The Harp

This is a photo of the Harpa (Harp), Reykjavik’s astounding concert hall.  The irregular glass panels are each colored differently, or are designed to reflect different colors in a changing environment, or both.  At any rate the colors shift and change and move with the environment, and in full daylight (which we don’t see here) the effect is magical.

We didn’t get inside, because a visit from the President of Germany, Herr Steinmeier, was under way, and there was a police presence.  This also accounts for the German flags on display out front.

Herr Steinmeier is becoming quite a nuisance, because earlier in the day he kept us from meeting Iceland’s president, or at any rate peering into his house.  Steinmeier is being protected here by the Viking Squad, Iceland’s only unit of armed police, who train in Florida and are presumably used to being under fire.