Reykjavík Grapevine - 01.07.2011, Qupperneq 15

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The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 9 — 2011
Mountaineers of Iceland • Skútuvogur 12E • 104 Reykjavík • Iceland
Telephone: +354 580 9900 Ice@mountaineers.is • www.mountaineers.is • www. activity.is
SUPER JEEP & SNOWMOBILE TOURS
ÁGúST beNT
SiGbeRTSSoN
DIreCTor/MuSICIAn
The Best Pizza: Gamla Smiðjan
Remember to ask for your toppings on
top of the cheese, or your pepperoni
will be buried under it. Icelanders be
crazy, yo.
Best place to go to the bathroom whilst
clubbing: Austur
The stalls are small and uncomfortable,
but there are speakers in there. So you
can do your business and do a little
dance. Also, no one can hear your dis-
gusting bowel movements over all the
booming techno.
Best after-hours activity: Swimming in
the pond
Everybody’s always doing it, it's no big
deal. Most locals jump in there at least
once a night to freshen up. Iceland
has the purest water in the world, you
know.
LoJi höSkuLdSSoN
MuSICIAn
I love Reykjavík more than anything. It’s
just the best city. It feels like a big city,
but still everybody knows everybody.
I have three favourite neighbourhoods:
Grandi, 104 Reykjavík and Breiðholt.
I grew up in 104, so I connect it very
much to my childhood. I went to school
in Breiðholt, and got to know the place
as a teenager, and then I play music in
Grandi where I can be as loud as I want.
It’s also the only place I can really con-
nect with the sea. My favourite street
is Hverfisgata in 101 Reykjavík. It has
so much potential to be something. It’s
like a hidden secret in Reykjavík. I like
Ísbúð Vesturbæjar in Vesturbær. It’s
the best ice cream store. Then there’s
Kolaportið. It’s wonderful all the stuff
you can buy there; all of my clothes are
from there. Oh and one last thing, I like
to admire the architecture in Reykjavík,
especially in the Laugalækur neigh-
bourhood.
bóAS hALLGRímSSoN
MuSICIAn/TeACHer
The best places to take kids
10 Dropar: This coffehouse has it all;
great colouring books, a nice staff and
it’s generally just great fun. It doesn’t
hurt that they serve real Icelandic pan-
cakes rolled up in sugar, just the way
grandma makes ‘em!
The Seltjarnarnes swimming pool: Not
really in Reykjavík, but nonetheless one
of the best ones out there. A good kid-
die pool, nice hot tubs and a sauna. The
slide is exemplary.
The Einar Jónsson museum and sculp-
ture garden: It has so much to please
the eyes. It’s a great spot for hide and
seek when the art has been consumed,
too.
Kolaportið: Folks might not agree on
this, but I believe it’s important that
children get to know the human spec-
trum. Kolaportið has a lot of colourful
and fun items; toys in boxes, books on
tables and fun people.
Heiðmörk: It has the Maríuhellar caves
that are nice to look around in. A beau-
tiful environment that’s good for all
sorts of fun and games.
Fjölskyldu- og húsdýragarðurinn: This
is rather basic. They have seals, rabbits,
turkeys and sheep. And the science
tent, where you can perform experi-
ments and scream in a box!
Laundromat Café: Even though it’s not
my favourite place, it has to be said that
it is superbly child-friendly and fun! A
lot of nice toys and books, and a nice
children’s menu.
hiLduR kNúTSdóTTiR
AuTHor/CopywrITer
The best things about Reykjavík are...
The happy hours at all the bars!
How small it is (although it can be a
real drag if you’re in that kind of mood).
Postal codes 101 and 107.
All the really cute kitties that aren’t
afraid of begging for a little petting
session.
My friends.
ANNA hiLduR
hiLdibRANdSdóTTiR
MD, ICelAnD MuSIC
exporT
I really like to go swimming in Reykjavík
because I live in the UK and the pools
here aren’t as nice. I especially like
the Vesturbæjarlaug and Árbæjarlaug
pools. Then I really like to go to Café
Rósenberg. It’s the best place to hang
out and meet people, and the people
that run the place make it so welcom-
ing and cosy. Bíó Paradís is also great.
It has a nice selection of films and the
atmosphere is appealing.
JóN GNARR
MAyor
The best place for a walk: The Old Cem-
etery
It’s really cosy because it’s not really
windy. Taking a walk without being as-
saulted by the wind is always nice.
The best place to take a foreigner: The
Reykjavík 871±2 exhibit
That underground museum in Aðal-
stræti. Going there had a profound
effect on me. You could say I had a
spiritual enlightenment there. When I
visited, I had just returned from Trinity
College, where I looked at the Book of
Kells—and I—it’s hard to explain. It re-
lates to our history and culture, and to
downtown and city planning. It’s defi-
nitely where I’d take any foreign visitor.
GReG bARReTT
MuSICIAn/ArTIST
I like the new city code that says that
all landlords have to have someone oc-
cupy their buildings because previous-
ly wealthy landlords would leave their
downtown building unoccupied and
let them go to ruin. Now they’ll have
to be put to use. That’s great. There’s
also that knit graffiti. Someone is go-
ing around putting woollen things on
lampposts. Some kind knitting graffiti
artist. I really like that. What else? I like
the high quality ‘nammi’ you can get at
corner shops all over town.
myRRA LeifSdóTTiR
ArTIST
The best places to hang out with your
children
Laugardalurinn: the entire region is a
favourite of my son Eldur and I. We both
go there for Tae Kwon Do practice,
then we like to hang out in the Botani-
cal Gardens and maybe have a picnic...
Húsdýragarðurinn is also fun to visit,
and then there’s the pool...
The harbour area: This is another fa-
vourite place of ours to visit. It has
Sægreifinn and Café Haiti for suste-
nance, then we like to look at the ships
and just wander around. Tryggvagata
is right by there with the Reykjavík Art
Museum, the library and Kolaportið...
everything you need for a nice day out.
Sundhöll Reykjavíkur: This goes with-
out saying. The hot tub is especially
nice, because it has such a great mas-
sage feature.
NANNA ÁRNAdóTTiR
AuTHor/STuDenT
Esja, the mountain that sort of watches
over Reykjavík from the other side of
the bay, is always a different colour.
It depends on the day and the sun-
light but the Esja can be pink, purple,
white, black or slate, you name it. It’s
like a game, “I wonder what colour the
Esja will be today?” Every time I see it,
no matter what it looks like, I get this
massive soul-boner and it takes my
breath away. Another thing I like is that
bookstores are open late in Reykjavík,
some are open until 10 pm and the
staff doesn't look at you funny when
you sneak a book to a table and spend
a few hours reading this novel or that.
The problem with bookstores though
is that they are like a time vortex, you
go in and suddenly it's an hour later.
What's that about?
Special | The Locals Speak
Things They Like About Reykjavík
compiled by
Haukur S. Magnússon
Anna Andersen
photo
Skari
while compiling our BeST oF
reyKJAVÍK list, we consulted
with a large group of people from
all around town. Some of them
were very detailed in their pref-
erences, and some of what they
like about our fair city is very likely
some of what you’ll like about it,
once you try it out for yourself.
In that spirit, here are some ex-
cellent folks and their excellent
thoughts on reykjavík.