Every city has it's eyesores. Unfortunately, this one is located on our main strip Laugavegur, for everyone to see over and over again. We've watched the puddle in the pit fill, freeze, thaw, snow over, thaw again and refreeze, etc. Aside from that being a comment on the fickle weather over here, that means this lot has lay bare for many months now. Many months. And this is not midtown Reykjavik's only unfinished architectural business...
Commentary aside, I find this scene attractive for its rawness, for exposing the inner workings of a city block like some kind of splayed open biology dissection specimen. I wonder about the soot stain on the white building at the back, and about the block-letter graffiti on the brick garage. I applaude the person who decided to paint the face of the low-lying storage building a deep red with green trim, even though it was almost completely hidden from view before the house that filled this hole was torn down. I love the colors that contrast shockingly with the rubble and I like that we can see down to the bedrock and feel assured that the heart of Reykjavik is built on solid rock. I won't miss this raw scene when it's gone, but while it's here we might as well try to appreciate it.
1 comment:
as always, i love your photos. they say so much about your wonderful city. the layers of volcanic rock and sand are topped by cement and wood buildings. it's like looking at a layer cake. sandra and i had a lovely time in the 101 for new year's eve. she is a real southern girl and said she never wanted to go anyplace cold again (especially iceland!) however, less than 3 weeks later, she was waxing poetic about reykjavik and how NEXT TIME we will go during the warmer months. i guess you can say that your home has a way of creeping into people's soul and nesting there. we WILL be back. until then, your pictures fill some hole in my soul that is shaped like iceland. i belong in iceland, but i may not actually live there until i die. she has instructions to scatter my ashes at Gullfoss. :)
love you, toggi, and your beautiful country.
hasta luego!
doug and sandra
austin, texas
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