Ragur madur fiflar aldri frida konu.
Translation: Fortune favours the bold.
We stepped onboard the Iceland Air flight, bound for Reykjavik, and the blonde ratio went radically higher. Definitely a change from South America for the three of us rubias. As we waited on the runway, the heat of the day in Washington D.C. developed into a thunderstorm so we had to sit and wait it out on the tarmac. I loved the blonde logic of the Icelandic Air Hostesses, they served the kids their food while the rain lashed the airplane and then turned on the entertainment system. My kinda gals. I almost didn't notice the take off while drooling over a George Clooney movie. Of course, there was heavy turbulence and a vague fear of being struck by lightening, but it seemed our last few flights had been that way. Perhaps I was eternally doomed to spill my drink and cross my legs.
"A sculpture is just a painting cut out and stood up somewhere."
Frank Stella
We flew overnight which meant we lost a few hours. As we were in the northern hemisphere in high latitude and it was summer, I didn't know if we actually encountered any darkness. We just pulled up the shutters, stretched out and awoke for the morning landing. Apart from the fact we felt a little groggy, so far so good. The weird sculptures outside the airport matched our mood.
The quirky art and barren landscape also seemed reflective of the people. The Icelandic people are not a gushy in your face type of culture. They are more like the tundra, at first appearance frozen and hard, yet not far below the surface there is a warmness ready to erupt and glow with national pride.
"Finding a good bus driver can be as important as finding a good musician."
Reba McEntire
While we sat waiting in the airport for our coach transfer to "The Blue Lagoon", there was just enough time to grab a quick breakfast. I had heard that Iceland was one of the most expensive countries to visit. The prices were in the thousands of Kronas so there was not much chance I would be able to work out the exchange rate with my jet lag. I decided it maybe be better if I just didn't know exactly how expensive things were. I had to buy the food anyway so I resigned to handing over the total and not worrying about it too much.
It must be pretty costly to import everything to an island roughly 4000 miles from America and 1000 from England. Granted they don't import 100% of everything - they catch their own fish, so salted shark should be good value. After a confusing mix of choices for breakfast I found a panini and a latte I recognized - thank goodness for the Italians and their pervasive food choices.
“What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well.”
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
The drive from the airport to the Blue Lagoon was a surreal transportation through a moonscape. No trees, just rolling, rocky tundra with a pale green lichen draped over most of it. The only sign of man was the concrete road that wound into the distance. The highway helped to give me perspective to this alien place. We rolled towards a distance plume of steam, prominent in the watery blue of the clear sky. The sunshine felt toasty through the coach windows, yet outside there was a bite to the breeze that reminded me of our latitude of 65 degrees north and our proximity to the Arctic Circle.
“We are all a little weird and life’s a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.”
Dr. Seuss
Without a doubt, Icelandic has to be the oddest language I've come across yet. It is a derivative of Norse and it does have the guttural sounds of something vaguely Northern European. If I listened intently, I could recognize a few Germanic/Dutch/Afrikaans sounds. When I tried to read it aloud I just sounded like a muppet. I only managed to master one word - Taak, which means thank you. I almost got the word for delicious - perhaps it was musecot? I only remember it because it sounded like mucus, which certainly isn't delicious in any language. There is just nothing remotely English-like in the words, not even a Latin connotation. In order to avoid Kermit impersonations I resigned myself to saying Taak loudly and slowly to show how much I was trying. However, I'm afraid it was too little too late, I should have done more linguistic research before we arrived on this remote island with only 320,000 people (which makes it the least populated in Europe).
The arctic volcano can do nothing against the arctic ice"
Samuel Butler
In my own defense, I did have some general knowledge of Iceland. This was an ancient country of Vikings, volcanoes and the odd modern sovereign bankruptcy. There was one unpronounceable volcano that had produced a huge ash eruption, which had closed down the European airspace for several days. Maybe it had been a Viking God taking his revenge because the EU failed to bail them out on their insolvency. Supposedly the financial ruin has been a good thing for the country and was sort of like pressing the reset button on the banking system. Not something I'd want to mention to the Greeks at this point considering they have Zeus, Poseidon and Hades to unleash on the World.
