i have completed a puzzle of a heathen grave

Evan and I meandered around Reykjavík, down to a small lake beyond Alþingi, the Icelandic Parliament. The whole lake was frozen over and, despite its beauty, a lot of the trash in the lake rose to the surface, forever(ish) imprinting itself in the ice. Nonetheless, it was pretty and I have a picture to prove it. So there.



Our presence alerted the locals, and they quickly came over to investigate



But upon reviewing our breadlessness they were no longer amused and moved on



Here's a thing! (A small frozen pond with stairs leading somewhere. Description=eloquent, no?)



We went through the Icelandic National History Museum. Or the National Museum of Iceland? Iceland's Museum of Nationality? National Museum of History in Iceland...? This: Þjóðminjasafn Íslands. It was very interesting, and we learned lots. For instance, did you know Iceland did not have buttons for clothing until 1984?? That's only sort of true.

Here's Evan as an intimidating, plundering, no-regrets viking:



Here's Julia as a viking whose head is too small:



Did you know Icelanders wear hats sometimes? They also sometimes do not wear hats.





I'm not sure if this is a "Truth or Dare"/"Never have I ever..." kind of question, but I can confidently say that as of two days ago I have! Did you know Icelanders refer to themselves as heathens? They don't, except this time I guess.

Did you know that Iceland invented the beard? They didn't. But for some reason this was a big exhibit.



This is the single barber's chair that every Icelander uses. They only get one haircut/shave every two years, so it's kind of a big deal.



That's not true either.
I apologize, this post wasn't very informative...but now I must go make skyrkaka, a cheesecake-type dish made with Skyr!:






By the way, that's Skyrgámur (Skyr-Gobbler), an Icelandic Yule Lad who has a special affinity for skyr. Instead of Santa Claus they have 13 [terrifying] yule lads that range from "mere pranskters to homicidal monsters who eat children" (Quoteth Wikipedia). They come one by one down the mountain (I don't believe there's any particular mountain, just THE mountain) around Christmas time and hang out until January. Ketkrókur (Meat Hook) arrived today. He steals meat. With a hook. ...Iceland.