Day 14: Reykjavik

For our final full day in Reykjavik we went to Perlan.  It is a museum high on the Oskjuhlio hills to the south east of Reykjavik.  The centre is built on six hot water tanks that each carry 4 million litres of geothermal hot water. On the top of the museum is an observation deck and revolving restaurant.

View from the observation deck over downtown Reykjavik

Inside there were a series of fantastic natural history exhibitions about volcanoes and the tectonic plates.  Another one about glaciers and Iceland’s water. Also one about Icelandic wildlife.  All of the exhibits were really interactive and good fun.  

This is Leo standing by an animated exhibit streaming the names of all the waterfalls in Iceland

Some of the words for different weather in Icelandic

There was also a great planetarium show about the Aurora borealis. It was probably the first planetarium show that I have not fallen asleep in, usually they are sooo soporific. 

The most spectacular section of Perlan was the ice caves.  We had to put on special quilted jackets as the caves were -10oC (apart from Eve, but she is hard as nails and just wore her hoody).  Inside the caves are 100m long and made from 350 tons of snow.

The really good thing about visiting Perlan on the last day was that we had visited so many of the locations that were featured.  It was really meaningful to see the animation of the glacier retreatwhen we had been to Jokulsarlon, we had seen the pseudo craters at Lake Myvatn with our owneyes and even to be reminded of the Humpbackwhale watching trip!

After Perlan we walked back into town and visited the  Asgrimur Jonsson museum.  He was a landscape painter and illustrator working around 1910-1960.  He bequeathed his house and works to the NationalMuseum of Iceland.  Lots of his drawings featured sagas and fairy stories.

I loved this bowl of his old oil paints

In his studio there was a public sketchbook which Eve spent a bit of time adding to

We walked back along the main shopping area, particularly looking at the shops in what is known as “Fleece Street” as it has load of outdoor clothing shops! We have to pack our bags for a very early 5am bus to the airport and should be home in Colden Common by early afternoon. 

I started the blog as I thought it would be a convenient way to keep family up to date with where we were and to avoid filling social media with endless photos.  I’m astonished to see that the blog has had over 500 views.  I have really enjoyed writing it and it has helped the somewhat solitary nature of a single parent on holiday.  Hopefully it will be a lovely record of our adventure for the future. 

Here are a couple of final composite images just in case any of you were missing the road or rock pictures or my fringe.  Next time I am certainly bringing my hair straighteners. 

Our final event tonight is to go out for dinner that is a treat from my Dad (thanks in advance Dad!).  

We have had an absolutely fantastic holiday in Iceland, my head is full of so many beautiful sightsand it has felt like such an adventure.