A strange part of living in Iceland is the Icelanders' disregard of attention. If someone's causing trouble on the street people stop on their tracks to stare at it, and you can see all the nearby cafe windows are suddenly packed with curious onlookers. If, at a bus, you see a teenager sitting with their feet on the opposite seat no amount of glaring will ever get through to them. And then there's the fact that Icelanders don't always seem to think curtains are all that necessary, and even if there are some they are open wide. Besides this, they often fill the windowsill with cute and interesting items for passers-by to admire.
I'm not exaggerating when I say that walking in the evening in downtown Reykjavík people are so relaxed about the possible attention they may be getting that you can see whatever's going on inside the house to tiniest detail: this family's going to eat a leg of lamb now, that kid is playing video games, there are five cats currently fighting over who gets to eat from which bowl - indeed, even street level apartments often leave the curtains open.
I do not understand this.
(The pictures in this entry are not of a private home - to my knowledge it's a store instead. Please correct me if I'm wrong.)
(UPDATE: it's been brought to my attention that these windows indeed are store windows - an upholstery store - and therefore definitely not of a private home.)
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