Reykjavík Grapevine - 01.07.2011, Page 38

Who needs oil
when you have rain?
Free admission 10 am to 6 pm every day.
Route information at www.landsvirkjun.com/visitors
Landsvirkjun is one of Europe’s leading
renewable energy companies
Visit our new interactive exhibition on renewable energy
at Búrfell Power Station.
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The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 9 — 2011 Have you visited any of Reykjavík's fine pools yet? If not, dude you should. They are
probably the only thing people in Reykjavík unilaterally agree is awesome.
special | Best Of Reykjavík - Best Pool (For Hot Tubbing And Lounging)
The swimming Pool That Has it All
If there’s one swimming pool in Reyk-
javík that has something for everyone,
it’s Laugardalslaug in 104 Reykjavík.
With the biggest swimming pool in the
country, numerous hot tubs, and a killer
water slide, it’s no wonder that this pool
is also the most visited one in the whole
of Iceland.
Many of the visitors are regulars
who have been coming to the pool ev-
ery day at the same time for years or
even decades. When the staff open
their doors at 6:30 in the morning, they
say there’s always the same group of a
dozen or so elderly citizens waiting to
begin their day with a few laps, some
time spent chatting in the hot tubs and
then a post-swim coffee and kleinur
break.
Another group that the staff speaks
fondly of are “hádegiskarlarnir” or “the
noon guys”, as they like to call them.
This group of middle-aged men meet at
the hot tubs every weekday to discuss
politics before they get out and order
the same asparagus soup for lunch. If
their taste in gossip is more exciting
than their taste in soup, this could be
a good time to hit the hot tub, though
you’re almost always guaranteed to
learn something interesting in an Ice-
landic hot tub.
In addition to the regulars who are
there rain or shine, or snow, the pool is
packed to the brim on a sunny day. It’s
perhaps a little known secret that Lau-
gardalslaug often has the best condi-
tions for sunbathing. The concrete sta-
dium style seating that many would like
to do away with actually blocks out the
cold northerly winds, which incidentally
also bring sunny to partly cloudy skies
in Reykjavík.
But let’s be honest, many of us go
to Laugardalslaug for its killer 8-metre
tall and 85-metre long water slide. Re-
placing the old slide in 2009, the new
and improved one, called ‘Thunder and
Lightening’, is completely covered and
features a crazy light show before spit-
ting you out.
As a kid you learn that wedgies are
the way to achieve maximum speed,
but you should know that there is no
age limit. Take it from the pool’s deputy
director Bjarni Kjartansson who takes
the occasional slide himself: “There
may be taller slides in the country, but
no slide is more fun”.
Tip: Don’t forget your towel in the
locker room. It’s the most commonly
left-behind item.

laugardalslaug
Sundlaugavegur 30, 104
AnnA AndeRsen
JuliA sTAPles