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This blog was composed in April of 2021 from notes and stories compiled at the time. The photo album at left (click on the image) is from slides taken on the trip and scanned during April of 2021 during the COVID pandemic.
Some of the notes in Kate's photo album are pretty interesting and worth sharing ....
Sagas from Iceland -- Juri the Lawyer
The first night in Reykjavík, we went to a restaurant that specialized in Icelandic lobster. There was a lone man seated at the next table. We spent some time going over the menu deciding what to order. During this process, he leaned over and apologized for interrupting but said that he went to the restaurant about once a month and he highly recommended the lobster soup. Peculiar travel suggestions being dancing lessons from god (that's Kate's guidance from Kurt Vonnegut), we followed his recommendation and the soup was, indeed, very good (of course, it should be at $19 a bowl!).
When he had finished his dinner, he told us he was going upstairs to enjoy his coffee and he would be very happy if we would join him when we were done our dinners. The washroom was upstairs, and Kate had noticed on her visit there that there was a rather brothel-looking lounge area where people were having coffee and liqueurs and had commented on this strange set up to Reg.
Peculiar travel suggestions... etc., we went up to join him, even though it was getting rather late (it was getting close to midnight but this seemed a good place to watch the sunset). By the time we arrived, Juri was quite intoxicated and very hospitable, expansive and funny.
He told us about his dad's farm where he had been eiderdown picking ("my fingers still stink — here smell them " Thankfully, this was said to Reg who obliged! He said he was a lawyer who specialized in evicting people from their homes ("very interesting legal issues"). We discussed the violence that reportedly occurs among youth in Reykjavík after the bars close on Friday nights. He attributed the violence, especially the increase in knifings to the fact that the parents of these kids had used drugs. We discussed with him Reg's halfhearted search for his former graduate student colleague. After a bit he became involved in a lengthy argument with the waitress in Icelandic, following which he handed his car keys to her and she left. We were watching this quizzically and so he turned to us and said that he had drank too much and couldn't pay his bill and they were holding his car. We thought this was pretty funny (and not a bad idea), but then the waitress returned with a phone book wrapped in cellophane and gave this to him with his car keys. He had sent her out to his car to get one of the new phone books he had recently obtained so that we could look up Reg's former colleague! He also had to underline for us his name in the phone book as well as his dad's name and address and give us the phone book. We gave him our phone number in London and told him to look us up if he came to Canada. He told us those sorts of invitations were asking for trouble (we weren't as intoxicated as he was but we were mellow enough to figure we could risk it).
Sagas from Iceland — The search for Egils beer glasses
Not too many years ago Iceland was famous for near-beers. After prohibition they allowed only near beers of about 2% alcohol (I got stuck with that one day, and even worse another day — beware of Malt Extract but that's another story). People brewed their own and bars spiked the beer with vodka so that ultimately by about 1988 they gave up and allowed real beer — the revolution had begun.
Now they make a couple of beers — Egils and Viking beer (probably only one beer as the Viking beer seems to be made by Egils as well and tastes about the same). They may make more but we never saw any, and all the bars seemed to serve Tuborg (Danish) on tap. Around the corner from our hotel there was a small brewery we could smell it and I saw where it was from the top of the — cathedral but it had no identifying markers nor any tours. In any case, these beers are your standard fair German style lager — light and hoppy at about 5% (a lot like Blue or any other Canadian beer) (Egils also made a dark beer that was very nice). Kate had the inspiration that beer glasses, of the sort they serve beer in the pubs (since 1988!), would make a nice souvenir gift for some friends. We had brought some back from trips to Europe we stole some from the top of Mount Titlis and bought some in Cologne — and hoped to do something similar in Iceland.
So we went searching without any luck along the main shopping street just down the hill from our hotel. This gave Kate an opportunity to see the strip which, with the conference, she had not got to stroll too much. It's pretty active with the occasional interesting punkers in the Björk style — polyester bell bottoms and platform shoes. These days there's the Kringlan mall out in the burbs and the downtown is supposed to be suffering — we thought not. In any case, there were lots of shops (and record stores selling CD's for 2000 kr which is about $40) but no stores that sold Egils glasses. I was not surprised.
At this point we saw a bar with an Egils sign outside and so decided to try to buy beer glasses from the bar. We entered the small pub where there were a few drinkers and approached the barkeep (this was during Kate's lunch break so it wasn't busy even though the sun had not set — little joke there) — "Do you have any of those Egils beer glasses?"
"But of course, do you want a large [500ml] or a small one [300ml]?" he replies thinking (of course that we want a drink but are fussy about what we drink out of rather than what we drink).
So we start to explain how we're looking for small glasses as souvenirs and he asks, "How many do you want?" — Everyone in Iceland speaks English so the conversation really didn't require any of the preamble ("Do you speak English?", "Of course, no problem.").
