I Love Iceland

Maybe it's because in a past life, I was a marauding Viking, stealing lovely Celtic lasses from Ireland to bring to my new home with Leif Erikson and the guys, or maybe because I was a Bjork fan even before the "Swan Dress".

                                                                 Because I love Iceland.

I mean even the name is cool. Why do I find it so intriguing and magical?

It's got "Geyser", which means...you guessed it, geyser. I'm assuming this is the original one.

It's also got waterfalls to rival Niagara.

You can walk right up to the edge of Gullfoss and contemplate either the immense power of fast running  water or suicide. Sigridur Tomasdottir, who I call the first green peace protester of Iceland, did just that near the turn of the century and managed to stave off energy developers who were trying not to look bad by causing a young girl to fling herself to her death under the immense power of fast running water.

Then there's the interesting architecture and Art and Music scenes. Here's a church that looks like a  Buck Rogers space ship made out of buttercream frosting. 

They start partying in Reykjavik at about eleven PM and go through the night dancing, drinking and looking for elves, as the drinking continues into the wee hours of the morning. This is probably because beer was banned in Iceland until 1989 and they're trying to make up for centuries of being sober on the weekends.

Yes, I've been there and would jump at the chance to go back. I didn't get to see the Northern Lights, (Bucket List territory), or the Puffins. And the rotten shark dish the Icelanders hold so dear, and who wouldn't, was unavailable that week to the great relief of my digestive system.

But any country that has the most egalitarian government in the world, with a female President whose cabinet is fifty percent women and a new Constitution being drafted by an assembly made up of about thirty delegates from a pool of ordinary people from truck drivers to computer geeks has my vote.

So here's to Iceland - volcanoes, glaciers, people who sound like Latka from "Taxi", a restaurant that looks like a giant, overturned glass colander atop 4 humongous water towers and all!

 So save some hakari (that'd be the shark) for me and make sure the Northern Lights are turned on. I'll be back someday soon.