It continues to be very mild weather here, some 8°C. Amsterdam, on the other hand, appears to be -7°C at the moment. Brr. I hope our heating hasn’t given up the ghost this time. Providence, Rhode Island, where we spent Christmas before we came here, is somewhat warmer at -1°C, although it’s still the mid-evening there.
One has to conclude that Iceland is the better place to be right now, although that’s debatably true, regardless of the weather conditions.
Another lazy day in Reykjavík. We never do much when we’re in the capital, defaulting instead to the lifestyle we’d probably lead if we lived here. It involves clean air, coffee, cake and probably other things that begin with the letter ‘C’.
66° North have put up their prices to compensate for the nosedive taken by the Kronur. They have jackets there now that would have cost €800 before the crash of the local currency. Today, they cost a mere €400, but there’s no way they were ever twice that.
Most places, however, especially clothes shops, haven’t yet raised prices, because they’re still selling collections purchased before the crash. Prices are bound to rise this year, however, as retailers have to hand over twice as much cash as before for the same imported goods. Inflation is rampant, too, running at some 15 to 20%. It will be interesting to see how Iceland recovers from this. I’m sure they will, though. They’ve braved far worse in the past and it’s not as if they have any choice this time around.
We saw the people from the Hlemmur documentary again today. And on Skólavörðustígur this afternoon, Sarah spotted a couple of violin cases on the pavement. One of them had a strip of masking tape with Sigur Rós written on it. I looked back as we walked past and I’m sure that I recognised Hildur Ársælsdóttir from Amiina, perhaps better known as the string quartet that have performed with Sigur Rós in recent years.
Dinner was at the ever excellent Þrír Frakkar on Baldursgata. The skyr brûlée that I had for dessert was particularly memorable.
And did you know that skyr is now sold at selected Whole Food supermarkets in the US? I saw it in the Providence branch while I was there. What a shame you can’t get it in Amsterdam.
We’re clearing out of Reykjavík a day early tomorrow and heading for the Northern Light Inn, quite close to Keflavík airport. This is to save ourselves some time Sunday morning, when we have a 07:50 flight back to Amsterdam. If we were to stay in Reykjavík, that would mean getting up at 04:30 for a 05:00 hotel bus pick-up. This way, we can get up closer to 06:00, which is a small mercy to be grateful for.
There’s not much on the agenda for tomorrow, except for a visit to Bláa Lónið, better known as the Blue Lagoon. No trip to Iceland is really complete without a few hours spent soaking there.
The next morning, we’ll be back in Amsterdam, which, I hope, will have warmed up a little by then.