post trip recap

ya'll know i always find it hard to sum up trips in response to the 'so how was your trip?' question. i feel like my responses are limited to great, horrible, spectacular, crappy, wonderful, etc. and so i prefer to write these little recaps where i try to do the trip justice, but in most cases, barely scratch the surface. so here goes...

Reykjavik is teeny weeny. one can walk from one end to the other in about 20 minutes, i think, at a leisurely pace. it's clean, the people are general nice, and 80% speak English. i gather it's because very few people speak 1,000+ year old Viking outside of Iceland so it's probably advantageous to learn English as well. the people weren't as ginormous as i expected even though I know they believe in gnomes. the homes weren't vast, not even outside the city (and there was a lot of space). by chance we happened to be there during Eurovision, what is it, you ask? it's a singing/talent competition between certain European countries that has taken place for the last 25+ years (or so i've been told). it's like American idol but between the contestants represent their countries. Iceland came in 2nd this year and the people were ready to celebrate! i didn't know whether they partied like this every day/night/weekend but i'd never seen anything so crazy. it's actually more what i imagine Mardi Gras to be like. picture it: it was as if all 200,000 of Reykjavik's population came out (though it was mostly the younth) to celebrate on the main street covering a few city blocks. people were standing out of car sunroofs as they drove by. i mean, ocean drive isn't even this bad. INSANE. needless to say i claimed a front row seat for people watching.

partying aside, Iceland is great for people who enjoy the outdoors, i'm not talking about camping here (which i'm not a huge fan of), i'm talking horseback riding, seeing glaciers, geysers, and waterfalls. it's all within driving distance of the city and it's supremely beautiful. the Ring road goes almost all the way around Iceland, it's two lanes, some of which (we were told) are still unpaved but a completely beautiful drive (from the little we saw). the land looks either like old lava or like moorish Scottish countryside.





The most interesting part to me was the endless daylight. And I mean endless, at least in May. I went into a bar at 1am ('dusk') and came out an hour or two later in time to catch the sunrise. I don't recall it ever being pitch black in my 96 hours there. I think i'd go mad if i stayed any longer though i enjoyed every minute of it. On the converse I don't think I could go there in December or January when the opposite is true. But despite the name, Iceland's climate is actually quite moderate. I learned that in January parts of Iceland are usually warmer than it is in NY! and the weather while we were there was generally sunny and glorious if just a bit chilly in the shade.

I think that's it for Iceland. On to Paris.

The Land of Fire and Ice

This poem is constantly on my mind here:


'Fire and Ice

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.'

--Robert Frost


The landscape is so dramatic here. We rented a car and drove through the countryside today. I would say it's one of the most beautiful places I've ever been, but in a different way from Maui. Obviously, Maui is a tropical paradise, lush and beautiful. Iceland is the exact opposite. It's beauty lies in it's starkness. One can't tell whether the soil is indeed soil or lava remnants. It's dark, marshy, but not in any way scary or creepy. Perhaps because the weather has been so spectacular here thus far. Maybe if it were dark and gray i'd think less of it but somehow I don't think so. its got that very quite beauty. like comparing angelina jolie to rachel weisz.

in any case, the city itself is teeny. 300,000 people in the entire country, 200,000 of which live here in Reykjavik. i think we walked the whole city center in 20 minutes yesterday. but the residential areas of the city have a lot of charm. it's quiet. small buildings. small streets. clean. very Scandinavian but none of the uptightness i'd imagined. the funniest part thus far has been the street names. i think every name is at least 15 letters long an composed almost entirely of non-vowels and entirely unpronounceable to foreigners. i bet the locals get a kick out of listening to tourist pronunciations. for example our street is on Spitalastigur and Odinsgata and those aren't even the bad ones. but overall the people are super friendly and helpful. everyone speaks english. the food has been tasty although i don't think we've experienced much local cuisine. places we've been so far have been sandwich shops or more italian themed.

Today we went to a geyser and an amazing waterfall. We were also supposed to do a glacier walk too but it took us longer than expected to get there so we ended up missing it entirely. Tomorrow we ride Icelandic ponies but not before we go out tonight. Apparently it's a big night here because of Eurovision, something i'd never heard of until recently. it's like Europe Idol from what i understand and people from all the countries vote. the point is it's supposed to be a rollicking good time tonight so we'll see.

it seems because Iceland is so isolated that it feels like the uncool younger sibling to the other Scandinavian countries but i think it's super cool in it's own way. in the way that overshadowed younger siblings tend to be. there's a sense of quite self-assuredness and they're proud of who they are. they're the original Vikings after all. how cool is that?