Saturday, August 22- Checking out the Museums

The weather was grey and rainy so we decided to find some museums.  Fortunately, many were in the same area.

We THINK this was the Maritime Museum!  It was totally open-air but had exhibits of ships than sank in the seas around Iceland at various intervals.  This poster was from the World War II years.

On the way to the Maritime Museum we encountered this excavation; clearly it had interrupted some development project.  I took a picture of the explanatory poster but even with a good Icelandic-English dictionary I wasn't able to figure out much more than that.

From there we went to the Reykjavik Art Museum.  This turned out to be very cutting-edge art.  Below is an example- it was from a whole room full of teddy bears and teddy bear parts glued together and coated with wax.  No, I am not making this up.  The artist had studied in San Diego but she now lives in Iceland.

Ron discovered something more interesting on the lower floor.  Drawn by the sound of organ music, he went to a curtained-off room where they were displaying a piece of performance art taking place in the Hallgrimskirkja (the landmark church in the middle of Reykjavik).  One screen showed the organist, playing the church organ, which has over 5,000 pipes. 

Another showed views of the church as seen from a drone.  A third screen actually filmed the drone itself and the fourth showed the guy below, dressed in a giant diaper and crooning with the organ chords.  No, we don't know why he chose that particular outfit.  It's art.  If you have to ask, it just shows you don't understand Art.

I went out again on Saturday evening and since it was a national holiday, the streets were lively even though there was a light rain.  There were people dancing to bands in the streets, families out walking, and people on bicycles. 

 

There was also a long line outside Dunkin' Donuts.  I avoided Dunkin' Donuts.

I learned early to take a camera (even if it was just the one in my cell phone) with me any time I went out- there was always something interesting to see.