Newsflash: Iceland's a little weird

Iceland isn't all rainbows, meadows, and elves...there's a dark underbelly to this picturesque region, and it's mainly due to this:


Opal. A pretty box hiding a poisonous mixture of licorice and menthol molded into the appetizing shape and color of a small hockey puck. Do not let Icelanders fool you. While they put on the "sheep-face, fermented-shark, whale" food facade just for tourists (usually), this candy is for real. Licorice is more or less in every single candy sold in Iceland.


Your candy is not safe (this, of course, is all under the assumption that the rest of the world dislikes licorice as much as I do...).

Also, you may remember that during our "school days," we have breaks every 45 minutes for coffee, tea, and sometimes cake. We did not, however, realize that this shortened attention span applied to movies as well. In the midst of an emotional flashback during Toy Story 3, the movie stopped and lights turned on, providing a 15 minute intermission for an 80 minute movie.

Nonetheless, Toy Story 3 was beautiful and you should absolutely see it.

Well, to be honest with you, those were the only two things I could complain about in Iceland. Everything else is pretty spectacular.

Hverir and Pseudocraters

We also stopped at Hverir, a muddy geothermal spring up near Lake Myvatn. The color of the land was disorienting, and the sulphuric smell was almost unbearable.


Unlike other hot springs, which are mainly water, Hverir is mostly mud. Giant vats of goop would gurgle and bubble as you walked by...it was pretty mesmerizing to watch.


All the colors mixed with the geothermal steam created a very Martian landscape.








Glurp.




We also visited a park in Stakholsjorn, a nature reserve.


The landscape is pocked with "pseudocraters," which formed due to some confusing concoction of steam, lava, and gravity...couldn't quite figure out the details...most of the informational plaques were in Icelandic. I'm sure they were very informative to someone.


It was an amazing park...I don't know that I can really describe it textually, but if you've ever played/seen Flower you will understand.






And just for funsies, here's a gurgling mud pit. Yum.

Dettifoss

Next stop was Dettifoss, the largest waterfall in Europe, by volume. The landscape was bizarre...the water was very muddy due to all of the silt coming off the glacier. The road to Dettifoss is apparently famous for being bad...it was a long drive on a surreal gravel road through lava fields and moss.


The spray from the waterfall is so intense, that the mist hits the other side of the canyon and forms bunches of little tiny waterfalls. The left side of the waterfall is just rocky and barren, but the opposite side of the waterfall is lush with grass because there's constantly mist watering the ground.


The midges were pretty bad here too. Whoops.





Midge attack caught on video.

Ásbyrgi...and a stop along the way

Yesterday we took a [long] day trip to Lake Myvatn ("Midge Lake"...I shouldn't act surprised that there were so many midges...but good god there were SO MANY MIDGES).

Our first stop was at a fjord...with an amazing view. We could technically see the Arctic Circle from here! The water and sky were parallel until the horizon, where they merged together. It looked like we were at the end of the world.





Overheard in Iceland:
British Guy 1: Could you help us with directions?
British Guy 2: Oh I'm no use for directions out here...but if you go left you'll run into nothing, and if you go right you'll run into nothing...so either way you'll reach the same nothing!






There were lots of nature photographers at this overlook...and everyone was excited because there were Puffins!


"Hark! I spot a Puffin out yonder!"


Must...photograph...puffin...


He just chillin on the rocks


Better than photographing puffins...photographing people photographing puffins....SHH, he's found one


Now the photographers gather, having spotted their prey






After the puffin-palooza, we went to Ásbyrgi, which is a horseshoe shaped canyon in the Jökulsárgljúfur National Park. "Nicknamed Sleipnir's footprint, it is said that the canyon was formed when Odin's eight-legged horse, Sleipnir, touched one of its feet to the ground here." (quoteth Wikipedia)


There was an amazing moss-filled lake in the canyon...and I ran into some clouds of midges...and oh my god they were awful




I thought the rocks looked like they were wearing little toupees.

Here are some pictures of our little attic-flat. We have a sunroom to ourselves! Unfortunately we're always running around too much to ever use it...but it sure is comfy!


Here's the entrance to Shannon's room. There's a lot of mosaics around the house, and at our family's gym. They're friends with an artist who works with glass...she's quite talented.


Here's Shannon getting ready to go out! My nook is to left....


Ah, yes, home sweet home.


The weather has been amazing since we've been here. June 17th was the Icelandic Independence Day, so we had class off! Spent most of the day in town where there were flocks of people in Akureyri for the festivities.


Here's the main part of Akureyri. The little green section of the blue building is where the new bar is. The blue building has an ice cream shop, a cafe (with the AMAZING HOT CHOCOLATE), and a concert venue downstairs. Last night an Icelandic reggae band, Hjalmar, played. The venue is really tiny (~200 people), and REALLY dark, so I couldn't get any pictures...but they put on a great performance.


"Downtown" Akureyri is at the bottom of a hill, and we have class at the top of a hill...it's a long and tiring walk


There were performances all day for the Independence celebration! Here's a troop of some xylophone players...they played for like 40 minutes.


And of course, all festivals should have blow-up games...especially ones that are prone to injury


I can't remember this guy's name...but apparently he's the "Icelandic Frank Sinatra." His performance was pretty campy...


Another Icelandic sunset!


And a video of an Icelandic band performing in the town square (...it's more of a circle I suppose)