Dit zijn de afstanden die er per dag gefietst zijn. Dag 4 was de rustdag.Dag 5 en 6 waren de dagen dat we rond hebben gereden in de Veluwe zonder bagage.
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Iceland - Day 23 : City tripin'
At night a baby had been howling for 45 minute straight. It probably wouldn't be great to be its parents, with everyone hating you. I had only one freeze dried meal left, which I made together with Thibaut. It was called 'Indian bread'. It was dough to make a type of pancake-like bread. It turned out to be basically glue and stick to everything. The bread didn't have much flavor but it felt good to eat something different for a change.
The 'Indian bread'
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We charged our cameras and went into town. First we visited the real Laugavegur, the hiking route I had followed was named after this shopping street, as the Icelandic people claim it's just a crowded.
Famous art in the bay
The real Laugavegur
I bought a mug with puffins for my sister and then headed to the national Icelandic museum with Thibaut. He had bought a pass that allowed him to enter all museums in Reykjavik, but I figured one or two would be enough. When we arrived we discovered the museum was free.
The town hall of Reykjavik
Some nice views
The museum was nice, there were many old things from the time Iceland was first settled, around 1200 years ago. There were also replicas of Viking weapons so you could feel how heavy they were. Of course I had to try those.
Bram redbeard
Later we entered a gallery about chess, apparently an Icelandic man had won the world championship many years ago. We could also play a game ourselves. I hadn't played in years so failed miserably in the beginning, but later in the game I had an excellent come back. Nonetheless the world cup went to the French this time.
An old Icelandic fishing boat
After the national history museum we went to a kind of Madam Tussauds about the history of Iceland.
An Icelandic Viking
The entire 'museum' was only a 100 meter long hallway, but we did receive a headphone that explained everything. It told about the people who had discovered Iceland and of course the man who had discovered Vinland/America before Columbus. I had seen the same story on a 100 other places throughout Iceland. There apparently is good evidence that Columbus wasn't the first person to discover America, but they really did everything to avoid mentioning his name. Iceland was first owned by Norway and then Denmark and there had been several serious plague outbreaks. The weirdest story was about the lady with the two boobs.
There had been a female warrior who had arrived in America with a bunch of men. When they met the native Americans one of their bulls ran riot towards the native Americans. The Americans thought the Icelanders were trying to attack so went into fighting mode. As the native Americans were excellent fighters the Icelanders had gotten scared and ran away. Not to lady. She was very brave so had taken her shirt off and put her sword against one of her boobs. That must be the craziest history story I have ever heard, but according to the headphones it had worked. I think I'll attack some women too after I return home. I hadn't made a photo of her in the museum but fortunately I found one later on the internet. The lady was called Freydís Eiríksdóttir.
After the seeing second museum we went towards its roof to get a nice view over the city. Later we went to the church I had passed on my first day in Iceland. There was yet another statue of not Columbus with the text he had discovered America first.
Die mooie kerk met de man die eerder was
Homeless guy Bram in front of the Hallgrimskirkja
We visited some stores. There was a store named Geysir, which I had also visited at the geyser Geysir. The lady behind the checkout definitely didn't ride horses. They sold all sorts of handknit clothes. Most Icelanders I had seen wore one of only two types of clothes, either the handknit sheep sweaters or new clothes from the brand 66° North. The chain had really good advertisements. At Geysir I had already taken a picture of a nice photo, but that one turned out to be out of focus. I managed to find a different one back home.
The Geysir advertisement girl
After the store we bought some food and headed back towards the campsite. Along the way we passed a meadow with super weird music. I wanted to sit down but Thibaut didn't really feel comfortable there, especially when a 40 year old guy with a purple moustache left the bar next door. Those kind of situations are clear disadvantages when traveling with other people, then you suddenly have to compromise.
Throughout the day I still walked a lot and didn't really rested. I also had a bit of a sore back. Perhaps I just needed to get used to walking without a backpack again. At the campsite I ate cow-dung-bread and some fruit.
It tasted better than it looks
Hmmm