February 14, 2007
Not Whaling, but Iceland, still...
You know, I have never been to Iceland, although I have seen it from the air. I don't speak Icelandic, nor do I know much about Icelandic food, beyond what I have read about whale meat, rotten Greenland shark, etc. Yet, I remain very fascinated by the place. Volcanoes under glaciers. Bjork. Ancient literary history. Viking ancestry (and no other). This stuff makes me want to go there and check the place out (as I have mentioned before, I also have a strong desire to see Tehran, but that will probably have to wait until the current regime is out).
The question is: when? Americans, particularly Californians, visit Death Valley in the winter and early spring, when temperatures are bearable. Europeans (particularly the Germans) visit in July and August, to get the full impact of the heat. Part of me thinks that the best time to visit Iceland would be in the dead of winter. I have been north of the Arctic Circle (in Norway), during the summer, and it is pretty amazing, but there is part of me that is curious to experience that part of the world in December.
Anyway, it will probably not happen for awhile, but the urge to visit Iceland keeps growing.
Posted by erik at February 14, 2007 9:12 AMThis is likely the greatest similarity between us. A branch of my family moved to Fairbanks, Alaska in the late 1960s. (We drove up and visited when I was 9 years old - phenomenal experience!) Most have stayed up there, although some moved to southern Alaska. One cousin, now deceased, spent quite a while living at Point Barrow. From his tales, I would like to spend some part of a winter in the far north.
Posted by: Gregg the obscure at February 14, 2007 11:48 AM