May 12, 2016: Going to Church, Puffins and Museums

On our third day in Iceland we started the day with another hearty breakfast at the hostel. Everyone is quickly remembering the temperature issue with the coffee and not too many scoldings this morning. We headed to Halllgrimskirkja, the largest church is Iceland (and is the 6th tallest structure in Iceland). Construction began in 1945 and ended in 1986. It was designed to resemble the basalt lava flows in Iceland  It is named after poet and clergyman Hallgrimus Petursson (1614 to 1674), author of the Passion Hymns.

Out front of the church is the Leifur Eiriksson statue given to Iceland by USA in 1930 to commemorate the thousand year anniversary of Althing (the world first parliament).

















When we arrived the pipe organ was being played. It has over 5275 pipes and was completed in 1992. There is an elevator to the 8th story observation tower.

















The views are beautiful, even when we don't have sunny weather.

Views from inside the tower showing the inside of the clock face.

Carly and Kassia sporting their new Iceland hats. It kind of looks  like they are in prison with the bars on the window but it is really from the inside of the observation deck.

Just below the church is the historic ceramist shop of Glit Lava pottery. It has been in existence since 1947 and is now operated by the 3rd generation.

The current owner talked about how he throws every pot by hand (no molds), then adds lava to each piece and then fires them. He then mixes his own glazes (currently he really likes the metallic glazes).

We also got to experience the outside WC that Reykjavik has near the church. I hear there were a few 'interesting' selfies.









The students wanted to take a puffin viewing boat out into Faxafloi (the bay between Reykjavik peninsula and Snaefellsnus peninsula. I did not go on the boat excursion because I get horribly motion sick. (I hope to receive some pictures soon from the students). Everyone said it was a great trip and they saw lots of puffins.

During the afternoon, some students went to the Icelandic Phallological Museum. It contains a collection of more than two hundred and fifteen penises and penile parts belonging to almost all of the land and sea mammals that can be found in Iceland. (It is also the only phallological museum in the world).
The other option for the afternoon was to go to the Reykjavik art museum. It is housed in three separate locations. The first we visited was Kjarvalsstaðir which houses the largest collection of paintings by Johannes Kjarval (1885-1972). These murals were originally the wallpaper in his studio that he painted and were removed for restoration. The original baseboard is below each mural.

Kjarval was also known for his landscapes and fantasy paintings.












We had a few minutes and ran over to the outdoor sculpture museum Ásmundarsafn which houses the work of Ásmundur Sveinsson (1893-1982).

This piece is titled sorcerer.

He designed his studio and house to fit into Iceland's barren landscape with influences from Greece and Turkey. Here is a small model of his original house/studio.








Late in the afternoon, we regrouped and headed to Árbæjarlaug, a swimming pool/hot springs in an eastern suburb. At the pool, there was a great display about Icelandic history of hot springs and how much hot water is used by the average Icelander.  Everyone liked the slide (only two story this time and no cool lights) and the view overlooking the hillside and soccer pitch below.



We headed back to the hostel for a wonderful dinner at the Sea Barron, a small quick service seafood restaurant that had seafood kebobs and an amazing lobster soup. The evening was spent enjoying Reykjavik's night life.