Day 9: Akureyri
Jul. 16th, 2012 11:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
life_of_glamourAkureyri is the 2nd-largest city in Iceland, with a population of 17,000. Which means it's actually a pretty small town by most standards. We rolled in around 10am and immediately did the obvious thing one does upon reaching civilization after a week in the fjords: Got some laundry done at the hostel. Yeah, it's crazy times here!
Heh.
Then we wandered around town, it's very walkable and quite compact, here's your Akureyri icons shot:
We didn't actually go into the church, churches do nothing for me, especially modern ones.
Now I should mention a bit about the houses here. Most houses here were turf farms until the early 20th century, when the entire country modernized within a single generation. But they don't have many trees here, so there's not much wood for building materials. So, most houses are made of steel and the outer layer is usually sheets of corrugated steel. In fact, this may be the only Victorian you ever see like it:
Cathyn described it as, "It's not every day you see a Painted Lady with steel skirts!"
Next we went to the Akureyri Museum because we read that there were objects from the excavations at Gasir there. The museum was kind of a bust, staffed by a VERY Icelandic young man :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( and the exhibits were pretty minimal.
We did some shopping and Cathyn enjoyed the headwear section again.
Then we drove around for a while, because we'd walked all over town already and then we went back to our hotel and took a nap. I had a pretty bad fall this morning in the bathroom on a wet slippery floor, so I needed to rest a bit as well. I expect a beautiful array of bruises tomorrow.
After the nap we hit a coffee shop across the street from our hotel and HOLD THE PHONE!!! The coffee shop was staffed by the friendliest Icelanders we have encountered yet! Like, smiling and chatty and everything. It was surprising and really, really nice. We had a lovely time there, and when Cathyn went back to refill our coffee mugs, they noticed the Angry Coffee Man tattoo he has on the back of his right calf and were quite delighted by it. The fellow at the counter said, "We should have that on the menu!" After we finished our coffee and were about to leave we were walking by the counter and he said, "Look, we put it on the menu!"
"It costs more. Wanna know why? Order one."
So we did. He scowled and threw the mug down, and half of it sloshed onto the counter and he laughed and said, "Because I have to clean it up!" So, friendly, fun Icelandic people do exist, I'm happy to report. We're going back there later tonight for a beer, as they serve both.
We're off to find some kind of dinner now, then a beer at the Angry Coffee cafe.
Heh.
Then we wandered around town, it's very walkable and quite compact, here's your Akureyri icons shot:
We didn't actually go into the church, churches do nothing for me, especially modern ones.
Now I should mention a bit about the houses here. Most houses here were turf farms until the early 20th century, when the entire country modernized within a single generation. But they don't have many trees here, so there's not much wood for building materials. So, most houses are made of steel and the outer layer is usually sheets of corrugated steel. In fact, this may be the only Victorian you ever see like it:
Cathyn described it as, "It's not every day you see a Painted Lady with steel skirts!"
Next we went to the Akureyri Museum because we read that there were objects from the excavations at Gasir there. The museum was kind of a bust, staffed by a VERY Icelandic young man :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( and the exhibits were pretty minimal.
We did some shopping and Cathyn enjoyed the headwear section again.
Then we drove around for a while, because we'd walked all over town already and then we went back to our hotel and took a nap. I had a pretty bad fall this morning in the bathroom on a wet slippery floor, so I needed to rest a bit as well. I expect a beautiful array of bruises tomorrow.
After the nap we hit a coffee shop across the street from our hotel and HOLD THE PHONE!!! The coffee shop was staffed by the friendliest Icelanders we have encountered yet! Like, smiling and chatty and everything. It was surprising and really, really nice. We had a lovely time there, and when Cathyn went back to refill our coffee mugs, they noticed the Angry Coffee Man tattoo he has on the back of his right calf and were quite delighted by it. The fellow at the counter said, "We should have that on the menu!" After we finished our coffee and were about to leave we were walking by the counter and he said, "Look, we put it on the menu!"
"It costs more. Wanna know why? Order one."
So we did. He scowled and threw the mug down, and half of it sloshed onto the counter and he laughed and said, "Because I have to clean it up!" So, friendly, fun Icelandic people do exist, I'm happy to report. We're going back there later tonight for a beer, as they serve both.
We're off to find some kind of dinner now, then a beer at the Angry Coffee cafe.
