The Phallus Museum and Reykjavik Culture Day

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Yes, you read that correctly - today I went to the penis museum. If you are offended by photos of penises, don't look at the pictures for this entry.

I slept in today because I knew I would be doing alot of walking. My AirBnB is a little east of the city center, but not too far so I decided to walk. I went along the waterfront where a marathon and half-marathon was taking place. I could hear music blaring from somewhere closer to the city center. Today is Culture Day, and there are bands and music all over the city. Some museums are free today, and there is food and food trucks everywhere. Tons of people out walking around, dancing in the square, and kids having mock battles.

I went to the Phallus Museum out of curiosity. As can be expected, whale penises are quite big. Enough said, it was an interesting collection.

Next I went to Tales from Iceland. They have many short films about Iceland and some interactive things. I took a bunch of photos of places I hope to visit on my tour. Unfortunately I didn't write down the names of the places in the photos.

I walked around, saw lots of singers and bands, and went to the Settlement Exhibition which is all about the Vikings settling here about 870 A.D. There was a birch forest near this location but they cut them all down and they haven't regrown. They also hunted a flightless bird to extinction.

Next I went to the square where people were dancing, then toward the shore where the food trucks were. There was so much food here: fish & chips, filipino food, tacos, lobster, hot dogs, burgers, asian food, chips (french fries - 12 different ways), waffles, and beer. I had a beer, then a chocolate waffle.

I walked by some ships and went to the Harpa Center, a cultural center and concert hall.

From Wikipedia:

Harpa is a concert hall and conference centre in Reykjavík, Iceland. The opening concert was held on May 4, 2011. The building features a distinctive colored glass facade inspired by the basalt landscape of Iceland. Harpa was designed by the Danish firm Henning Larsen Architects in co-operation with Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson. The structure consists of a steel framework clad with geometric shaped glass panels of different colours. The building was originally part of a redevelopment of the Austurhöfn area dubbed World Trade Center Reykjavík, which was partially abandoned when the 2008 Icelandic financial crisis took hold.

I walked home via the waterfront and stopped by the sculpture called the Sun Voyager.

From Wikipedia: The Sun Voyager (Icelandic: Sólfar) is a sculpture by Jón Gunnar Árnason, located next to the Sæbraut road in Reykjavík, Iceland. Sun Voyager is described as a dreamboat, or an ode to the Sun. The artist intended it to convey the promise of undiscovered territory, a dream of hope, progress and freedom. Set up in 1990.

I did 20,482 steps today. Phew, I'm tired. I decided to skip the nightlife tonight because I have to change locations tomorrow to the hotel and I need to get my things organized.

Daylight hours here are 2 hours shorter than the most northern place we were in Greenland. Sunset is 21:12 and sunrise is 5:45 with several hours of nautical twilight. Today's temperature 55 degrees F, tomorrow it will be cooler and it's supposed to rain Sunday and Monday.

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Photos

Settlement Exhibition
Showing the approximate years man migrated to different areas.