Oh yes, we did!

 

As promised, we went to the Penis museum!  We went soon after it opened, and it was quite busy - clearly a big tourist attraction, which is funny, because you really don’t see it advertised much.

But more (much more) about that later. 

The day was bright - although still chilly (the locals are complaining that spring never came and that it is unusually cold). 

But it was lovely for a stroll to the botanical gardens, which are close to our hotel.  It is pretty and well maintained and free- unusual for Reykjavik where nothing (including public bathrooms) is free and everything is expensive (but it's in Krona - which may as well be monopoly money because it has too many zeros - besides, I'm on vacation!)

I came back by the water front, where clouds were providing dramatic shadows on the mountains.

And then, off to the Icelandic Phallological Museum, in the center of town..  I have to say - it was actually very interesting!  Not just the number of specimens, but the way it described every animal and their mating habits -  my favorite part was the “oddity” part of every descriptive board - and of those, my favorite one is the possum!  I have added many others at the end of the blog for your entertainment.  

There was also a section about humans, both in art and reality, including depictions from previous eras. (again, more at the end of the blog) 

I think my favorite part though was the last room, which was entirely devoted to satire and mythical or invented creatures- but did not say that- you had to figure it out by yourself!  Again, here is a favorite example, with many others included at the end.  

Seriously, I will give this 5 stars on Trip Advisor - both informative and fun - and well done!  We had had a large breakfast at the hotel, so did not get the special Oreo-Coconut Penis waffles - which is too bad because they smelled wonderful!

From there, we walked to the harbor, and to the maritime museum.  Which is 2 museums in a day - which everyone who knows me knows is some kind of record!  But Reykjavik, for such a small city, has many very interesting museums, and we were trying to stay away from activities that are included on our cruise (like whale watching, and “the golden circle”).

Anyway- the maritime museum was interesting too - in a different way from the previous one.  A favorite fact I learned is that in 1976 (that’s not that long ago!), Iceland and England broke off all diplomatic ties and almost went to war with each other over the rights to fish for cod around the coast of Iceland. Having learned about cod when we went to Newfoundland, I am amazed about how much of relatively recent history and even boundaries are a direct result of the appetite for cod! 

 Speaking of appetite - there is a lot of “fish and chips” to be had around the harbor….  But we still were not hungry after that big breakfast.

So I walked to the “pufa”, an art installation at the end of the harbor -  it’s very nice and supposed to promote meditation and self-reflection”.

I liked it a lot!  And from the top of it’s spiral trail, I got a lovely view of the harbor, of the giant ships that dock there (the ship we are boarding tomorrow carries about 1/20th the number of passengers as this one), and the pretty sail boats.

Speaking of art installations:  Reykjavik is peppered with them, making the already very walkable city even more pleasant to walk around. Here is the “sun voyageur", on the pathway along the waterfront.  

Reykjavik is a small city - population 120,000 (which is about the same size as my home town of Metz), which makes the number of museums, tourist attractions, large boats and tourists really impressive….  We are not even in full season, it’s going to get crowded!  

It is also a very walkable city - in fact its network of walking trails and sidewalks is impressive.  It explains why the electric scooter seems to be a primary mode of transportation (much more than bicycles).  More than 1/2 the cars are electric, which may be because electric power is geothermal and is very cheap.

Below are a couple more examples of art around town:

We finally stopped at the Harpa building, the big and architecturally interesting concert hall, were we had ‘brauoterta” - because it is very typically Icelandic, (our waitress said “we eat it all the time”.)  It’s described as a “bread cake” with tuna. Don’t tell the Icelandic people, because it would hurt their feelings - but it is in fact a tuna sandwich on white bread, with BBQ sauce on top…..  Not awful, not worth having more than once either…….  

Of course, we had cocktails!  And Joe even had the fish and chips for dinner.  I’m not completely sure what I had, but it had grilled cabbage, sautéed wild mushrooms, puréed black trumpets and fried Jerusalem artichokes…. It was the vegan option- which is not why I choose it- and sounded interesting.   It was VERY good!

More picture from the Penis Museum: