On our second to last day, we visited Reykjavik.

Reykjavik!
(I can now spell it without looking it up.)



Icelandic Baby:


Icelandic Beagle:

 

Possible signs you are in Iceland in July:

Earmuffs.


Possible new look for me:







The Cathedral, Hallgrímskirkja:

The United States gifted this statue of Leif Ericksson to Iceland.
He faces the ocean to the west.


The inscription reads:

LEIFR
EIRICSSON
SON OF ICELAND
DISCOVERER OF
VINLAND
THE
UNITED STATES
OF AMERICA TO
THE PEOPLE
OF ICELAND
ON THE ONE
THOUSANDTH
ANNIVERSARY
OF THE ALTHING
A.D. 1930







 Far from the Cathedral,
Graffiti Central:


 

 

 




Here, some unhappy Icelanders:



 It is a protest.
What are they protesting?

I thought this woman might know,
but I saw Viking heritage in her features
and was afraid to approach her.



This guy made me uneasy, too.

This guy had to know what was going on:



He might be famous in Iceland,
but he was not yet famous to me
so I asked him what it was all about.

He said that Parliament had just given itself a raise with taxpayer money.
The protesters thought it only fair that Parliament also increase
state expenditures for the elderly and handicapped.

Yes, indeed.

A few more looks I'd like to try:



Olafur Eliasson.

In the US, we pronounce his name:

Olafur eh-LIE-asson

but, it is in fact:

Olafur EHliasson

We found his show, after much stumbling about (it was windy).

First, we went to the Museum of Art. We did not have enough time left in the day to justify the entry fee, but the museum bathroom was really cool:




Eventually, I left the museum bathroom.

The Eliasson show was small
and had several elements.

The vernacular architecture,
the sense of archive,
of portrait and of place,
of landscape and portrait as one
made sense after living in Iceland for the month.

There had been simultaneously a sense of solitude and community
in the people that we met.






The mobile and the mirrors echoed this feeling.

The mobile was a ship with many oars:


And the mirrors were both transparent and reflective.
I saw myself and looked through myself at the same time,
An individual and her surroundings made equal.



 A good way to end this post.