17 June: National Day (aka Independence Day) of Iceland. Lots of outdoor & indoor events going on all day, as well as kids' playgrounds all over downtown & around the lake. We go out in the afternoon and happen to catch the beginning of a very impressive outdoor play - something to do with the birth of Iceland, we presume - outside the Government House.
The play starts off with these girls - fairies? - being raised into air...	...against the background of big drums, with tall goddesses standing by.
Then these black-clad guys appear and start spitting fire in all directions.	They're so close to the audience, it's pretty scary!
	Vikings come rushing forward...
...and start seriously fighting!
Goddesses swinging pipes in the background.	Dead guys.
The winner. And girls blowing bubbles to celebrate - his victory, or the peace?	The same girls dancing. Their dresses are variations on the traditional costume - the latter are not so obviously nationalistic ;-)
The dead guys get up again, to a great applause from the crowd.	And, with a roar, they charge into the audience!!
Afterwards, in the "backstage" area, we see those big goddesses chatting to their friends :-)
To Part 4 (Other sights from the National Day)