"The water is your friend. You don't have to fight with water, just share the same spirit as the water, and it will help you move."
Aleksandr Popov
As we drove closer to the source of the steam I spotted some square modern buildings and I told the kids we were nearly at the cloud factory. They are way too savvy for such statements these days, they already knew our destination was the "Blue Lagoon", thermal hot springs spa. It was already open for business when we arrived, prepared to dip and process the constant stream of summer tourists. It was a slick Nordic style operation and there was just a slight wait in line as we entered into the building. People in Iceland queue/wait in line very 'up close and personal', I found it almost as 'in your space' as Africa. In the hot, crowded, overpopulated, poverty of Africa I could understand the desperation of not wanting to miss out. What was the logic for Iceland? There's hardly any people, plenty of space and Icelanders have the 5th highest standard of living in the World. Perhaps the need to get up close and personal was from loneliness? When we got to the head of the line we received a plastic tag bracelet which served as a locker key and charge card while we were floating around. Luckily there was no sulphuric smell yet, which was reassuring considering Josh has the nasal capacity of a bloodhound and would have hassled me with a litany of foul smelling complaints.
"Unique experience geothermal spa"
Blue Lagoon Iceland
The changing rooms were sleek with modern slate and low lights. By the time we got into our swim suits and popped out into the dazzling sunshine I had to squint my way towards the wooden stairs and blindly stumble into the murky grey blue waters of the Lagoon. It was a feeling of all enveloping warmth. The lagoon has a volcanic, black, sandy bottom and we floated and shuffled our way to the epicenter of the heat. Which turned out to be a rock pile, cornered off with a metal bar, erupting and spitting boiling water. Despite the warnings of 100 degree heat this was where I lounged with eyes half closed enjoying the weak sunshine on my face and thermal springs on my travel weary body. The kids persuaded me to smear white silica mud over our faces and we laid out to dry like bizarre moon iguanas. The steam muffled the voices of the crowds and staring out over the lunar panorama was a bizarre oddity. As the warm water eased my airplane atrophies and the face scrub tightened on my face, I felt a calming refreshment which must be uniquely Icelandic.
Rather than relaxing, the kids were highly motivated into manipulating me into purchasing them slushies from the float up bar. Nothing like a blue raspberry ice drink in a thermal, salt water, chemical bath. One rock-steam cave later and a pummeling under a fake broiling waterfall, and I was prune-like enough to declare the experience over.
The crowds began to thicken as we waited for our onwards coach to the capital city of Reykjavik. The drive was much of the same barren landscape with an occasional small village. I kept nodding off. Note to self - don't go to a hot springs with jet lag and expect to not be sleepy all afternoon.
(It is a long road from Iceland to Heaven.)
Davíð Stefánsson
Davíð Stefánsson
Greeted by an upside down airplane from a nearby air show, Rejavik welcomed us in with its sprawling suburbs of brightly roofed clapboard houses. In an icy sort of way it reminded me of the Bahamas. The frigid waters of the Atlantic Ocean slipped off behind the cityscape, sweeping up into brown snow capped mountains.
"The map is not the territory."
Alfred Korzybski
Our room wasn't quite ready when we arrived at the hotel, so we left the bags and wandered into the main square of downtown in search of food. My inner cheapskate knew to avoid the gorgeous outdoor cafe spilling onto the green lawns of the central square. Bathed in protected sunshine I realized the bank holiday crowd were enjoying a summer treat. To me it seemed a little chilly after the muggy memorial heat of Washington. Wandering on, we came to the Laundromat, a mix of upstairs laundry facilitates and a funky eclectic cafe. Just the spot for carrot and ginger soup and a surreptitious study of the locales.
"I'd much rather hang out in a cafe. That's where things are really happening."
Joe Sacco
Iceland is a sort of forgotten stepping stone between the US and Europe. It reminded me of both places plus Scandanavia yet it had its own identity too. Originally settled by 'Norse men' - men from the North, Ingolfur Amarson became the first permanent settler in 874 AD. These Norsemen were known as Vikings as they raided Europe and took Gaelic slaves from what is now the UK, the Isle of Mann and France.
