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| Reykjavik on a sunny summer day - Internet Photo |
Reykjavik, Iceland’s capital city, looked anything but
inviting when we docked: pouring rain, strong gusts of wind, chilly
temperatures, low hanging clouds! One look out of my cabin window convinced me,
that today was not a day to explore the wonders of Icelandic Nature, downtown -
maybe.
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| Harpa Concert Hall - Internet Photo |
Dressed in every layer I could possibly wear, armed with an
umbrella, I set out to ‘hit town’. A City Bus takes a visitor from the port to
Harpa, the ultra-modern Concert Hall and Conference Centre, at the edge of
downtown.
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| View from Harpa out onto rain drenched marina |
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| Harpa |
On the way one passes the famous Sculpture of the ‘Sun Voyager’, a
shiny steel structure depicting a Viking Longboat – the icon of Iceland.
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| Sunvoyager on an overcast day - Internet Photo |
My umbrella proved useless, as the wind turned it inside out
at first deployment. I braced myself against the cold and trudged on like a
Viking Sun Voyager, caught on an off day.
Reykjavik has all the trappings of a modern town: shopping,
restaurants, bars, museums, ‘old town’, a host of avant-garde office and
condominium buildings, hospitals, schools and colleges, suburbs…all it’s
110,000 inhabitants could wish for.
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| In the middle of summer and the letterbox is pretty full |
The city was originally founded by Ingolfur Arnarson in 870
AD. By 930 they had their own parliament which governed Iceland until 1798,
when the Danish King took over its rule. Leiff Erikson is also eternalized in a
bronze statue. Graffiti of more or less artistic merit adds a modern touch to
the public art scene.
I battled against the rainy gusts walking up main-street
(Bankastraeti and Laugavegur) towards the one building that stand higher than
anything else in Reykjavik – there are no sky scrapers: Hallgrimskirkja.
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| Hallgrimskirkja - Internet Photo |
It is a towering church, which is designed to look like an
array of pipes of a giant stone and concrete organ. The architecture is
Scandinavian ‘stark’ and simple. The interior is almost pure white, graced by
slender columns, high arches, clear glass windows and a 5,200 pipe organ.
As it was time to pause to dry out somewhat, I entered to
rest and wander around, looking at the few paintings adorning the walls, and
admiring the impressive organ.
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| Chamber Choir performing Icelandic Compositions |
I was in luck – again – as today, Wednesday, a chamber choir
Schola Cantorum Reykjavicensis was scheduled to give a lunch time concert –
without organ music. I bought a ticket
(2000 Icelandic Kronas) and awaited the musical treat.
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| Painting of Crucifixion |
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| Painting of Crucifixion |
About six large paintings of the crucifixion adorned the
space behind the altar. Another large work by the same artist, also depicting a
crucifixion, had a strange addition to the usual scene of Jesus on the Cross
with his mother and Apostles standing sadly by the foot of the cross. Here the
artist had depicted himself stark naked, with one of his painted outstretched
hands nailed to the cross and connected by the same nail to the hand of Jesus.
Only in Scandinavia would an anatomically accurate painting of a naked man be
allowed to hang in a church.
The chamber choir sang a cappella (fantastic acustics) and
treated the listeners to a program of Icelandic music, whose composition and
poetry ranged from the Middle Ages to modern times.
Sufficiently warmed up a headed back into rain and wind, I
made it to the old port of Reykjavik, where the oldest wooden and metal clad
houses are now cosy restaurants. A hot soup kept me going for a while longer.
It took quite an effort to climb the gangway to get back
into Prinsendam, as the wind was whipping across the docks with incredible
force.
I wondered, whether my plan to attend the one and only
weekly Milonga (Argentine Tango) was feasible…and if any brave milongueros
would actually turn up.
Only here in Reykjavik once, I battled my way back into town
with tango shoes protected in a couple of plastic bags. Promply at nine, the
little Café Kaffitari on Bankastraeti, removed all the coffe-tables and chairs
and swept the floor to get ready for the action. Organizer Snorri, and DJ Petra
appeared with their paraphernalia, and soon a respectable number of tango
aficionados turned up to dance.
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| Snorri and dancer in Kaffitari |
I danced my first tanda with Snorri – who (it turned out) I
had danced with before: in Buenos Aires, in December, at the Gricel….small
world again indeed. Inside the cozy café, to Buenos Aires tango music, dancing
with a few of the local dancers, and chatting with just about every tanguero
present, one forgot the inclement weather outside.
By 11 p.m. the Cumparsita tango closed the night…back to the
ship. Albeit, the rain had stopped, and ‘downtown’ was alive with people
visiting bars and eating out. It’s a safe city (lowest crime rate in Europe)
and one may ‘hang out’ quite comfortably without any worries about being
pick-pocketed or assaulted.
I called it a night….chamber music and tango was quite an
enjoyable introduction to the Reykjavik Scene.
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| Painting hanging in the Concert Hall Harpa |
