August 14th // Exploring Reykjavik Keep

     Downtown Reykjavik & Wall Poetry // Culture ●

     On our second day in Reykjavik we decided to explore the city.  That morning we got up fairly late because we were used to going to bed when it became dark, but in Iceland during the summer the Midnight Sun causes it to be light out nearly all night.  Said to have magic properties, the Midnight Sun happens in countries either north or south of the Arctic Circle, because the rays of the sun shine directly onto certain European countries during this time, the most northern ones remain sunny at all hours of the day, but in the Arctic Circle itself, the Polar night occurs.  During the Polar Night the opposite happens, where the night is nearly all day.  During the winter these phenomenons reverse, and Iceland is engulfed in darkness for about 20 hours a day.  Along with that Iceland is four hours ahead of the East Coast, so sleeping was a bit difficult to adjust to.        
     Anyway, the weather was much nicer so we decided to park the car downtown and walk. It’s got a strange vibe, almost retro.  Either the buildings themselves, or their roofs, are brightly colored so as to shine through even the gloom of the winter. It’s very common for places with weather on the grayer side to have vibrantly painted buildings, and the neon colors and salty smell almost reminded me of San Francisco. 
     I had never seen anything like this, the whole town looked as if it had been torn straight out of the pages of a child’s coloring book--brightly colored, triangular sloped roofs, boxy buildings. Perhaps because the weather is usually gray, perhaps because we were pretty jet-lagged, the colors seemed very striking. The grass seemed so much greener when contrasted with the sky, almost ultraviolet. And there were small daisy bushes all over the place--which caused Abby to sneeze quite a bit.  However, along with the old, there was a surprising futuristic element to may of the newer buildings.  Several buildings were made almost entirely of glass.  They looked incredible and many of the buildings themselves looked like delicate works of art. 
 

Downtown Reykjavik 

     Although most Icelanders are reserved, a friendly local man with a thick beard recommended for us to go to the roof of a building to get a better view of all the roofs, saying it was a sight to see. We told him that we weren't sure which building it would be okay to do so at, but coincidentally he was a pub owner and let us borrow his rooftop.

On the corner of Vesturgata and 
Norðurstígur:

  DEIH XLF with Vök, inspired by 
the song “Waterfall” by Vök  

    We decided to walk a few blocks over to see what Icelanders call “Wall poetry,” or as we Americans call it, street art.  Although street art and small murals can be found all over town, we wanted to go further downtown to where they where there would be even more.  Every year in November, there is a music festival where they make giant murals, often inspired by the music played there. It's called the Iceland Airwaves festival, and the wall poetry is a collaboration with Urban Nations. Each mural is inspired by a song, or multiple songs, from ten different musicians, and are made by ten different street artists. The paintings are visible before the festival starts on November 2nd, and they stay up until the next year, and then they are painted over. It was really cool to see them, even though it was quite a long walk because they're spread all over downtown. We found a playlist on Spotify of all the songs that inspired the murals and listened to each corresponding song as we admired it.They were massive and some were even brighter colored than the buildings themselves. 

Taylor: I bet you I could back flip like him.
Taylor: proceeds to attempt, but trips    

 

     Reykjavik Old Harbour // History ●

 There’s this main street that goes through the whole town and leads to the tallest building, the Hallgrímskirkja church. The building is almost triangular shaped and so tall it hurts to crane your neck to look at the top. We decided to save it for after dinner because we had heard that the Midnight Sun causes it to turn a pinkish hue at night. We walked around the more central area of downtown and picked up little nick-knacks along the way. 
     Apparently, in Iceland Puffins are a really big deal.  Everywhere we went we saw little puffin themed items; everybody seemed to really love the little pudgy birds. Which is ironic because their national animal is actually a falcon that eats the poor things. Another thing ironic about their love for puffins is that they eat them--turns out they taste like chicken.
     We went down to the main harbor in Reykjavik to see all of the boats. The water reflected the sky and looked absolutely spectacular. From just about anywhere you can see the mountains just beyond Reykjavik, but from the port they seem almost like holograms. The water reflects them and you almost want to dive into the water to touch them (although it's not recommended the water is very cold) Because Iceland is an island, boats are really important. Almost everybody has one. The rows of boats seemed to go on forever. Little arms of warfs jut off on the right side, and small buildings frame the left. 
     Some of the locals complain that the city has its charm since the internist in modern design before the recession in 2008, but they love the harbor because it has the eclectic vibe from formative years.  Its colorful and since its construction in 1913 (and completion in 1917) it's been a hub for good old community.  Multiple companies for whale watching boat tours work are located there, but they get along very well.  We rented a fishing pole for 30 usd and fished for a few hours.  Alissa caught an Atlantic Salmon, which is indigenous to Iceland.  It was huge and Abby named it Olaf, after the snowman from Frozen.  She was understandably crushed when a Fisherman gutted him.  "I guess you could say Olaf wasn't the only one who was gutted," I said. She just kept sobbing and punched me, and I stuck my tongue out at her.  Taylor and Kyndall each caught their own fish (Elsa and Anna) and Abby dramatically threw them into the water yelling, "Be free!"  None of us told her that Elsa was immediately scooped up by another fisherman.  

The harbor 

   
    We ate lunch at a little, but popular, pub called The Dubliner. The interior was very rustic feeling and there were little triangle banners strung around to decorate. We sat in a big, clunky, booth and ate cheese burgers. After lunch we wandered around some more and found a few cute shops. It was a bit of a challenge communicating with people, but luckily most people there speak English as well as their native language of Icelandic. Any gaps we either used Google Translate or Kyndall, who had learned some essential phrases on the flight over with an English to Icelandic dictionary. ￭

 
     Hallgrímskirkja Church // History ●

   Finally it was late in the night and we could go see the Hallgrímskirkja church. It was truly spectacular. It's hard to describe just how impressive it is. But I feel like Alissa did a pretty good job of summing it up: “Wow.” 

This is the church at 12 AM

     Although it was founded in 1945, it was built between 1945 and 1986 (a whole 38 years!), with an architectural style very similar to the Grundtvig's Church of Copenhagen in Denmark.
     Reykjavik is the largest city in Iceland with a population of roughly 119,000, out of the total 320,000 in the country.  In comparison, the US has 318.9 million people.  After their fight for independence from Denmark in the late 19th through mid 20th century, urbanization began and citizens moved from rural Iceland and formed more modern cities.
    The city was founded in 1986, after they gained independence in 1944, as a hub for trade.   So, because of this, it makes a lot of sense that the church was finished in 1986 despite it's previous founding. Guðjón, the architect, was heavily influenced by Icelandic architecture which is focused on Icelandic nature and was meant to be in harmony with the landscape.
It's a Lutheran church, and at approximately 239 feet tall, it's the tallest building in Reykjavik. Inside there is an enormous pipe organ which is absolutely beautiful. It weighs two tons and is 50 feet tall. There's a large blue-ing copper statue in the center of a courtyard, which was really impressive. It is of Leif Erickson, a famous viking, and was a gift from the US in 1930 to celebrate the 1000th anniversary of Iceland's parliament.  
     The whole building glowed a soft coral pink, it looked like it was behind an invisible pane of stained glass with the sun shining through it. Some locals told us about how, during Gay Pride week, which is very important in Iceland-- their mayor even dresses up in drag for it--the main street leading up to the church is painted rainbow.  

Hallgrímskirkja and the statue of Leif Erikson