I woke up this morning, looking at my phone and it saying 5:00. Not in the least surprised in not seeing daylight, I promptly went back to sleep thinking I still could get a few more hours in before my alarm went off. I wake up with whatever sunlight hitting my face, toasty warm like a cinnamon bun, I look at my phone and it says 10:30. I’m so used to waking up to the sunrise, that being 7:00, I naturally slept the morning away! Getting up, pouring myself a bowl of Cheerios and making a pot of coffee, I plan out my day.
I head out into the late morning sun and a temperature of around 4C, the ice was still on the sidewalks so I had to tread lightly. Thankfully, with my experience in winter climates from Canada, I knew how to stay on my feet. Along my sightseeing yesterday, I saw a tourism info building so I made my way there to inquire about shops that sell backpacks, just incase that I will be needing a bigger one. It’s about a 10-minute walk away and it took me about 45-minutes. I couldn’t remember where the location of the building was. Once I did find it, the service people there were extremely helpful, circled four different places on a tearaway map that they had. Three were downtown, a fourth was in a mall about a hour walk away. I said my goodbyes, left, then went right back in and asked if there was a place that I could buy some maple syrup for when I get home sick. They had a good chuckle about that and told me of two stores. According to Canadians, the one nearby didn’t have good syrup in stock, but the one further away had amazing stuff. They told me of the place and I’ll be making my way there later.
Upon leaving for the second time, I discovered a restaurant right beside it called ‘Lækjarbrekka’. They served fermented shark. Fermented shark! One of the…’delicacies’ of Iceland that I wanted to try! They also had puffin, another one I wanted! I made note of the location, reciting it a few times in my head so that I wouldn’t forget, I booked my night around having dinner there.
Heading uphill from there, I made my way to the Hallgrímskirkja church. This was my first time in a church this size. Upon entering the building, it looked like any other church that I had been in, until I went into the main area. I was awestruck! Probably greater than 30’ ceilings, organs so big that the Sisters of Battle would be envious of, superb acoustics; to me, there was no way I could prepare myself for this. After spending a good half-hour in there, I went to the gift shop and bought a ticket to go see the top of the tower. Walking to the elevator, I met up with another tourist. Hailing from Seattle, and her visiting Toronto quite often, we had a lot to talk about while we were in the elevator. We spent some good time together because once going in, there were eight floors. We didn’t know what floor to press, not wanting to miss anything, we started with floor 2 and made our way to floor 8. All floors from 2 to 7 were closed off. Once at the top, and scaling two floors worth of stairs, we arrived at the top. From up there we could see all of Reykjavik! Breathtaking! Spending a good hour up there, sightseeing, reading the history, and chatting, we finally bid adieu.
I went out to a cafe to get some more coffee in me and to start documenting my travels, and then it hit me. I hadn’t really noticed but the architecture here is very squared off and sharp, where back in Canada there’s more rounded corners and angles to the buildings. That struck me as something definitely different between the two worlds. Maybe this is better at combating their weather? Not too sure.
Afterwards, went back to my place to do some more writing and sorting out my pictures that I had taken. I was really in the zone and hadn’t noticed the clock until a text brought my attention to my phone and then the time. It had just stuck 6:30. Upon noticing the time, my stomach started complaining that it was empty. Nothing I could do would shut it up, so I put on my jacket and boots and left for Lækjarbrekka. Since I knew how to get there, it only took me about 5-minutes. Walking in, the atmosphere struck me as a classy French-style cottage. Talking with the waitress, and telling her that I was here for the shark and Brennivín (an Icelandic schnapps), and her giving me a confused and disgusted look, sat me down. While waiting for my food and drink, I took out my book and began to write down everything that I had done that day. Ten minutes later, she brings out a small mason jar with four pieces of shark inside and a shot glass of Brennivín. I said my thanks and she said ‘I’m sorry,’ she left hurriedly before she could see my confused look. Upon opening the jar, I found out why she said ‘sorry.’ The putrid smell burned my nose like chlorine and stung my eyes. My gawd, what have I gotten myself into? I waved her down and asked for a pint of Gull, an Icelandic beer. I then take my first piece. It wasn’t all that bad! The texture reminded me of a tough, salty steak. Very savoury. Then it hit me. The rancid, fermented taste. It traveled from the back of my throat to my nostrils. It was horrendous! I took a sip of the Brennivín and it seemed to help, nearly taking everything away but the taste from the back of my throat. The pint of beer made that better. Brennivín, made from a wheat and potato mash, has next to no taste at first, but then has a liquorice aftertaste. Like a mild Jägermeister. Not too bad all in all. I don’t know if Gull naturally tastes like this (further research needed), or if it was a combination of everything, but it was a not overpowering sweet beer. Very delicious! Now for the next bite since my senses have been reset. I did the same process for the next pieces.
Expecting the shark to be more food than just four half-inch by half-inch, I ordered the puffin. Once that came out, it was another small dish. Five small slivers (1/4”x2”) with Icelandic cranberries, I started off hesitantly. After the first bite I fell in love! The tenderness of a rare steak combined with the flavour of the dark meat of turkey! And the cranberries were very sweet and soft, unlike the tartness of the cranberries back home.
After my meal and describing my experiences with the two dishes (yes, I would have the shark again), I left and made my way back to my place where I started to type out my journal and working on this site. With Dumb and Dumber playing in the background, it got to 11pm rather quickly. So I closed my laptop and went to bed.