On June 29th, our first day in Iceland, after eating lunch at the Cat Cafe, we walked up the rainbow road to the Hallgrimskirkja, the tallest church in Iceland, but it was closed for services. We then meandered through neighborhoods to the Pjodminjasafn Islands National Museum. We noticed metal roofs and transome windows everywhere. Tipping open windows and skylights brings in fresh air but sheds rain water.

The fact that we have no pictures from this museum is evidence that this is where we both reached the end of our energy. They have artifacts to show the relatively late age of occupancy of this island and the iron forged from bogs here. The textiles from churches and for staying warm are well-preserved. Martie sat down to rest on a bench and nodded off; I found myself almost falling asleep standing in front of displays. We walked back to the hotel and were able to get into our room and nap.

We finished that day with supper and some shopping in the Old Reykjavik historic quarter.

Whales of Iceland museum was a short walk from our hotel. There is also a whale museum in the town of Husavik where we will be on July 7th, but we thought we might not have time for it then. This museum has life-sized models of whales which we walked around and under. We also watched a video narrated by David Attenborough about whales’ intelligence where a young humpback whale outsmarted a salmon farm off the coast of Alaska as they tried many ways to prevent her from snacking on their fish.

The Perlan is a natural history museum that has world-class exhibits. It sits up on a hill and has an excellent 360 degree view of the city. We learned about the geology of Iceland, watched the northern lights show, toured the indoor ice cave and water exhibits with a three-story geyser, and the brand new volcano show. This takes place in a surround-screen room with a moving floor so you feel immersed in a volcano while beautiful music accompanies what you see and feel. An exhibit on the shrinking glaciers was a reminder of the effects of climate change here.

A little side-story here: We took taxis to and from the Perlan rather than walk a 6km round trip. When we returned to our hotel room thinking it was nap time, I immediately realized I didn’t have my phone with me. I used the Find My app to see if I could locate it—the app showed it at the Perlan. The app let me disable the phone and display that it was lost and put Martie’s number on the screen. We tried to call the Perlan; they have five different recorded messages that all say to contact them through email. We decided it was best to get another taxi ride back to the museum. Just as we stepped out of the hotel, our taxi driver pulled up and pointed at me. He had my phone and wouldn’t take anything but my thanks and undying gratitude for returning it. I realized I had laid my phone down to dig out a credit card to pay him, and forgot to grab the phone before stepping out. This is just one example of the many kindnesses we experienced while in Iceland. This bother and miraculous timing woke us right up. No nap needed after all; we were excited to do more exploring!