Reykjavik itself

So, a shorter post this time, and the first of mine emerging from a serious time warp (see the post from 18 July for explanation).

I’m starting to catch up on missed posts (Luscious has already begun her retroactive back-dating exercise).

The weather got kind of ugly and cold and rainy the first day in Reykjavik.  Not a great way to experience the place, for sure.  I have many positive memories of Iceland from visiting when I was 11, and I was rather concerned that Luscious would hate it if all she saw was rainy misery (she’s already sensitive enough to cold, I didn’t need the place to burn itself into her mind as a big, damp freezer).  Though, thinking about it, there were definitely a few rainy days during my childhood trip, too.

We walked around a bit just to get a sense of the town.  Noted that the locals were very hardy, and completely ignoring the slight rain, while you could tell the tourists by the fact that they were pathetically huddling under their umbrellas.

Turns out that the rain over the previous couple of days was good for the area, since the volcanic ash had recently (apparently for the first time) blown over the area.  The rain settled it all down, and they were just left with some mud, which washed away, rather than serious ash dust horribleness.

We decided to do something indoorsy for the evening, and depending on the forecast, spend more time outside the next day.  At the Tourist Information Center, we were given some reassurance that the weather would indeed improve, and booked a horse ride to some hot springs.  About which more in the next post.

Which left the evening.  Turns out that most of the historical and/or saga-related performances were either not available that night, or only during the day (I was really hoping for some Icelandic Sagas in front of a big fireplace, or maybe some lava movies).  Instead, we ventured off to something that the information people weren’t really even sure existed anymore.  A little comedy performance held at a restaurant nearby, presenting the history of the area.  Well, we would need food, too, eventually, so why not go check it out?

We sat in some oversized comfy leather couches in the empty bar area of an empty large restaurant for a while, wondering if we were going to be the only audience (we had been reassured upon arrival that it was in fact going to happen).
As it turned out, we were the only audience.

Two actors arrived and took us downstairs to a room that was set up for the performance.  I guess they only do it when someone shows up for it.  I think it cost 4300 ISK each, or so.  And for the money, it was a charmingly entertaining trip through local history.  It’s called “Let’s Talk Local Reykjavik” (there’s a Husavik version up north, too, as of quite recently).

Luscious may have more to say about it, but as far as I’m concerned, it was fun, and worth the price of admission.  The actors were willing to break character (or occasionally stay in character) to answer questions, and afterward, we had a nice little chat with them about Iceland, the world, the future, and all kinds of other things.  Private performance… a treat.

Included in the price of admission, should we choose to make use of it, was 10% off the restaurant, after the performance.  We did make use of it.  And Luscious has already commented at least on the Minke Whale aspect of that evening’s dinner.  I’ll just add that it was at a restaurant called “Restaurant Reykjavik”, and that the rest of the Fish Buffet that I had was interesting, but not overly inspiring.  To me, worth trying out, but probably not worth repeating.

Tags: comedy, fish, history, Iceland, rain, reykjavik