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I had fully intended to go for a run before breakfast but my body just said, “No.\u00a0 No.\u00a0 No.”\u00a0 After breakfast, my body said, “Nap.\u00a0 Nap.\u00a0 Nap.”\u00a0 So a few extra minutes of shuteye stretched into an hour or so before the day really got going.<\/p>\n
The City Sightseeing Tour began at 9:45 AM.\u00a0 A large mini-bus, which really was more of a regular bus than anything mini, took us around town.\u00a0 Funnily enough, just before leaving the lobby I ran into Jeff and Scott of MarathonTours who are staying in our hotel and welcoming their clients tomorrow.\u00a0 It was nice to see them… I’m sure though whispers of my interloper status with the Aussies has once again filtered back to the MT mothership.\u00a0 What can I say?\u00a0 I’m not a one-marathon-tour-group kind of guy.\u00a0 I’m a polygamarathoner.<\/p>\n
The native City Sightseeing guide, whose name sounded like “Vig-rid,” gave us some brief overviews during the bus tour.\u00a0 For the most part, it was a pretty lame tour — I know Reykjavik is famously compact but the ride around town was all within an imminently walkable distance and the travel time between points A and B was never more than a few minutes.<\/p>\n
The highlights of Vigrid’s information dump?<\/p>\n
“Reykjavik” means “steaming bay” and was the prominent feature of the landmass when founded in the 800s.\u00a0 It refers to the geothermal activity courtesy of the island sitting on two tectonic plates.\u00a0 Harnessing the geothermal power has been an energy boon and boom for the Icelandic economy.\u00a0 The temperature of the water can be as high as 300+ degrees so they often use the geo-heated water to raise the temperatures of chillier H20 before sending it into domestic and business buildings.<\/p>\n
Because of the fault lines, there are over 100 earthquakes every day on Iceland, but just usually low level and imperceptible to humans.\u00a0 I forgot to ask if dogs and animals are prone to responding or if they’ve just gotten used to the experience.<\/p>\n
The former debtors prison built in the mid 1700s now houses the Prime Minister.\u00a0 This was told to us without irony and I for one couldn’t help but think of the commentary inherent in a PM living in a debtors’ prison.<\/p>\n
Approximately 200,000 people live in the Southwest of Iceland.\u00a0 There are about 330,000 people in all of the country.<\/p>\n
Our first stop was at the Pearl, a dome\u2013shaped, glass building designed by Ingimundur Sveinsson.\u00a0 We were told about the revolving restaurant and the observatory deck and so spent time just taking in the panoramic views.\u00a0 Our guide failed to mention various other features of the building which I only discovered later — such as a man-made Geysir water feature that erupts regularly and a Viking Sagas animatronic installation.\u00a0 The latter I wouldn’t have had time to experience on this city tour but I still wish I’d know it existed.<\/p>\n
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A quick drive-by of the H\u00f6f\u00f0i, gave us a rolling view of the famed house where the 1986 summit occurred between then US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet President Mikhal Gorvachev.\u00a0 That meeting is now viewed as the beginning of the end of the Cold War.<\/p>\n We then stopped at the abstract Viking Ship sculpture on the edge of the bay for a few quick photos.<\/p>\n This was followed by an on-our-own walkthrough of the Harpa Arts Center, a sea glass inspired performing arts center that was really quite lovely.\u00a0 Because of the constant threat of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, buildings are more squat and somewhat paradoxically employ a great deal of glass.\u00a0 You’d think shakes, rattles, and rolling lava might shatter the glass but perhaps the island nation so rich in geothermal energy isn’t worried about heating bills and prefers any kind of natural light when they can get it.\u00a0 That trumps concerns over shattered glass I suppose.<\/p>\n We then headed over to the Hallgr\u00edmskirkja, where Mom and I had walked the day before.\u00a0 A concert was being held inside so we couldn’t get in, something the Tour Guide wasn’t really prepared for.\u00a0 As a result, our group of 32 just sort of ambled around the churchyard square.\u00a0 We snapped a few pics but it was, as I said, a bit lame.<\/p>\n Intriguingly, the church was begun in 1946 and took 40 years to finish due to money troubles.\u00a0 As we were there, a great deal of concrete work was being undertaken to repair the thing… leading to any number of comments that the place wasn’t really done correctly in the first place.\u00a0 We overheard somebody say it was due to frost damage — again, maybe this is something the architects and design team could have foreseen.<\/p>\n Lunch was at Lakjarbrekka.\u00a0 Um, yeah… I grabbed a business card or else I wouldn’t have been able to spell that either.\u00a0 I sat next to Isaac, an Australian boy celebrating his 6th birthday who was dressed as Boba Fett for the day.\u00a0 Here’s a shot of Mom and him at the Harpa:<\/p>\n It was a heavier lunch than I was really prepared for so I asked Mom if we could postpone a museum trip so I could squeeze in a run.\u00a0 She was, per usual, incredibly understanding of my idiosyncrasies and running obsessions.\u00a0 So I suited up, laced up, and headed out the door for a run in Reykjavik.<\/p>\n I wound up running by some of the landmarks we had just city toured, so the morning’s overview was helpful from a navigational point of view.<\/p>\n During one of the bus rides, Isaac’s two-year-old sister kept pointing out the window and saying, “Minion!\u00a0 Minion!”\u00a0 We finally figured out she was pointing at the red and yellow fire hydrants.\u00a0 So I stopped along the run to snap a shot of me Kevin and a pseudo Minion Kevin:<\/p>\n Eventually I found myself back at the H\u00f6f\u00f0i and I decided to snap a few shots since the bus never stopped there.\u00a0 Here’s me with a piece of the fallen Berlin Wall that was donated to the city.\u00a0 The fact that it’s a piece of Germany depicting a Moai from Easter Island in Reykjvaik seemed like some weird confluence of travels and meanings.\u00a0 Call it fate, call it karma, call it coincidence.<\/p>\n I raced back to the hotel and bumped into Mari Mar, Travelling Fit’s Founder and our Tour Guide on this first ever TF Run the World Event.\u00a0 She had our race packets and I’m number 301 for the marathon.<\/p>\n Drinks and dinner were at the Hofnin Restaurant (The Harbor).\u00a0 Here we met as a big group and mingled with a complimentary adult beverage and a delightful meal.\u00a0 Service moves at a glacial pace in Iceland; that’s not a bad thing or a complaint just an observation.\u00a0 I suppose it affords time for digestion and time to chew over what fellow diners have to say.\u00a0 But I was pretty tired by meal’s end.<\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a>\u00a0 <\/a> <\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n