ByGD
Reykjavik!
When I moved my blog, all of the internal links got broken. As I have time, I’m going back through old posts and updating links. Right now I’m working through a lot of material from my first trip to Iceland (for Airwaves in 2012) and it’s bringing back a lot of memories of Icelandic bands that I loved in the past that are no longer with us. Read More
ByGD
When you travel, have you ever noticed that there cat cities and dog cities? Tokyo is a cat city. When I’m in Japan, I always carry a package of dried fish with me to tempt the stray kitties. Everywhere in India, stray dogs roam the streets. There is not a cat to be found. Reykjavik is known for its cats. They even have their own Facebook page. But I didn’t know that at first.
The first time I went to Reykjavik was for Airwaves. It was early November and we partied amidst hurricane-force winds. I didn’t see any cats. The next time it was April and warmer, but I was in class all day and didn’t wander the city much, except in large groups that would scare away any half intelligent animal. But the third time was in July. I was in the Eastfjords most of the time, but I spent my last day at the botanical garden in Reykjavik, marveling at how it looked like a Seattle garden in May, and making friends with this guy.
He never let me get close enough to pat him, but he followed me for nearly an hour as I wandered through the lilacs and buttercups. Reykjavik is a cat city.
ByGD
The I Heart Reykjavik blog ran this post about how to survive your first day in Iceland if you’ve arrived via WOW airlines, which land at 5 a.m. But the thing is, all the flights to Iceland on all the airlines from North America are overnight flights with early morning arrivals. You can usually count on Delta being a couple hours late and arriving closer to noon, but if you’re coming from North America, you will always be tired and you will generally hit town before anything is open. So I think this post is brilliant, and I plan to use it as my guide next time I go. You should too. Check it out.
ByGD
Reykjavik has so many clever bike racks. I wish I had thought to take a whole series of photos.
ByGD
Just a random DJ performing outdoors in November in the park known as Heart Garden in downtown Reykjavik. In a complete misunderstanding of what tourists (and residents) want, developers have torn up this guerilla cultural center in the heart of the city to make another corporate hotel.