The Parade

In the older part of Reykjavík, is a street named Laugarvegur.

Each weekend (nightly in the summer) a spontaneous parade forms, starting at about eleven P.M.

The street is one-way for cars, heading down a gentle hill into the central entertainment district.

The street and the numerous pubs and clubs on or near it are nearly empty, until the parade starts.

Revelers, scene-sters and wanna-bees. People of all ages. Cell phone tag between friends.

Young men hassling tourists.

Many walk (DWI laws are most severe here) although cars full of young adults clog the street, too.

The studs on the tires create a soundtrack of white noise as they pass over the cobbles.

People dress up to go out - Men in fine suits, women in attractive outfits - with only light (or no) jackets (in freezing temperatures), and no hats.

As they cross Ingólfsstræti, the street becomes Bankastræti and the action picks up.

You may glimpse a finely dressed man dancing on a table in a bar or, perhaps a little later, puking on the sidewalk.

This behavior is not peculiar to Iceland, but is so concentrated here, and is such contrast to the reserved actions of the people, that it feels as if you have stepped into an alternate dimension.

A universal slice of life, presented in a most unique parade.