ICELAND July 19, 2008: Americans in Iceland –Day One

Well it’s nearly 1 a.m. and it’s still light out.. sort of like it is at dusk in California. We’ve lived in Finland so we thought we were accustomed to these lands of midnight sun.. but this is unbelievable. Anyway, we arrived in Reykjavik yesterday afternoon (Friday) although that seems like days ago, since we are cramming so much into each day. Our trip here was long and complicated, but otherwise uneventful. Checked into the Hotel Borg — which is totally delightful and right on the town square. It was built in the 30s but underwent a significant renovation and it’s quite modern, tasteful, definitely upscale, and situated perfectly.

Although we had been up for nearly 30 hours by then, it was bright and sunny and the city was so inviting that we set out to walk for a few hours, and then met up with Mike’s brother and sister-in-law (the real purpose of the trip — a bit of a family reunion) for dinner at an Icelandic restaurant with an Indian flair! Quite good. By the time we finished dinner and walked back to the hotel it was about midnight and it was still light outside and the square was hopping.. music, cafes, young people “clubbing”… etc.

This morning (Saturday) we started a bit late since the previous 40-hour day was a bit taxing.. Strolled around town in the morning.. to the lake a few blocks from the hotel, on which the city hall sits, and around the center of town. The city is filled with corrugated metal buildings painted bright colors, which are spectacular against this very very blue, cloudless sky… We’re told that we are experiencing unbelievably great weather.. as it usually rains several times each week. We’re keeping our fingers crossed we continue this streak of luck. (Maybe the rain gods are with me since I had rain every day in Guatemala earlier this month.) Met up with Richard and Elizabeth to drive south east to “the beach”… actually to a charming fishing town .. We strolled along the shore.. put our toes in both the North Atlantic and the Arctic Sea.. and then had an incredible lobster lunch sitting outside this very funky bar/restaurant… looking at the ocean.. We managed to get lost several times on the drive, but that just gave us a chance to see more of the countryside.

En route back to town we stopped at a few geysers that just gush up from the ground — providing much of the geothermal power for the country.. and heating all of the geothermal pools scattered around town where people swim outside year round. Pretty amazing! Got back to the center around 7 pm, which felt like about 1 pm based on light and sun… and then reconnected with Richard and Elizabeth at about 9:30 for a light dinner at the house of one of Elizabeth’s half brothers. Gave us a chance to see a somewhat typical home of a professional.. quite impressive.

A few statistics: Iceland has a population of just over 300,000 people (that’s 25 percent smaller than Oakland).. and about half live here in Reykjvik (about the population of Berkeley. It doesn’t snow much and the winters are no where near as cold as we Americans picture.. It rarely gets below 27 degrees Fahrenheit.. Weather these past two days has been delightful… about 60 during the day and about 50 or so at night.. but it feels colder if there is wind and generally there’s lots of wind. For which they have numerous words to describe different kinds of wind The language is impossible.. but everyone speaks English so that helps. It’s really difficult to read a street sign so it’s better not even to try. It’s a very literate country so imagine publishing and maintaining theater companies and newspaper industry and films for so few people with this language. Signing off.. Tomorrow we are going to the art museum where the current exhibit is titled “Too F…ing Peaceful!”

Best, Fern

Forgot to mention that the streets are totally immaculate. We haven’t seen a single piece of litter since we got here…