Kris Atomic archive

One of the first places we went in Reykjavik was Árbæjarsafn. My guidebook described it as a "nosy parkers' heaven" so even though it's an outdoor museum and it was raining solidly, I was dying to go. I'm a nosy parker, I can't help it. The museum was set up on the site of an old farm in 1957 and since then they've been moving interesting old houses (whole) to the area. During the summer you can wander around the houses on your own, but in winter they do guided tours around a selection of the buildings. As it was the middle of winter in the driving rain, it was just the two of us - I don't know if I mentioned before, I went with my mum - so we had a very nice guide take us around. In the summer they have all kinds of activities going on, with people dressed in traditional costumes and cow milking and such, but I bet it's totally rammed.

Most of the houses are furnished and it feels like the owners just popped out or something, it's a little bit creepy. But fascinating! Also everything is tiny, I can never get over how gigantic we are compared to people only a hundred years ago. Apparently even the cows were much smaller, they can't even get full sized modern cows in the milking shed for demonstrations!

The stove has a built in waffle iron, the lid of which has the recipe (or ingredients? I can't remember which) for making waffles! Best unitasker ever, right?

I loved the huge key to the church, you can see the size compared to the normal sized key on the keyring.

Butter churning, for the city mice among you.

(all photos mine)