Reykjavik, Day 3

 I slept late this morning, so I missed everyone else out jogging or for a walk. It is 15°C and very sunny! The look out the window where I am writing is stunning:

We went for a walk downtown with about 10.000 other people! The place was packed with tourists, partially of course because there was a big cruise ship in the harbor. We first went to see the Harpa opera house and wanted to go to the top, but it was closed for some conference or other. 

We made reservations for dinner at the Tides, as it was clear that everyone and his brother would be out on the town this lovely day. The sun shone and it must have been 15 or 16°C. We had a lovely walking tour, stopping midway for coffee and delicious cakes at the Mokka Kaffi on the pedestrian zone. The street has been painted in rainbow colors, people stop to take selfies of themselves.

We walked through the sculpture garden of Einar Jónsson. He made quite a lot of sculptures that can be found mostly in Iceland, but also in the USA and Canada. Many of the ones in the garden have grief and sadness as a theme. This one, „Protection“, is in front of the house where he lived and worked, just the other side of the Hallgrímskirkja. 

It was fun walking down streets that were not full of tourists, peering into little gardens where people were sunning themselves, seeing the treasures they had on display on their window sills, and then sitting by the Tjörnin, a little lake in town soaking up the sun ourselves.

We had a rest before heading out to dinner. We started with drinks at Harpa, then really excellent food at Tides, and closing with more drinks at the bar in Kónsulat. Yes, alcohol is expensive in Iceland. But when you haven‘t seen your friends for 7 years, you need a night on the town!