Iceland 2025 — Day Six

Woke up early, at 06:00 it was still night. After breakfast I made my way to the pool and took my first lap under the stars. Dawn broke slowly and by the time I left the hotpot is was morning. In the shower I noticed a man who looked like Langi Seli across from me. I asked if he was who I thought he was, and he was. I told him of the times I had seen him, and of the video I made in 2006(!) of him and his band, Skuggarnir. We continued our conversation as we got dressed—our lockers just happened to be adjoining—about Airwaves, Minnesota music and what we were currently doing. When I left, Langi was at the mirror, making sure his pompadour was looking good.

I did manage to score a reservation for dinner at Öx, usually they are sold out for months in advance. Yum!

I felt compelled to publish yet another picture of this statue: Hafmey (Mermaid) by Guðumndur Einarsson (1956):

I found images of it online, the Icelandic Wikipedia says: Icelandic folklore also tells of mermaids. They often appear in the form of women who can take off their seal skin and return to it. Like the Selkies of Ireland?

When I visited Iceland in 2000 one of the first cultural sites I went to was the Icelandic Phallological Museum. It has moved around a bit, from a funky backstreet storefront to a small town and now to a basement in one of the new commercial buildings near the waterfront. It is professionally presented, with lots of displays and information about penises of all sorts of animals:

There were even some notable art-pieces by Cynthia Plaster Caster, including Jimi Hendrix. There is a very nice (and evidently popular) bistro there, along with a message board in the gift shop that was popular with some of the younger patrons:

From there I went to Harpa, the brutalist yet attractive concert hall by the bay. After having visited it many times, I still find it striking. It’s hard to take a bad picture there:

I then went back to the apartment, to rest and recoup for my night out—a story for another day.