Iceland: the odd bits

8th April, 2019

In Norway, one of our guides was called Odd Jonny. His name has stuck in my mind: Odd Badger has a certain ring to it. Now, as we leave Iceland today, here are the odd bits that did not seem to fit into any of the earlier posts.

Elven maidens
We discovered elven maidens twice in Iceland, one on a glacier in a flimsy wedding dress, complaining bitterly to her photographer to hurry up because she was cold. However, this one was the best..

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Churches
During Medieval times, Iceland converted to Christianity in a near bloodless movement led by the Viking leaders. We passed many, many small historical churches as we drove right around Iceland. However, it was the radical designs of new churches which surprised us the most.

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Plumbing worthy of the Tardis
In the Icelandic version of the Hotel California, we found a shower that would not be out of place in the Tardis. Later, in a small guesthouse on a remote farm, we discovered plumbing that could probably trigger time-travel.

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The Punk Rock Museum
Reykjavik has its own Punk Rock Museum, complete with its own spartan web site. With a nod to anarchy, it is actually located in the former public toilets in Bankastræti, in the city center. They were honored to have Johnny Rotten himself officially open the museum in 2016.

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Health and Safety? Wooden scaffolding? What are you worried about?

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The Best Record Shop in Iceland
I had been saving my first opportunity to get to know Bjork’s music until I got to Iceland. Got to do this properly, eh? Lucky Records reminded me of Real Groovy in Auckland. Wall-to-Wall vinyl and a few small shelves for CD’s. Looks like the revolution where we all de-evolve back to using LP records and cassettes is going to succeed after all …

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Finally, the first piece of advice we were given when we arrived in Iceland: “if you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes…”