To the Frozen North - Reykjavik, Iceland's Capital day One

"The Troll's Wife" opposite Reykjavik

Downtown Reykjavik

Opposite Reykjavik Harbour

I got up at 0620 & went on deck to get the view of the city as we came in. This was the weather we had been waiting for: sunny & a largely clear sky.

The shuttle bus dropped us by the new concert hall, a remarkable building of glass. We walked into the Old Town & eventually found the old cathedral & Parliament Building. There were some older buildings, mostly attractively painted corrugated iron. Later, the afternoon tour guide Ursula talked about their 'beautiful corrugated iron buildings' but she was a bit wacky, as she talked much about preserving their environment & wild life, of which, there is very little. So, we did Reykjavik in about 75 minutes, although we did not go to the newer part, as the shuttle bus only ran hourly & we had to be back for lunch at 12 sharp for the afternoon tour.

'Beautiful' corrugated iron house (according to a tour guide)

Public Art

Reykjavik has quite a large hinterland of commercial & industrial buildings, much larger than one would expect & not at all photogenic.

Main Street

More typical buildings

Cod War warship