If you want to get to Iceland before it’s discovered, too late. While we found the Eastern, Northern and Western fjords of Iceland pleasantly un-trampled Reykjavik, which is a tidy little city, is overrun. While we were in port we saw 5 other ships, all of them larger than Prinsendam, come in and out. And that is not to mention all the Icelandair stopover packages and the increasing number of people coming to Iceland as its own destination. Some of the streets had tour buses double parked so it was impossible for anyone to pass. The tourist sites were packed, but downtown, and just outside of downtown we found pleasant areas to walk and a nice coffee and pastry shop to take some time and enjoy. Because of fires, and the fact that wood is just not easy to get in Iceland, the town is a mix of older corrugated metal buildings fading into poured concrete with some nice art deco (I include a picture of the National Theater because some of you theater types will like the deco fly) and ending with the modern glass box. The new concert hall is a good example of that. It’s the one with all the busses lined up blocking both lanes.
After yesterday in the rain I was a bit tired and achy so was not to ambitious. We did a couple of circuits of the hop-on-hop-off bus. “The Pearl” is one of the stranger attractions. It sets a glass dome on top of 6 huge hot water tanks on top of a hill. The tanks provide hot water for the city and the hill the gravity to feed the water to the house. The dome gives folks a panoramic view, and for those who missed the Golder Circle there is a fake geyser that spouts off at regular intervals. Intriguing as it seemed, we didn’t hop off but I was tempted.
