Net

Just a little eye candy...

This is not the Icelandic national hairdo, but just a fancy net job for a young gymnastics competitor who performed very nicely in her events. Psychologically, the hairdo helps!

Ferry

The Westman Islands, Vestmannaeyjar, are these fanatastic volcanic sculptures rising from the Atlantic just south of Iceland. They are a mere ten to twenty thousand years young, basically the tops of massive magma cones jutting vigorously out of the cold arctic waters at that seam in the earth's crust we call the Reykjanes Ridge.

Getting ready for our retreat from the big island of Heimaey on Sunday after Valentina's (and her team Ármann's) excellent victory in gymnastics, I thought I was all set to discourage anyone and everyone from traveling to Vestmannaeyjar by sea on the ferry Herjólfur. After all, the waters between Iceland proper and the Wetsmans are notoriously unsettling at best and our trip over with two hundred little gymnasts on Friday night had been a gut-wrenching experience. But as the ship left dock we passed through the amazing strait shown above and I changed my mind. The five minute sail past eerie rock faces through calm deep turquoise waters somehow made the impending three hours of probable seasickness seem worth it.

I myself will fly next time I go, and I will go to the islands again. I'd say a flight over then a tour of the archipelago with one of the local boat companies is the way to experience the absolute magic of the Westman Islands in the best possible health. I'm sure the other hundreds of nauseous travelers with me on the ferry rides would agree. Of course if you have to do the ferry, take lots of warm clothing and stand at the rails, taking in the awsome power of the ocean. It kept me fresh and absolutely magnified my respect for those who brave the open seas.



(Here also is an interesting site on techtonic movement. Enjoy!)

Rainbow

A Sunday afternoon scene from the Westman Islands, or Vestmannareyjar, off of Iceland's south coast. I'll go more into detail later on the hows and whys Valentina and I were there this past weekend later, but for now take in the photos at Nick's and Bard's sites and read about these natural gems of the sea at the very attractive Visit Westman Islands site.

Fönn

I've added a hit counter there to the left and the number I chose is not random but an actual Google Analytics assements of visits to my site over the past year. Thanks to all who've dropped by ... 33,000+ visitors in twelve months is definitely not too shabby!

Dusting

We got a light dusting of snow over the weekend, just enough to ensure that everyone not equipped with winter tires slides around a bit while braking and has a hard time of it on inclines. I saw a slow-mo collision on Skólavördurstígur today that was exactly due to this half a centimeter of snow we've gotten, and even though it can be a pain, I'm assuming I'm not the only person in town to hope we get a good meter or two more of the white stuff this year, just like it used to be in the old days.

Dragon

This shop is called Drekinn, or The Dragon, and my dad says it's the new best hot dog place in town. The hip cats who grace the ads on the side of the building are actually the owners and they've done a decent job of sprucing the place up and adding a measure of coolness that most corner shops lack. I still joke with Valentina that she's not allowed to hang out there though, no matter how nice the owners are. I dread the idea of some future her lurking around in front of any shop, smoking cigarettes and drinking half-liter cans of Coke. Thankfully it's not an image that sounds at all enticing to her, either!

I actually initially tok this shot because I thought it was kind of cool that the bakery had left seven boxes of buns and some other vendor a box of something else there on the doorstep on a Saturday morning, and that it was all still intact and undisturbed. I'm t hinking if we had more homeless, poor and starving here those boxes would have disappeared long before I walked by at 9 am.

Happy

Here's a happy Valentina and Marsibil at a fall meeting of the girls who went to the YWCA summer camp Vindáshlíð. I've always thought it unfortunate that the acronym for the Young Women's Christian Society here in Iceland is KFUK (if you can give me the full name I'll give you a gold star!) There used to be an office for the society downtown on Austurstræti when I was a kid visiting my amma, and I was always a little shocked because I wasn't sure if the people who worked there knew what the name looked like to an English speaker. To this day it doesn't sit right with me, though the society itself is a wonderful thing and my daughter certainly enjoyed her stay at their camp this summer.