We Are In Iceland

Friday 30 March 2012

After collecting a new stamp in our passports and deciding not to stop in the duty free shop, we were officially in Iceland. One of the two people who was not a stranger in this strange land, hence forth called Berglind, soon picked us up. On our way to her house in Gardabaer (on the outskirts of Reykjavik) it was clear that Iceland was like no place we'd been before. This moss covered region was flat and treeless and strewn with random boulders. The buildings were low, sparse, and somewhat Scandinavian looking.

Things had become more urban (in a good way) as we approached her house. Their town overlooked Reykjavik, and their house was modern and nice, and unlike anything I've seen in Adamstown, MD. In this house were 3/4 of Beglind's children, 8/8 of her Tibetian Spaniels (5 adults and 3 puppies), and her cool husband Siggi who I soon realized is Iceland's answer to Batman (if Batman were a dentist). They offered to let us take naps, but I was sure I could not sleep - at least until my head hit the pillow and suddenly it was 3 hours later.

We enjoyed a mini-tour of Reykjavik on our way to the apartment we'd rented for our stay. One very interesting thing about Iceland is that their lawyers work in the same way as our drive-in waitresses from the 50's, minus the rollerskates. We also learned that you don't need to be able to read Icelandic to serve as legal witness for an Icelandic legal document about I have no idea what.

After some much needed freshening up, it was back to Berglind and Siggi's to drop off the kids, then back to Reykjavik for dinner at a very cool place called Grillmarkadurinn. Live moss growing on the walls was only interesting until our food arrived. I got a meat sampler (lamb, duck, and beef) and Shelley got the fish sampler (cod, salmon, and some other white fish). I can't tell you what Siggi and Berglind got since they ordered in Icelandic, but it sure looked good.

Next stop was the newly made awesome Harpa Music Hall for the Reykjavik Symphony Mozart Cover Band.

This was a great place to hear music, take several short naps, and drink Egils Appelsin Limonadi, which is Icelandic for "Awesome Orange Soda". It is what the natives (which is everyone else) drink, so you can see how it makes me blend in.