The Two Towers

During my recent trip to Iceland I found myself sitting in one of the larger ‘hot pots’ in Vesturbæjarlaug, one of the municipal outdoor swimming pools in Reykjavík.

As I was sitting near a couple of men I caught the Brooklyn accent of one them and ultimately became engaged in conversation with them. As is its wont (it must be something in the water?), the conversation flowed from one subject to another. The Brooklyn native had lived in Iceland since 2006 and excepting Icelandic grammar, mostly enjoyed his experience there. One thing he didn’t care for was the relentless construction in the old harbour area: charmless hotels and brutalist high-rises built for the rich that cut off the views across the harbour.

There was one recent construction he mentioned, two new towers that neither he or his companion knew the purpose of. I hadn’t seen it yet, but I put it in my ‘mental file’ and, sure enough, I spotted it the next day.

It was on Sæbraut, a little east of where I was staying, and I could see that these towers were stairway/elevator shafts, no doubt the core of a new hotel or high-rise. When complete, the building would block the view of Esjan, the magnificent mountain range across the bay unless you were staying in a $1000-a-night hotel room or had a luxury condo.

Something gained, something lost.