Kate says "Do you have six of them?" and he replies "Of course, no problem." as he starts shuffling around under the counter digging some out for us.
Now at this point we haven't established a price (because if they're 100kr each then we'd buy quite a few but if the 500kr each, well then six is plenty). So we try to establish a price but he says "No problem, you can have them." And we start to argue that he can't do that, you're too kind, and so on. He tells us the brewery gives them to him, so what's the deal?
The short story then is we got our souvenirs gratis (and that's important as everything else was so expensive).
Sagas from Iceland — Icelandic swimming rituals
Iceland is famous for near universal literacy and swimming — everyone swims and many swim every day. You might recall how Juri said "Smell this" after a day of eiderdown robbery at his father's farm and a shower at his local pool. He told us that he swims every day and we gather that many others to do too. This is unusual for a seafaring nation — most work under the rule that if you go down in the ocean it's better not to know how to swim. Either the ocean is very warm, or perhaps it's very cold. But in any case, they swim in Iceland.
Throughout the city of Reykjavik there are public pools for swimming with hot tubs for soaking. Perhaps a dozen or more public pools, each within a short walking distance and all are naturally heated. Actually all hot water in Reykjavik is natural hot water — it comes from deep underground and it's pumped around the city as a hot water source they way we pump cold water. No one has a water heater or a furnace since hot water is a public utility like electricity. We understand this is pretty common throughout the country and lots of places have public pools.
On our first day we struck out on our rented bicycles to swim in the pool in Reykjavik that seemed to be most highly recommended from the guide books. There was an indoor pool only a block or so from our hotel but we wanted to try an outdoor pool (in fact, we never went to our local pool). This pool we went searching for was particularly large with a great water slide at a big park with a stadium overlooking the pool. Unfortunately it was closed when we got there, and closed for the week. Damn!
But we did get to go swimming. Not too far from the University and Kate's conference there was a pretty good outdoor pool our first and Kate even got to take swims in her lunch break during the conference. It had several hot pots (38-40 degrees, 40-42 degrees and 42-44 degrees — just right for cooking shrimp, lobster and the very brave) but no water slide. Another great outdoor pool we went to after a long bicycle ride (recommended both by Juri and the girl at the snack bar at the closed pool) was an indoor/outdoor pool with a great water slide — a slide for kids and Reg and several large hot pots. It was a very modern affair with a glassed over indoor portion.
The ritual of going to pools isn't too strange — unless you don't know it. Admission to the pool is fairly modest and you can even put it on your MasterCard (they're almost a cashless society). Each change area (separate for Kate's and Reg's) starts with shoe rack where you're supposed to remove your shoes (Kate determined that right away, for Reg's it took a bit longer Anne told us later that she'd had her shoes stolen there one time). You have a locker (or perhaps, as at the Blue Lagoon, you give your gear to a locker attendant) and key on a rubber band for putting on your ankle or wrist — Kate thinks there's firmer rules about the protocol (i.e., the key goes on your ankle period); Reg thinks not. Then you have a shower before going swimming making sure to wash your hair and the naughty bits — they have posters to tell you what naughty bits you're supposed to wash thoroughly. Whilst showering on the way in or out you're supposed to leave your towel in your numbered slot (again Kate has figured this out right away (no she didn't the first time she had some mildly disapproving looks — but of course) while Reg has more trouble). But nobody yelled at us, but of course! And we got to go swimming on days you wouldn't even consider going near the water. They swim all year — I suppose under lights in the winter.
The fancy indoor outdoor/pool (with the slide) had some more interesting features —mini geysers you could play on, relaxing spots to lay with a thousand tiny scrub brushes urging you to let go, and a water fall that comes down as a very wide sheet; Blue Lagoon mud (Kate bought some for Doreta) at more than Blue Lagoon prices; and a nice view looking out over the city. But no nudes.
You're swimming outside in reasonably warm water — just right for Reg but a little too warm for Kate who wants to do lengths. And people are sun bathing in what little sun, and what little shelter from the wind, is available. Lots of folk must be regular sunbathers judging by their tans. There were a few "serious" swimmers but the kids were there to have fun and the blonde babes were there for the sun tan. Mostly it seems people go to the pools to have fun.
So we had fun and enjoyed the several swims we had. If you're ever in Iceland, you really ought to go swimming and we know of a few good pools you should try (and the bathing ritual so you can fit right in).
"Will this wind be so mighty as to lay low the mountains of the earth?"
Iceland gets big winds. We were aware of this, having read in the guide books that bicycle riding (at least outside of the city) is something of a challenge because of the wind. But we were not prepared for how windy it could be. After all, any wind is a problem on a bike. However, we'd never seen a wind before where you couldn't stand up!
