The Dog-Days Queen: I can see my house from here

The other day it was genuinely quite sunny, so I thought it might actually be worth it to go up the tower of Hallgrímskirkja. It was really cold up there, but you can see pretty much all of Reykjavík. At the moment there is much more snow than there is in these pictures - this means that if you try to go anywhere with two small children it will take absolutely forever and everyone will end up with wet socks. But when these pictures were taken there was just a little bit. The bells rang whilst I was up there and startled me so much I nearly dropped the camera, but fortunately I was able to preserve these photos for the world.

You can see the harbour on the left.

The whole area covered by this photograph is about a quarter of how big central Reykjavík is.

In this one you can see Tjörnin, and where I live.

Back on the ground, here is an Icelandic flag.

This is the statue of Jón Sigurðsson in Austurvöllur. He was a pretty big deal in Iceland's struggle for independence from Denmark. His birthday is now Icelandic Independence Day (June 17th).

Keep on trucking, Reykjavík.

Tjörnin is completely covered in snow now.

4 comments:

James7 February 2011 at 11:41
That looks pretty sweet. What's the deal you get with free time and whatever? I was thinking I might look into the plausibility of coming over to Iceland at the beginning of this Easter holidays (Which would be around early April), Praps bringing a friend, or Saranna. It'll probably depend on cost really. They have hostels in Reykjavik I'm guessing?
Abi7 February 2011 at 14:52
Um, well I'm free on the weekends, and I generally have a bit of time in the afternoons as well. I have a number of days holiday that I can take as well, but I obviously have to sort that out in advance.
Easter holidays is probably all right. I'll ask.
No, there are no hostels. You will have to sleep in the park.
Alxmrfi7 February 2011 at 23:33
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr soooo jeeaalllooouuusssss!
Marc13 February 2011 at 18:26
I may be talking out of turn but I would have thought that if hostels are unavaiable then two alternatives merit some not inconsiderable attention. My first suggestion is to use some of the local raw material to fashion a shelter from the elements, I believe they are called igloos and are made from solid water which I suggest, given the name of your current domain, is abundant in those parts. The second somewhat lightweight suggestion would be canvas positioned over a suitably warm crack in the ice if any are to be found in the park.