Red Rock

Some scenery from the wilds of outer Reykjavik. There's no snow on the ground anymore, but the pretty rises of Rauðholar are just as red as they were 4600 years ago when lava poured over this plain, gathering iron ore along the way that oxidized beautifully, if I may say so.

To read a little more about this location, go here. Or you can read this Planetary Science Research Discoveriespage about similarities between the rootless cones of Rauðholar and those of Mars. Fascinating stuff.

By the way, go to London Calling to read Luis's great synopsis of Iceland and its people. He's pretty much summed it all up in one well-written blog post.

Pump

A pump or a dial, I don't know. But this beautiful object glistened and steamed in the May sunshine on the rise behind the town of Hveragerði today. It's obviously connected to the thermal hot spots that puff and bubble in this region, though what actual purpose it serves is beyond me.

I imagined a town Pump Man, a brawny hunk of muscle, coming out every day to turn the iron wheel clockwise, opening the geothermal taps for business. And geothermal energy is well utilized in Hveragerði where hothouses grow our cucumbers, tomatos and roses all year round and the swimming pool steam bath smells of sulpher straight from the source. At some designated time of night, Pump Man would then walk with certainty back to the wheel and close the valves, containing again the intensity of heat and power that throbs eternally just beneath our island's crust.

Double-header

Spooky, eh? The first time Valentina and I saw this critter, or one jsut like him (her?) was at the Skógar Folk Museum in south Iceland. We were told by a kind old gentleman who worked there that he's seen plenty of kids burst into tears when they grasped what was going on with this lamb. Others, like my girl, just showed intense curiosity and a bit of wonder at the weirdness of the world.

This lambkins is displayed in the window of a nice new wool store (don't know the name!) on Hafnarstræti, just next door to the Dubliners pub, downtown Reykjavik, for all to see and marvel at.

While cruising and perusing the web I found a great and very up-to-date listing of Reykjavik stores on the Reykjavik.com website. The English language monthly Grapevine also has a good listing of shops here, and is well worth reading overall to get a good feel for what's really going on here in the political and cultural scene. Check it out.

May Day

Happy May Day to all, whatever it may mean to you in your culture. Here in Iceland it's traditionally the day for workers to unite and show their solidarity with each other, much the same as in many other Western countries. I'll let Wikipedia do the honors of describing in more detail the history and meaning of this day, while I'll humbly offer up a snapshot of life in the town square today where the May Day parade culminated. A picture speaks a thousand words...

Café

A charming outdoor café scene from the Segafredo cafe at Lækjartorg, central Reykjavik (just across from the burn site.)

Here's a recent email from a reader asking for info on a very important topic: food.

Hi, Maria I actually stumbled across your website while looking up information about Iceland for my up-coming trip there. I'm going to Iceland in June with two of my close friends and we're staying at a guesthouse. I was told that the prices in Iceland are high, particularly on foods and beverages. None of us want to spend 50 dollars on every meal, so what would you suggest we do? I was told to go to the grocery store, are the prices there reasonable? Also do you know of any decent restaurants or sandwich shops/coffee shops that won't charge us an arm and a leg for everything? Any information you could give me would be really appreciated. Thanks soooo much! :)

Stacie

And here's my reply:

Hi Stacie and thanks for writing.

I'd say your best bet is going to be to shop at Bonus, which is a low(er) price supermarket chain here in Iceland. Conveniently, there's one located on Laugavegur, the main shopping street in midtown Reykjavik (find the number 12 on this map then look to the right of it; you'll see a little movie camera that looks like a clover...that's where Bonus is.) Bonus definitely has the best prices in town, so do some shopping there for your basic food needs. You should also buy good bread at one of the bakeries sprinkled about town...fresh bread is always worth it (but buy your toppings, etc at Bonus!)

If you eat meat, you should bust out for a hot dog as often as you can...they're made with good quality lamb meat and only cost 150 kronur on average. Oh, and while you're at Bonus, try out the Skyr.is drink...skyr is like yogurt but it's not...it's also super high in protein and non-fat. Good energy food!

As I've written in my blog, don't bother with eating beef here...the cattle are a little Too Hearty to make for a good meal. Unless of course you find Vitabar and get yourself a bleu cheese burger with fries...a great deal and a good burger. The kebab place just burned up, so you can't get a falafel anymore (not any I'd recommend at least, though I haven't tried any other places) but you should try Icelandic Fish & Chips which is all organic and super tasty too...it's located just to the left of the 7 on this map. There's also a really good Thai place, KruaThai, pretty much at the same location.

My biggest piece of advice is to stop converting from krona to dollars while you're here. It's hard to do, but the krona is so strong now that you'll just freak yourself out if you try to constantly figure out how much this or that costs in bucks. Do this: treat 100 krona like a dollar, 1000 krona like ten dollars and 5000 krona like fifty dollars. Even though at the current exchange rate 5000 krona is more like $85, in general what you get for your money here is of good quality. It's like shopping at Whole Foods instead of Discount Barn, or whatever (though cut the fruit and veg some slack...we're on an island in the arctic, remember!). You can easily feed yourself for 1000kr/day if you have to, but give yourself the freedom to sit down at a restaurant and have a good dish and drink for 2-3000 krona every once in a while. And you don't need to tip. The servers get paid just fine, hourly (1000-1500 kr/hour). And there's no tax added on, so the price you see is what you pay.

Mekkin and Friend

My beautiful niece Mekkin is 14 today. Happy Birthday, Baby!

My sister took Mexsie to Sea World in San Diego the other day to swim with dolphins (it sounds so romantic that I had to italicize). Super cool birthday present, right? She took this very happy photo of Mekkin and her new buddy, whose name I unfortunately don't know, but will try to find out.

I have to admit that while I'm captivated by how much fun they seem to be having, I'm drooling over the sunlight that's bathing this shot in it's warm glow. The thermometer is slowly rising here and cute fuzzy little buds can be seen on the bare birch trees, but the sun isn't shining. Or as my Amma always says, "it is shining, we just can't see it for the clouds."

Enough about the weather, though. I should be writing about important things like politics and the upcoming election, carbon-neutrality and melting glaciers. Instead, I'm going to direct you to Vanity Fair's Green Issue with Leo and Knut on the cover. Leonardo was photograhed here in Iceland, at Jökulsárlón, while Knut was snapped at home in Berlin. Our friend Gunni worked on the shoot and said,"This is going to sound weird coming from me [he's very much a man's man] but Leonardo DiCaprio is gorgeous in person!" So now you know...

Burn

Reykjavik burned the other night. Or at least a part of it did. Anyone whose ever been to this city has walked, or at least driven, past the site of the recent conflagration: the corner of Lækjargata and Austurstræti, or just between the red 3 and the red 10 on this map.

This is the back view of the green timber Cafe Opera/Kebabhús building that sits facing Lækjargata. It was basically gutted, but it looks like the support structure is still intact, which is more than can be said for the white Pravda building that faces Austurstræti. It was totally demolished from the roof down, except for the exterior walls.

It turns out a little belatedly that the Pravda building is one of the oldest in Reykajvik (though only 200 years old) and has a deep history in the city's development. I say belatedly because it's housed one skanky bar/club after another for the past, at least, twenty years. Not many people knew that underneath the beer-stained hardwood and past the deeply saturated smell of cigarettes that a historical gem resided. At least I didn't know.

Everyone's determined to rectify that cultural mistake now, though, by rebuilding it and doing something proper with this slice of city history the next time around.