We woke up to another rainy day, even more so than the day before. We went back to the breakfast buffet at the hotel and discovered the waffle maker. Sadly, what they offered as syrup was some kind of crazy-fake-vanilla-candy-tasting-something that was all wrong. Luckily Eric’s not huge on breakfast in general so we headed back out into the city with the plan of going to Ráðhús Reykjavíkur (Reykjavík City Hall) and Þjóðminjasafn Íslands (the National Museum of Iceland).

City Hall? Yes, City Hall. Besides being on the way to the National Museum, it houses a huge topographical map of Iceland created with layer upon layer of 1mm thick card stock.

It took four men from the Reykjavík Model Laboratory just over four years to complete. It’s 76 square metres and rolls into a relief area under the side entrance to the building for when they need the space for receptions.

City Hall is at one end of Tjörnin, the lake in the city center, and the National Museum is at the other. Along the way, we found that rainy days don’t deter Icelandic families from feeding the ducks and geese.

Icelandic geese have huge feet.

Once we got to the National Museum, we paid our entry and the lady at the countered offered us guides in English, “or maybe German?” Nuts, she thought we might be German tourists. Not sure what’s worse these days - an American tourist or a German tourist. We stowed our gear (no photos allowed again, and this time I did obey the rules) and got to learning about the history of Iceland through the Making of a Nation exhibit.

It was truly one of the most interesting and comprehensive exhibits I’ve ever been through. We learned so much. As a bonus, we looked in on the Endurfundir (Reunion) exhibit featuring pieces unearthed at the ongoing excavation of the ancient harbor of Kolkuós in Skagafjördur, north Iceland. Equally as fascinating. 

After spending the entire day at the National Museum we returned to the hotel to get ready for dinner and a movie with our friend Kamilla Ingibergsdóttir. Dinner at Icelandic Fish and Chips was great. The fish was flaky, our assortment of eight sauces was excellent and the rosemary potatoes were delish! Then it was off to the the Iðnó Building for the Reykjavík International Film Festival screening of the documentary about Iceland Airwaves called Where’s the Snow?

The doc could have been better, but the company was awesome. Thanks for a wonderful evening Kamilla!

Back at the hotel we watched European tv and hoped for our last day in Reykjavík to be sunny.