Reykjavik Diary Day 2: Ow, I've got volcano in my eye!

Hello friends,

Here begins day two of my travels in Iceland, with pictures! Same disclaimer as last time: make sure you click on the photos to see them in larger detail! And I'm really sorry for the mess this blog is visually, I'm not going to spend time trying to fix the layout. :(

HDR photo of  Blue Lagoon

Once again, after a night of very little sleep, I was up early for more adventures. This morning I decided I was going to go out to the tourist attraction Blue Lagoon, a man-made hot springs and spa located in a lava field in Grindavík on the Reykjanes Peninsula. The water is superheated by the geothermal plant, and the water is rich in minerals like sulfur and silica, and supposedly does wonderful things for your skin. These minerals are what give the water its blue, opaque appearence. And the sands on the bottom of the lagoon are black too! Additionally, you can place some silica mud on your face, and that also has the regenerative properties. I got some mud in my eye, hence the title of this blog post. 

 Blue Lagoon and the Svartsengi
geothermal electric plant

You can read more about my observations of this particular area in my general observation post. But to recap, the drive out to the Lagoon was much different than the landscape I'd seen before. The smooth semi-green hills gave way to harsh, jagged rocks jutting out of the ground, with hardly any green to be found. In place of the green, they were coated in a pale yellow substance that looked a lot like dust or volcanic ash from a distance, but was really a thick, soft moss. The lagoon itself was very beautiful, and again, even my HDR photos could not do the blue hue any justice. On the drive back, I got a closer look at the volcano called Keilir, which is the Icelandic word for "cone." Both Mt. Keilir and the Blue Lagoon are located in Reykjanes Peninsula. See the bottom of the page for a photo of Mt. Keilir. 


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Do not proceed to read if you are easily offended. Skip directly to the next yellow ellipses.

After a number of recommendations of other things to do in Reykjavik (from a friend of mine, and surprisingly my brother), I attempted to find the famous Iceland Phallological Museum, or...an anatomical museum of penises. I spent more time looking for said museum than I spent in the museum (because my map was wrong), but the museum was fairly interesting. I can't say I learned a whole lot about anything in particular, but the museum reminded me a lot of the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia...and if I dare say so, it was less strange than that. But they (whoever they may be) went about the museum with equal parts science and equal parts humor. Well, okay, that's a lie. It was mostly science. Lots of animal penises, and naturally the ones that took most of my attention (and most of the space) were the whale ones. They had a number of different whales, from narwhals, to minke whales, to orcas, and sperm whales. They had a lot of other animals too like cats, dogs, wolves, guinea pigs, and of course, the homosapien. Much to my amusement, the museum was located only a couple blocks from the church. I wondered if it was a coincidence, or an act of irony. After all, that church is rather phallic.

A wall of the museum. Many of
these tubes contain whale penises,
such as the minke and the narwhal.

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A traditional pyslur

After the museum, I went in search of a Pyslur, the Icelandic hot dog that I had heard so much about. I asked the girl to make it as traditional as possible, and so she piled on fried onions, remoulade sauce, and whatever else I couldn't identify. I wasn't too thrilled with it, but then again I supposed you have to like hot dogs, which I don't really. After my pyslur, I wandered about the city again, just taking as much of it in as I could. I walked up and down, noticing all the gay pride flags in every shop window. I even went back to Hallgrímskirkja (the church), but this time I went around the back so I could get a different angle.

For the rest of the day, I just wandered and explored, and found nothing notable. Although, I rather enjoyed the view of the water as I walked back to my hostel, a large ominous cloud had crept in over the mountains and remained there until after I left Iceland. Back at the hostel, I met my roommate, a lovely girl on her way back home in Toronto from a two-year study in London. She was lovely, and I spent the rest of the night with her, our other roommate (a Thai girl studying in Paris), and a third girl from Australia. We ate dinner together in the hostel, and I enjoyed talking with them and sharing stories, and scary creatures we find in our homelands (I hope to never find one of those Australian Hunting Spiders on the back of my car). But my traditional dish of salted cod with spinach was quite delicious.

Sunrise on my last morning, with the creeping cloud.

I really enjoyed Iceland and hope to one day return to see the rest of the island, because my two day stopover was really just the tip of the Iceland. Other observations (that are not design related) that I did not include in my observation posts were the apparent lack of police. I did not see once police car or officer until the morning I left, where their only purpose at this time was to close off streets for a parade. Also, Iceland has a love for Subway, Quiznos, and KFC. I also saw a Taco Bell. And a bunch of other fast food joints (non-American) called Aktu Taktu.  And they give us Americans crap for liking fast food!

Next stop, Denmark! (and probably another Iceland-related design blog post)

Until next time,
E

Other Pictures

You can see the minerals beginning to creep into the water.

Blue Lagoon

Mt. Keilir

Me and a killer whale penis. Jimmy, this one's for you,
if you know what this is in reference to.