a couple hours of petting icelandic horses {and wishing i could pet arctic foxes} left us famished, so we caught the bus to city center and went in search of food. what we found was the laundromat cafe, and it was delicious. and SO cute: books lining shelves along the bar, walls hung with graphic posters and papered with vintage maps. oh, and an actual laundromat downstairs.
after lunch we wandered over to hólavallagarður cemetery. a few blocks from the pond, it hosts the grave of jón sigurðsson, the hero of iceland's independence movement. the "old churchyard" is quiet and green and somehow magical, spotted with daffodils and filled with trees {whereas most of iceland is not}.
we left the cemetery and headed towards Þjóðmenningarhúsið {the culture house}, home to ancient viking saga texts and other treasures of icelandic history {in addition to some interesting contemporary art on the top floor}. on our way, we stopped at a coffee shop-slash-bar called prikið, which claims to be the oldest cafe still in operation in iceland. all i know is they make a damn fine cappuccino foam heart.
we spent the rest of the afternoon wandering up and down laugavegur admiring shop windows, street art and colorful buildings. when it was time for dinner {you can always tell when it's time for dinner because we turn into very grouchy viking types}, we consulted the guide book and decided on geysir bistro & bar. a few glasses of wine and some seafood crepes later, we had full bellies and a new friend at the next table who was visiting from houston on her way to ireland. the three of us left the restaurant and headed over to the english pub for shots of black death {iceland's signature drink which isn't quite as bad as it sounds but okay maybe pretty close}...
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