Day 1: Reykjavik

The country around Keflavik airport is, well, ugly.  Mudflats, lava rock or ash that looks like unpressed macadam, dead grass and brown lichen.  I thought, "Why did we come here?"  But it improves as you get into Reykjavik, it's greener and there are trees.  The newer developments on the outskirts look like they were built by Ikea.

We are staying in a guesthouse (B&B) near Halgrimskirkja, which is a great landmark to orient yourself by.

Had lunch at Cafe Loki, which serves traditional Icelandic food.  I had smoked lamb on flatbread, which is not like our flatbread.  It was dense and sweet and probably made of rye; the smokes lamb was thin-sliced and layer on top.  Bear had mashed fish on rye bread.  Kate ordered pancakes, but didn't get what she expected.  She got two rolled up crepes.  Traditional Icelandic food invloves lots of fish lamb bread and dairy - not much fruits or veggies.

We are also very near the Einar Jonnson Gallery, which has a sculpture garden.  There was a class playing hide and seek in while we were there.  The piece below is called Protection, and is what you see as you walk in to the garden.

Did some shopping and sight-seeing in Reykyavik.  Everything is incredibly expensive.  Here are some street views:

Also visited Reykjavik 871 +/-2, which is a museum built around an excavation of a longhouse built in 871, the oldest artifact found so far in Iceland.  I didn't take any pix, as it would just look like a bunch of rocks and dirt, but they had the coolest interactive model using a projector and touch screen technology on a scale model.  All the detail was supplied by projected images, so there as nothing the little hands to break or wear out.

All in all, we did a lot for a jet-lagged day.  Crashed about 8pm Reykjavik time.