Today we decided to lounge around the apartment until 11 a.m. then headed out to explore the city. We walked to the western side of town and found a Catholic church - Cathedral of Christ the King. The interior was decorated for what we figured was a wedding to be taking place in the very near future.
We made our way down to the water's edge and watched tour boats and whale-watching boats come in the bay. John chickened out and decided not to dip his foot into the North Atlantic Ocean.
After grabbing some lunch, we made our way towards the northern end of the city, stopping along the way to take pictures with a couple of locals. :)
Our main objective, though was the attraction at the end of this street. A structure that was awe-inspiring from the moment I saw it on the internet. The Hallgrimskirjka, (Church of Iceland) a Lutheran parish church. It's size is incredible. This was built so large by the Icelandic people because they wanted to "outshine" the Catholic cathedral.....and it really does.
Standing before the cathedral is a gift from the United States to Iceland, commemorating Iceland's 1000 anniversary of parliament - a statute of Leif Ericsson.
The inside of the cathedral is, in its own right, as impressive as the exterior. It also houses a large pipe organ.
The alter, pulpit and stained glass window were truly works of art as well.
A person could definitely feel miniscule when seated in the pews, taking in the massiveness of this beautiful cathedral. It was certainly built to withstand the earthquakes which occur in Iceland.
We next decided it was time to make our way down to the Chuck Norris Grill. We spotted it Thursday when we were walking around and decided we needed to try it today. It was literally a little whole-in-the-wall burger joint, but the food was great and of course, John enjoyed his Guinness. :)
John spotted a candy shoppe on the way back...I swear he has the instinct of a bloodhound when it comes to his sweet tooth. He can find chocolate. :) So we stopped into the shop, but only took a couple of pictures of some items we hadn't seen before.
TRUFFLES
and Icelandic Horse poo :)
And we even found a restaurant with a grass roof.
One thing about Reykjavik is a lot of graffiti and murals. The buildings are great to simply look at and are amazing in color, but it is rare to find one not marked by graffiti.
When you come to Iceland, make sure you have a lot of money if you are planning to shop as it is very expensive. They use the Icelandic Krone - 1000 krone is equal to about $10.00 US. Just as an example, for our lunch today, John had a bowl of homemade mushroom soup with bread and a soda and I had a burger with fries and a single espresso -- that was over 50 US dollars. We have not purchased many souvenirs. AND --- in some places you have to pay to use the "water closet" a/k/a bathroom. It cost me four bucks just to tinkle twice when we were on the Golden Circle Tour yesterday. Yes, we knew before coming here things were expensive, but the actual cost of simple things was a bit of a sticker shock. Of course, just about everything here is imported. They have no agriculture since the land is volcanic. Their industries are fishing/whaling and tourism. Don't get me wrong --- this is an incredible country - beautiful language (even though we could not speak a word of it), scenery is unlike anything you've ever experienced before, the air is so fresh and water is so pure, their history is ancient, and their plight for their freedom is an inspiring story. So very glad we came here to experience this incredible culture. AND I LOVE THEIR CLOTHING FASHION!!! :)
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