TUESDAY

         I woke around 7 am and decided I better have a shower and coffee rather then try and catch anymore sleep and miss the day.  Sam woke around 8 am and the Sun came out.

 I was startled, not have seen the Sun since my arrival!    I thought the volcano erupted. The sun is up almost 24 hours a day in the summer.  This allows the farmers to get 5 crop yields in 3 months to take them through the winter.  Hot houses are used also.  I made some coffee in Sam's French Press and started out around 9:45 to catch the Get On/Off bus just up the street. 
         I noticed there are no Stop Sign at any of the streets.  Only painted crosswalks and when you set one foot out the traffic stops.  It is the same in Antwerp Belgium.  A survey discovered there were less accidents and more awareness without the signs.  

Only one park bench because it's alway wet so no one can sit on it anyway.

They do have signal lights at major intersections but that is all.   I also noticed a whole classroom of 15-20 ,maybe 5th or 6th graders...out jogging!  I remember mandatory Physical Education in school twice a week.  I just couldn't imagine the teachers today saying, "OK class, we are going to jog around a few blocks then back to school."   They wore no uniforms or special outfits but seemed to be enjoying it...at least the ones up from..some of the laggards were moping along . Maybe that's what we need to get back on track?

      It was early when I arrived and right after I finished the Best Hot Chocolate in the world..the Bus showed and I was the first customer of the day. First stop was the Perlan.  It is 4 or 5 huge Hot Water Heaters with a revolving restaurant on top...why not.  These large tanks store the hot water from underground in case Reykjavik takes long showers one day and depletes the supply, they back up the city with hot water so they never run out. I got off at that stop and had some Skyr and coffee for breakfast in their cafeteria.

 Skyr...pronounced scare is Iceland very high quality yogurt.  There is a revolving restaurant on the top floor with a glass dome over it that gives you a 360% view of the city as it revolves but doesn't open until 6 pm.   I did take a walk around a walkway on the third floor and captured the view with my camera. 

       An hour later I hopped back on the bus and noticed there are trees in Iceland.  There were a stand of Spruce which is common but they do have other trees...not many but mostly Spruce.  They were chopped down years ago for firewood, and to dry stock fish they sold and stored to eat year round.  Meat was the main dish (Mutton) then fish and potato.  Reykjavik is the Northern most capital in the world.
      I got off at the Viking Museum and saw films and exhibits of the fishing industry from late 1800's to about 1960.  These fisherman were a very hearty group of workers.  Out in freezing water in a dingy with maybe 6 men rowing while catching fish with lines they dropped in the water then at the end of the day setting sails and heading back they processing and salting the fish until late at night.  In the 1930's there were so many that had died at sea they set aside a day of memory for them and celebration for the seaman and their families.  Fisherman would put on all there fish clothes...with oil skins and then jump in the harbor water and have swimming races to one end then rescue another fisherman in clothes and bring him back across the harbor.  I would have died doing that. 

The Chef

     I visited a Seafood restaurant across the street for lunch.  There was two kinds of dried fish with a mustard sauce, broiled fish with bones, fish cakes, creamed fish, different salads and slaws .  I had a bowl of soup then got a platter off this buffet.  There were a lot of construction workers feasting but I didn't think it was all that great.  
     The bus came around again so I boarded and took it back where I started this morning.  There was a Museum of Einar Jonssonar a famous Sculpter.

This was magnificent but no cameras allowed...

 I had been to the Garden behind so decided to visit his home and now Museum that was the first museum in Reykjavik.   Then I returned home where I had a two hour nap and freshened up.  The Bistro I ate at the night before was pretty good so I walked down there and had a light Chicken Normandy...white chicken (dry) in a cream sauce with mushrooms and boiled potatoes.  Sounded good but was Mediocre...so I had a Tiramisu and Armagnac Brandy before returning home.  Tomorrow is my last full day and I may or may not take a tour into the hinterland for 6 hours.  I missed a tour of the Harpa Theater today. Maybe the Sun will stay out longer tomorrow.