Monday, December 19, 2005

Iceland






I’ve been to Iceland three times. The women are stunning, the men odd looking, the landscape and the cost of alcohol are breathtaking. Everyone gets extremely drunk and acts pissed off.

It’s a strange place

The first thing you notice when you leave Keflavik airport (the airport is miles from Reykjavik) is the lack of trees….and soil….and vegetation of any kind ……a moonscape, except with lichen covered boulders .
To get to Reykjavik you have two choices: a $200 taxi ride or a $20 cab ride. No prizes for figuring out which one I took. (I did, on a particularly hung over return visit, opt for the cab, shaky hand proffering company credit card, guiltily rehearsing the excuse for my expenses)
The trip in from the airport is long…..and boring. The landscape, after the first novelty of, “wow…tundra”, gets old fast. Buildings are of the cold climate variety, squat and covered in some kind of sheet metal . Not inspiring architecture. There IS a massive ALCAN plant (all you Canadians will recognise the name), that seems to stretch on forever.
Reykjavik looks equally unimpressive. I stayed for the most part at the SAS Saga hotel, which was built for the long forgotten SALT II treaty talks. I did once, disastrously, opt for a hotel right in town……boarding house chic…Formica and drafty windows at $200 a night.
I’ve been in Iceland once in the summer (you can read a newspaper outside at 11pm), and twice in the autumn (you can’t read a newspaper outside at 10am). On all three occasions it was cold and wet.
I went on a trek on the summer trip…. A “kiddie walk” as it was put to me, (school kids routinely do it and it damn near killed me) but it was beautiful……




When you go out, it’s deserted. That’s because if you’re out at a time that most people in other countries go out, say 10pm. You‘re he only ones except for other “Non –Island People”. People in Iceland go out at 1:30 am….they’ve been drinking at home since 6pm, and believe me they’re pissed and ready to have fun. Bars are for the most part full of 30 somethings….no one under 30 can afford to drink . A beer costs $15…. A GLASS of beer.
I went one year during the Euro vision song contest….do you know what that is? It is the naffest, silliest ,contest on the planet:
http://www.eurovision.tv/english/index.htm
Basically every country has a song, they all vote live, from around Europe, (and Iceland). The voting is always incomprehensible, or political or both. The winner wins, and is never, ever, (except ABBA) heard from again.
In Iceland they take this very seriously, but never get any points. There are neighbourhood shivery BBQs….then they all go out to the bars and rachet up their booze up. It’s almost a national holiday. Like I said it’s a strange place.



One place that should not be missed is the Blue Lagoon. The sulphur springs truly are one of the wonders of the world.

You get there by bus. You get shuttled to the bus station and wait around where maybe you might want to snack on this….




I watched a couple of locals chowing down, so it wasn’t put out for the tourists...................


Anyway that’s it for today

Terry

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey ! I think I know a sauce that goes with that !

Anonymous said...

No wonder Stefan Gudmundsson loves Mexico... beer is way cheaper than $15, he could take taxis for a lot less than $200; warmer weather and landscape far more beautiful.

Stunning women and odd looking men?
I have to see that!
The men I have met from Iceland are very good looking... the only woman I have met from Iceland is Bjork (she is not exactly stunning), Stefan's mom and sister are OK. Hahaha, I know he'll never read this :-)
Oh, by the way, I run into Bjork during my last visit to London, I was walking down Kensington Hight Street and there she was. I thought of taking her picture but I remembered she can turn violent...

Anonymous said...

Only Simon would think about the right kinda suace for that meal ! Kinda reminded me of his spagetti trick for a second !
Loved the Iceland trip - what the hell is on your face in the hot pool shot ?