Words by

John Rogers

@brainlove

Photo by

Art Bicnick

Sigrún Jónsdóttir is a musician and composer. After touring the world in the bands of Björk, Sigur rós and Florence and the Machine, last year she released two EPs that she’s since performed live at festivals such as Sónar Reykjavík and Iceland Airwaves. This is how Sigrún would spend a perfect day in Reykjavík.

First thing in the morning
After I wake up I have lemon and apple cider vinegar water, and then my porridge. At the moment it’s a delicious buckwheat porridge with lots of stuff in it—coconut oil, cinnamon, baobab, maca, mullberries, and maybe more, if I’m feeling wild. My favourite mornings are when I can have my breakfast and it’s really quiet and calm, and maybe listen to a nice podcast, like BBC Woman’s Hour or On Being with Krista Tippett. Or just good old RÚV.

Favourite breakfast place
I like to eat breakfast at home, but afterwards, I like to go somewhere and start my day. I often go to Pallett in Hafnarfjörður, which is one of my absolute favourite coffee spots. I’ll have a coffee there, sit for ages staring out onto the harbour, and do some work. Also, if I don’t feel like working, they have lots of fun books to look at, and all the nice green plants in there don’t spoil the mood either.

For lunch
My lunch special is meeting up with a friend to talk about everything and nothing. An ideal situation would be to get some hummus and sourdough bread from Brauð & Co., and a delicious coffee from Reykjavík Roasters, and sit out in the square, and talk, and get some sun.

Around midday
Around lunchtime one of my favourite things to do is to go to the swimming pool in Álftanes. I sit in the tub and look at Reykjavík from across the pond. Around noon the pool is usually empty apart from some school swimming classes, so you can have the hot tubs all for yourself, and then there’s a sauna, a steambath and a huge slide.

In the afternoon
The perfect afternoon would consist of a walk around Garðakirkja. That area is so nice, and when the sky is clear you can see all the way out to Snæfellsnes in the west. And then I would head to the city and go to Bar Ananas for drinks before dinner.

For dinner
I like to have dinner at Borðið on Ægissíða with friends. That place is just perfect, it’s small and cosy and the food is delicious! One of the many things that’s great about it is that it’s a bit far away from the city centre, so it’s a lot more chilled out than most restaurants downtown.

In the heat of the night
After dinner I would like to go to Kex Hostel and meet some more friends and tell them a few good jokes. Then head over to Kaffibarinn and tell more jokes to more people, and stay there for a bit. Then I want to go to Prikið and grind on the windowsill until it closes.

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