Prior to traveling to Iceland I heard from numerous people about what a beautiful country it is. I also heard that the people are very nice. All our experiences have confirmed those statements. Of course it is hard to judge a population in general when you are mostly in contact with people working in the tourism industry because, of course, those people are going to be kind, courteous and helpful.
While waiting to board our flight back to the USA I would like to share some of my observations of this country. Beautiful doesn’t begin to describe it. The Northern Lights, glaciers, waterfalls, geysers, mountains, oceanfronts, fjords, lakes etc., etc., etc. The views are spectacular. Someone once told me, “Greenland is ice and Iceland is green”. At this point I can identify the latter as definitely being true.
Due to the fact that the vast majority of the energy being produced is by renewable thermal power (those volcanos are powerful) the air is pristine. Not like in LA where we can see what we breathe, here the air is without pollution.
Water here is also very clean. We have been told (and I have no reason to doubt it) you can drink straight out of the the streams (of which there are many). In the USA you can’t even do that at Yosemite National Park which is the closest thing to nirvana you can find in California.
If you are thinking about moving to Iceland let me tell you a few things before you start packing your bags. If you come from California, do not pack anything but your ski clothes. This place is cold. No, let me rephrase that. THIS PLACE IS COLD! Be prepared to wear a heavy coat, thermal underwear, wool hat, scarf and gloves. And that is in the summer. Notice the clothes this store exhibits in their “Waiting for Summer Since 1926” display,
Iceland is slightly smaller than the state of Kentucky (39,768 sq miles versus 40,409 sq miles) yet the population is only about 340,000 (there are about 4.4 million Kentuckians). About 2/3 of the population live in the Greater Reykjavik area (Reykjavik and the six municipalities around it). So if you take a drive out of this town you are alone.
But with smallness you do get charm. Reykjavik does have charm. For example how do you like these traffic lights?
You need to look carefully but you will find little figures on signs around town. See below the super hero and troll standing guard on the visitors.
A cultural curiosity is that Icelanders do not expect tips. Clearly they accept and are very grateful for tips, but tipping is not part of their culture. One thing I liked was that at every restaurant a large bottle of water is set out for your use. I am a big water drinker and hate to search for a server when I need a refill. That is not necessary here. See below.
The only thing I found distasteful about this country (not including the weather which I just write off as a personal weakness) was the graffiti. I was very surprised to see the extent of it in Reykjavik. No one could give us a good explanation or tell us of a city plan to rid the walls of this unpleasant “artwork”. See below, needless to say, we saw a lot more than just this small sample.
Are you ready to move? Then all you really need to learn to say is “ég tala ekki íslensku” which means, “I don’t speak Icelandic”. Actually all you really need to say is I don’t speak Icelandic because everyone here speaks English and many of them speak it a lot better than many Americans.
We land soon in Chicago. This tour is called Broadway Lights and Northern Lights but actually the reason for it was just an excuse to route through Chicago on the way home. More about that tomorrow.
Robert Reiss Travel Blog and Other Ramblings 