Taak Reykjavik

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.  

"Það er löng leið frá Íslandi til Himnaríkis."

(It is a long road from Iceland to Heaven.)
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

Memorial memories

 

“The crab that walks too far falls into the pot”

 Haitian Proverb

I'm on the seafood diet...see food and eat it.  Being an iodine addict of note I was in serious shellfish seventh heaven.

"Washington is a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm." 

John Fitzgerald Kennedy

It was a hot and steamy Memorial Day weekend (especially for the crabs).  We were tired after a long day of standing in line to see the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. The whole waterfront was a seething mass of people, cars and fishy, frying smells.  A couple of super sized policemen were controlling traffic in the parking lot as family sedan after family sedan pulled through to buy a Friday night fish supper.  Loud music and shouts from the vendors added to the chaos.  

"Anyway, like I was sayin', shrimp is the fruit of the sea. 

You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. Dey's uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There's pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. 

That- that's about it." 

Bubba Gump

"

I will not eat oysters. I want my food dead. 

Not sick. Not wounded.  Dead"  

Woody Allen.

Mmmm, oyster or shrimp, oyster or shrimp.  We were all completely overwhelmed by the choices so inevitably made no decision at all and ended up in an air conditioned restaurant next door.  

“Twilight fell: The sky turned to a light, 

dusky purple littered with tiny silver stars.” 

J.K. Rowling.

Sunset over the Potomac River and the end of another quality American day of consuming; food, facts friendship and fun.  Wonder if we could conjure up an icecream?

"The lovely thing about cruising is 

that planning usually turns out to be of little use."

Dom Degnon.

We idly wandered the riverfront looking at the boats, we had no clue that tomorrow we take a trip along the river in that very boat to Mount Vernon, home of George Washington.

"There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing 

as simply messing about in boats." 

Rat-The Wind in the Willows

It was the perfect day for a cruise and with most of Washington's roads gridlocked in the long weekend traffic we felt decidedly clever to go by water.  Sitting on the top deck, sipping a drink, with the breeze to cool us was a wonderful way to travel to Mount Vernon.  

"I can truly say I had rather be at home at Mount Vernon 

with a friend or two about me, than to be attended at the seat of government by the officers of State and the representatives of every power of Europe."

George Washington

The Mount Vernon Ladies Association purchased the estate from the Washington family and opened the gates for visitors in 1860.  Since then there have been 80 million visitors.  It is the most visited historic site in America. One million visitors a year can't be wrong.  It appeared that most of that million had also chosen today for their look see.  Clutching our mansion tour ticket with allocated time printed on it, we quickly rushed up the hill from the landing dock.  A quick inspection of the house and we were duly processed out of the kitchen door, impressed by both the preservation of the house and the tour guides' information.  Obviously, George Washington is still a very much beloved father to the American Nation.  It also seemed apparent that he had prospered greatly during his life both financially and personally.  As we wandered the grounds, I felt a sense gladness that he had had his just rewards in life.  

“It is in games that many men discover their paradise.”

 Robert Lynd

Luckily for us, every Memorial Weekend a high school drama group dresses up and spends their time wandering the grounds in period costumes.  They act in accordance with the way visitors would have back in the day. Josh even got to play an old fashioned hoop game while I tried not to swoon in the midday heat.  

"The love of my country will be the ruling influence of my conduct." 

George Washington

The best part of the visit to Mount Vernon was getting to see Stella's dad's film.  He created a short film which highlighted the brilliance of George Washington and his  commanders.  Craig even appears in the film in a minor cameo role, which thrilled us into a loud cheer in the quiet of the theatre.  We just had time for a bite to eat in the overcrowded Cafeteria where it was every tourist for themselves.  Realizing we risked missing the boat, Carrie came through once more and got us a ride down to the dock on a golf cart.  Needless to say a fast ride downhill was the kids favorite part of the day.  

“Without ice cream, there would be darkness and chaos.” 

