Fenlason - Pineda: Iceland - Day Two

Not a bad way to wake up. Crisp morning, but a good night's sleep.

Hope of a clear day.

Hotel breakfast buffet.

And obscene amounts of BACON.

Happy for coffee . . .

. . . and a little of EVERYTHING.

Ovals,

and ovals,

and Jiraffita is READY.

Funny car parked at the hotel. You'll see this theme recur.

Downtown to the official visitor center to get some guidance. Not from the duck, but she was very helpful.

One of the swans had a scary crooked neck.

She really likes waterfowl.

Some great ogees.

A beautiful lake, Tjörnin, and park, Hljómskálagarður.

Back yard design ideas.

He'll truly pose pretty much any way I suggest. Even on his birthday!

Floating ball out the window.

3-D presentation map at the visitor center.

Idyllic.

A cool transit van outside Perlan, a museum in Reykjavíkon the hill Öskjuhlíð.

Perlan is Icelandic for "pearl" and the museum was originally designed by Ingimundur Sveinsson.

So, Iceland "gets" this whole TOURIST thing. They cannot control the weather, but they can make sure that you see everything there is to see, even if it's virtual, or in a museum, or just the history of an item or a place.

From the parking lot.

The design incorporates a group of hot water storage tanks that have been on the hill for decades. In 1991 the tanks were updated and a hemispherical structure placed on top. The project was largely at the behest of Davíð Oddsson, during his time as mayor of Reykjavík.

The museum currently hosts exhibitions on the Wonders of Iceland, which includes an augmented reality model of Látrabjarg Cliff, a virtual aquarium and a man-made ice cave, claimed to be the first of its kind in the world, designed and sculpted by Susan Christianen and Johan Larsson.

Hitavaettur by Robert Dell

This is Dell's best known work created during a Fulbright Senior Research Fellowship to Iceland in 1988. The first geothermal-powered sculpture, powered by hot springs, Hitavaettur, means “guardian of geothermal hot water” in Icelandic. The sculpture was inspired by the artist’s desire to create a “mythological personification of the Earth’s energy using today’s technology.” It is now powered by the same geothermal hot water that heats the city of Reykjavik.

“Simply put, he borrows geothermal energy to fuel his art,” said art critic Dominick Lombardi. An innovative thermocouple system is used to create electricity from the change in temperature between the internal heat and the surrounding air. The electrical current powers LED and laser lights in a quartz crystals and liquid crystal panels change color depending on weather. The structure, complete with metallic internal “organs” has an outer skin warmed by its circulation system, adding a comforting element to what Dell calls a biomorphic entity.

Another sculpture outside Perlan, is Dansleikur (or Dance) by Þorbjörg Guðrún Pálsdóttir which she completed in 1970. This Icelandic sculptor was born on February 10, 1919 in Reykjavík and was probably best known for these four green alien-like public statues.

Pálsdóttir died on November 11, 2009 in Reykjavík. Other works of note include Par (1994). She was a member of the Icelandic Sculptors Society, which she established in the Icelandic capital in 1972 along with Hallsteinn Sigurðsson, Jon Gunnar Árnason, Ragnar Kjartansson and others.

She attended the Commercial College of Iceland and studied photography at Reykjavík Technical College and also studied in Stockholm.

So, let's step inside!

Iceland announced a new initiative to positively affect visitor behavior and promote a happy, meaningful and responsible travel experience by launching a first-of-a-kind pledge for visitors in June 2017.

‘The Icelandic Pledge’, an online agreement, invites travelers to sign up to be a responsible tourist when visiting the country. The eight-point pledge encourages tourists to experience Iceland the way that Icelanders do by agreeing to a set of guidelines. These include directives such as ‘when exploring new places leave them as they are’, take photos ‘without dying for them’, to ‘never venture’ off- road, a direct call response to the total ban on off-road driving in Iceland, to adhere to allocated campsites when ‘sleeping under the stars’, to when nature calls, ‘not answer the call on nature’ and to be ‘prepared for all weathers, all possibilities and all adventures’.

Tourism Minister Þórdís Kolbrún R. Gylfadóttir announced The Icelandic Pledge at a special launch event. She said “The type of people who come to Iceland want to be responsible tourists, it’s just that they aren’t always aware of what that entails. So as part of our welcome we wanted to create a pledge which we’ll encourage all visitors to take, creating an army of people who know how to stay safe and also how to look after our delicate nature.”

In the lobby. If you look closely, you can see that they're "holes" in the floor – about three feet in diameter.

Tófa (Arctic fox)

(Vulpes lagopus fuliginosus)
"The Arctic fox is Iceland’s only native land mammal alive."

The Arctic fox can be found all over Iceland but most of them are in the Westfjords where you can find the largest bird cliffs in Iceland. The fox has been protected in Hornstrandir Nature Reserve since 1994. "A fun fact: The fox is afraid of fences in Iceland. It is very strange but he avoids going through fences even though he could easily go through it without getting hurt, he instead takes the long way around the fence!"

Hauskúpa og skögultennur af rostungi (Sub-fossilized walrus tusk)

(Odobenus rosmorus)
"This fossilized walrus tusk dates back to when these large mammals still lived on Iceland's shores."

There's an exhibit of Látrabjarg, in the Westfjords is one of the biggest sea-bird cliffs in Europe. This model is almost 35 feet tall and is rich with bird and plant specimens.

"Through high-tech, augmented reality entertainment visitors will see, hear and learn about life of millions of inhabitants in this natural skyscraper."

The Ice Cave is the first of its kind in the world. It is 100 meters long, built with over 350 tons of snow from the Blue Mountains.

Geothermal areas are traditionally divided into high- and low-temperature groups. Low-temperature areas are good for heating homes, greenhouses and swimming pools. High-temperature areas are better for large-scale power generation.

The Glaciers Exhibit gives insight into glaciers and their bleak future. Guests learn about Iceland’s glaciers, their effect on the land and what will happen if, or when, they disappear. Guests are also introduced to the unusual lifeforms that live on glaciers.

There are three main forms of earthquakes, depending on the plate movements that occur beneath the Earth's surface. Earthquakes can occur on a convergent boundary, divergent boundary or a transform fault. Iceland has both transform and divergent boundaries.

Plate Tectonics

The rocky shell of our planet, known as the crust, is broken and cracked into huge tectonic plates. These plates float on a sea of viscous molten rock. They carry entire continents. on slow, drifting paths around the planet.

Iceland is so volcanically active that researchers typically speak about “volcanic systems” rather than individual volcanoes. The island has 30 active volcanic systems, each with many types of volcanoes.

HA!! Sheep balls!

An observation deck is situated on the fourth floor of the museum, giving views of Reykjavík city and the surrounding areas. A fee of ISK 490 is charged for adults to access the platform as of September 2017, but access remains free for children, as stipulated in the building's rental agreement.