- getting off the bus in reyjavík & everything feeling fresh, urgent, & highly detailed, e.g. the shape of door knockers, the filminess of clouds, the different ways windows get subdivided into panes & placed into walls (obsessed w the windows in iceland)
- going to the reyjavík art museum hafnarhús & feeling more interested w the architecture & liminal spaces of the building than the exhibits, e.g. an interior balcony overlooking a dark room w 20 or so chairs in a circle, another balcony over a central courtyard, a nonfunctional bar/cafe area w a window overlooking a ferris wheel where i sat exhausted at a table drifting into microsleeps, a walled off area w a staircase where every surface was painted red
- looking at the sun directly through thin clouds & not understanding what i was seeing at first, mistaking it for the moon bc it was a white disc that somehow didn’t hurt to look at
- the awe of standing at the látrabjarg cliffs & feeling like i was at the edge of the world; the jagged facets & verticality of the rock, the brilliance of the sun on the ocean, the water crashing against the cliffs & the foam it left behind, the cry of seabirds, the smell of fish
- the indulgence of a pristine shower, toilet, & bed at the hotel flókalundur after sketchy airbnbs
- solo excursion to hellulaug hot spring & exploring/climbing a cool rock formation in the penná river at dusk; a brief otherworldly aloneness in the gathering dark on the way back
- dynjandi & its 7 smaller waterfalls, each one a gift, the climb upward unfolding like a beautiful dream; standing at the foot of the waterfall trying to make the moment last as long as i could & coming to an agreement w the waterfall that creating the memory meant i could always return to that moment
- town walk in ísafjörður followed by wandering through a magic forest (tree carving, hammock, branch fort, swing) & climbing halfway up a mountain; pissing twice in nature; realizing i have a talent for creating adventures for myself
- with my tour group, finding a path over beach rocks to get closer to a seal colony
- skipping lunch in holmavík so i could go to the witchcraft museum
- the nice airbnb w the lofted bed & private kitchenette
- grocery shopping for tofu, beans, & spinach which inadvertently gave me the shits after days of mostly prepared/processed foods
- in jellyfish mode at the sky & blue lagoons, intense sensory experiences reminding me of immersive art exhibits
- 3.5 hr night walk in the rain wandering thru the deserted university campus, then over to vestbær, then to the harborside beach, & finally seltjarnarnes; coming across a foot bath carved out of the rock by the waterside & thinking it looked like a magical artifact, then discovering the water was warm bc it was actually a tiny hot spring & thinking "wow this feels like actual fucking magic"; walking thru a deserted nature preserve to piss in the dune grass & look at the grótta lighthouse, timing my breathing w the rhythm of its light & feeling like i reached the edge of the world; getting thoroughly soaked in the rain & having to run/power walk to keep just barely warm enough
- backyards full of charming miscellany
- my last night in reyjavík, looking at a skyscraper downtown & in the same moment, lights went on in the top floor
aug 10 2026 ∞
aug 12 2026 +