to hold the booklet that I had bought. Plus now it included the Christmas bread that we got at Anna Vala’s place and my return airline tickets that I had been carrying in my coat pocket. Kelly thought I might as well put them in the bag.

Well a gust of wind blew up with this pelting snow and the paper bag just shattered. The booklet, the bread and my tickets went flying all over the place. Somehow we were able to track them down and catch them before they totally disappeared.

We managed to get back to Gamli Gardur without any further incident.

Kelly made some roast potatoes and cooked up the shrimp for dinner. After dinner I started to transcribe the saga that I had written as pen to paper onto the electronic media. It took me from about 8 PM until 1:30 AM to put the written word into edited electronic Word.

I had another restless sleep the rest of the “long” night. It was still dark at 11 AM. For the second day in a row I finally got up around noon.

Kelly and I went to get some more supplies, this time in a totally different direction. We ended up at Kronan’s getting most of the groceries we needed. On the way back we stopped at the Bjornsbakari and got some bakery items.

When we got back to Gamli Gardur we started to make lunch. We had the fresh buns and the ham that we had bought on Saturday. One of the things that I had brought with me besides the maple syrup and the Stove Top Stuffing was a jar of Strub’s Baby Dill Pickles. They were a big hit on Saturday when I brought them out. My understanding of Icelandic pickles is that they’re something sweet and disgusting. And as Kelly said, ”You won’t like them, Dad.”

After I had made my ham and bun sandwich I said a dill pickle would go really good with this. So Kelly went to her fridge and looked on her shelf. They weren’t there. So there was a frantic search through the other shelves and the other fridges, and then all the cupboards and then the rooms but no Baby Dill Pickles could be found. Where did they go? To this date, no-one has fessed up to this heinous crime and they have not resurfaced.

After this heart-wrenching lunch, we bit our lip and went downtown Reykjavik so that Kelly could do some Christmas shopping. She didn’t see anything that she liked so we headed back to her place.

Kelly made a stir fry and then we watched “Christmas with the Kranks”. I got a half decent sleep that night and woke up around 7 AM.

Tuesday morning we walked around the campus of the University of Iceland. Kelly had to sign up for her last course. It’s a small, very compact campus. There are about 8,000 students registered at any one time. It’s slightly bigger than Trent where Kelly goes to in Canada.

After the tour of the campus we headed off to downtown Reykjavik again. We were going to try to hit some art galleries today. But first we went by Kelly’s apartment building where she stayed at during August when she was attending the Intensive Icelandic Course.

The first art museum we got to was near the harbourfront.

The following is taken from the internet.

“Reykjavik Art Museum – Hafnarhus

Currently there are 3 different exhibitions on display at the Reykjavik Art Museum - Hafnarhus. A private exhibition of works by Gudrun Vera Hjartardottir, works from the Erro collection and an exhibition of works that the Reykjavik Art Museum has acquired over the past three years.”

Today was a two for one day and we got to go to the following museum for free. It was a fair hike to get to this museum. It was raining and the wind along a couple of the streets was just ghastly. But we made it.

The following is taken from the internet.

“Reykjavik Art Museum - Kjarvalsstaðir

The exhibition hall at Miklatun Park was inaugurated in 1973, and was soon named Kjarvalsstadir in honour of the painter Jóhannes S. Kjarval.
Annually it hosts exhibitions of Icelandic and international art, with special emphasis on contemporary art. Exhibitions from the Kjarval Collection are always a feature in the schedule at Kjarvalsstadir.”

After the museum we headed to the Kringlan Mall, supposedly the biggest in Reykjavik and the biggest in Iceland. It was very busy with shoppers. Although there were some strictly Icelandic shops, most of them you’d find in any mall in North America.

The only interesting thing that happened to me was my visit to the Men’s Washroom. For some reason I needed to go rather urgently, so I went into this washroom and entered one of the stalls. I had undone my belt and was pulling down my pants when I looked behind me and saw the world’s smallest toilet. I really had to go so there was no turning back. I did my business. At first I thought I’d fill up the sucker and then I thought “I’m not going to be able to get up.”. But I didn’t and I did. I got out of there as fast as I could. I looked around to see if there was any indication that this was for children only but I didn’t see anything.