In our hotel room, on the 3rd floor, sand collected on our window sill when we left the windows open. I assumed that was because of some work out front with the interlocking brick but now I think it was likely sand blown in from the interior of Iceland!
We certainly weren't prepared for the wind on our bus tour to Gullfoss and Geyser when we had our first stop to view the scenery. The view of the outlanding low lands was in an open space a little up on the hill side where the road runs down to Eden (the regulation tourist stop at a green house with bananas (sic!) and more). We all tumbled out of the bus and a goodly number continued tumbling on as the wind caught them. Photos, if possible at all, were taken with the photographer at an extreme angle laying into the wind. Someone decided to have a cigarette and the pack went off bounding across the countryside swept from his hands. If he had a cigarette at all it would have burned away in a very few minutes. Reminded me of the wind you experience on a motor bike when you're barreling down the highway at 100Kph!
At Gullfoss (the Golden Falls) the wind was just as bad, only this time you had the spray from the falls as an added feature designed to chill you to the bone. A few brave souls got themselves close to the falls there was a path where you could get right up to the brink of it. Not for me! I was quite cold enough, and Kate was freezing having not dressed properly at all. Her colleague Asa lent her a scarf (one of many — she's Icelandic and she came prepared) which helped a lot. But what Kate and other likeminded friends did was lie in the grass soaking up the sun and avoiding the wind. It would have been a nice spot if hadn't been so windy!
Sagas from Iceland — Faye and the Geyser
On the bus tour to Eden and Gullfoss (Golden Falls), we also stopped at Geyser — the original Geyser after which all others are named. It and several other bubbling hot spots are there by the road for any and all to stop and view. But before going in we get the warning — "These geysers are hot, the water is boiling, so make sure you don't put your hands in the water and make sure you're not down wind when the Geysers erupt. You can and will be burned very badly." And there's several signs around various geysers, especially the very hot ones, advising you of the water temperature (in Fahrenheit and Celsius, in Icelandic and English). One is forewarned.
The Geyser used to erupt regularly but hasn't in quite a while. They used to stuff soap and other gunk down it to force it to erupt but realized after a while that's not such a good idea. I gather they stopped doing that foolishness within the last few years say within the last 10 or so. That it's not erupting now is no big deal. It usually stops for a while just before the next big volcanic episode. And as it's been quiet for quite a while the expectation is that any day soon there should be some volcanic activity to start things up again. Iceland gets volcanic eruptions fairly regularly. You may recall that last year there was one that went off under an icecap! And the icecap melted (or at least a large portion). And a great flood followed which wiped out part of the highway that rings the island — no lives lost, business as usual.
So there's lots of these boiling/bubbling geysers there with sting of the steam rising water which is indeed very warm (of course we felt it!). Some are quite big. The quiet but original geyser is about the size of a backyard pool. The water smells faintly of Sulphur, but all hot water we ran into even your everyday hot water from the tap — smells that way. Some geysers were very clear and you could see the bottom. Others were a cloudy blue color. And a few of them bubble away like a pot of boiling water (which one would be foolish indeed to put one's hand in).
But there's one that does erupt regularly. Every seven minutes or so. And this one has a rope around it — the "stay away from here" kind. And it doesn't have a pool of water. What it has is a steaming chasm it looks like a small crater. Most people are wise enough to not cross the rope but a few brave souls went over to have a closer look. Most people recognized the wind conditions and, having seen it erupt once already (we saw it several times from a distance before we got up close and personal), wisely stayed up wind. The really big gale that was blowing that day.
Faye, a colleague from Washington DC, had planted herself with her camera ready for the next big eruption. Everyone gets their cameras ready to take the next big eruption. I say to Faye, "You know you're down wind from this" and she says "Well, I've seen it go off already and I can see the water spray from when it last went off so I think I'm safe enough here". No way man! But we are about 50m or so down wind from things and a lot safer than the foolish fellow who is peering down the funnel waiting for it to erupt.
But I get ready and place myself near Faye. But a little over so I'm out of the way of the spray. And when it goes off there's these young kids (no, not with us) who are directly down wind and right at the rope. Too close, far too close. So they light off as fast as they can and I'm moving too as I feel I'm a little to close for comfort. But I get some nice pictures and only a little wet as it gushes about three or four times in a gigantic cloud of steam and hot water high into the air before settling down for the next cycle.
Faye meanwhile is down wind and lost in a cloud of steam which clears to reveal a quite wet and giggling Faye. She assured me that the water was nicely warm by the time it got that far down wind to her — she was not burned and in fact found the hot water a welcome relief from all the cold wind we had endured. So she survived, as we all did. I don't think she got any pictures of the maelstrom as it enveloped her. I hope her camera survived.
