Iceland, Last Thoughts


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July 9th 2018
Published: July 10th 2018
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We are home after a great trip. The final two days we based out of Reykjavik and were joined by Michael's friend Sam, from England.



On Friday Sam and Michael headed for what is known as 'steam valley' and found the river near the town of Hveragerdi that is full of hot pools to soak in. One of the great things about this trip was Michael's ability to search for little known hot tubs, including one that even our host, Thor, had never heard of. While the boys soaked Thor and I went to Lake Tingvallavatn, the largest lake in the country to try our hand at fishing. We were chasing Artic Char, a relative of salmon and trout and while we did not catch any, we had a great time. The tricky part about fishing here is that this is the location where the European and North American tectonic plates are pulling apart....Iceland is actually growing at about one cm. a year. As one wag put it, 'we are gradually taking over the world, sneaking up on you so slowly you will not notice until it is too late!' Anyway, because the earth is growing here it
Fishing Fishing Fishing

My view of Lake Tingvallavatan
creates fissures in the ground, small cracks of 1 to 3 feet that open up to be 20 feet or more deep. These extend into the lake where we were wading, it is important not to fall into one I was told, needlessly. So I spent as much time watching where I was wading as fly-casting for fish.



But along with the crystal clear lake we were enjoying a view of the site of the first Althing, the first representative body in the world, beginning to assembly in the 800s (AD). We could see it, the waterfall that fell near it, and talk about the history here, including the decision in about 1000 AD that it would be a Christian country (pagans could worship in private and still eat horse meat....compromise is the motto of the nation) and the place where independence from Denmark was declared.



That night the guys went out to the Reykjavik Fringe Festival and I had a great meal of baked cod with Thor and Arthora.



On our last full day we took a tour to filming sites for the TV series Game of Thrones. We saw
Where the earth growsWhere the earth growsWhere the earth grows

Where the path to the Bloody Gate was filmed in GOT
where one of the dragons had a drive through meal of flaming goat, where The Hound was left for dead, the walkway to the Bloody Gate, the camp site of the Wildlings as they prepared to attack Castle Black, and the village that was rampaged by the Wildlings leaving only Ollie alive. (Apparently they had to film the Ollie running away scene multiple times because the ground he was running across was, of course, volcanic and full of rough patches and the actor kept falling down.)



We took our leave on Sunday, and some closing observations are in order.



The country is an engineering wonder. The use of geothermal and hydroelectric means that you do not see any smokestacks on any factory or power station. And the entire city of Reykjavik is heated by hot water piped in from a geothermal plant...all the bathroom floors are heated! Oh, and the excess water is piped under the streets and sidewalks in the winter to take care of snow and ice. As long as they were piping in water all through the city they buried all electric and phone lines, everywhere! Even in the smallest villages the lines are nowhere to be seen. The road system is taking a beating with all the tourists and they are working on that. For the most part all the main roads are two lane with no shoulder...terrifying at times.



You may remember that Iceland suffered an economic meltdown, lead by their banks, before ours. But unlike us they let the culprits pay the price. Seems until 1990 all Icelandic banks were publicly held. After privatization it only took the new bankers about 7 years to drain all the assets to line their own pockets and then, due to insider trading, by 2003 or so a collapse began. Rather than bail out the bankers, they just let the banks fail, protecting only individual savings accounts. Then they put the bankers on trial and threw the bums in prison for 5 years! Oh, and they renationalized the banks so there are now two public banks and one private. Guess what, the economy is booming with full employment, a strong currency (it has doubled in value against the dollar which is why it is so expensive for tourists), and buildings going up everywhere. Hmmmm.....



Of course I have to mention again that the favorite snack is a hot dog....but I think I forgot to tell you that they are made from lamb. Delicious, make sure you get the grilled onions and mustard.



We had a great time thanks to the generosity of our hosts and the warm welcome from all the people. And, as always, it is great to be back home.


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