"Genetic studies in Iceland have found that many of the women who were the founding stock of Iceland came from England and what is now France. Some were probably captured and carried off in Viking raids only 40 generations ago."
Keith Henson
The country evolved from this Viking 'Althing' government system. Twice during the 1400's the Black Death killed over half the population. Life was hard with infertile soil, volcanic eruptions and a harsh climate. From the 1200's to the 1900's Iceland became part of Norwegian and then Danish monarchies. Smallpox killed a third of the population in the 18th Century. The Laki volcanic eruption which spewed out the world's largest lava flow ever created poisonous mists which killed 80% of the livestock. Between the mist and famine, Iceland lost 10,000 people - one fifth of its population. This is a helluva history for a tiny island and I cant say I blame the 15,000 thousand Icelanders (over 20% of the population) that left for the New World in the 19th Century. After all the death and mass exodus you have to wonder how there are any people left. After Independence in 1944, Iceland has grown from its long history of a poor nation struggling to survive on fishing and agriculture. With the industrialization of the fishing industry and post WWII American aid, Iceland prospered to become the 14th most developed nation in the World.
Motto:
You will have truly mastered the Icelandic language when
you can sip "kaffi" (coffee) from a saucer
through a "molasykur" (sugar cube) between your teeth while saying: "
Það er gott að sjá þig" (It is nice to see you).
Robert Asgeirsson
Reykjavik is an eclectic mix of old and new, high rise buildings around Viking ruins, slick modern shops selling Viking relics. There is a sense of creativity on every street corner with street theatre and art galleries. We returned to the hotel and found our room ready so I caved in to the kids internet addiction and gave them some computer time to feed their Webkins. The proviso being that they had to commit to a late afternoon stroll to stave of jet lag and catch some more sights.
“Dried fish is a staple food in Iceland.This should be shredded with the fingers and eaten with butter. It varies in toughness. The tougher kind tastes like toe-nails, and the softer kind like the skin off the soles of one's feet.”
Louis MacNeice, W. H Auden
The dichotomies of Iceland continued at the Harbor. An age old fishing infrastructure next to a cutting edge steel and glass entertainment complex. Of course, the first stop at the waterfront was to check out the whale watching boats, unfortunately the boat named "Andrea" was still out at sea. The next stop was the tallest building for my usual orientation ceremony.
"If you die in an elevator, be sure to push the Up button."
Sam Levenson
Hallgrimkirkja is the 6th tallest building in Iceland and we could pay to go up to the observation level and get a look at the surrounds. It took 38 years to build the church which was finished in 1986, it is meant to resemble basalt lava flow. After riding the rather suspicious elevator, the view was exceptionally clear at 244ft. To no avail I tried to spot Snaefell, the volcano of 'Centre of the Earth' fame. Back down on the ground, Jasmin and Josh had the most fun climbing all over the Leif Eriksson statue at the front of the church. Leif was the son of Erik the Red who colonized Greenland. Following in his father's footsteps, Leif Eriksson is accredited with discovering the Americas 500 years before Christopher Columbus.
“There's no one on the island telling them they're not good enough, so they just go ahead and sing and paint and write.”
Eric Weiner
The more I learned of the Icelandic history, the more intrigued I became. These were tenacious, ancient people, both brave and creative. I however, at this point, was feeling more ancient than anything else. We decided to return to the hotel as the clock said early evening, but that meant nothing considering the northern parts of Iceland have 24 hours of sun in the mid summer. Reykjavik does manage to get a few hours of semi dark, regardless my internal body clock was chiming for bed. My blood shot eyes warned the kids not to argue and we were fast asleep in moments. I planned to sleep for a good 12 hours and would have liked another 12 but we had a morning date with a Super Jeep and a snow mobile adventure on the glacier.
"Sjaldan verður ósinn einsog uppsprettuna dreymir."
(Seldom will the the delta belike like the dreams of the source.)
Sigurður Nordal
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