20051121.0615

20051121.0615

Little bit of snow last night. Went to bed with the streets finally dry. Now there is just a little more than a powdering. Windy out, don’t know the temp.

Did a lot with Bjarni and Thorbjorg yesterday. They had us over for dinner, salmon and potatoes. There was a vegetable salad which was a little like a slaw. The salmon was the best I ever had. Fish here are different than back home. Edible, enjoyable even.

Bjarni told a story about an American who came in 1912 and stayed in the Hotel Akureyrar in their nicest suite for four years. While he was here he spent lots of money, built several charitable sorts of places, stables for some horses. He wrote books on cooking, dealing with money, health, and horsemanship. He told everybody he wa a wealthy businessmen from Manhattan. After four years, he wanted to get back to the States, but couldn’t catch a direct ship because of the War. So he was on a ship to Norway when he reportedly killed himself and fell overboard. No one saw though. They just heard a gunshot on deck and couldn’t find him. He was overweight and had trouble breathing, so he wasn’t very healthy. Funny thing is no one has ever traced back and found out who this American was. He just stepped off the steamer one day, and then left four years later.

We went to the pool with Andrea and Funn’s family. Do not remember the husband’s or the baby’s name. He is a computer guy taking some courses to teach – maybe at the college level if I understood him correctly. We went to the pool with them so the kids could play. And they did. It wasn’t long before Abby was off with two little Islensk kids splashing and chasing. They are more lenient with their children here, and the children are more independent. At the pool, they run around, throw snowballs, climb all over things, let the 6-year olds run. Saw Giorgio at the pool too, and sat in the sauna with him a little. He is a social philosopher in the dept, but I don’t know his status. He has a little baby at home with his wife. After swimming Andrea walked us up to the convenience store called Samlaup for groceries. Icelanders are pretty standoffish, but we got along with these people immediately.

Earlier in the day Thorbjorg and Bjarni took us walking in the woods near here. I will find the name somewhere. The parking lot was pure ice, a choppy sea frozen solid. Cars driving through the slush and the freezing melting made it into a scary place. The first place we stopped when we got out was a playground. There were kids playing, crusty snow on the ground, different equipment than you might find in the US. There were also hiking/skiing trails. Cross country should be fun there. The trail wound up along a little creek for a while. With all the melt going on, the creek was running pretty quick. The native rock of the mountains lay here and there tumbled together, and exposed. Elsewhere the melting snow exposed some green grass hoping for some anemic winter sun. Where the little gorge was too narrow, there was a walkway of wooden slats built over the creek’s bend.

Bjarni said he sometimes takes little Bjarni biking on the trails in the summer. That would be a great ride. I would love to be here in july with a bike or two. This town’s hills would be a blast on the street single. The roads curve and switch back up and down the hills. The town’s layout is compact and European in the older parts, and sprawling around the outside. This place would be completely within reach on a bike, even though walking is not realistic for the outskirts. For a single bike, maybe a 5x5 trailbike. Just fine for getting around town, if a little slower than a road bike. And the trails around here just must rock. There is a trail just out of town which hikes up one of the low mountains here. I am sure you could go for miles into the backcountry. What a blast. Climbing too, what a great place to start a midlife crisis. You can see 3 peaks right from town. Good starters.


Other points:

The Christmas House
Walking in the woods
Akureyri potatoes
Shoes at the door
Singing valley
Theatres in every little village