Yeah, I guess you're not going to Iceland!

heh heh, relax.

Josef K wrote:Yeah, I guess you're not going to Iceland!

heh heh, relax.

I just got back from Iceland on sunday as I spent a week there at the Airwaves festival.

Its dope. i really like the place. Great people...great bands...check out Gavin Portland and Aela. Shit costs alot, but fuck it, you're in Iceland. Go in a 4 seater plane over the glaciers and stuff.

The lamb in the 'airwaves media centre' cafe was the best I've ever eaten- and I'm from NZ.

Icelandair has the shittiest plane food I have ever eaten.
I only got to do an hour layover in Iceland when I went to Europe, so I can only tell you that the airport bar isn't that bad. You can smoke there. In an airport!

i'd like to visit Iceland sometime!

yes to the blue lagoon, yes to a 4x4 trip into the interior. yest to whale watching. yest to Iceland.

When I go back, I want to do a couple other things, maybe do more of an adventure trip than a tourist deal. There are a couple of B&B type hotels in spots inland that are supposed to be amazing. I want to take the plane trip over the glaciers. I want to go deep sea fishing. There is some sort of spelunking/cave exploration deal. I want to camp out in one of those free huts/yurts they have. I want to make freinds with some vikings. I want to se the aurora borialis.

turnbullac wrote:I want to se the aurora borialis.

here you go

My wife and I and a few freinds went to Iceland last year around this time. It was without a doubt one of the most striking and beautiful places I have ever been. We rented a car and went for a day drive. At one point we had to turn around from our original destination because the fog was so thick we couldn't see the road....it was like driving around on Mars...totally surreal.

Iceland is extremely expensive....so be prepared to shell out for just about everything. I bought a pretty simple breakfast for our party of 5 people and the bill came to $100 'merican....don't buy the orange juice.

I was fortunate enough to visit Sigur Ros's studio....that was an experience. Those guys are lucky fuckers. As you may or may not know, it's housed in an old swimming pool building on this semi renovated state run sheep farm about 30 minutes from Reykjavic. It seemed like an amazing place to record records.

We had some interesting food. I had whale(sorry thorr)....it was pretty tasty. Also ate some puffin which solidifies my belief that the cuter the animal the tastier the meat. My wife braved the putrefied shark....I almost vomited from the smell alone. Supposedly this is a local favorite that goes back hundreds of years...someone told me that the old recipe was to dig a hole in the ground, throw in the shark meat, piss on it and bury it for a few months. I wonder who the genius was who decided that was a good idea.

The people ranged from friendly enough, really funny and smart, snobby assholes and drunken idiots....not really all that different from your average American city. There did seem to be a general animosity towards Americans. Almost everyone was fairly good-looking and very stylish....kinda like Williamsburg but everyone is white. In fact we saw more than one racially charged fight. One night we went out to Cirkus....a local hipster spot and one of the girls we were with was dancing(apparently the cool kids do NOT dance in Iceland....which I thought was kinda funny). People were actually laughing and pointing at her and started throwing paper airplanes at us. We just started throwing them back and soon enough we were all laughing and having a paper airplane fight in the tiny bar....when in Rome. Word of warning....the Icelandic locals LOVE to drink. A typical Saturday night is completely insane. The streets of Reykjavic swarm with thousands of extremely wasted people fighting, fucking and drinking in the streets. It's friggin' nuts. Every bar is teeming with people and every bar has a long line. Exhausting is the only word for it.....avoid saturday night if your not into that kinda thing....Thursday was much more managable for us.

The city of Reykjavik seemed to be very supportive of the arts....which there was alot of. Well done graffiti is everywhere(along with some typically shitty street "art" as well) and there are heaps of bands, music and cool art spaces. The city's main museum of modern art has a fantastic performance space in the basement. We happened to see a band one night and despite the unoriginal music the band played, the room sounded great....and it was free....state sponsored I believe.

Anyway....this is getting pretty long winded, Iceland is highly recommended and it was one of the most memorable trips I've been on. We spent 3 days there and it was perfect because I don't think we could have afforded to stay much longer. Buy your tickets and go....you'll enjoy yourself.

As it turns out, it would take me much longer, and it would cost me much more money, to reach Reykjavik than it would for me to reach Tahiti.

Reykjavik vs. Tahiti

IBM presents "You Make The Call".

I'm telling ya. I'm moving into the G.D. woods soon enough.

Building a cabin with a saw and my own damn hands.

G.D. people.

I tell ya.

If you can, try and hit the Blue Lagoon at night time... it is quite nice in the dark with all the steam, etc....

Also, try and get out of the city as much as you can. 20 minutes out of town it looks like you are on the freaking moon. I am sure there are tours out there.... or try and hook up with locals or something for a small guideded tour. There is a lot to see and it is the kind of stuff that is nice to see quietly... not with a lot of people.

It is a beautiful and surreal place.... it has landscapes nothing like the USA. I can't wait to go back.