A-58 - Iceland

I think a provisional USMC brigade relieved the British in early 1941. Later the US Army took over and landed several large engineer units. They commenced to making bridges, barracks, roads and the big airport near Reykjavik to stay busy. The locals provided lots of cheap labor to help out. Actually the local government insisted on the US hiring locals to work and pay them good wages. Uncle Sam shrugged and said okie dokie and then put a lot of locals to work, sort of like the CCC in the 30s. Maybe that’s another reason they liked us more than the Brits too. Who knows.

It was a great trip over there and the group I traveled with all thoroughly enjoyed it. We were there 30 Aug to 10 Sept. We usually take motorbike trips, and this Iceland trip was supposed to be a grand motorbike ride. When we learned that it would be about $300 a day more each to rent scoots we collectively scrubbed that part of the mission. We’re all glad that we did because Iceland, even in the dead of summer is not conducive for two wheelers. The wind blows hard constantly, it drizzles regularly and there are many stretches of gravel roads. We only passed only two motorbikes while we were there and both them sported German license plates. Like “oh sure, y’all road all the way over here from the Fatherland, right.” We stopped and looked at at least 100 waterfalls I sh1t you not. After a couple of days I was like “oh boy, another waterfall, by all means let’s stop.” It was good to get out of the car and stretch the legs a bit. Non of them were right near the road of course. They all required a good hike and some of the hikes required rest stops along the way. I felt sorry for the older folks who got off the tour busses. Many turned around and got back on the bus. No worries, there’s always another waterfall just down the road…. Several of them were very impressive, and one was the most powerful in Europe. Maybe the biggest too, but I’m not really sure about that.

From what I’ve read over there is that the Icelanders were not very fond of the Brits at all and tolerated the Yanks much more. One of the things the Yanks imposed on them that they fell in love with was the condiment mustard. It seems that the hotdog is really loved over there, and I must say that they are superior to what we’ve been slinging on the grills here. It’s a mixture of beef and lamb and mostly lamb since there are more sheepses over there than people and horses and cows and pigs combined. I sampled a few that were wrapped in bacon and I’m here to tell you that they don’t get any better! Back to the mustard thing. Before the Yanks arrived, they put a variety of icky things on their tube steaks, the most popular condiment was some sort of bland yogurt. Ewwww. When the GIs hit town they said fonk that noise and slathered the mustard on it. They gave some to the Icelanders and they never looked back. We ate at the oldest hotdog stand in Reykjavik one day. It’s has been in operation in the same spot since some time in the 1930s. It was packed and there were about 80 people in line ahead of us when we strolled up. The line moved quickly and it was well worth the wait. What helped the line move was that most of those Euro types only ordered one dog and a Coke each. I ordered two dogs and a Coke. They weren’t wrapped in bacon, much to my chagrin. They don’t have a concept of super-sizing either. So you got a 12 oz cup of coke with no ice and that was it. No potato chips, no fries, no nothing. And they call fries chips like the Brits do but they recognize the American accent and know what we’re talking about. I also sampled fish and chips for the first time there too. Pretty danged good if I must say. We had a Englander traveling with us and he compared them favorably with the best he had in Britain too.

Another thing that GIs introduced them to was Coca Cola. Icelanders consume more Cokes per capita than anywhere in the world. Well maybe so, but that’s what some drunken Viking told me at one of the bars we stumbled into one evening after a long stretch of incredibly rural driving. Their zeal for Coke is like the way the Hawaiians and Guamanians go apeshit crazy over Spam. Anyway, to Icelanders it’s no Pepsi, just Coke. No Diet Coke, no Coke Zero, no flavored Cokes, no Dr. Pepper, no Roor Beer, no 7up, just Coke. Lots of Coke.

They also seldom use cash. All transactions are with credit cards or check cards. It was not until day nine that I finally saw some of their currency. Of course it was in a bar in Reykjavik, and I just had to ask the bartender to see what it looked like. He showed me a pile of bills and coins and I asked it I could trade him some green backs for them. He said sure, that’ll be $12.42. Dang, I thought that it was a lot of money, but their krona (their equivalent to our dollar) is weak and takes about 55 of them to make a dollar. I gave him a ten and a five and told him to keep the change. The visit to that bar was also the first time that I saw any ice in a glass the whole trip. I mean this is Iceland people, where’s the ice at! Everything was served either chilled or at room temperature. Ewwww.

I also read that one of reasons that their currency is weak is because of all the electronic exchanges they make. I use my check card most of the time but I always carry $40-50 bucks cash on me at all times. It my personal fight against the cashless society thing.

I must say that Viking beer is most excellent. Their home brewed spirits, not so good. Wine is all imported since no grapes will grow there. They really love their draft beer and I'm right there with them on that. Potent too, not like the weak a$$ stuff we get around here. Maybe four of them and I’m done. They use big glasses too, so maybe that has something to do with it.

