A quick trip to Iceland- The Aurora Borealis, Elves, street art and museums, of course.

I traveled to Reykjavik, Iceland with my mom, sister and daughter for Martin Luther King weekend. If you ever have the chance to go to Iceland, I highly recommend it. The flight is about 5 hours. We traveled on Icelandair with a Gate 1 Travel tour. After the 2008 financial crisis, Iceland started to promote tourism and it seems to be working. There are many hotels and lots to see and do. Iceland is a winter wonderland. If you are a Game of Thrones fan, you feel like you are right there.

We are standing in the Eurasian/North American Tectonic Plate Rift

The Aurora Borealis is a beautiful display of light and if you are lucky enough to see it, it’s a good idea to bring a good camera if you have one. It took us three tries to see the northern lights. It’s not easy because they are caused by the interaction of particles from the sun with the upper atmosphere near the North Pole and conditions have to be just right. They even have a AB forecast website. We were on it every day. At one point I started to think they were as hard to find as Big Foot or the Loch ness monster. Finally, on our last night we took a boat trip and the captain was just about to give up and go back to the harbor when all of a sudden they yelled out-they are here! I have never seen people move so fast, about 150 of us ran up the stairs to the top of the boat. Not sure that was safe but we were all so excited to see them. It was worth it.

All geared up to hunt for the northern lights by boat.

The Icelandic people believe in Elves or the “hidden people” who live in the rocks. You will see a house painted on a rock where an elf is believed to live. You will see these rocks inside buildings, along the roads or on a mountainside. They are fond of telling you some of their folk tales about the elves and the trolls although not everyone believes in trolls.

There are wonderful restaurants, cafes and shops on Laugavegur street. They also have some funny American inspired places like the Chuck Norris restaurant or the Big Lebowski diner. You will also see some of the most amazing street art everywhere you look in Reykjavik.

There are some interesting museums as well.

We visited the Einar Jónsson Museum. Opening in 1923 it was the country’s first art museum. Einar and his wife Anna lived in a penthouse apartment above the museum. The museum showcases Einar’s sculptures and paintings. He must have worked day and night creating art because he completed many pieces before his death in 1954 and some of them are quite large.

The next museum we visited is in a category of it’s own. Iceland has a Penis Museum. Yes that’s right, an entire museum dedicated to the male appendage. Of course it was started by a man in 1997. At first I thought I was reading it wrong when we happened upon this sign but you have to give them credit for really sticking to the branding, even the logo has a penis in it.

I simply had to go. The Penis Museum houses the world’s largest display of penis and penile parts. The collection of 280 specimens from 93 species of animals includes 55 penises taken from whales, 36 from seals and 118 from land mammals, allegedly including Huldfolk (Icelandic elves) and trolls. As of now they do not have a human penis on display unless you count the silver casts of the Icelandic National Handball Team. The team’s “members” were cast in silver after they won the silver medal at the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing. Can you imagine if they would have won gold? I would have loved to hear how that conversation went after they won the silver medal. Congratulations on your silver medal, we’d like to feature all of you in the Penis Museum. In America, all you get is a Wheaties Box and maybe an endorsement or two. I guess if an Icelandic lady is thinking about dating one of these guys, she can peruse the merchandise before she commits. The museum was more like a science lesson than anything else. There was a lot of uncomfortable laughter as we checked out the specimens. The real laughter was coming from the gift shop. We could hear these ladies howling so we decided to go check it out. They had some of the funniest items I have ever seen and soon we were doubled over laughing. I decided to buy something for my husband. Who couldn’t use an elephant willy warmer on a cold winter’s day?