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The host parents were otherwise occupied so we were to have a self-guided day today. The night before my sister and I had talked about going in to Reykjavík again. I said I wanted to go to art museums and bookstores, and she said, “sounds good.” Uh OK. I realized I’d been hoping that maybe that wouldn’t sound so interesting and she and WCN would volunteer that they were going to do something else.
No, it’s me needs some alone time. Right, we hadn’t really had a specific discussion about the expectations before hand (note to self?) but hey at least you realized that’s what you need so you can put on the big girl panties and speak up now. Which, I sorta did by getting up and being ready to go before the others are, saying I wanted to do my own thing and heading out.
There was a bit of drizzle but I walked over to the bus stop. It was a nice ride in to Reykjavík, and I got off near Harpa and went over and walked around inside. From there it was a short walk over to Reykjavík Art Museum – Hafnarhús. Turned out the City Library was right next door!
Reykjavík Art Museum has three locations, and you can go to all three on the same admission on the same day. The route I’d mapped out took me along the waterfront and up to Ásmundarsafn next. Just past Harpa there was a couple who looked like they were geocaching. Going this way took me by the Sun Voyager sculpture as well. Although it wasn’t a sunny day it was neat to get an up close view, and perhaps due to the weather it was pretty quiet. There were a few other tourists though, and one woman asked me to take her picture with the sculpture but had forgotten to take her phone off of selfie mode. There was a bit of a language barrier, but we figured it out.
As I was walking along there was the seeping realization that perhaps the shoes I was wearing weren’t completely waterproof. oopsies. Well at least I had a good rain jacket and an umbrella. The rain eased so I was able to enjoy the sculpture garden at Ásmundarsafn. The moisture gave added visual interest to many of the pieces, although I didn’t realize at the time that it also reflected the red of my camera, which turned out to be rather distracting in the pictures. moreoopsies. The inside portion of the museum was also quite lovely.
Next up was Kjarvalsstaðir, the third location of the Reykjavík Art Museum, which I also quite enjoyed. I thought one of the places Brooke recommended checking out was on my way back to downtown and bookstores, but I struck out there. Also struck out on an ice cream place, but there was an awesome bakery on the corner. The sweet looking cinnamon buns lured me in, but then the person in front of me got bread bread with butter and OHIWANTWHATTHEYHAD. The counter person let me pick my bread, and set out the crock of butter with a knife so I could butter! So simple and tasty (I found myself wondering if there’s anywhere that does that in the States?)
Then it was bookstores, with some success, and some not so much, and the day was getting on so I headed back toward the bus stop by Harpa. The bus just leaving, so I went in to use the bathroom and HEY! the ice cream cart was open. Danish licorice!!!
YUM. Again I enjoyed the sights on the bus trip, including seeing a group ride! Cycling, that is. I missed the closest stop to the Bonus market, and shouldn’t have bothered back tracking, since they were already closed. But there was the sweet town park between me and the apartment, so I took a wander through there. Oh and yes, more ice cream. Well, it was soft serve, so that’s another food group, right? A tasty and filling day – both literally and figuratively!
June 20, 2016
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