We did have some time on our first day in the city to walk around and find us some food! Our hotel is located near the Old Harbor.....thus, it was time to enjoy some seafood. We scouted out some different restaurants and agreed on eating at a tiny hole-in-the-wall place that claimed to have world-famous lobster soup!
Absolutely world-class! That big piece of lobster Jenesa is showcasing just melts in your mouth. This place also had huge kebabs of fish, scallops, and shrimp. We needed the soup to warm us up....but we'll surely be back for more another day!
Off to church! We could see the Hallgrimskirkja Church from all the way across the city (and it can be seen from 20km away). This is Reykjavik's main landmark which rises 73 meters in the city center and can also be seen on thousands of post cards around town. In contrast to the high drama of the architecture outside, the inside of the church is quite plain with nothing spectacular to offer except the gargantuan 5275 pipe organ.
I took the elevator all the way up to the top of the clock tower to peek out over the city. The one thing I wanted to spot was the famous Hofdi House. This is where President Reagan met with Mikhail Gorbachev in a 1986 summit that effectively led to the end of the Cold War. I couldn't spot it from high atop the church.....so we're gonna have to get out the map!
The Hofdi House sits overlooking the waterfront and is not open to the public, but I wanted to officially stand in the footsteps of The Gipper. Hello, Mr. President....I am a big fan of yours. Go Leonard!
Wondering back to our hotel....we managed to check out the Harpa Concert Hall located right across the street from our waterfront pad. It houses the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra and Opera. This building was half-constructed when the 2008 financial crash halted its completion. The government finally decided to fully fund the project and the first concert was performed in May, 2011.
If you look through the geometric panes of the concert hall.....you'll notice the awesome snow-capped mountains across the water.
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