Before I get started on my love of Iceland I just want to remind everyone that you can click on the images of these posts to enlarge the photos. I should have mentioned that previously in the Russia blog so you can get a better view of the church. But I'm telling you non tech-savvy people now.
Only getting to visit Iceland once this summer I needed to make it count. We had an overnight in Reykjavik and then went to Akureyri. It's probably a good thing that we only visit once because it is one of the most expensive places I have every been (along with Copenhagen and Norway).
Reykjavik is the capital city of Iceland and what an awesome tiny city it is. It is so colorful with lots of art and murals. I go on a mural hunt and photograph my favorites. I spent the a good amount of time just exploring the city. Here is an awesome stainless steel sculpture known as the Sun Voyager that is located along the water and near the city center. I really love this structure and it matches my new silver down jacket I had to buy to keep myself warm on this damn Baltic and Arctic itinerary! Who am I kidding I requested this freezing voyage and love it!
A major attraction of this city is the Hallgrimskirkja. Say that three times fast. It's a church yes but an epic piece of architecture and is so tall that it can be seen from most spots around the city. I have posted this before, but Joe got a great photo of the back here on his awesome camera, so I wanted to include it. It was designed to resemble the basalt lava flows of Iceland's landscape and took 38 years to build. There was an observation tower but I was too cheap to go in.
An artsy quick pic from the inside doorway. I didn't go much further.
Some really neat street art in the making.
There is an obsession with trolls in Iceland and Norway. Even though I really wanted my picture with this creepy statue I don't get the allure.
Color and detail added to many buildings helps to keep spirits up in a place that is cold and overcast most of the year.
I really wanted to buy one of these but they were a bit out of my price range. What a neat idea and I loved the style of the illustrations. Iceland has similar design style as Scandinavia and there were dozens of items I could have taken home.
Stopped in a local spot called Fish for a hot cup of coffee, wifi and an amazing bowl of their fish stew which had carrot, red pepper and ginger flavors. These Icelanders know how to cook!
This gentleman whose name is Ellert used to work on Celebrity for many years as a drummer in the orchestra. He is from Iceland and several of the musicians got in touch with him to hang out while we were docked here. Luckily for us he was performing at a local bar during our overnight and that was super fun to hang out and support. Notice not only is his t-shirt the Icelandic flag but also his guitar. Hilarious.
One experience I never got photographs from was my visit to the Blue Lagoon. So I told myself that was a good enough excuse to go back ha! It is a very popular destination and the Eclipse did a crew tour for us. Such a cool experience I am super lucky to get to go back. It's a geothermal spa surrounded by lava fields. The scenery is great but it's ten times better when you go in for a soak.
(Teammate Chris, and musician friends Mike and Joe)
It is a full on spa with showers and changing rooms as well as your typical spa services but after the admission price I could barely afford the $10 cheap beer. There are mounds of silica located around the spa to apply to your face until it hardens 10 minutes later and it supposedly softens your skin. I think it was just an excuse for us to take stupid photos. I was not going to be here again without awesome proof. So I braved it bringing my iphone in like a nut. Don't worry I have insurance :)
Akureyri is not nearly as exciting and most people take off on tours out of the tiny town. Sometimes it's okay to have a less adventuresome day because you will burn out from work-cation. It's a very small town but I took a stroll to a botanical garden, got a tasty burger at a place with a slogan "Please to Meat You" and then hit up two small art exhibits. I will admit the art was surprisingly cool.
View from just outside of the ship.
View in the botanical garden.
A funny piece of street art. Vessel man.
A graphic design show.
And some good but weird art.
No comments:
Post a Comment