Reykjavík

With a whopping 120,000 residents, Reykjavik is by far the largest city in Iceland. In fact, according to the spiffy but fundamentally flawed display (not so sensitive touch-sensitivity) on the seatback of the antiquated Icelandair 757 that safely landed me in this strategic north Atlantic backwater, more than 60% of the country's 300,000 strong population lives within a stone's throw of this booming metropolis. In reference to Sarah Palin's "real America" that's an island the size of Kentucky with a population roughly equivalent to Corpus Christi, Texas and a chief city the size of Manchester, New Hampshire.

...but one can only write in relative measures for so long. What's much more interesting is that at 10am local time not only is it pitch dark, but the heart of this boomtown is zombie apocalypse D-E-A-D. Of course, it's Sunday and this is Europe (well kind of, anyway), but aside from the errant street sweeper there is not a soul about (...and I can't confirm the streetsweepers themselves have souls, not to be overly inflammatory, but those folks really stare through you from behind the exceptional turning radius of the extra-bristly Zambonis).

Indeed it was a full 40 minutes of utterly aimless wandering through downward sloping cobbled streets and past scores of sweater boutiques before I finally happened on a store with a light on... and another ten minutes before I found signs of life at a French café cum Irish Pub... which is where this winding anecdote finds your narrator. Unfortunately, in spite of the advertised 9-11am every day breakfast special, the "chef isn't in" so it's coffee and a croissant, but at least it's warm.

So here I am pecking away on my laptop, firing off work emails in my few hours in the land of ice and fire. ...since I started writing this a British couple has settled in behind me droning on in the Queen's tongue over the minutiae of the real estate section of the paper. "What a steal!" Rightfully opportunist, but perhaps a touch too soon.

Alas if my Icelandic were stronger I might be able to share more interesting gossip... but no time for language lessons, as it looks like the sky is lightening and I've only a few precious hours of sleep-deprived exploring left.

(Pictures: above Hallgrímskirkja [credit, me]; below view from Hallgrímskirkja [Wikipedia] ...yep that's pretty much the whole city)