After yesterday’s toil I decided to take a bye today and go on a tour around the country, the famous Golden Circle Tour.

The weather promised to be nice,

but as they say here, if you don’t like the weather, just be patient for 5 minutes, it will change. And so it did, before long we had the usual charming Icelandic weather:

The first stop was the Rift Valley, Thingvellir, which separates the American and European tectonic plates. It was here where the Vikings held their assemblies back in the 10th century. The following photo was shot from the American plate looking over the parliament fields:

We then walked downwards into the valley

into the tectonic no-man’s land and from there I took a photo of the American tectonic plate

Several kilometers separate the tectonic plates and because of the weather the European plate wasn’t visible. But what was visible were the coins that people throw for good luck in the springs and rivers that flow in this area (we were told this custom was started by a Danish king).

The next stop was the Gullfoss waterfall. The sight was spectacular:

And even the sun decided to come out:

But you haven’t been to Iceland if you haven’t seen a geysir erupt:

This happens every 5-7 minutes. A great thing to see, but the other, non-erupting geysirs were no less interesting.

Since this was a tour for chessplayers, the inevitable last stop was the Bobby Fischer Centre and his final resting place in Selfoss.

The centre was a bit of a letdown, at least for a Fischer-fanatic like myself. But I was told that this is a centre run by volunteers and is still in its early stages (it didn’t even exist last year). What I found interesting were a couple of rare photographs and a scrapbook of Icelandic newspapers from the famous match.

The surprise was the presence (he drove from Reykjavik for the occasion) and the short speech by the former president of the Icelandic Chess Federation, Gudmundur Thorarinson, the man who was head of the federation during the match in Reykjavik in 1972 and one of the members of the RJF group that managed to get Fischer out of Japanese custody. He gave a brief resume of the events around the match and Fischer’s life in Iceland.

The final stop was Bobby Fischer’s final resting place. After my visit of Alekhine’s grave in Paris in 2004, followed by Capablanca’s in Havana in 2005, this is the third world champion I paid tribute to.

After this we returned to Reykjavik, just in time for the round. It was a pleasant journey through a country that’s so unique in every possible aspect. But today the touristic part of the tournament finishes and from tomorrow it’s back to the old routine of preparation and play (ad infinitum). Six rounds to go and all to play for.

I arrived late last night in Reykjavik. The bus took me from the airport to the hotel driving through the lava fields on an empty motorway. The feeling was one of calm.

After getting a good night sleep today I got a chance to take a stroll through the city. The first thing that struck me was the lack of traffic. Naturally, there are cars, but I had the sensation that it’s pretty empty on the streets, probably that’s why they cross them wherever they please. When in Rome, do as Romans do, so I followed suit.

One street I crossed was this one:

I wonder how many Jesus Streets there are in the world.

Following the street of their main God, I reached the Cathedral:

It’s pretty impressive on the outside and very simple on the inside:

And they use crystal to keep the Holy water. Unfortunately, it was empty:

It was time to go the playing hall to register, so I started in that direction. The first thing I saw when I exited the Cathedral was this:

I suppose they opened it for the lovers of the film Thor. But by now I realised they were very fond of their Gods, even the nastier ones.

Further downwards I encountered The Pond. I couldn’t help but wonder whether Tchaikovsky had been to Reykjavik:

One pair of swans was very much in love:

I had to leave them and continued to the playing hall called Harpa, the concert hall and conference centre of the city:

It is equally impressive on the inside:

Eventually I registered with the organiser and at 4pm was the opening ceremony, followed by Round 1. I won rather easily against a weaker opponent. Tomorrow is a double-round day, so it will be tough.

Time to rest now. More stuff from the north when I get more time in the following days.