Around Reykjavik the Next Few Days

So here are a few sights in the city of Reykjavik. Two structures dominate the city skyline (and I use the term "skyline" loosely as there are not too many really tall buildings. To dominate the skyline, a building pretty much has to be on a hilltop). The first is The Pearl, a hot water tower converted into a luxury restaurant, tourist center and museum. The Saga Museum is a privately owned and operated wax museum displaying scenes from the Icelandic Sagas. Better attraction than I expected. My favorite tableau for sentimental reasons was from this great story from the sagas, one I tell my American History students most years, about the attempted settlement of North America. A financial transaction with the locals turned into a nasty business when the natives attacked the village. Surrounded and outnumbered the men fled to the longships at the bay, leaving one sincerely PO'ed woman named Freydis, daughter of Erik the Red. Freydis' ire simmered to a raging boil as she waddled her mighty pregnant frame along the path to the ships with arrows flying and warriors running passed her. According to the legend she came upon one dead warrior, picked up his broad sword and turned to face the natives alone. The kicker comes when she (version vary here about whether she simply lowered her neckline to expose her breast or lifted her skirt to expose her bloated belly and her breasts - as a family attraction Saga went with the more subtle version) slaps her swollen breast with the flat of the blade and screams, halting the attacking aborigines in their tracks, thereby saving the settlement.




The more impressive of the two structures is the Hallgrimskirche, a sort of national (Lutheran) cathedral. The architect used the concept of basaltic columns (sort of long six sided crystals formed from cooling lava - Think Devil's Tower Wyoming from Close
Encounters of the Third Kind) to design the facade. It is beautiful inside as well, a combination of protestant elegance with Scandinavian simplicity. I especially liked the baptismal fount that looks like it was carved from ice.









We lucked out while there and got to here the organist practicing. He threw out a really beautiful Liszt piece that I have long admire. The acoustics were tremendous.

















Below are the outside of the front door and the inside of the door:





















A last detail is the back side of the statue in front. It is Leif Ericson depicted and the text reads that the sculpture is a gift from the United States.






















Some Important historical details. This is Hordi House, where Nixon and Brezhnev met:








This Gamli Gardur, Eryn's dormitory. The "hotel" sign at the top indicates the building functions as a haven for visitors at the height of the tourist season.







Some amazing historical artifacts were visible in the museums around town. Some really ancient manuscripts were on display at one locale, this one is one of the oldest existing copies of the laws of Iceland, the Jonsbok:














This is one of my favorites on display because of the story behind its size. These are two palm sized manuscripts of the Saga of St. Margaret. Women pray to her during childbirth and the book is placed against the thighs to relieve the pain:










Wood in Iceland is scarce so anything made of wood that is old is a right precious artifact. These are details from a church door that I thought looked very cool, the top and bottom respectively. Actually what appears to be the top is actually thought to be the middle of the original door as it is believed to have been that much higher. Look at the door to the Hallgrimskirche to get an idea.
































A last bit of wooden wonder: The figure on below is thought to be the earliest Icelandic depiction of Satan (tempting a saint on the right). Evidently once salvaged from a church to serve as a rafter for a barn, it got salvaged once again to wind up in the National Museum.


















With minutes to go before closing, we stumbled on this cool hands-on display of things allowing your to play a little dress up. Eryn skipped the traditional Icelandic clothing for a stab at channeling her inner warrior