Reykjavik & Copenhagen

Spending a week in Reykjavik is good, because you can completely exhaust the number of things you want and can do in the city. For me it was seeing as many art galleries or street art pieces within walking distance of the hotel.
Reykjavík Museum of Photography – A small museum located on the top floor of the city’s library and archives, you can view the latest exhibition or browse through the digital archives of photography.
The Icelandic Printmakers Association studio – a printing making studio available to members, with a small gallery in the front section. The exhibiting artist gave us a quick tour of the place.
Nýló – The Contemporary Art Museum – a series of art spaces run by the artists.
The National Gallery of Iceland – a museum housing classical and historical works of art, but also exhibiting contemporary works. At the time, it was celebrating 140 years of operation
The House of Collections – related to the National Gallery, this museum also contains works of art and exhibitions primarily related to Iceland
Berg Contemporary – A small contemporary art museum, it was showing the works of Woody Valsulka
The Lava Show – a tourist spot where you can see some lava being made and receive some information about the properties of what makes up most of Iceland
Fotografi – the gallery and shop of photos from all around Iceland.
The Einar Jónsson Museum – featuring the works of Iceland’s pre-eminent sculptor in his former home, with a sculpture garden out the back.
Gräf – A small store that sits underneath the Reykjavik Headshop, with an artists original work and publications
The Perlan – a museum of the environment of Iceland with environmental and ecological research and issues.
Hallgrimskirkja – a modern cathedral that towers over the city.
And then there’s the numerous amounts of street art around the city.

There was also a visit to the Blue Lagoon, which is the largest and most touristy geothermal spa. At the time we went, there was ongoing volcanic activity in the nearby (and evacuated) town of Grindavík. Bulwarks made of tall piles of igneous rock made the destination a fortress. Construction crews either seemed to work on expanding the facilities or shoring up defences in the event of a future eruption. Blue Lagoon is okay, when compared with Vök and Krauma baths. It has the capacity to take a vast number of people, meaning that you shouldn’t have issue when trying to find a place to relax. There are also saunas and steam rooms, if you want out of the water for a bit. Sam lost his glasses for a bit, but he eventually found them behind a waterfall

Then there’s a few things I didn’t see, like the Punk Museum, the Phallogical Museum (which Sam looked at), and a few others which sat outside of walking distance.

We caught our chartered ride to Keflavík Airport while it rained. The airport was busy, as there were school trips (I’m guessing Canadians from their accents) heading back home, on top of other tourists from either side of the Atlantic.

We would arrive in Copenhagen late, because we just jumped an hour or two ahead. The line for customs was huge as several flights already landed. We eventually got through to the metro, but when we went to change over at Kongens Nytorv, the metro to the central station was unavailable. So we went outside and managed to catch the replacement bus, which by happenstance, dropped us directly outside of the hotel. It was now ten P.M. I honestly cannot remember what I ate. We likely raided the nearby 7-11.

With only a handful of days remaining, there wasn’t time to waste. Our first stop was the National Library (aka The Black Diamond), which had two photography related exhibitions. One was about the history of photography in Denmark and the other was a retrospective of the photography of Boris Mikhailov. The Mikhailov show was great, showing ironic colourisation of his work during the Soviet era, and colour slide ‘sandwiches’ – juxtaposing two different images together to make an entirely new image.

There’s the Thorvaldsens Museum, containing the sculptural works of Bertel Thorvaldsen, whose work, in the neoclassical style, had patrons in Germany, Rome and the Vatican.

We then did a boat tour around the canals of Slotshomen and Christianhavn and around parts of the (København Havn) Port of Copenhagen.

The NW Gallery Cph is a small gallery space, which at the time of the visit, featured the experimental photography of four artists. I took the opportunity to pick up a couple of the artist books there.

The Fotografisk Centre, was displaying video work, documentary and short experimental films. I picked up a Søren Solkær book, Surface, considering it was going to be cheaper to carry the book back rather than ordering it.

The Danish Architecture Centre is a place showcasing the highlights and achievements of the design aesthetic and philosophy of the country, and how it is exported globally. If you sat in the lobby of an office building or airport, chances are you were sitting on replicas of designer furniture that was conceived in Denmark. It’s a cool building and there’s a slide that will take you back to the bottom of the building.

The Museum of Copenhagen tells the story of the city from its founding and archaeological findings to the current era and how the city has grown and changed over the centuries.

One night, as it was Sam’s birthday, went to an Italian restaurant (really our third, as the prior two didn’t work out). It had no patrons, and the staff seemed a bit discombobulated, quietly arguing and trying to organise themselves.

Copenhagen is a place that if you want to walk around and see architecture from three centuries ago next to something that maybe was built a decade back. It’s easy to get around and seems relatively safe at night. So I’ll probably me going back in two years or so.