Reflect

Painted rainbows and flowers defy the onslaught of frosty arctic winds at the Freyjugata playground near our home. Once again, though, this snow didn't last longer than a day and a night, and has since melted away under drizzly rains.

It is dark in the mornings and evenings, though, and I'm going to offer a little psa* here by highly encouraging visitors in the dimmer seasons to have some kind of reflective item on them while walking about. It may seem nerdy to have a dangling plastic reflector badge pinned to your fancy coat, but it's better than getting hit by a car. Period. Go to a bike store and get something like the stuff seen here and remember to look both ways while crossing, especially at the t-intersection just in front of Hallgrímskirkja. As can be seen in that photo, drivers seriously cut the turn there and we don't want any injured visitors, now do we?

*public service announcement

Lights

The darkness and rains beautifully enhance the winter lights draped among the bare trees of the city. Every year there seems to be more of them, helping to ease us through the season, especially as the snows, with their soft white glow, come less and less frequently.

Skyline Rvk

Good things come in small packages. This definitely fits for the itsy-bitsy city of Reykjavik (expanding suburbs exempt).

After a long weekend in sprawling Paris with its Napoleon III tracts of Hausmann housing running for miles, I'm glad to be back in the heart of a compact metropolis, richer for the experience.

Evening

Out in Grafarvogur, or Grave Valley, a twenty minute drive from downtown Reykjavik, is this little downtownish shopping complex wrapped conveniently around a decent sized parking lot. Its called Spöngin, and surprisingly it's very lively for a suburban mini-mall. It's become what mini-mall designers hope their malls will become: a place to gather, shop and greet. It helps that there's a college, Borgarholtsskóli, a stone's throw away, and a good set of core stores. There's even a gym, filled to the brim on any given Tuesday with the healthy and fit, as seen through the World Class window above.

Read this little article to get a cool view of literary culture surging out of this largest of Reykjavik's many, ever-spreading suburbs. The writers in this Gravarvogur Writers Club prove that explosive things can come out of even the quietest of places.

Net

Just a little eye candy...

This is not the Icelandic national hairdo, but just a fancy net job for a young gymnastics competitor who performed very nicely in her events. Psychologically, the hairdo helps!

Ferry

The Westman Islands, Vestmannaeyjar, are these fanatastic volcanic sculptures rising from the Atlantic just south of Iceland. They are a mere ten to twenty thousand years young, basically the tops of massive magma cones jutting vigorously out of the cold arctic waters at that seam in the earth's crust we call the Reykjanes Ridge.

Getting ready for our retreat from the big island of Heimaey on Sunday after Valentina's (and her team Ármann's) excellent victory in gymnastics, I thought I was all set to discourage anyone and everyone from traveling to Vestmannaeyjar by sea on the ferry Herjólfur. After all, the waters between Iceland proper and the Wetsmans are notoriously unsettling at best and our trip over with two hundred little gymnasts on Friday night had been a gut-wrenching experience. But as the ship left dock we passed through the amazing strait shown above and I changed my mind. The five minute sail past eerie rock faces through calm deep turquoise waters somehow made the impending three hours of probable seasickness seem worth it.

I myself will fly next time I go, and I will go to the islands again. I'd say a flight over then a tour of the archipelago with one of the local boat companies is the way to experience the absolute magic of the Westman Islands in the best possible health. I'm sure the other hundreds of nauseous travelers with me on the ferry rides would agree. Of course if you have to do the ferry, take lots of warm clothing and stand at the rails, taking in the awsome power of the ocean. It kept me fresh and absolutely magnified my respect for those who brave the open seas.



(Here also is an interesting site on techtonic movement. Enjoy!)

Rainbow

A Sunday afternoon scene from the Westman Islands, or Vestmannareyjar, off of Iceland's south coast. I'll go more into detail later on the hows and whys Valentina and I were there this past weekend later, but for now take in the photos at Nick's and Bard's sites and read about these natural gems of the sea at the very attractive Visit Westman Islands site.