Don Kardong

Our last day in Washington D.C. and Greg had already left on an early morning flight headed west.  We would be flying to Europe this evening headed for a visit with Pops and Grandma.  However, first things first we had time to squeeze in a quick Sunday ice cream or would that make it an ice cream Sundae?  

"The hard core, the outlaw elite, were the Hell's Angels... wearing the winged death's-head on the back of their sleeveless jackets and packing their "mamas" behind them on big "chopped hogs." 

Hunter S.Thompson

Every Memorial Day weekend there is a motorcycle rally in Washington DC in recognition of POWs and MIAs.  Its been running for 25 years and this year there was an expected 1 million bikes converging on the city.  We checked out a few 'chopped hogs' in  Alexandria.  The kids and I started to feel a little sad that we wouldn't be seeing our soul sisters Stella and Carrie for a few months.  As we had a little extra time before our flight we decided to stop at the Air and Space Museum near Dulles airport.

" The Shuttle is to spaceflight what Lindbergh was to commercial aviation." Arthur C. Clarke

The Space Shuttle Discovery is one of the big attractions at the museum.  It takes up a huge amount of floor space, yet as we approached the exhibit I couldn't get over how small it was.   It actually arrived to Washington D.C. piggyback style on top of a Boeing 747 and was tiny in comparison.  It looked like a cobbled together, patchwork quilt of metal and I was amazed that this vessel had made it into space let alone back again.  It made me feel old too, old because I had seen it launched and retired in my lifetime.  Seeing the kids standing in front of it had me exponentially wondering about what space flight would be like during their time on the planet? 

"When you look at the stars and the galaxy, you feel that you are not just from any particular piece of land, but from the solar system." 

Kalpana Chawla, mission specialist, first Indian born woman astronaut

It started to look less like a trans-Atlantic airplane and more like a spaceship when I walked underneath the boosters.  Suddenly space seemed a whole lot closer.  My already broadened horizons seemed infinite when I started to think less about which country or continent I came from and think more about which planet and universe.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for flying British Airways Concorde."  Captain Mike Bannister last flight of Concorde.

Seeing Concorde always reminds me to grab opportunities when they come your way.  I used to see Concorde from where I worked at Heathrow.  I made a promise to myself that one day I would buy a ticket onboard the supersonic jet.  I didn't feel any desperate rush nor could I really afford the luxury.  However, the matter was taken out of my hands when the service was pulled out of operation.  Fast forward a couple of decades and I did finally step aboard the narrow tin tube as a museum piece in Barbados.  Not quite the same experience but at least I had fulfilled my promise.

"There is no substitute for victory."

General Douglas MacArthur

I think out of all the amazing aircraft in the super sized hanger the Enola Gay created the most moving moment for me.  The B29 aircraft was named after Colonel Paul Tibbets's mother and changed the course of WWII.  

"If God had really intended men to fly, he'd make it easier to get to the airport." George Winters

It was a difficult task to persuade the kids it was time to head to the airport for our departure to Iceland, even when I promised we'd be able to play with real snowballs in the morning.  The roads out to the airport were deserted, we wondered what happened to the 1 million bikers?  I guess everyone was downtown or had got to where ever it was they were going.  Pulling into the airport was an eerie experience as it was so quiet with an empty parking lot and no check in queues.  Saying goodbye to Carrie and Stella left the expected lump in my throat and it was hard to shake off the sadness as we wheeled into through the airport doors into the cool of the air conditioning.  Security was an unnerving event due to the fact there was no line, the uniformed officers actually smiled and had a word or two to wish us a pleasant trip.  Where was I?  I had to check my watch to make sure it was still 2012.  The lack of crowds gave us extra waiting time at the gate and I tried to push my organizational thoughts to Reykjavik our stopover on the way to Manchester.  However, I had to sit and wait while eating airport sushi and digesting the past couple of weeks.  We had enjoyed such a wonderful time with old friends and had an amazing, living, American history lesson from colonial start to space age finish.  Greg was headed to Asia and we would be in Europe, we still weren't sure where we would rendezvous.  The kids and I were looking forward to time with family and new baby cousins and secretly my waistline was relieved to be leaving all those flavors of ice cream.