We caught the bus back to Kelly’s place. We had dinner and then watched a movie, “The Forty Year Old Virgin”. It was pretty hilarious.

Wednesday morning at 11 AM we went to the National Museum of Iceland which is next door to Kelly’s residence. When we got there we heard singing of Christmas carols. I could recognize the tunes but the words were something else. So we went and listened for a while. Even though I didn´t understand the words it was nice to hear the music. Then one of those Yule Lads got up on stage and started chanting away something or other. I listened for a while but I couldn´t understand a word he was yammering so I started going through the museum. Kelly soon joined me so I think she had enough as well.

The museum had some very interesting exhibits.

The following is taken from the internet.

“National Museum of Iceland

New state of the art galleries for more than 2,000 national treasures have been combined with conceptual exhibits and never before seen artifacts to make the National Museum of Iceland a source of inspiration and discovery.
Making of a Nation–Heritage and History in Iceland is the dynamic new installation for the permanent collection which asks visitors questions, with clues to possible answers from Iceland’s 1200 year culture: Who, and what, make a nation?
Tying the Knot–Icelandic Wedding Customs in Arc Hall illustrates marital traditions with objects from pagan times to the present day.
Formative Icelandic Photography inaugurates the National Gallery of Photography with a landmark exhibit featuring highlights from the Museum’s archives of over two million photographs.

There are wonderful interactive exhibits designed for children and fascinating guided tours for special interests. The Museum Café and adjacent Museum Shop are on the first floor.

The National Museum of Iceland is dedicated to communicating knowledge of Iceland’s cultural heritage from the time of its pioneering settlement in 874 to the present day. The museum reopens with renewed purpose as the national center for conservation, research, and illumination of Iceland’s extraordinary history.”

After the museum we went back to Kelly´s residence and had some lunch. Kelly was meeting with one of her profs at 1 PM about one of her courses for the next term, so I had some time to kill and updated this post.

Later we went over to the Hallgrim´s Church. We went up into the tower and heard the bells chime up close and personal. They´re pretty loud. Since the tower is one of the tallest structures in Reykjavik you get a very good panoramic view of the city. I took a number of pictures. I´m not sure if I´ll be able to post them here.

The following is taken from the internet.

“HALLGRIM'S CHURCH

The church of Hallgrimur is the crown on Iceland's capital with its magnificent 73 m high steeple rising above all other buildings in Reykjavik. It is the largest church of the country with a seating capacity for 1200 people in the nave. It was under construction longer than any other building in Iceland and has at times generated considerable controversy. Ideally situated on the hill Skolavorduholt, overlooking the centre of old Reykjavik, the site for Hallgrims church was in fact set aside early this century for the purpose of building just such a large church to serve the eastern part of the rapidly growing town.

The name of the Rev. Hallgrimur Petursson (1614-1674), without a doubt Iceland's most beloved poet, was soon linked to the plans for the proposed church. He influenced the nation's spiritual development perhaps more than any other person, and generation after generation of Icelanders have read, memorized and quoted his best known work, Hymns of the Passion. Iceland adopted Christianity in the year 1000 and was a part of the Roman Catholic Church until the Reformation in the 16th century, when the Icelandic church became Lutheran. to this day about 95% of the Icelandic population belongs to the Lutheran Church.”

Across the street from the church is another art museum. It was called Einar Jonsson Museum. Although the museum itself was closed you could still go into the yard and see the sculptures that were displayed there. Although it had some interesting sculptures, the one that sticks in my mind is the one of a guy lying underneath a cow suckling on her teats while her head is between his legs. Get the image.

We went down to the harbourfront and came upon the following sculpture called the Sólfar (Sun Voyager). It´s been referred to a stylized Viking ship.

The following is taken from the internet.

There was a picture of the ship but it didn't show up when I posted.

In the evening Kelly and I went for dinner at Caruso, one of the fine dining establishments in downtown Reykjavik and very expensive. I really need a raise. It was a nice meal. We had garlic bread for starters, a bottle of wine, Kelly had a pasta dish and I had the fillet of lamb and Kelly had a dessert. That must have done it. It was the dessert. Total came to over 11,000 Kr. About $225 for two people.