But of course even warm water cools off pretty quickly in all that wind. So although she may have had a brief respite from the cold she cooled off again pretty quickly.
Sagas from Iceland — Snow and sleet on the Blue Lagoon or "Where are the babes?"
On our last day we arranged (through our hotel) a tour that would take us around to a few sites and drop us off at the airport (for a not so modest fee). The airport is quite a distance and the direct bus, which we had taken on arrival at 600kr, wasn't that interesting and certainly not worth repeating (besides we didn't have Flo to pay our way). So we had a planned trip where all the worry and headache was some one else's. And some sites to see.
The best part of the trip, and perhaps the only reason for us taking it, was a stop at the "Blue Lagoon". That's an interesting swimming spot in a large lagoon of very hot water and highly recommended by tour guides and our colleagues. Martin Plant told us a bit about it and led us to believe that the swimming area is quite small — turns out to be much bigger. Not so big as it appears on some postcards but more than large enough. And we had these interesting postcards of people laying around in very blue water soaking up the sun — blonde babes in bikinis. We were very interested (Reg was quite excited) about the prospects.
The lagoon is between Reykjavik and the airport. It's all a volcanic peninsula jutting out into the ocean with the city on a bay, the lagoon is inland a bit and the airport the very tip of the peninsula. The lagoon is at the foot of smallish mountain on the volcanic plain that reminds one of Arizona or other deserts -- only it's a volcanic plain with hillocks where lava has boiled up long ago. Mountains are volcanic eruptions too and some are quite a large.
Pictures show a lovely blue lagoon, with people relaxing and swimming, with steam rising off the water and what looks like a formidable industry behind with larger billows of more steam. Turns out it's not a factory (or at least not as such). The trick is the Icelanders decided some years ago after burning up all the trees and peat that it might be a good idea to find heat sources elsewhere or freeze. Given all the volcanism the obvious came to mind — let's tap this stuff as a heat source. The Blue Lagoon is a rather late development of that. They've drilled a deep well down to a hot water source and they use that. There's pipelines from the lagoon going off in several directions to nearby towns and the airport. Looks bib like a gas pipeline only it's hot water.
The hot water is ocean water that's slipped through cracks and crevices in the rock down to hot volcanic sources. So it's salty and has some small critters in it that have been cooked by the heat. Now the water they pipeline off is for heating and a hot water source out of the tap — so that's ordinary hot water not salt water.
Besides, salt water would corrode the pipes. The function of the big industrial complex is do to the heat transfer of salty water to ordinary drinking water. In the process they end up with hot salty water (after extracting some of the heat) that they don't know what to do with. What they've done is just dump the hot salty water onto the desert plain and the water has collected to form a lagoon. I suppose most of it drains off into the water table and I hardly imagine that helps, but it's a desert and nobody seems to care much.
The net result is a lovely blue lagoon, very warm and very salty. The lagoon has a muddy bottom — the layer of accumulating dead microscopic critters who were in the sea water. The mud is "famous" (at least amongst Icelanders) as a beauty treatment — you can even buy it and take it home in a tube. The water is likewise famous as a treatment for skin ailments (psoriasis et al). Both claims are debated but we'll let them stand. But in any case, one is a bit disturbed at the prospects of to having a shower and washing thoroughly to get clean when you're entering water lately used by those with very blotchy skin.
But we went swimming. On a day where no babes were laying about enjoying the sun.
Our bus tour was on a very cool and windy day. The temperature was about 2 Celsius and the windy was very mighty — earlier, I asked the tour guide:
"Is it always this windy?"
"No, somedays it's much worse."
Not only was it very windy, but there was a bit of snow in the air and the lifeguards were dressed in snowmobile suits to keep warm while they watched the brave folk dunk themselves in the healing waters. This made for an interesting swim. People didn't dawdle about waiting to get in, they got in quickly. And when you were in you searched out the warmest spots some spots were so warm you quickly swam off elsewhere. Also, while you were swimming you did your best to keep most of your body in the water no laying around sun tanning. The wind and snow were so brisk and cold that you tried to keep your face away from the wind, and even then your hair would start to freeze up. But it was definitely nice to be in the warm water and considerably less painful getting out than it was getting in.
We had fun for the hour we were there, we could have easily stayed much longer (if only to remain warm). Kate bought some souvenirs and on we went to the airport.
An important postscript when we got home to Canada and were showing some friends the postcard of swimmers and sun bathers at the Lagoon on warmer days we noticed something well worth going back for (says Reg). Among the sun worshippers was a topless babe! I don't think anyone would have dared to sunbathe nude or not on the day we were there. But I'd be interested in going back on a better day just to check things out.
These notes and photos were scanned April, 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Ontario we are currently in a "stay at home" lockdown. Kate and I have recently both had our first Pfizer vaccine, can't wait for the second.
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