Limping to Perlan
Aug. 29th, 2019 04:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kevin_standleeLisa was just barely mobile enough today to come have breakfast in the hotel restaurant, after which she avowed as we should go see something in Reykjavik. We couldn't walk a long way, though, so we made our slow way over to Bus Stop #5 in front of the Harapa Concert Hall and boarded the bus to Perlan, the large dome-shaped museum that overlooks Reykjavik. Perlan (the Pearl) is a former set of hot water tanks that were once part of the municipal geothermal hot water supply, but have since been converted to a museum, planetarium, and observation deck.
The bus from Harapa costs Kr890, but that includes admission to the observation deck and is applicable against the cost of any of the combined tickets.
After riding the bus up to Perlan, we bought a combined ticket including the Wonders of Iceland museum. We looked in to the first set of exhibits, then went out to the observation deck. As usual, click through any of the photos here to see the rest of them on Flickr.
The views from the observation deck are spectacular. Here's one looking toward the Hallgrímskirkja church.
If I have my bearings right, the construction crane near the center of this photo (one of several, I know) is the one located outside of our hotel window.
Kuma Bear watched planes taking off from Reykjavik City Airport while looking out to sea.
I was taken by the curved ladder mechanism used to access and clean the glass dome.
As rain started to fall, we headed back inside, through a route that takes you through the gift shop.
Kuma Bear saw these Cod chips and got excited, but then was annoyed to see that they were for dogs. "Darns dogs, wasting fishes thats Bears coulds bes eatings."
Just before the Ice Cave there is this polar bear. Kuma thinks that polar bears are crazy, swimming around in the ice like they do.
Next was the Ice Cave, which is kept at -10°C. When you're as tall as I am (192 cm), you have to watch your head on the low ice.
Kuma tried the Ice Throne for size. "It's colds!" he complained.
I sat on the Ice Throne as well. While it was initially quite chilly, after a moment it wasn't too bad, what with the fur insulation on the seat.
In the next section of the museum, there were small live fish in tanks. Kuma Bear got hungry looking at them, but Lisa wasn't hungry and she was getting tired and was still sick, so we started working our way out of the museum.
We did see this placard about protecting salmon, about which Kuma Bear heartily concurs.
With Lisa fading, we rode the bus back down to Harapa, which is an impressive building. If it had more conference space, I could see someone trying to organize a Worldcon in Iceland. It wouldn't be cheap, though. Everything in Iceland is expensive, as far as I can tell.
Lisa staggered back to the hotel, where she took more cough medication and went back to bed, periodically waking up choking and racked with coughing and pained with congestion. I'm very worried about her, but am doing whatever I can to support her. Tomorrow, when we fly back to California, is not likely to be a fun day at all.
Epilogue, 19:45 local time:
A couple of hours after we got back, after Lisa had had another nap, she felt barely well enough to go get some dinner. We went to the Reykjavik Fish Restaurant about 800 m from our hotel. We'd gone past it a number of times, and the menu looked good. You order at the counter and take a marker to your table. Kuma Bear thought this meant they were bringing him five fishes.
We both had the Traditional Icelandic Plokkari, which is a kind of casserole with potatoes, cheese, onions, and fish. I liked it, but Lisa turned out to be really not as much up to eating anything at all, no matter what it was. We don't blame the restaurant. If we should ever come back at a time when Lisa is not sick, we'll give it another try.
We limped back to the hotel and Lisa took a bath, hoping that the steam and sulfur of the hot water may help clear her lungs enough for her to get some sleep for tomorrow's ordeal.
The bus from Harapa costs Kr890, but that includes admission to the observation deck and is applicable against the cost of any of the combined tickets.
After riding the bus up to Perlan, we bought a combined ticket including the Wonders of Iceland museum. We looked in to the first set of exhibits, then went out to the observation deck. As usual, click through any of the photos here to see the rest of them on Flickr.
The views from the observation deck are spectacular. Here's one looking toward the Hallgrímskirkja church.
If I have my bearings right, the construction crane near the center of this photo (one of several, I know) is the one located outside of our hotel window.
Kuma Bear watched planes taking off from Reykjavik City Airport while looking out to sea.
I was taken by the curved ladder mechanism used to access and clean the glass dome.
As rain started to fall, we headed back inside, through a route that takes you through the gift shop.
Kuma Bear saw these Cod chips and got excited, but then was annoyed to see that they were for dogs. "Darns dogs, wasting fishes thats Bears coulds bes eatings."
Just before the Ice Cave there is this polar bear. Kuma thinks that polar bears are crazy, swimming around in the ice like they do.
Next was the Ice Cave, which is kept at -10°C. When you're as tall as I am (192 cm), you have to watch your head on the low ice.
Kuma tried the Ice Throne for size. "It's colds!" he complained.
I sat on the Ice Throne as well. While it was initially quite chilly, after a moment it wasn't too bad, what with the fur insulation on the seat.
In the next section of the museum, there were small live fish in tanks. Kuma Bear got hungry looking at them, but Lisa wasn't hungry and she was getting tired and was still sick, so we started working our way out of the museum.
We did see this placard about protecting salmon, about which Kuma Bear heartily concurs.
With Lisa fading, we rode the bus back down to Harapa, which is an impressive building. If it had more conference space, I could see someone trying to organize a Worldcon in Iceland. It wouldn't be cheap, though. Everything in Iceland is expensive, as far as I can tell.
Lisa staggered back to the hotel, where she took more cough medication and went back to bed, periodically waking up choking and racked with coughing and pained with congestion. I'm very worried about her, but am doing whatever I can to support her. Tomorrow, when we fly back to California, is not likely to be a fun day at all.
Epilogue, 19:45 local time:
A couple of hours after we got back, after Lisa had had another nap, she felt barely well enough to go get some dinner. We went to the Reykjavik Fish Restaurant about 800 m from our hotel. We'd gone past it a number of times, and the menu looked good. You order at the counter and take a marker to your table. Kuma Bear thought this meant they were bringing him five fishes.
We both had the Traditional Icelandic Plokkari, which is a kind of casserole with potatoes, cheese, onions, and fish. I liked it, but Lisa turned out to be really not as much up to eating anything at all, no matter what it was. We don't blame the restaurant. If we should ever come back at a time when Lisa is not sick, we'll give it another try.
We limped back to the hotel and Lisa took a bath, hoping that the steam and sulfur of the hot water may help clear her lungs enough for her to get some sleep for tomorrow's ordeal.
no subject
Date: 2019-08-29 05:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-08-30 08:20 am (UTC)I wonder whether they expect natives to visit the Wonders of Iceland Museum. Certainly whenever I visit somebody, my response to "where do you want to go?" is "where do you never go, because you could do it any time?" That's how I got my aunt (note : different aunt) to visit the Franklin Institute, which is sadly diminished in my humble opinion from its sometime glory.
no subject
Date: 2019-08-30 09:58 am (UTC)