culture and sun

It still rains in the morning. And it's pretty dark too.
A perfect day to hang in museums. The Reykjavik art museum is located in three pieces around the city. Two of them seem to be interesting. The first one shows pictures of Jóhannes Kjarval. I arrive too early and skate around the house to kill time. I've probably found the most slippery and wet place in town. In the museum are already one young man and two shy employees. In the cafe chairs are being lifted from tables. Conveniently small museum, doesn't take half day and ends before my interest in art is finished. A few very nice pictures. Kjarval is supposed to have teached the Icelanders to look at their nature in a new way.
I take the elevator to the tower of Hallgrimskirkja. Tickets are sold but not checked. From above is view over colorful houses and Mount Esja, wrapped in cloud.
Next stop is by a stylized ship-sceleton. Sun ship.
In the second part of art museum are installations about how school kills creativity and how to order class dividers from catalogue. And Erró. Erró is colorful and stunning.
In photography museum Iceland and Louisiana are side by side.
Sun comes out. I wander between small wooden houses, slide through the cemetery and find the street where Tui lives.
Beach weather has arrived so one has to go swimming. I opt for Vesturbæjarlaug that is closest at the moment and best swimming pool in 2015 according to Grapevine. In addition to other problems with tourists there are the ones who don't want to wash themselves before going into swimming pool. That's why locals keep an eye on every foreigner. Swimming happens outdoors, of course. Water steams slightly, it's about 6 degrees but water is warm. They get warm water directly from the earth. I swim, sit in hot water, swim and sit again. Sun shines into my eyes and shimmers through water in the pool and on me. People don't take their smart-gadgets into swimming pool but talk to eachother instead. In the washing room I use all services available: scales, cold drinking water and swimwear drying machine. After swimming is the custom to eat hotdog in front of the swimming pool.
I wander some more around the city and enjoy nice weather. Buy some music and literature and meet my host. There's a row of presidents' photos on the wall in the music shop. In the photography museum was a picture of the same place.
For dinner I go to Kex as Anna Maria recommended. Its mainly hostel but on Tuesdays they offer live jazz together with the food. Jazz is there, as are tables with sewing-machine-legs and performance in the kitchen visible through a glass wall.
Previous
arrival
Next
more water treatment

Add a comment

Email again: