Reykjavík Grapevine - 09.11.2018, Side 47

disturbed by the human presence,
and can actually be playful and
curious. As we finally turn back,
I admit to my companion that
it was a more enjoyable and eye
opening experience than I could
have imagined.
Festival surprise
After warming up with some sea-
food soup on the harbour, we go
for a look around the town’s mu-
seums. There’s an excellent whale
museum with huge, complete
whale skeletons hanging in the
space—all of which were beached,
not hunted—and videos of whales
singing, swimming, and manoeu-
vring gracefully under the sur-
face. A wall diagram shows the
evolution of whales, and there’s
a room dedicated to the history
of Iceland’s thankfully all-but ex-
tinct whaling industry.
Just up the street is the Ex-
ploration Museum, which exam-
ines mankind’s exploration of
extremes, whether it’s early geo-
graphical exploration, space, the
deep sea, or the poles. The muse-
um is closed, but a sign tells us the
reason—it’s the weekend of the
annual Explorers Festival, which
is taking place around the corner.
Explorers unite
We arrive at the town museum
having, sadly, missed a talk about
the founding of an Icelandic Space
Agency, and covering NASA’s con-
tinued use of Iceland as a habitat
analogue for testing new equip-
ment.
We do, however, catch an hour-
long talk by David Concannon,
who recounts the tale of being
tasked by Jeff Bezos with finding
the Apollo F-1 engines that pro-
pelled man to the moon for the
first time. The engines were jet-
tisoned during flight, and lost on
the ocean floor—it took a huge op-
eration to find and retrieve them.
But David succeeded, and they’re
now on display at the Seattle
Museum of Flight in the United
States. Clive Oppenheimer also
speaks, giving a layman’s account
of his thirteen field seasons spent
studying Mount Erebus, a perpet-
ually active volcano in Antarctica,
and his theories about how lava
systems work.
It’s an unexpected cherry on
the cake of this trip to hear adven-
turers like these discussing their
travels and travails. The sleepy
village of Húsavík, it’s safe to say,
has more to it than meets the eye,
both at sea, and on dry land.
"Its giant
grey tail
rears up out
of the water,
metres high,
and then it’s
gone, plung-
ing deep into
the ocean."
A majestic sight, iconic of Húsavík
“The Icelandic Museum of Rock 'n' Roll is as
eccentric in its telling as the tale it celebrates.”
David Fricke, Rolling Stone.
The museum is located in Keflavík
only 5 minutes away from
Keflavík International Airport.
Open daily from 11am - 6pm

For more go to rokksafn.is
Visit Iceland's largest music museum and enjoy our history
of Icelandic rock and pop music. Browse through the timeline of
Icelandic pop and rock music with the Rock 'n' Roll app on Ipads,
spend time in our soundlab, cinema, karaoke booth, gift store,
exhibitions or simply grab a cup of coee at our café (free wifi!).
THE ICELANDIC
MUSEUM OF
ROCK 'N' ROLL
The Icelandic Museum of Rock 'n' Roll
Repenting never looked so cozy