Amy Amberg

Iceland! It's a milestone of sorts- 2 months of travel now and no desire to stop.

At the start of its summer, Iceland is as cold as a chilly winter's day in Brisbane. Think: winter coats, beanies, mittens. We arrived at 3am (almost sunrise here), after almost 24-hours of travel from San Sebastián via Madrid.

Love it! Although I realise I fall quickly in love with most countries.... except China. Probably a bit premature as we have only been here 2 days, but I've already been googling locum jobs for Buz and I.

We are eating up Norse mythology and Icelandic history (fascinating). It's such a charming place- colourful box houses, colourful locals, a country with a strong sense of self. It's ridiculously expensive - due in part to their huge financial crisis (which I don't fully understand), but I guess they have fallen on hard times, and tourism is one way of clawing up.

Some fun facts learned on our walking city tour today:

Real Vikings never had horns on their helmets. That was likely a historical embellishment from religious figures who likened them to the devil. Which is fair enough as Vikings were actually convicts expelled from Norway who killed / stole from the Irish monks here, as well as enslaving the Irish / Scottish men and taking their ladies. So depending on your p.o.v. they were explorers and settlers, or criminals. Both, actually.

Iceland was ruled by Denmark until 1944, when they were sneakily able to declare independence because Denmark was busy being under Nazi rule. Denmark wasn't pleased.

If your baby is an Icelandic citizen, you must give it an Icelandic first and middle name from the official approved Icelandic name registry. And there is no family name. You're known as 'father's name'son or 'father's name'dottir. I would be Amy Anthonysdottir.

Their black licorice is so yummy (like all the Nordic countries).

Their tap water is the cleanest in the world, even if it smells a bit like rotten eggs.

They don't use pesticides here. It's illegal. Essentially Iceland is organic (except for what is imported).

Electricity is cheap as there's so much geothermal power harnessed.

There are 2 murders per year, on average. (90% domestic violence). Iceland has one jail ('the little rock') with 64 spots. If it's full, you just wait until it's free to do your time. But if you don't reoffend in a year, then you don't have to go. Unless it's a serious offence, then they kick out someone in jail so you can go in.

There's no army. Only 3 helicopters in fact, most of which are used to rescue tourists from glaciers anyway. The police don't carry weapons.

They have been voted the safest country over 5 years in a row.

They are leading the way in gender equality- with mandatory equal pay for men and women.

And lot's more!

Tomorrow we hit the hot pots (geothermal pools) and on Saturday there's a big flea market. We pick up the car on Sunday to play tourist up and down the West Coast!

SATURDAY NIGHT:
At 10:38pm it’s still bright outside. Buz and I are taking turns reading The Hobbit (Buz) and snippets from the Iceland Sagas (me) to the boys at night before bed. Tonight is my night off, so I’m listening to Buz reading the Hobbit and lots of laughing. I woke up at 4am last night, but it was bright as day.

Iceland is taking a piece of my heart. It might be the embarrassingly cringe-worthy but fascinating street dance competition, complete with hand painted poster that said ‘Dance Competition’ and young adults dressed up in their brightest 80’s aerobic gear doing their best co-ordinated group dance moves with oodles of gusto! Jesse said: ‘Its like they are all Napoleon Dynamite.’ I think Buz was secretly worried that I wanted to perhaps befriend them and join one of their groups (I did want that). We are still not sure if it was a serious dance comp, or just a bunch of kids taking the piss. I like to think they were serious.

We went to the local ‘hot pot!’ That was FABULOUS! A prerequisite: you have to get over yourself enough to shower naked (gender-specific locker rooms) in front of everybody before you enter the pool. They are strict about that. The Icelanders walk around without a care (or piece of clothing) in the world. I tried to dissociate. Anyway, we all survived the prudish trauma and it was super worth it! The pools are ordered in various degrees of hot, fricking hot, and oh-my-god-I-can’t-stand-it hot. Then, once your face is lobster-red, you plunge yourself into the shallow icy-cold ‘pot.’ One of the locals showed us how to do it. You just take a deep breath, exhale, and count to 10. I made it to 3. Zach got his feet in. Jesse kneeled. Ever competitive, Buz got to 30 (counting as fast as he could) and tried not to cry when he got out. (Just kidding if you happen to read this, Buz. You were so manly). Not to be outdone, I made it to 10 the next time. Boys also played in a fun pool with a basketball hoop.

We have also seen the Viking Longhouse exhibition and visited a photography exhibit of early 20th century Iceland that was really fun to see (& held in the oldest house in Reykjavík). We had fish soup on the Old Wharf, took the lift up Hallgrimskirkja tower for the gorgeous views, and browsed the local handicraft shops. The boys are fascinated by a Norse Mythology shop and want to visit it daily.

Tomorrow we get a car, with more adventures planned as our circle of tourism widens.Read more