Friday, February 7, 2020

Iceland - Day One Reykjavík

Day One: Awoke in Reykjavík, Iceland to this view from a sixth floor hotel window. Departed Houston 11:30 am Wednesday, arriving in Iceland 6:15 am Thursday via JFK New York. 

Immediately crashed into a deep slumber to make up for what was lost in the flight over.



Have a day and half to wander around the city before the event that brought me here commences: 
a LUMINAR Photography Camp. 

Luminar is the photo editing software program I use. Cannot say enough good things about the program, but definitely need to learn how to better utilize all of it's great editing tools.  The camp will include six professional photographers from around the world teaching master classes, six Luminar experts advising us how best to apply the software tools and the invited group of 36 attendees. The week long program has been scheduled and planned in great detail, taking us to some of the most scenic landscapes in all of Iceland.  More great photos to come.

What you will see in the blog will be my first pass edits for the blog. 
The more detailed and polished photos will be posted after I return to Texas. 

But first, let's do a walkabout in the city.

The architecture in Reykjavík is of Scandinavian influence. Which makes sense as those are its closest culturally related countries. Most buildings are an off-white, beige or dark charcoal. So any building of bright color pops out immediately



Weather wise, though occupying a much further north latitude, the tourist bureau claims their winters are warmer than New York City due to the ocean currents. 

For this ole Gulf Coast Texas boy... it is still cold. My broad brimmed hat was blown off twice in the first hour here, so will resort to wearing a knit cap for the rest of my visit.

The capital of Iceland is not a sleepy little frozen fishing village.
 It is a thriving metropolis, where economic activity is seen everywhere.


Whenever I visit a coastal town, my first instinct is to walk along the bay front, trying to find the old port area.  Looking for old structures, interesting sailing ships... 

Well,  found Iceland's Coast Guard base.



My second objective walking around these docks is to find a local fish & chips shack serving Icelandic cod so fresh, it was swimming in the ocean last night.  Found one, hmmmmm good. 
No food photos, dug in so fast I forgot the shot...


The fishing boats are lined up, waiting to return to sea.




Spotted this four man diving crew, waiting for instructions from their foreman on the dock. 
Cannot imagine how cold that water must be for those guys... a hardy bunch.


A bright flashing light grabbed my attention, 
a welder is repairing a a section of steel deck plate on a well used fishing trawler.



Continued exploring, across the bay were bright white buildings,
 jumping out against the grey cloud covered mountain behind them.

There is snow in the forecast so that land might be covered in white tomorrow. 
Those buildings will be lost in view.



Came across the Sólfar monument. 
Sólfar means the Sun Voyager, a statue by Jön Gunnar Árnason. 
Is described as a dreamboat, or an ode to the sun.

Though modern in design, it obviously reflects the strong determined norsemen genes of olde.



The figures looks as if they are celebrating the sighting of land in the distance.


Tomorrow we continue our walkabout in downtown Reykjavík

Góöa nótt (Icelandic for good night)

CCjon

7 comments:

  1. Beautiful fotography. I love Iceland. Can't wait to see more. Enjoy your stay.

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    1. Glad you enjoy the shots, Sonja. Will try to post frequently though am only here for a week. Tomorrow we leave for the south coast area.

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  2. Love your photos! Any exploring planned?

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    1. Thanks Richard, there is a daily agenda, but.... all is subject to change when the northern lights come out.
      Glaciers, ice caves, black sand beach, etc are target destinations.

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  3. Glad you arrived safely! Beautiful architecture. The monument looks like a scorpion to me. Googled it and found out Im not the only one that saw a scorpion :) Looking forward to more blog posts.

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  4. The sculpture is very impressive as one notices different agendas as one moves around it. To me it first looked like a stylized structure of a viking ship.

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  5. Good tour of the capital!

    If I ever fly back to Europe, am really going to try and work in a couple of days in Iceland....the air fare apparently is not too expensive.

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