Iceland - What I've Learned So Far

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1. Every Icelander we have met has been friendly and helpful.

2. Icelanders are very proud of their country and their heritage. They are very conscious of lineages and seem to know everyone!

3. Almost all Icelanders speak English which is good because their language is very difficult to understand! Between us, Lynn and I have a smattering of Spanish, Italian and German which can get you by in much of Europe with the ability to at least read signs. But, Icelandic is basically Old Norse as it was spoken over a thousand years ago. Even other Scandinavians have trouble with it!

4. And they are very protective of their language and do not allow "foreign" words to integrate. As new words are needed (wifi, cell phone, internet, etc.) there is a committee that assigns or creates an Icelandic word! Gertha remembers when pizza was first introduced to Iceland in 1984. People were happy with that term but it is officially called "flatbacka" literally flat baked!

5. Things are very expensive especially food and drink perhaps twice the cost you would expect in Minnesota. Typical restaurant entrees are $30 to $50 and everything is a la carte. So a salad and main dish with wine will easily set you back $100 per person. Zooming on the attached picture will give you some idea.

6. First impression of architecture is that it is very unadorned and conservative. Lots of gray and dark colors. Turns out there are very strict building codes wh ich anticipate earthquakes and hurricane force winds! Also, Icelanders decided that steel corrugated roofing would work well as siding (to deal with "horizontal rain" as Gertha says!). Part of the reason for the generally gray colors is that all of the concrete includes volcanic gravel. In fact, everywhere you find gravel paths or roads they are black volcanic rock.

7. Iceland has an extremely volatile and dynamic with 30 volcanoes, fumaroles and several hundred earthquakes per year (mostly minor).

8. The northern edge of Iceland just touches the arctic circle so this time of year the sun barely sets which makes it a bit tricky to sleep.

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