How was it? Amazing and awe-inspiring and difficult to explain all at the same time.
I have been thinking about how to roll out pictures and discussion and think it might be better over the space of a couple of weeks (one thing I have found with my changed writing schedule is I do not have the ability to respond to things on a more timely basis. I may try and merge the two threads of writing ahead/writing a day ahead).
Some first thoughts:
1) Iceland is beautiful. Stunningly, strikingly beautiful - not just the landscape but the way the light and shadows and clouds play on the landscape. Driving to and from somewhere is literally like making two separate trips.
2) Outside of Reykjavik and the intermittent towns (only a population of 330,000 and half of that is in and around Reykjavik), Iceland is a land of silence. Not a great deal of birds or wildlife. Just wind and weather.
3) Iceland (right now, anyway) is a land of tourists - 1.2 million a year pour through it. Literally everywhere has a sign for a guesthouse or hotel. And every one speaks English pretty well - the most Icelandic we heard was when we went to IKEA and Costco.
4) So in a sense I have seen Iceland and experienced parts of the geography, but do not know that I feel any closer to true insights of Iceland.
Some pictures to whet your appetite:
Looks like an absolutely fantastic place to visit. And your thoughts were quite interesting. People so often take vacations to see particular sites (and sights) without giving a thought to the true personality of a place and its people.
ReplyDeleteLeigh, it was stunning. And I think Iceland at some point is going to have a sort of personality crisis. A destination cannot remain a tourist location forever without having it impact the country and it consciousness. A country risks becoming merely a theme park at that point (I am thinking here of the tourist towns I know: they are so completely depending on tourism that they tend to lose their identity as a functional town).
ReplyDeleteWere I to go again, I think I would try to find a way to more readily connect with some Icelanders. I really would like to know a little more.