Landed on time in the Frankfurt International Airport this morning after nearly nine hours of flying from the Mumbai International Airport. Frankfurt Airport is the Germany's largest international airport, capable of handling 65 million passengers annually in its two terminals spread over 2300 hectares. Frankfurt is the fifth largest German city and is the hub for Lufthansa, which has its corporate headquarters in Cologne.
The boarding in Frankfurt was delayed, as the captain explained after boarding was completed, due to cleaning of the incoming aircraft, which was from Cairo. He mentioned that the cleaning staff took extra time to restore order clearing up the litter of blankets and pillows and whatever else were strewn about. I may be wrong, but I certainly felt an explicit dose of sarcasm and a tinge of "what else can be expected of people from these parts of the world"! He, however, assured the passengers that he would catch up the lost time due to favourable tail winds on the route to Reykjavik. We suffered another ten minutes delay before take-off as a drone was sighted in the airport. After that matter was resolved we took off from Frankfurt and landed 10 minutes late at Reykjavik, for which, just before landing, the Captain apologized.
The Rhine and the Main rivers looked awesome at the time of takeoff from Frankfurt. Over the North Sea I saw a large number of windmills, obviously UK's renewable energy resource. Massive mountainous territory, almost completely snow-laden came into sight when the plane crossed into Iceland. Closer to Reykjavik the landscape changed to volcanic rocks, sparse greenery and signs of rain.
Before boarding the flight from Frankfurt I had to complete immigration formalities, which had perplexed me. When I landed in Reykjavik I understood why that was so. There is no immigration facility in Reykjavik, as Iceland is part of the Schengen. After collecting baggage I went to a store at the Arrivals and paid for a Siminn prepaid Simcard. When I asked the lady at the counter if she would activate the sim for me she looked at me incredulously and said, matter of factly, "You put the sim in and you can talk." I did that and it happened exactly like that. I called the Blue car rental to pick up the car. I took the shuttle bus from the arrivals to the car rental office, just a few minutes away.
The formalities to take the car was not much as I had prepaid the rental. At the time of taking the car, I also paid for the on-road service. The prepaid forex card of HDFC had come in handy. I had booked a Toyota Tygo, but was given a Yaris that had done over 80,000 km. The counter clerk told me the fuel type to be used and that I should download the 'Parka' App to find and pay for parking and camping all over Iceland. Before leaving the counter, she handed me a tracker to be kept in the car so that they would have real-time access to my location.
I called up the accommodation I had booked in Reykjavik. It was a self-check-in facility in the heart of Reykjavik. I could not, despite going around for more than an hour, find any free parking slots. It was getting colder too and my frustrations were brimming over. I drove to the Hallgrimskrikja church and parked for a while to figure out what I could do.
Hallgrimskrikja, the Church of Hallgrimur, is a Lutheran Church in the capital city. Since it's consecration in 1986 the 244 ft tall curved spired church with side wings has turned into the national identity of Iceland. It is the tallest structure in thewhole country and is named after the 17th century Icelandic poet and cleric Hallgrimur Peturssun. The organ like structure took 41 years to build. My mind went back to the columnar basalt formations called "Symphony of Stones" I had visited from Yerevan, Armenia. However, most disappointing was the fact that I could not gain admittance into the church proper because of some private function that was underway.
Right at the entrance to the Hallgrimskrikja church is the statue of Leif Erikson, the pioneer who is credited with having discovered Iceland. The Norse explorer is said to have been the first European to have set foot in Continental America, a millennium before Christopher Columbus. The church and the tower were closed. I decided to use Parka App, park in the church carpark and walk around the city center of Reykjavik. After adding layers to my travel clothes, I charted a walking plan for the next two hours.
Running through the historic center of Reykjavik, Laugavegur is one of the oldest streets in the Reykjavik and is its main shopping artery. The name of the street translates to "wash road" as, in the past, the road led to hot springs where local women frequented to do their laundry. It was built up in 1885, along with the development of the capital city itself and then on became the most beautiful street in Reykjavik. The long street is lined with picturesque Icelandic-style buildings. It is a pedestrianized street and crosses through many of the historic parts of the city, making it one of the best places to stay in Reykjavik. The budget accommodation I had booked for myself was just a hop, step and jump to the lively and colorful street.
The Harpa concert and convention center was commissioned in May 2011 and since then has become a must visit place for tourists. Entrance is free and the glass building is reminiscent of the basalt stone feature of Iceland. Harpa houses the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and the offices of The Icelandic Opera. In the water next to Harpa is located the sculpture The Musician (1970) by the Icelandic sculptor Olof Palsdottir. The statue is of a cellist playing, and is modelled on the Danish cellist Erling Blondal Bengtsson, who played constantly for Olof as he sat for her.
The old Reykjavik harbour is the heart of Reykjavík and was the catalyst to its formation. The city grew up around the harbour and in the early 20th century it became one of the centres of the Icelandic trawling industry. One of the locomotives that hauled wagons bringing stones to build the old harbour is on display in the waterfront. The harbour area has since been transformed but remains one of the most important harbours in Iceland. In recent years tourism and whale watching have gradually replaced fishing vessels while shops and restaurants have occupied warehouses.
In about two hours I returned to the carpark. The credit card I had registered for the Parka payments declined the parking fee as the App is not registered to recurring payments as per RBI guidelines. I left the carpark without paying and got to my accommodation. Fortunately, I found a parking slot a few minutes away from it. Parking slots are all free from 9 pm to 9 am every day. Even at this parking slot I could not make the payment. I was flustered, not knowing how to manage the situation. I added the debit card to the Parka App and that too got declined. Finally the HDFC prepaid card accepted the payment and I was relieved. The fines for traffic violations are extremely high in Iceland. I was warned about it at the time of taking possession for the car. She told me to ensure that I stuck to the speed limits, in particular and that I should never use parking slots reserved for the disabled.
Knowing how costly restaurant food is in Iceland I was carrying Maggi and Pasta to cook in the accommodation, as most of them had a small pantry. After a wash and rearrangement of the bags I had dinner and sauntered out for a walk. The weather was fine in that it wasn't raining, and the cold was bearable, thanks to the layered clothing.
The restaurants, bars and cafes were full, but very few were noisy. I bought milk, bananas and strawberries for the morning repast with muesli, which I had carried from India. On the way back to the accommodation from the store, around 10 pm, young friends were tottering to their owns homes and residences, drunk to the gills and smelling of vicious concoctions. They had let down their hair for the weekend, some could barely walk. By the time I was ready for bed, by 11.30 pm, it was still not dark!
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