As the sun in Iceland rises later and later each day, so, too, do we. After hauling ourselves out of the hotel at 10:30, we headed for Kaffi Hljómalind and had a modest breakfast of toast and macchiato. Eloïse played with the toys available in the café.
After that, we visited various baby shops, purchasing, amongst other things, a new pair of purple boots for Eloïse. She first tried size 24 and liked them so much, that she wasn’t about to take them off at our insistence she try a size 25, lest we whip them out from under her and she lose them!
For lunch, we stopped for soup in a bread bowl at Svarta Kaffið, now blissfully smoke-free. This formed a welcome top-up after breakfast.
Outside, it was still dry in spite of the rain forecast; the temperature was pleasantly mild, too. We continued our baby shopping and then piled into Mokka on Skólavörðustígur for the obligatory coffee and chocolate cake. We really love this place and it’s been our favourite coffee shop since Kaffitár turned into a kind of Icelandic Starbucks.
Refreshed and refuelled, we next went to the Blue Lagoon shop, because Sarah wanted to buy a few lotions.
At that point, Sarah returned to the hotel and I ended up back at 12 Tónar, where I bought albums by Ólöf Arnalds, Múm and the debut album by Rökkurró.
Rökkurró’s album, Pað kólnar í kvöld…, was playing when I entered the shop, and it was instantly likeable. I soon discovered that the band would be playing that evening to celebrate the launch of the album, so I made a mental note to attend.
Dinner was at Café Oliver, which served me a huge and extremely tasty burger. Perhaps this establishment could serve as a future venue for a Lunchops burger, as long as I can persuade my fellow ex-Google colleagues to make the trip. It’s closer for them than Amsterdam, after all.
After dinner, Sarah went back to the hotel to put Eloïse down for the night and I walked down to Organ on Naustin for the Rökkurró gig. Support was from My Summer As A Salvation Soldier, which was a fair bit better than the artist’s stage name.
500 Kronur and a support band later, Rökkurró took to the stage. They’re an interesting outfit, a five-piece whose lead singer appeared to be invisible until I realised she was sitting down on stage at her cello. Apart from the strings, there’s an accordion and the familiar mix of bass, guitar and drums, plus the occasional use of a xylophone.
Rökkurró make a very pleasant noise indeed. Do catch them at home or abroad if you get the chance.