May 11, 2016: 871+/-2 Museum, Swimming and Fulbright

We started the morning with a big breakfast at the hostel. They serve very strong hot coffee that most everyone scalded their mouths because we are at sea level. Lots of different breads and spreads to have as well as heart shaped waffles. The favorites are the rye crackers with cream cheese, blueberry jam and waffles.
We walked the two blocks to the old city center where the 871+/-2 museum is located (across from the city hall).  The focus of the exhibition is the remains of a hall from the Settlement Age and was excavated in 2001. The hall was inhabited from approximately 930–1000. North of the hall are two pieces of turf, remnants of a wall which was clearly built before 871±2, hence the name of the exhibition. Such precise data dating is possible because a major volcanic eruption from the Torfajokull area spread tephra across the region and the human built turf walls are below this layer.  This layer can be dated via glacial ice in Greenland. The hall is among the oldest human-made structures so far found in Iceland.

There were numerous viking era artifacts found near Reykjavik including this silver bracelet.










In addition, the exhibit has lots of interactive displays that allowed students to explore their individual topics in depth. Everyone was surprised that the mitochondrial DNA (mother's linage) is mostly from the Hebrides (northern Scotland islands) while the males were from Norway. No one knows if the Scottish brides went voluntarily or were stolen.

In the foyer of the museum, there is a kids table set up with different viking era games including Fox and Hen.

The museum is below the street level of Reykjavik. A few of the students wanted to try out the 'cool' elevator. It stopped a few feet before the top and the museum curator ran up the stairs and very kindly asked that they not touch the walls of the lift because that is the emergency braking system.




After the museum, we headed to Laugardalslaug, Reykjavik's largest swimming pool. There are numerous hot pots that ranged in temperature from 38 to 44 degrees C. There is also a three story water slide that is enclosed and has flashing colored lights. Carly wanted to grab her go pro and video going down the slide, but you are not allowed any phone/camera for fear of people making recording in the changing rooms. Everyone loved the hot pots and understand why so many Icelanders visit daily.

We grabbed hot dogs outside of Laugardalslaug before heading to the Fulbright office.

 We were able to visit the Fulbright office in Iceland and watched the final presentations of the four students and one professor visiting from the US. The purpose of the Fulbright program, operating in Iceland since 1957, is to foster cultural understanding and cooperation between the two countries in education, research and art. The presentations were very diverse and wonderful examples of the options available for international education.


After the presentations, everyone was free to explore Reykjavik for the evening.

 This mural is across the street from the youth hostel. Given that most of the city is built with cement which make excellent canvases, there are lots of murals.

Most of the students went to dinner and explored the wharf again. I went to a Jazz concert at Harpa. The concert was on the 5th floor overlooking the bay. The photo below is of the roof of Harpa.
The clouds cleared around 10pm and we had a great sunset at 11:30pm.