June 2025 - Reykjavik Iceland - Toronto
Reykjavik Iceland
Last week's summary included our Thursday flight and Friday's Food Walk is included in Day 1 link above. However here is a collage of what we ate!
Drinks are not included in the price. The tour was €121 per person. Considering, for example the donut is $20 CAD, it wasn't bad. The guide was fun and we wouldn't have tried all these places on our own. It also gave us our bearings around town.
SATURDAY
≈14,000 steps
After a very European breakfast, cold cuts, cheeses, tomatoes, cucumbers, yogurt, pastries and the worst coffee ever, and it didn't improve.
We geared up for our whale watching tour at 9 AM.
John with our reusable water bottles with water straight from the tap, how amazing is that!
Coffee stop after that deplorable hotel coffee.
All Aboard!
Told you we were bundled up!
We did get glimpses of whales and spotted a number of blowholes.
On Thursday I received the photos that the tour had taken on our trip.
We laughed when John was searching for a location and it knew we were in the North Atlantic Ocean and "can't seem to find a way there"!!
It was raining when we got back and it continued all day long.
We spent the rainy, chilly afternoon wandering and it is covered in the Day 2 post.
We even visited the Penis Museum!
The collection begins when our founder and original curator, Sigurður Hjartarson, is given a bull penis pizzle as joke by his teaching staff when he worked as a headmaster in the small town of Akranes. Giving him a phallus, became an ongoing joke and as some of the teachers had summer jobs at a whaling station, Sigurður got some interesting specimens, and an interest in collecting more mammal species developed.
American artist Cynthia Albritton (1947- 2022) from Chicago, Illinois, is best known for making plaster casts of rockstar phalluses. Her ingenious use of the substance alginate made for a solid cast which would later soften and safely exit the mould. Her phallological contribution to popular culture is invaluable and her work has inspired artists across various fields.
One of her first casts was Jimi Hendrix, but after moving to Los Angeles, by patronage of Frank Zappa (1940-1993), she was able to make many more. Her first exhibition was in 2000, in New York. In 2022 she donated, the Jimi "Display Model", from the series 'Dice' to the museum. Donation was facilitated by friends John Culver, Kathy Tynus, Chris Kellner and Babette Novak.
Jimi met Cynthia Albritton in 1968. She had intended to make a cast of his bass player, Noel Redding (1945-2003), but his erection failed him and then Jimi stepped in to fill his shoes. The result was what may be the most famous penis cast in history.
Some more wandering.
Heading out to our dinner splurge, we stopped into a convenience store.
he oldest bookstore in Reykjavik, Iceland, is Eymundsson, established in 1872. It was founded by Sigfús Eymundsson, who was a photographer and bookbinder. Initially named "Bókaverslun Sigfúsar Eymundsson", it has remained at the same location on Austurstræti, though the building was rebuilt in 1960. Eymundsson is known for its extensive collection of Icelandic and foreign literature, stationery, and gifts, and often hosts literary events.
What an incredible meal at The Fish Company.
How cute is this!! The bill was presented in a change purse.
This photo was taken at 10 PM. For 3 hours of twilight, the sun sits just below the horizon and delivers lingering natural light.
≈17,000 steps
This was supposed to be our Golden Circle tour day but I didn't feel great and we both went back to bed and slept until 12:30!!! We are good at pivoting and by the end of the day had developed another plan that allowed us to do everything we wanted.
We went for crepes (gluten free!) and coffee $68 CAD. Then we spent the day strolling around town.
We went to the church.
Lundi is the Icelandic word for puffin, making the name as short and easy to remember as the lovable creature it refers to. Although they aren’t the national animal of Iceland, you might get the impression that they are, especially when walking along the shopping streets in Reykjavík. This cute little bird is the superstar of all the local gift shops! When you want a puffin shop, “Lundinn” is the name to look for!
Coffee shop - hygge means quality of coziness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being (regarded as a defining characteristic of Danish culture).
The Kingdom of Iceland (Icelandic: Konungsríkið Ísland; Danish: Kongeriget Island) was a sovereign and independent country under a constitutional and hereditary monarchy that was established by the Act of Union with Denmark signed on 1 December 1918. It lasted until 17 June 1944 when a national referendum established the republic of Iceland in its place.
Typical snack food.
We wandered down to the harbour.
Refilling our water bottles. You can drink directly from public water fountains and taps, as the tap water is exceptionally clean and safe to drink. Locals often refer to it as "kranavatn," and it's considered a premium quality, environmentally friendly option. Many tourists are encouraged to bring reusable bottles and fill them up at these fountains, reducing plastic waste.
Icelandic tap water is known for its purity as the water undergoes natural filtration through lava rock, resulting in a clean and safe source.
Waiting for my hot dog.
Across the street.