They eat a lot of seafood and lamb there. LOTS of it. So being from Louisiana I figured they’re food would be incredibly blasé but noooooooo. It was prepared very well I must say. I really didn’t care for the mussels they had. They were so-so, but I figure ersters have to be imported and would probably cost about $10 apiece. I’ll wait until I get home to get some. That’s the first time I ever ate any cod too. Man that stuff is some of the finest fish I ever shoved down the pie hole! I rushed all over town looking for some when I got home and found that the only place that sells it was Costco, and they don’t always have it. So I bought a good supply to stick in the freezer. It’s that good people! I Never saw a steak on any menu either. Well we didn’t go to any posh places, just the Mom & Pop places really so maybe that’s why. I didn’t see any yard bird on the island at all. Maybe they keep them hidden because they serve eggs for breakfast in some places. There’s also no McDonald’s or Popeyes there either.

Everybody is real skinny there, sort of like you see in the pictures of folks here in the US back in the 70s or before. With all the Cokes they drink you’d never think it. The NFL will never send any recruiters to Iceland, nor will Playboy ever publish a “girls of Iceland” issue. Nope, won’t happen. Sure there were few cutie Viking girls here and there but if you saw a stunning woman she was probably a tourist of Spanish, Italian or French origin. At least everyone spoke fluent English there. American English, not English with an English accent English. They start teaching them English in preschool. Only the severely elderly, like in their 80s or older only speak whatever they speak over there. It’s some sort of olden distant ancient version of Norwegian I think. I figured that they’d speak some strain of Danish since Denmark owned them for like forever. Maybe that’s why Denmark didn’t make too much of a stink when Iceland declared independence in 1940 after the Germans came to town.

Before going there some of my friends that vacationed there before told me that tipping is not needed and actually frowned upon. The first night there we went to local eatery in a town that had 27 letters and 19 consonants in its name. Nice place. Had some sort of fish called Arctic char. Never had one of them before. It was broiled with some potatoes and a carrot on the side-extremely tasty I might add. After a good dinner and about 4 Viking beerses we were heading out. There was no place on the bill for a tip, so I went up the the bar to show my appreciation. The barmaid nicely said that tipping is a city in China and not necessary around here but I insisted. She then pulled up a huge open jar (like the size that you’d see on the counter at a convenience store full of pickled pigs feet) and placed it on the bar for me to contribute to. It was mostly stuffed with greenbacks and Canadian bills and a few exotic looking bills I’ve never seen before. She said that they got tired of arguing with drunken Americans and Canadians over tips so they relented. They take in a lot of cash like that.

That’s about all for now. I’ll add to the story as I remember things later on.

 

The description of the Icelandic adventure continues….

Another thing about Iceland is their relative lack of forested areas. There’s a lot of scrub brush mostly, and a few small stands of trees here and there but nothing like we have here. I’ve read that the place was covered in trees when the Vikings first landed there. But after centuries of heavy logging for the building of bridges, structures and ships without planting anything to replace what was cut down turned the place into what it is now.

When we first arrived, I thought that it would be a desolate winter wonderland like Lapland, Siberia, northern Alaska, Canada and Greenland. But the weather was downright acceptable actually since the warmer waters from the Gulf Stream flows directly to Iceland, then passes it on both sides which makes the place the most hospitable place on the planet that sits just below the Arctic Circle. The summers there can best be described as the winter in Baton Rouge and the dead of winter there is maybe 15-20 degrees colder than the middle of summer. No natives to the island has a suntan at all.

I’ve found that Icelanders are incredibly liberal. In every town there are many more rainbow gay pride flags flying than national flags. Even in the small towns, not just in Reykjavik. I mean that they had the national flag flying on the governmental buildings and the police and fire stations but that’s about it. I saw maybe two houses the whole time there that sported the national flag. Shameful. There were more than a few stairways leading up to buildings that were decked out in the rainbow flag colors and in Reykjavik there is a street that is pedestrian only that is painted in the rainbow flag colors for about 5-6 blocks at least. Also I saw many pro BLM and antifa graffiti painted on walls as well. I must say that their graffiti is much more artistic and nicer looking than what our local street artistes churn out here in the states. Also it seems that there is a strong aversion in the younger crowd that opposes tourism. I saw several slogans painted on walls and fences stating “evict tourists, embrace immigrants.” I find that a bit strange because tourism is the #1 source of income for the entire country. Maybe Israel could ship them a couple of boatloads of gazans, or we can send them some of our illegal immigrants or divert some Somalis up there and see how quickly their economy and society would last.

Iceland has no military to speak of either. They do have a smart looking national police force. I saw two of them when we got to the airport and one when we left. I gave them some Louisiana State Police challenge coins. They seemed to be very appreciate but had none to give me in return. They have a coast guard also. Didn’t see any of their vessels although we hugged the coast around much of the trip around the island. We travelled counterclockwise around the place. Iceland is a member of NATO, and the US and NATO guarantees their freedom. The US removed their USAF base about 15 years or so I think, but I’ve read that we are going to ove back in and build another airfield there, or maybe we’ll enlarge the runways at the big Reykjavik airport instead. Who knows.

 

@Otto , Bobby's Iceland card hasn't been added to the fps map yet.