August 15 – Prelan Natural History Museum

 Again, today the weather has been wet and cold. It feels like mid-November.

Our friends from B.C. arrived at the hotel mid-morning. It was a long trip for them on a very uncomfortable plane. But they are in a good spirits and are looking forward to the cruise.

We decided to go to the Prelan Natural History Museum. We thought we could use public transportation to go there, but you can only buy a ticket through their special app. We didn’t get a cell phone plan that would work in Iceland and app requires an active telephone number. So, we took a taxi instead.

Prelan is a museum that is shaped like an igloo. It consists of 4 pods with different subject matter. The first pod is the natural history of Iceland.  It consists of the geologic creation of Iceland from multiple volcanos and rising sea levels that separated Iceland from Greenland.  It also had exhibits on the native wildlife and vegetation on Iceland, such as Puffins. There was some mention of the Vikings, but not a lot on the human settlement of the island.


The Ice Cave was the next exhibit.  They have created an exhibit of what a tunnel through a glacier would be like. It is made with real ice and snow and kept at a below freezing temperature. I must admit that after surviving 55 winters in Ottawa, this was nothing special.


The next pod was a planetarium. The movie was about the causes of the northern lights, the mythology and the spectacular displays which can be visible. Marg was a bit disappointed because the colours were not as vivid as she has seen when we lived in Ottawa. One of the tidbits of information that I did not know, was that similar displays can be seen on Jupiter and Saturn.

The last pod was a movie with amazing videos of the Geldingadalir 2021 eruption. The close up of the lava flows and the eruptions were awe-inspiring. This volcano is very close to Reykjavik, and the volcanic eruption was visible in the city. I think it would have made the residents of Reykjavik feel very nervous.

For dinner we went to Monkey’s, a Japanese fusion restaurant.  Sorry Santa for dinner I had reindeer. Prancer tasted like mild beef, but I don’t think I’ll order it again.

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