Travel Tales: Iceland Day 3 – The Artsy Fartsy Tourist
So Thursday was my “time to be a tourist” day. What does that mean you ask? Well it is composed of “eat, sleep and see it” (like what i did right there dontcha) all day. I got up somewhere near 11am central time and got about 8 hours of sleep for the first time in my adult life. After taking care of some business, I figured it was time for some breakfast/brunch being that it was approaching 1pm. As I walked the streets of Reykjavik, I noticed how trendy and hip the main street is, almost like a condensed NY in the sense of the various eateries. There were Chinese food, Italian, Indian, Nepalese, Middle Eastern, American (Ruby Tuesdays omfg) and Icelandic food. I went Indian which was a great way to start the day.
After that I went on my see it mission and visited the Reykjavik Art Museum then wanted to visit all the other galleries in the area but by this time it was almost 5pm and most of them were closed. The museum was a good experience as the art on display featured great amounts of details and emotions that warranted a longer than normal gaze at each piece (the normal museum gaze in my opinion is around 15 – 30seconds). The other exhibits were fascinating due to the subjects covered (one being recognizable people in different settings – as in Stalin in NYC) and the details and techniques used at that time (most of the works in this second exhibit were done in the late 60s and early 70s). After the museum I needed to continue my artsy fartsy tourist Thursday. So I whipped out the map in the middle of the street and got the brilliant idea to walk to The Perlan on the other side of where I am from. The distance you ask? Many, many, many kilometers. It took me (if you know my walking pace which has been called a walking jog at times) about 30 minutes to get there. All I could keep saying to myself was “this ___ better be worth it.”
The Perlan (the dome building in the picture gallery) provides a view of the entire area with those spy glass units you might find on the Empire State Building. After being over and done with it in about 15 minutes, I proceed to leave and saw the menu for the rooftop restaurant. Now, I wasn’t hungry but something about a Passion Fruit Tart with Mango Sorbet made me double back. I went up to find this beautiful snack but instead ended up with something completely different which made the trip worth it – a waffle, with Strawberry Jam and Ice Cream!
After that it was time to walk the many, many, many kilometers back to downtown area. I found one treasure after seeing all those rainbows. Lucky’s record shop- he just opened up on Monday but had a lot of good music (see the gallery below and is it me or could Terrance Howard pass for Rick James?). After rationalizing buying more records, I walked out with some great stuff (Stevie Wonder’s Original Musiquarium I; Jackson 5′s Moving Violation; Cameo’s Word Up; Bob James & Earl Klugh’s One on One; Lenny Williams and a couple others).
I eventually made it back to my room around 8pm. I remembered this time that most places close around 9pm so I decided to grab some food from the near-by veggie restaurant despite not being always hungry but you know I can always eat. The food was Spinach Lasagna, rice, salad and humus. All in all, another good day across the pond.
