Everyone writes.their.own sagas now.
Have fun in Iceland. It’s having fu with you.
INSTA-TROLL
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Tag Archives: Reykjavik
Parking in Reykjavik: Not Where but What
Parking a car in Reykjavik is tough…
… because houses and hotels are already parked in the available spots, more hotels every month. Parallel parking skills won’t help. Cross parking is the trick.
Tips for Private Parking in Reykjavik
Don’t even think of breaking the rules.
Parking is not just for cars.
Did you want to park a car? Where? This is an art installation. The cars you see there are just decoys. Don’t be fooled.
You can park a dragon, though, anytime.
But not a car. Not in Reykjavik.
Hiding and Display in Reykjavik
When the art is not particularly good, just frame it with the street.
Reykjavik
And vice versa!
Because in Reykjavik inside is outside and outside is inside.
Iron Age Iceland: An Archaeological Field Trip
Over in Lágkotstangi, iron age ruins are not hard to spot.
Because of recent tree-planting initiatives in the North and East, it is slowly being replaced by a rudimentary Wooden Age.
Because Iceland has been isolated so long, history is coming very quickly now. Even as we speak, both iron and wood are giving way to the Age of Plastic. They’re not going down without a fight, though.
Look at Iron and Wood trying to be useful (and sneaky) still!
Another Reason to Leave Reykjavik: Learning the Language of Water
If you stay in Reykjavik, vodka’s the thing. Drink that stuff and you might forget where you are.
But if you go halfway to the complete opposite end of the country, the water speaks at last, not with a bottle but with the words that grow still on the very bottom edge of the sky:
Lagarfljót, April
Your choice, between a bar full of travellers and the voices of trolls. Flights to Egilstaðir are cheap. Just $120 return. You could drop three times that much, just having dinner and drinks with a friend in town. Off you go.
The True Inspiration for Icelandic Architecture, Promise
Here’s a turf house window in Iceland. You’ll still find a few here and there. Wonder where the idea came from?
Wonder no longer.
Of course, that’s old architecture. The new stuff is, like, modern and all. Or maybe not. Here are some apartments in Reykjavik, and the elf stone in front of them, where no developer was allowed to build, because it was already occupied, and you don’t want to mess with magical rocks. Where did that idea come from?
From Snæfellsnes, that’s what. All that’s happened is that people finally got the upper hand and build houses taller than the magical rocks.
That’s simple enough, but what about finer architectural features, such as the red windows below on Laugavegur in Reykjavik. Tough one, eh?
Not at all. We just need to go to the Fljotsdalur in the East and all is revealed.
See, two red panels. Nice. Fine, but what about the really tough ones, like the Harpa concert hall?
Pshaw, nothing to it. I guess you didn’t go quite far enough out on Snæfellsnes. Here you go.
And the Harpa:
See? You can be in and out at the same time. That’s the ticket. Now, about the modern brutalism that graces the city…
… well, not modern at all. You can see its model at Ásbyrgi, in the far North.
Oh, one more time. This time, note the air conditioner…
Nice, eh. Where, oh where, does that come from? Again, the far North.
Well, just imagine the building as a flat rather than a height and you’ll see it. It is a crazy island, but if you hang around it long enough it will come into focus.
Book Laundry in Reykjavik
(Other countries launder money, but Icelanders have learned their lessons about messing with crazy stuff like that.)
Icelandic Engineers Having Fun
How do Icelandic engineers have fun?
They make street art. A Mohr’s Circle is a two-dimensional representation of stresses in materials. Compare the representation of stresses above with the more technical one below.
Nice. Here’s Wikipedia’s explanation of just why one might do this:
Internal forces are produced between the particles of a deformable object, assumed as a continuum, as a reaction to applied external forces, i.e., either surface forces or body forces. This reaction follows from Euler’s laws of motion for a continuum, which are equivalent to Newton’s laws of motion for a particle. A measure of the intensity of these internal forces is called stress. Because the object is assumed as a continuum, these internal forces are distributed continuously within the volume of the object.
So, here’s the Icelandic version again:
Lots of permutations through stress there, all delightfully witty.
And why is the Icelandic version so much more accessible and, well, fun? Ah, that’s because Icelandic engineers are well-versed in the barbs of thought and look for any chance for them to go away.
I think that’s it.
The Fun of Fooling Yourself in Iceland
Sure, you can sneak up on a waterfall, but it can also sneak up on you.
Hey, it’s just as much fun as picking up cigarette butts in Reykjavik, eh.
Or fooling yourself into thinking you are sneaking up on a troll.
Or lying in wait for the sun, trying to look like a block of ice. Loads of fun, that.
And just try to sneak up on an Icelandic horse.
Wild!
All together now!
Modern Viking Armour and Weaponry in Reykjavik
The smiths of Old Norway could never have pulled it off so well.
And drinking glasses, too. Skold!
A Farm in Iceland 