I don’t know where I’m going… but my hair looks fierce.
August 3rd, 2009Iceland… it is a bit like being on another planet. And when you happen to be someone who often feels as if they are from another planet – that is kind of cool. smile.
It’s a funny combination of the bizarre and the familiar. If you look at the shot above, taken from a random city street down to the seafront, it might remind you of any number of places in the Scandinavian countries, Scotland or maybe even Cape Cod. But then you start to wander around Reykjavik, which is about as big as the East and West Village combined or Islington and Clerkenwell combined, and you start to realize - it is totally unique. 
When I arrived on Wednesday afternoon at the lovely Hotel Holt, it was beautiful. Very sunny and maybe about 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Now the Hotel Holt is old school, if you cannot tell that by the front of it, but they were awfully nice. And they gave me a pass to a great pool and spa that I will tell you about just below. 
After a nap, it was time to go drink and eat of course. Luckily, I had two or three restaurant recommendations upon arrival. Reykjavik is a small city and for anyone who has even the slightest sense of direction - you will be completely fine in a matter of an hour or two. The lay of the land is very simple and I found my first spot - the Seafood Cellar - with no trouble at all. Now this place is the coolest hippest and for those who don’t know, I do live to eat seafood. And drink champagne. And here is where the one issue with Iceland lies: freaking government controlled alcohol. The picture above was taken in the government liquor store. Those are the five champagnes they have in the country: Mumm, Veuve Clicquot, Duval-Leroy, Moet et Chandon and Bollinger. Now, I will drink Duval-Leroy, but magically - everyone in Reykjavik is out of it. Hmm-hmm. The only other one on that shelf that I would ever let touch my lips is Bollinger. God bless their little hearts. And here is the best part: when you go to the government liquor store and you are Icelandic, they ID you. They don’t just ID you to check your age; they ID you to scan your purchases in to their system - BECAUSE they keep track of what you buy/drink. Yeah… think about it.
So after a lovely tasting menu dinner at the Seafood Cellar, it was time to detox and pull it together just a little bit. Hence a trip to the big city pool in the east of the city and the connected gym. The pool is a thermal pool - pictured above - and there is a whole system of showering and getting yourself together to go into the pool. But it is fun. And there are people from age 0 to age 90 in there. The gym itself was a bit of a trip as it is like working out with the super race. Everyone is blond, blue-eyed and muscular - with a few exceptions. Nevertheless, people did consistently address me in Icelandic… 
I spent most of the rest of the day walking around the city and window shopping. Lots of sweaters. It stays light from about 3:30am to midnight or a little past every day, so you do have some sort of ‘extra’ energy. By the time I went to the hotel, showered and got dressed for dinner - it was past nine. You just completely lose track of time because it is sunny all day. Kind of nice. I went for yet more seafood at the place above - Fjalakotturinn. Definitely more low key and more traditional than the first place and god bless their little hearts for real - they had some bloody decent cava. In a world of crap champagne, a good cava is your best hope.
At this place, I actually had a chance to speak with my server at some length as I was one of the only late diners. Not a single Icelandic person was in the restaurant that night besides the staff. So I asked him about it. For those who may not know, the Icelandic krona was at 62 krona to the dollar when my guide book was published in 2008. It is now at 125 krona to the dollar. And the banking/financial system is pretty much a train wreck. Of course all these facts affect people there, but my waiter’s explanation of why there were no Icelanders was a bit more interesting. He basically told me that Icelanders are do it yourselfers and would prefer to stay at home and figure out how to cook something crazy rather than go to a restaurant. Moreover, restaurants are sort of a special occasion thing. He told me that cookbooks are super popular there and when I was in a bookstore the following day, I noticed that there were indeed hundreds of cookbooks. Very interesting…
And the next day involved more walking around, eating of waffles with jam and cream and about fourteen big coffees. For what they lack in alcohol, they make up for in coffee. The buildings above are typical modern apartments in Reykjavik. This building happens to be right on the water and is apparently quite desirable property. Not so attractive though, eh?
While at an exhibit at the Reykjavik Culture House on Icelandic cinema, I learned something interesting that somewhat relates to this architecture and what is considered desirable, etc. In a nutshell, Iceland went from being a country of fisherman and farmers to a more urbanized, industrialized population in a matter of a few decades. Most buildings in Reykjavik were built between about 1910 and 1930. Modern buildings are very much in line with that architecture and somewhat ‘Bauhaus’ according to one bartender.
Socially, you have a number of dynamics that resulted from such a rapid transition and Icelandic cinema has tended to focus on those dynamics of disassociation, identity crisis (individual and collective) and various other social phenomena that arose from such a massive transition, namely rural to urban life.
In addition to that, you have a country where the basic history is that of settlers from the Scandinavian countries - primarily Norway - and not much else. Very isolated in a myriad of ways. But as I was saying to someone the other day - look at the upside: they didn’t have a civil war or slavery. And I think it is this strange combination of the physical impact of the place and its geography along with some unique karma/energy that makes it so appealing - at least to me.
The people are pretty blunt, but they definitely know how to have a good time. And as I was walking home my last night there, which happened to be the Friday night before a long holiday weekend, I heard music coming from people’s windows and saw the sun setting. I could see people having small parties in their backyards, dressed a certain way, and it reminded me completely of the film Heima with Sigur Ros - my inspiration for going there in the first place http://www.heima.co.uk/ - in particular, this song… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhLZP6Cz2dA.
