Iceland:Impressions, Insights, Incredible. Reyjkavik-Part 1

It's about as hard to believe that I'm back home as it is to imagine I ever went. And yet, it was a month ago, when we first landed on a very different island. It wasn't warm like a tropical vacation. It didn't have lovely turquoise waters, familiar music, or a well known culture and language. Words and names were difficult to pronounce and the landscape was dark, cold, volcanic, and treeless. It's a mysterious place which has become a bucket list add on for many tourists. It was spectacular in its own way. Iceland is indeed an experience.

So where does one start? There's a sculpture of a wing, slowly emerging from a giant metallic egg at the Keflavik airport. I related to the feeling in that sculpture, as I left the shell that was our aircraft and descended the metallic steps, emerging into this most mysterious and eerie of lands.

As we drove and neared the more populace area where we would be staying, I marvelled at how a place, an entire country, with a population of just over 300,000 could accomplish so much. Nothing appeared to be lacking. Houses were being constructed or repaired. Architecture was modern. City streets were in good shape. Bus routes were efficient and regular. There was art, culture, and technology.

We learned a lot in the four days of our visit. Icelanders get all their electricity and heat from renewable sources. For example, our host was sure to inform us that the reason the hot water smelled like sulphur was because they get it from the ground...hot springs. Similarly, geothermal water is used to heat houses in the winter. Produce is grown locally and many people have their own mini greenhouses. They even grow bananas!

Along with the good, comes the bad. Things are expensive. Icelandic kronas are often spent in units of hundreds or thousands and the country is deeply in debt.

ISK samples. I took along $700 or 63,000 ISK...we spent 100,000 ISK

As I always do, I photographed our Airbnb house, the closest intersection, and an obvious landmark. I learned some time ago that this is advisable and helpful in order to find one's return route in strange areas. Here were our surroundings in Kopavogur (remember no "a" or surrounding letters, so Koap-o-gur ) on the outskirts of Reykjavik.

view from our Airbnb balcony

near our bus stop

Kopavogskirkja...recognizable landmark

We boarded a bus near our host's home and transferred one time to get to the "big city" which houses one third of Iceland's total population. It cost 420 ISK (almost $5.00) per person. Of course, I photographed the bus numbers (another way to compensate for diminishing brain cells). I also noted how vivid things were...the buses, the art, the fashion, the flowers.

             




There were many delicacies available at the restaurants and Icelandic food was generally delicious. Restaurants were, like everything else, expensive. We discovered that lunch meals are better value and we found a wonderful little place with soup and sandwich bargains. Bakeries were also great. We were also told about the famous "Tom's Hot Dogs", real name Baejarins Betzu Pylsur where the likes of Justin Bieber, Bill Clinton, Charlie Sheen, and now, hubby and I have eaten for 350 ISK per hot dog. It turned out not to be a restaurant as we had thought,  but rather a food truck. It wasn't easy to find, since it seems that nobody can give directions or descriptions in Iceland (more on that later).

Say What?

My daughter rarely complains about food. She's a fish eating vegetarian, a pescetarian. When all else fails, she eats dessert, all kinds of dessert. Recently, I've been receiving text messages in which she has been describing her Curacao food experiences.

Her messages look much like this. "All the food here is disgusting." or "It's impossible to be fat here."

Since I found the food to be quite acceptable while I was visiting, I wondered what the problem was. She did recount a trip to Burger King for a veggie burger. She said it was passable, but she wouldn't go out of her way to get it. The best part of eating there was seeing goats walking around outside. There was also a Japanese restaurant with outstanding sushi in the Rif Fort area. The problem is, that fine dining is not in her student budget and this was a bit of a splurge.

I asked whether she'd shopped at the floating market. Venezuelan boats arrive daily with fresh fruit, vegetables and fish. She hadn't. She had only been to the "real" supermarket where she located some veggie meatballs and some burritos. Oh, and her salads consisted of a lot of spinach. Spinach was easier to find than lettuce.

Today, I received information from her about the water. Interesting. She's been drinking a lot of tap water since it's safe to drink and in her words, "sooooo good". It is distilled from the sea. When she bought bottled water, it too was "gross".

For all my rants about technology, I have to admit, it has its uses, many uses. For one thing, it's been nice to communicate from so far away by texting and the occasional email.

Tonight, a message arrived on my cell phone. Since I am not of an age where this phone is one of my appendages, I didn't see it immediately in order to come to the rescue. Judging from this, the salads too are starting to get tiresome.

Here's the message. I'm still laughing.

"My internet is broken, how do I cook spinach?"

Germany for Tourists...water and other libations

Whenever I used to request water in a restaurant in North America, my dad would say, "Not me, water is for washing." It seemed odd and I ignored it. I often asked why he would say such a thing. His answer was simple and always the same, "because it is." It wasn't until I first went to Europe, a place he left when he was twenty, that I made the connection.

Ordering water in a restaurant in Germany is a bit different than here. You get a glass or bottle of  "sprudel" which is comparable to Perrier, seltzer or sparkling water and is available in regular or medium. I'm unclear as to the difference as the bubbles seem to be the same. Perhaps, the sodium content (natrium) is different. It is often listed as "mineralwasser" on the menu. Some restaurants, but not all have "still" water which also comes in a bottle. Tap water, although safe to drink is not commonly consumed. After all, "water is for washing".

When shopping in a grocery store, "still" water usually has a pale blue cap. It's important to read the label and actually see the word "still" if this is what is desired. Otherwise, if it says "Kohlensäure" it will contain carbonic acid. As you can see, it's inexpensive. There is a bottle deposit.

 

Soft drinks tend to be costlier. Surprise of surprises however, wine, beer and other forms of liquor are extremely inexpensive. In fact, people often drink "sekt", a form of bubbly wine to which we often give the name, champagne. Cappuccinos, lattes and coffee are also commonly consumed and readily available.

Here's an example of a restaurant drink menu. Schorle is usually a thinned down or spritzer version of a drink. For example Apfelschorle is a popular form of apple drink.

 

So on my last trip, I learned not to request "Wasser" lest I receive a bubbly, effervescent liquid. Instead, when not in the mood for beer or cappuccino, I asked for "Stilles Wasser bitte". Hopefully, nobody thought I was planning on washing with it.