Reykjavik Tuesday May 31 2016

Our first glimpse of Reykjavik was a few farm houses on a flat peninsula, followed by more flat land. I was surprised, as I had envisioned a mountainous landscape.
we arrived in Reykjavik airport.

the customs process was welcoming and quick. Bill had purchased a shuttle bus ticket on the plane, and the bus ride was about 45 minutes into the city.
Overcast and low cloud hid most of the mountains but we glimpsed one pointy hill with steam escaping from the ground along the very flat, volcanic-rock covered landscape. 

The HILTON REYKJAVIK NORDICA

 

 was organized enough to have our room ready for us when we arrived at 7:00 a.m., but who wants to waste time sleeping...we are vikings and have new land to discover.

the photos below are taken from the 7th floor of the Hilton. if you look carefully you will see the outlines of the mountains across the water, hidden by cloud. their  names are on this plexiglass window hanging. we never did see the mountains. this is very familiar for Bill & I, growing up at yhe base of the North Shore mountains...if you can't see the mountains- it is raining. if you can see the mountains- it is going to rain. 

We enjoyed a (very expensive) buffet breakfast, after which this Viking Girl needed a short nap. Bill went for a walk & when he returned an hour later,  I was restored & ready to explore. He warned me the wind was cold, and I should wear everything I brought.  So, I did! we bought tickets on the hop-on hop-off bus and headed to the old towne.  The bus stopped right outside our hotel at Sudurlandsbraut 2.

 

our hotel is the 3rd marker top right & down & to left.

So many shoppes full of beautiful wool products..

the bikes are a gate to block vehicles when pedestrians have full access to the main streets.

We walked up the hill(?) to the beautiful church, where we took the elevator & climbed 2 flights of stairs to the open air tower to snap some amazing views of the city. Hallgrímskirkja (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈhatlkrimsˌcʰɪrca], church of Hallgrímur) is a Lutheran (Church of Iceland) parish church in Reykjavík, Iceland. At 73 metres (244 ft), it is the largest church in Iceland and the sixth tallest architectural structure in Iceland.

We then caught the bus to the highest point in the city, fascinating how the city is able to heat it's infrastructure with geothermal fuel.. I can confirm that the 'hot' water tap really is very hot.

Perlan (English: The Pearl) is a landmark building in Reykjavík, the capital of Iceland. It is 25.7 metres (84.3 ft) high. It was originally designed by Ingimundur Sveinsson. Perlan is situated on the hill Öskjuhlíð where there had been hot water storage tanks for decades. In 1991 the tanks were updated and a hemispherical structure placed on top.

We walked around the harbour area, the wind cutting through us like a knife. I can no longer state that Winnipeg has the strongest wind, Reykjavik wins that title!
The hop-on hop-off bus brought us around the city again, and dropped us at the Hilton.
We walked into the restaurant to eat dinner, but were told no table available until 9:00, fortunately we could eat in the lounge. It was hopping! people were lined up 20 deep in a constant flow to buy drinks & the noise level was loud! we declined the suggestion to have the house specialty 'roast horse meat' (??!!?!)
we finished our meal and waited an hour to pay our bill, the staff were overwhelmed, the manager apologized, saying there was a 'Simply Red' concert and they were caught off guard.
We trundled off to bed.