Pósthustræti 2 — one of the relatively few buildings in Reykjavík that has simply stood, more or less unaltered, since 1919. The building was designed by Iceland’s State Architect Guðjón Samúelsson, who managed during his 30 year tenure to build the bulk of Reykjavík’s most prominent buildings, including Hallgrímskirkja, the main building of the University of Iceland, Hotel Borg, The Iceland Art Museum, The National Museum, the old Hospital building and the first indoor swimming pool in Reykjavík, to name a few.
It was originally built as the offices of Iceland’s first shipping company Eimskip, founded in 1914. It became a hotel in 2004, but until then the front of the building featured Eimskip’s original logo; a swastika. Because the building was on the list of historical sites in Iceland, the symbol could not be destroyed, so it was simply covered up when Radisson SAS renovated the building into a hotel. The shipping company stopped using the building during World War 2, but why the swastika was displayed until 2004, we have no clue.
Eimskip adopted the logo some years earlier than an at-the-time obscure political party in Weimar era Germany. Prior to the Nazi’s adopting it, the symbol was used for various purposes by various parties all over the world, from an Irish laundry company to the Finnish Air Force. Nobody cared who used it first, because it was stigmatized beyond repair — making the fact that the symbol remained for so long even less comprehensible.
Back to prices, here is a typical breakfast menu.
John is blown away by a single egg costing $7. But then 2 eggs plus bacon and bagel is $32.
Chips (dedicated GF fryer) for dinner and Gull makes gluten free beer.
≈21,000 steps
We went to the puffin tour office at the harbour and they were very obliging and moved our puffin tour until tomorrow which meant we could do the Golden Circle tour at 12:30 from the bus terminal. We grabbed pizza slices.
It cost John 200 kr to go to the bathroom, credit card accepted, no cash.
The Golden Circle bus tour takes you on a day trip to see the world-famous Geysir geothermal area and Gullfoss, the queen of Icelandic waterfalls, as well as Thingvellir National Park.
Geysir Geothermal Park
The Geysir geothermal area boasts spouting springs, including Strokkur, the most active geyser in Iceland.
If you don't want to be drenched stay up-wind.
Gullfoss Waterfall
At Gullfoss you are given the opportunity to stand next to the amazing waterfall, watching enormous quantities of water tumble violently into a deep, meandering gorge.
Thingvellir National Park
Whether you take the morning or the afternoon tour, you will spend your time encountering a cross-section of Iceland's natural wonders and geological phenomena at Thingvellir National Park, an area of historical and geological significance.
This was a real favourite of ours.
Bonus was getting dropped off in town by the church saving us a taxi from the bus terminal.
We went for a beer at the Viking bar.
Dinner $108 CAD for 2 beer and 4 tacos! Lamb and cod.
≈10000 steps
We dressed for the puffin tour at 10 AM and left our luggage at the hotel after checking out.
From there we grabbed an early lunch of fish and chips.
Then dessert at Hresso.
We headed back to the hotel, changed and headed to the airport for our 5 PM flight.
And just like that we're home!
And a new dot on the map!
Wednesday and we didn't have any jetlag. John headed out to his weekly golf game. I went to Longo's for some groceries. Then I worked on my blog and sorted photos. I took John's videos and converted them to MP4s.
The annual fire inspection was done while we were away.
The underground garage power wash was also done while we were away.
Thursday we had a lazy day at home. We started the certified exit to get rid of our timeshare. We'll see how that goes as we have no plans to go to the States and the maintenance fee payments are in US $ so we do not want to contribute to the US economy.
I finished my daily Iceland recaps. I received the photos from the whale watching tour, their photos were not much better than ours.
Friday I did some laundry (John needed his hat for golf)! I went to Longo's for weekend vegetables and ice cream as we want to make date shakes on the weekend!
EATING/COOKING
Saturday Reykjavik
Sunday Reykjavik
Monday Reykavik
Tuesday Transit
Wednesday cheeseburgers and potato chips
Thursday lamb Shepherd's pie using Jamie's recipe from his Comfort Food cookbook
Friday steak, sauteed mushrooms, green peppers, onions and a (shared) baked potato
WATCHING
We both watched
Just Mercy on the plane coming home. World-renowned civil rights defense attorney Bryan Stevenson works to free a wrongly condemned death row prisoner.
To Catch a Killer An intuitive but troubled police officer is recruited by an FBI expert to stop a relentless shooter who is terrorizing Baltimore.
Cleaner is a 2025 British action thriller film starring Daisy Ridley, Taz Skylar and Clive Owen.
Criminal activists hijack a gala, taking 300 hostages. One extremist plans mass murder as a message to the world. An Ex-soldier turned window cleaner now works to rescue the hostages.
5lb of Pressure Trying to start over, Adam searches for redemption as he returns to his old neighborhood to put to rest his demons while the brother of the man he killed seeks revenge.
READING
The Quaker Liam McIlvanney is a new author to me whom I am really enjoying. Loosely based on the ‘Bible John’ serial killer that plagued Glasgow in the late 1960’s.
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