People from our group came in on 3 different flights, so we collected them all (12 others) and got to our hotel around 8:30am. We immediately set off on a walking tour around the hotel, which is about 3K outside of downtown Reykjavik, but very close to a large park/botanical garden/sports complex. One of the first interesting things we learned is that people in Iceland do not have water heaters. The hot water and cold water systems are completely separate, and all the hotwater is from hot geothermal springs -- it gets to the houses at about 180 degrees and when it has run its course thru the house, can be diverted to sidewalks and driveways to melt the snow and ice in winter. Our guide, Snorri (named for and a descendent of the most famous early writer in Iceland, Snorri Sturluson) showed us some of the many pumps located around the city. I should have taken pictures.....
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| Snorri with some of our group. Our hotel is in the background behind him. |
We saw a lovely collection of labeled flowers in the botanical garden, followed by some very cool sculptures nearby, then wandered to a hot spring used by local women to wash their clothing -- sort of a communal wash room. No soap required when the water is boiling!
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| Labeled flowers |
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| Sculpture amid the flowers: water flows out the middle. |
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| Sculpture in garden - name was something like 'falling off' -- that's a horse and soon to be ex-rider... |
Back at our hotel, the room was ready and we had just 90 minutes to unpack, refresh, and taking a walking tour of downtown Reykyavik. This was optional, but truly in our best interests as we adjust to being 7 hrs ahead of San Francisco. The hotel offered a one way shuttle, so we had the option of walking or taking a cab back (guess what we did--walked of course! Vikings started coming to Iceland in the 800s and originally called it Snowland, and then another guy named it after himself. One nasty year led him to call it Iceland, and it stuck. The weather is more temperate than you would anticipate -- summer highs get into the 60s and winter lows get down around freezing. The hottest on record is 78 and the coldest is only -13.There are about 320,000 people in Iceland, and 67% of them are here in Reykjavik, a very international city, if you go by the types of restaurants.
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| Oldest building remaining in Reykjavik -- altho all the timbers may have been replaced. |
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| An interesting option for a Mexican restaurant.....Traditional Icelandic dishes. | | | |
After our historical walk, we explored the harbor area, the downtown, and started the walk back to the hotel. We noticed a really interesting steeple along the way and hiked up closer to see the Hallgrimmskirkja, a Lutheran cathedral. In front, there was a statue dedicated to Lief Erikson by the US in honor of the establishment of the Althing, an early parliament, 1000 years ago, around the year 1000.
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| Colorful houses, mostly sided and roofed with corragated metal |
Back at the hotel, we had a welcome meeting with our fellow travelers, dinner, then headed back to our room to try to catch up on sleep.
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