Reykjavik, Iceland

6/15/26

We arrived in Reykjavik early in the morning. Passport control was a bit of a mess as although they had rows and rows of the automatic machines, not a single one was turned on. They were also very short staffed. We spent about 45 minutes waiting in line. Our hotel room at the Exeter would not be available until the afternoon, so we walked around the Old Harbor area and stopped by the Saga Museum that we had missed last year. It was an interesting way to explore the history of Iceland and Reykjavik. We listened on headphones to a tour taking us through the events as we walked by different scenes created with wax figures. We were quite tired so we forgot to take pictures.

We crashed in our room for a few hours and then enjoyed an early dinner at Le Kock, the restaurant at the hotel. Brent had a hamburger and I had fish and chips.

6/16/26

After a nice sleep in, we headed out to the Phallological Museum in the morning which contained specimens from many different species as well as information on their mating rituals.

For lunch we decided to try a hot dog, having heard that Reyjkavik was famous for them. However, we were underwhelmed by the hot dot at Old Harbour Hot Dogs.

In the early evening, we enjoyed dinner at the Sweet Pig.

The restaurant mascot is dressed in different outfits periodically.

Brent had an Icelandic platter with small tastes of uniquely Icelandic dishes. I ordered the lamb sandwich which was delicious.

(from left to right) smoked puffin, smoked pollock dip, cured arctic char, horse tartare

After dinner we walked to Tjornin Pond. On the way, we admired the statue of Skúli Magnússon, the "Father of Iceland" who united the farm community of Reykjavik into a modern town. A proponent of free and fair trade, he brought factories to Reykjavik in the mid 1750s. He also improved their fishing industry, making it safer for fishermen to go farther out in the ocean.

We walked around Tjornin Pond, stopping periodically to photograph the abundant bird life.

Although we enjoyed the flowers along the walk, such as the spirea,

the birds were the main attraction.

The Greater Skaup, a common diving duck in Iceland.

We saw many mallard ducks as we walked around the pond, starting with this mother duck and her ducklings.

We saw them preening

flying,

and coming ashore.

This drake raised itself up and flapped his wings a few times. Apparently, there are multiple reasons for this behavior. He could have been drying his wing feathers, cooling off, or putting on a display to court females or show other males he was the top duck.

This drake has already found his female who really enjoyed a slice of bread. He was content to let her snack while he looked on.

The locals often feed the birds at the Pond, so it is a popular place for many birds to get an easy bite to eat. (Caution: bread is not good for birds as it provides only empty calories and can lead to malnutrition if they overeat the bread instead of their natural foods.)

Whooper swans glided across the lake, preening themselves and also coming ashore.

The greylag goose also hangs out at the pond.

The black-headed gull, the smallest gull in Iceland, swooped and dived overhead, sometimes joing the other birds in the water.

It was joined by the Great Black-Backed Gull, the largest gull.

As we returned to the beginning of the pond at the City Hall, pigeons also joined the other birds hoping for their share of the tasty treats.

At City Hall, we also visited the Monument to the Unknown Bureaucrat sculpted out of volcanic basalt by Magnús Tómasson.

We ended the day with another trip to the Sweet Pig to enjoy their Crowberry Cheesecake. Crowberries are an alpine berry that grow in the arctic tundra.