Nearly two-thirds of the 400,000 citizens of Iceland live in and around the capital city of Reykjavík (pronounced “Rayk-ya-veek”). We only spent one day there, Monday, April 22, which, coincidentally, was both Earth Day and Passover.

After landing at Keflavík Airport late Sunday afternoon and picking up our rental car, we drove directly to our hotel in the heart of Reykjavík. We stayed at the Center Hotel Plaza which faces the Ingólfstorg public plaza at the western end of the city’s main tourist area and the pedestrian streets.

The next morning, we walked around the city to see a few of the sites. The National Museum of Iceland was our first stop and we recommend it. The exhibits were all in English and covered the founding of the island by the Vikings, among other things mostly historical.

From the museum, we walked through Hljómskálagarður Park from which there was a nice view of the city with the Esja mountain range in the distance.

I’m going to keep referring to the Icelandic names of the places we visit on this trip so you can look them up if you’ve a mind to, even though I don’t have the slightest idea how to pronounce anything in this language.

When Dale and I try to discuss places to go here, we just start with the first letter, then mumble something, and add the suffix. For example, for “Hljómskálagarður” we would say “Hlij-mumble-mumble-dur.” I’ve been told, tongue in cheek, that the whole purpose for the Icelandic language is to make tourists sound ridiculous.

After watching the geese and ducks swim around at Hlif-mumble-mumble-dur, we walked uphill to the one-of-a-kind Lutheran church known as Hallgrímskirkja. The church is the largest in Iceland and at 245’ one of the tallest man-made structures on the island.

That’s a statue of Leif Erikson in front of the church. “Leif the Lucky” purportedly beat Christopher Columbus by discovering the North American continent around 1000 AD. Leif converted to Christianity just before making that journey, so maybe that’s why they decided to honor him here.

There’s an incredible 5,275-pipe organ inside the church, and we were lucky to have wandered in just as the organist sat down to figure out which stops to pull for his next concert. The sound was incredible.

From the church, we headed north to the waterfront to see the Sun Voyager statue, again with the Esja mountains in the background. Vikings, again.

The weather was perfect, in the 40s and not a cloud in the sky. Let’s hope it stays that way as we head out into countryside tomorrow.