A symphony in siding: Reykjavik

Iceland’s capital city requires a mental shift to be appreciated. Coming from the airport, you traverse miles of old lava fields now covered in bristling tufts of straw colored grass. There are a few small hamlets with utilitarian buildings reminiscent of an Alaskan gold-rush town. Entering Reykjavik, you find more of the same, except bigger. Drab concrete and glass boxes, unadorned and unassuming, And everywhere, from sidewalk to roof, corrugated siding.

But Iceland has elevated corrugated siding from a necessity to an art form. Brightly painted, rippling in the light with dramatic vertical and horizontal stripes, the buildings in this Pringle-clad town have their own quirky appeal. Pleasant doorways are protected by overhanging siding cut into Ironmonger Gothic decorations. In the older areas, the cobbled streets are lined with eateries and boutiques. Reykjavik is packed with sculptures, murals, pretty old churches, and some wild-ass architecture – including Hallgrimskirkja, rightly famed for being shaped like a jet of lava rearing up out of basalt columns. It sounds weird, and it is, but it’s also kind of wonderful. We shopped, visited museums, and strolled in the cemetery overlooking town.