Reykjavik happened for two reasons. I had gone the year before, had a blast, and subsequently lost all my photos and videos and There was an Iceland Air sale. Fortunately the sale happened early because hotels can be expensive and sell out in advance. I managed to score a double with shared bath at Hostel Village. I’d stayed there before and was hoping for the main building where they served breakfast, but we got the building 2 doors down and found out there was no breakfast. Not a problem really as there was a kitchen. But I’m getting a little ahead of myself.
We landed at 6:15am and made our way to the Orange center where we’d booked our car (at a good price too). Our first order of business was the Blue Lagoon which we had also booked far in advance. Rather than be late, we booked for 10am, but got there by 8:45. They made us wait. So we sat and had a coffee. We checked in and despite it being freezing, at least it wasn’t raining. 
The Blue Lagoon is lovely and a must do, but I don’t know if one need to go more than once. Once is probably enough. We spent a couple hours there, and then turned back to the road to see some local sites. There’s a road that rings the lower peninsula below the airport (that includes the road to Blue Lagoon) so we drove along that before heading to Reykjavik. Along the way are three cool sites.
Brimketill is a cool landscape by the ocean with wicked waves. There’s a story about Oddny, that’s a little too long to share here, that you should look up to bring life to it. Next was Gunnuhver which is a series of natural hot pools that shows the natural landscape, NO swimming. This one has folklore about someone named Gunna that is both dark and disturbing. 
Finally there’s the Bridge between two continents. There’s some cool black lava along the way to the city. I do recommend sticking to the speed limit, although the desire will be to speed. There’s unseen cameras along the way that send tickets to speeders so be forewarned. Obey the LAW! I did NOT learn this the hard way, btw.
We checked in and then ate in the Hlemmur food hall. There’s a few options with different types of food. We sampled from two or three stalls and shared. Afterward we did some food shopping at the nearby 10/11 (a grocery store open from (roughly) 10 to 11. We did a little drive and walk-about in the center, bought the City Card for 72 hours and ended the evening at the Sundhollin Pool practically across the street from the hostel. They have an indoor lap pool and two outdoor sitting pools. They also have a dry and wet sauna. Nice place despite being one of the older pools.
The next morning we got up around 9, in the dark, had breakfast and started with the Kjarvalsstadir Art Museum, Flokgata 1600. This one is in a nice building and has two sections with different exhibits. There’s a nice cafe which seemed like the destination for some of the locals. Next we set out for some museums in the center. We started with the Whales of Iceland, which is NOT on the card, but is worth a visit. You could easily spend an hour here and maybe more, if you really want to learn about whales. There’s a shop, it sells sweaters. They are EVERYWHERE. 
Next was SAGA, also not on the card, which is little more than a set of dioramas and wax figures. There is a dress up and photo area and there is an audio guide to give more details about the exhibit. We enjoyed it for a little bit, but we did get bored. Next up was the Hafnarhus art museum (there are 3) on Tryggvagata. There’s a bunch of different galleries with rotating exhibits so it can be hit or miss, a cafe, and a shop. The building is also fun as it was an old warehouse. Right next door is the Museum of Photo which is located on an upper floor of the library. Take the elevator up and walk down, there’s more photos on the way down. The exhibit also changes, but do make note of the lack of smile in the Icelandic photos. It’s a thing. Next up was lunch and we ended up at Shalimar for Pakistani food. The food and service was outstanding. As was the price. HIGHLY recommended.
We ended the day with another pool, this time the Vestrbaejarlaug, a little southwest of city center. This one is definitely more suburban and quieter. We were the only ones who brought our towels out to the pool. And the only ones walked fast between being indoors and being in the water. There’s also a sauna. This one wasn’t my favourite, but it did have a nice big outdoor pool.
We had every intention of going out that night, but sadly, it just didn’t happen. We did get a good night sleep so we could have a good, full, next day.
There’s a whole slew of museums near the center. They include the small and quick Settlement Exhibit, Adalstraeti 16, the National museum of Iceland, Fríkirkjuvegur 7, and the National Gallery of Iseland, Sudurgata 41. The latter is the largest and is kind of a history of Iceland. In addition to looking at it in a traditional way, they also had an alternate narrative that looked at one concept through the lens of roughly 20 of the exhibits. Since it narrowed what we would be looking at, we tried it and enjoyed the way it interwove the pieces. Finally, since we had a little extra time, we went to Ásmundarsafn, Sigtún 1600, and the nearby Laugardalslaug pool. The latter museum is a single artist and his house/studio. Some cool and very different stuff through the arc of his career. The pool was newer and had a nice hot pool, in addition to a large pool with slide that would probably be awesome in the summer. There is a very hot steam sauna. We didn’t stay too long in there.
On our last day we went to the Phallogical Museum which is a very odd and very dry take on penises of the world. Afterward we went to the church, where there was some cool organ music, and then the Einar Jonsson Museum across the street. There’s some interesting art and history here in addition to the apartment upstairs.
We also went to the Maritime Museum, while kooky, was somewhat interactive. They had opportunities to wear some props and 
we got some good photo ops.
That night we started with the bonfire at Geirsnef. Totally huge and totally fun. They start more or less on time, but people arrived sort of right when it started. It was cold, but of course, fire is hot. We took a little break for food and headed up to the top of the hill for the fireworks. It’s almost impossible to describe the pandemonium up there, although it was a little more ordered than the year before. Basically, they have a cordoned off area where people bring boxes of fireworks to blow off for the crowd. Some go up. Some come back down. Some go sideways into the crowd. Amazingly good fun. Afterward a lot of people pile down the hill and end up at any one of the bars in town. No raucous shouting or vomiting in the streets, just good fun.
The next morning was a quiet morning by the piers and along the water. 
Very contemplative and a nice counterpoint to the evening before. A lovely way to end the trip before leaving for the airport and the ride back home.
Azo's Travels 