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| The word Geysir orginated with the Icelandic language |
Looking back, I suppose that it was appropriate that I
follow the Viking trail back from the eastern shores of Canada to Keflavik,
which is Iceland's international airport. Okay, they came by boat, and I went by plane, but why
quibble?
I was in Iceland for one week, from August 29 to September
6, 2011. Most of the time I was
there, it was damp and cool.
Iceland's weather isn't particularly enticing. It's a small, modern country, and it appears that the
Icelanders, unlike Mexicans, look forward rather than into the past. There are few signs of an ancient
cultural, except for minor displays in the museum.
It's an expensive place to visit
and to live.
Since the weather isn't good and
it's expensive, why go?
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| Kerith a volcanic crater lake |
I left Iceland with an intuitive understanding of how the
earth was formed. Iceland is
situated on two tectonic plates, the North American and the Eurasian. The constant shifting of the plates
gives rise to the opening up of the earth. At its core, the earth is molten. By all rights Iceland, situated north of the 60th parallel,
ought to be covered in snow, but it isn't. During the winter, it will see, perhaps, -2 C.
This is because of the thermal heat from the earth's center
creates hot springs, geysers and volcanoes.
I enjoyed watching the Icelandic sheep leaping joyfully
around the meadow.
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| Gulfoss Waterfall |
Reykjavik is a small, well-planned city with plenty of green
spaces, walking and bicycling paths.
The most surprising part of my visit was the shopping
mall. Let me tell you, I hate
shopping, and hate isn't too strong a word. But, the stores in the shopping mall were
amazing. Apparently, Icelandic
people are very particular about the products they buy, and this is, naturally,
reflected in the products being offered.
The land of fire and ice is well worth a week or two visit. I have a lot of photos of Iceland. However, at this point they are without captions.
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