Day 38-Winter Lights Festival

   February 11-Sally had a little more excitement than she had planned this morning.  She headed over to her office to get some materials for her class and when she walked into the faculty office area the alarm went off!  She hit a button that turned it off, but 20 seconds later it started up again.  She wasn't really sure what to do, so she waited around until Sandra, who is in charge of the campus buildings, wandered over to see what was going on.  Apparently, no one is allowed into the faculty offices over the weekends.  So, it's official: no working on the weekends, that is the time to go play.

   And, that's what we did!  The family got around and we drove over to Reykjavík to spend the weekend at the Winter Lights Festival.  The International Children's Day also took place on Saturday, so there were a large number of possible event for us to attend.  The kids were all excited to go to the Game Worlds event at the City Hall, because it was billed as an opportunity to play with Legos.  Unfortunately, it was very crowded and many of the tables were filled with models that had already been made and were not supposed to be touched.  The disappointment didn't last long, though, because behind the City Hall was Lake Tjörnin and a flock of waterfowl.  We headed out and the kids watched and bothered the birds for a while before we headed to a flea market.  We actually hit two flea markets and another second-hand store during the day, so everyone got the chance to shop to their heart's content.  We got some nice, hand-knitted wool sweaters cheap, the girls bought some jewelry, and Alex and Spencer got costumes for them to wear on Ash Wednesday.

   We still managed to fit some site-seeing into the shopping trips, the most noteworthy of which was the Harpa concert hall.  It is a striking building that catches your attention from almost any location downtown, mostly because of the multi-faceted windows that line one side of it and reflect light in interesting ways.  It was just as spectacular inside with multiple levels and comfortable sitting areas where people can relax while touring around or during intermissions.  Tours of the concert hall itself are usually available, but the finals for the Söngvakeppni were being held there that night, so the performers where rehearsing during the usual tour times.  I imagine that we will be back at some point to tour it.

    We ate supper at a rather expensive restaurant, so we could try some puffin.  None of us were particularly impressed by that dish or any of the other food we had there.  The cheaper bakeries and cafés are definitely the better choices!  Then, it was time to partake in the Swimming Pool Night.  As part of the Festival, the pools were all free that evening and
featured live entertainment.  We chose the Árbæjarlaug pool, which is in one of Reykjavík's suburbs. When we got there, some kids from a local music conservatory were performing.  Later, a dance group performed in the shallow pool.  Mostly, the kids enjoyed the slides, the hot tubs, and the various toys that were available to play with.  We adults mostly enjoyed the hot tubs.  When we left around 11 pm, the Söngvakeppni was wrapping up on TV.  Spencer's favorite group just got edged out by Sally's favorite group, which will be Iceland's entry into the annual Eurovision song competition in Azerbaijan in May.

This Eye of Providence swept to and fro looking out over
Reykjavík in this part of the laser show.

   On the drive back to the hotel, we got to enjoy various buildings lit up with colorful lights as part of the Winter Lights Festival.  Our route took us by Hallgrímskirkja, which is the main church in Reykjavík and had the most spectacular light display, a laser show on its facade that lasted from sundown through midnight.  We stopped and watched for a little while, but the lateness and our time in the hot tubs were taking their toll, so we slipped on back to the hotel to hit the sack.