Reykjavik - the nightlife capital of the north.

Finally we had an opportunity to leave small Akureyri and visit Reykjavik - the famous nightlife capital of North! I have to mention, that we'll (and personally me) have more occasions to see that city in the next few months thanks to the study tour we'll have at the end of may, and two weeks course that'll take place in Reykjavik at the end of June.
The main purpose of this trip was to attend NAHA (North Atlantic Hydrogen Association) conference about Hydrogen. The conference was a part of our course in Fuel Cells, which is quite important to me, because this is what I'm going to be involved in for the next 2 semesters.
First let's see where Reykjavik is:












Reykjavik is the capital of Iceland, and it's biggest city as well. With a population of 119,000, it is the heart of Iceland's economic and governmental activity. Today, Reykjavík is the centre of the Greater Reykjavík Area which, with a population of 200,000, is the only metropolitan area in Iceland. As a highly modernized capital of one of the most developed countries in the world, its inhabitants enjoy a first-class welfare system and city infrastructure. Its location, only slightly south of the Arctic Circle, receives only four hours of daylight per day in the depth of winter; during the summer the nights are almost as bright as the days. It has continued to see population growth in past years as well as growth in areas of commerce and industry. (More here) :)

So let the photo story begins!
Before we left, I tried some tricks on a new-found scooter.

















Picture of the group in front of the Air Iceland plane in AKureyri.








The flight.























Iceland from above...













...and Reykjavik from above.












Hydrogen and plug-in vehicles in front of the conference building.












Fuel Cell A-Class - $900 000.

























Reva - electric car.












Inside the building.






































Foucault pendulum (PL & ENG description) in the building. It is named after the French physicist Léon Foucault and was conceived as an experiment to demonstrate the rotation of the Earth.













Conference hall.


























After the whole day of presentations there was a time for some "refreshments". As you can see, some people joined us only for that.













Brand new hydrogen refueling station :P












Perlan (English: The Pearl) - a landmark building in Reykjavik. At the beginning there were hot storage tanks there but in 1991 the tanks were updated and a hemispherical structure placed on top. On the fifth floor there is a fancy restaurant in which we had our dinner. The rotating floor does a complete turn in two hours. It offers a good view of Reykjavik and the nearby areas.












Some statues in front of the restaurant.












Interior.





























































View from the viewing deck.












After a great dinner we went to the city to have some fun. Reykjavik is really a "party city". There are so many clubs, pubs and cafes there, that everybody can find something for him/herself.






























Walk back to the hotel - 4 A.M.













After-party :P













In the morning there was a launch of the first ship that used Fuel Cell to generate electricity on the board. It was a small unit used by the local company for whale watching.
Surroundings of Reykjavik.













Höfði - house built in 1909. Initially, it was the house of the French consul in Iceland. It was the place of the Iceland Summit when Reagan and Gorbachev met in 1986.













Sad rock :(


























Sólfar, made by Jon Gunnar Arnason.













Harbor.













The only locomotive and rails in Iceland.











































Whale watching boat.













Hydrogen refueling station.


























During the test ride.












Fuel Cell displayed under the deck.













Captain on the bridge!












View on Reykjavik.













After the boat-ride we had an opportunity to test-drive FC cars again.






































Segway - this is really cool :D












After that we had a presentation about the first Fuel Cell powered car, Ford 999, that joined the 200 miles club in Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. The lecture was given by Scott Stanley, the Chief Engineer of Fuel Cell Vehicle Technology Development in Ford Company.
"Trzech Czarnych Orłów" :P





































Some random pictures from Reykjavik.









































































































































































After entire day I was so exhausted that I felt asleep 5 second after I boarded the plane.












What can I say - Reykjavik is a great city and I can't wait to get back there!

Spring in Iceland!

Yep, that's right, although it's hard to believe it actually exists here! But first things first. Last update was like 3 weeks ago, so there's a lot of things to catch up with. After the Easter break, we had really hard time in the school, but we managed to do other activities as well. We had a small meeting in one of the banks organized by the students union, visit in local brewery, we also had an excursion around Akureyri connected to our course - Geothermal Energy. Of course we had also some parties, and finally, I was able to go snowboarding!

After the bank event we went to cafe Akureyri for karaoke and poker game. As usual, party afterwards :)


The day after, we went to a brewery - Vfilfell. It's the biggest one in Iceland. I don't know if you're aware of that, but making beer was forbidden in Iceland until 1989! The brewery makes normal beers, as well as so called Jolabjör and Paskabjör, beers available only during Christmas and Easter. The company itself also makes sodas, mineral water and imports wines.
Buying alcohol in Iceland is not a very easy thing, but I'll write about that in the next post maybe.
We had a guide, who told us the story behind the beer production in Iceland, and also showed us the production line.






During our geothermal course, we had a small excursion. We went around Akureyri to see how they supply city with the heat. Our guide was a worker from a company named Norðurorka, which means "North Energy" and supplies Akureyri and surrounding villages with heat and electricity.
As you can see from the pictures, spring has finally come!






The oldest control panel in the world :P Our guide looked like a serial killer to me ;)


I finally managed to find some time to go snowboarding - after the classes me & Magda went to the slope near Akureyri. The price 1600 kr. for renting a gear + 1100 kr. for a ski pass didn't discourage me. It could've been the last opportunity to do some winter sports this season!






Luckily the weather was still great on Saturday, so we decided to go again, this time for longer time and bigger group :)

From left: Petr - Czech Rep., Me, Sebastian - Germany, Tomek - Poland.










Glider between the mountains.






Best driver ever!


As you can see, we got some suntan :)


Fireworks near our dorm, don't ask me about the occasion :P




Other pictures:
Our board. We write everything there - from important announcements to completely bullshit.


As my hair grew to enormous size, I had to get it cut finally. Barber, as everything, is extremely expensive in Iceland. Luckily, we have some experienced :P hairdressers in our group, so for 2 beers I had my haircut done :)


Our new inhabitant :P


Gaming corner.


We had also some visits from authorities.
Polish consul.


Icelandic Minister of Industry.


Extreme sleeping position.


That would be all. Next post will be about Reykjavik. We're going there for a conference on Hydrogen.