May 25, 2011

My favourite things about being in Iceland

Only in Reykjavik can you run into the president twice in one week. The first time I saw him, he was attending the 85th birthday of my former elementary school, and had parked his License Plate #1 Lexus outside adorned in one tiny Icelandic flag. I don’t think many presidents attend elementary birthday schools in other countries, or roll up without any security, additional escorts, or media in sight.

the presidents car and its patriotic Icelandic flag decoration

The second time I met Olafur Ragnar we wound up having a small chit-chat about the meaning of life (thank you, Viktor Frankl) at the bottom of a mountain without anyone else around except his tired dog and grumpy wife. Between these two meetings I attended a culture day parade and saw the mayor of Reykjavik stroll past casually, just looking more like the comedian-actor personality he’s more famous for being. Only in Iceland can you see such important politicians leading regular, day to day lives, without anyone bothering them or being followed by a press frenzy.

Maybe that’s not as impressive as it sounds since Iceland is a pretty small place, and people brush shoulders with important politicians and famous celebrities all the time. But, the benefit of having so few people in a country means you run into people you know all the time, and the everyone-knows-everyone mentality makes it a very welcoming place that truly feels like home everytime you come back to it, especially from insanely large and anonymous places like New York and London.

trying to stay cool, drinking a mojito

The smallness of Reykjavk is also refreshing to travel within, since it doesn’t take longer than 15 minutes to get almost anywhere in the city, and we don’t even have (or need) a rail or underground public transportation system to gobble up two or three hours of our day just commuting (I never miss the London Tube!).

The smallness also makes Iceland incredibly safe, with very little crime, but has the catch of making dating or personal privacy a little more difficult to manage. Fashion trends and businesses quickly phase in and out, and currently, its all about mojito’s, sushi, juniform and sexy stockings. And thank God hotdogs never go out of style, since the first thing I crave when I get home is always a Baejarins Beztu pylsur.

free seaswimming is on daily now at Nautholsvik

My most favourite thing about Iceland is probably Icelandic water. The swimming culture is fantastically alive, with public pools in every neighbourhood and seaswimming rising in popularity all year round. When roaming the Icelandic countryside, hotspring water baths and running streams provide natural pools and clean, drinkable water, infinitely disposable to you at no cost. I was recently at a café at JFK International Airport, and out of their 7 bottled water choices, 3 were Icelandic, and cost between $2.65-$3.50. Its such a blessing to get home, turn on my tap, and have the cleanest water pour out of the sink at colder-than-fridge temperature and saturate my thirst with the best tasting little H2O molecules I’ve ever had… for free. Any other drinks, especially alcoholic ones, make up for this benefit by being absurdly overpriced, but its nice not to have to budget for your daily water supply and constantly worry about the sanitation of the water you’re drinking like I so commonly obsess about elsewhere.

May 21, 2011

Reykjavik Art Festival

a feather-spewing opera singer repels from Domkirkja

the art festival in Reykjavik, Listahátið, kicks off with a bang.

The art festival began today and continues until June 5th. Check out the schedule and all the fun pretty things going on in Reykjavik at http://www.listahatid.is/

May 17, 2011

Harpa, Iceland's shiny new concert hall

a private concert in the big red room of Vikingur rehearsing Grieg's Piano Concerto

It really is quite new and shiny, with those stories and stories of diagonal glass panes and only officially opened since Saturday. It has a kind of rocky history, with funding issues and construction halted for months following the economic collapse, but elves had nothing to do with it so no need to worry about any of that bad stuff from the past. There was also a bit of confusion with the first concerts, since the ‘opening’ concert was May 6th, but it sold out so quickly that they added two more shows May 4th and 5th. So, May 4th, its arguable´opening date´blew the crowd away with a Grieg piano concerto performed by Juilliard´s Vikingur and Beethovens 9th Symphony conducted by no other than Valdimir Ashkenazy himself, but gave spectators only a sneak peak of the barely functional, half finished Harpa.

Then, last Friday there was another ‘opening concert´, and Saturday May 14th was the ´open house,´ and so now after a lot of openings, its open alright, as well as all its bars and restaurants and halls functional, but still not complete.

May 3rd, the bar and restaurant not quite ready for opening night #1

From inside, you can still scrape your feet along construction dust and the entire front hall is still hidden behind plank wood instead of the glorious, multi-coloured glass panes. From outside, gravel and heavy machinery surround the building and the massive dug out pit to its left, yet, somehow none of this takes away from the excitement and excessive beauty Harpa represents.

24 hours before the house opened

I can´t wait to see local bands and world-renowned artists take the brightly-lit stages and big, red concert hall by storm; once the surrounding space and cultural amenities are all complete, it will be an epic extension of cozy little downtown Reykjavik to the grandeur new east harbour.

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On my personal to-do list this summer: watch as many concerts as financially possible, eat nordic tapas at Munnharpan, and wine and dine at the fine Kolabrautin.

Join me?

Head chef Þráinn at Kolabrautin "then"; check out "now" at facebook.com/kolabrautin

May 14, 2011

House Drinks in Reykjavik

My blogs are typically about the places I visit but when I’m in Reykjavik I have to be a little more creative since I don’t really consider myself a tourist here. After being inspired by chef friends and Bocuse d’or, I thought it’d be fun to write about cuisine in Iceland, but there are a lot more qualified food critics out there, as well as tons of articles on Icelandic dining. Instead, I chose to do a little bar hopping, tasting some of the signature, house-specialty drinks those same restaurants or bars offer.

The rating scale we came up with was a likert-like letter scale from K to V. K stood for Kryptonite, V for VaVaVoom, and between the two extremes, Funky, Dousie, Quirky, Perky and Stupendous. The rating order is still not 100% certain, and for a while I was sure Kryptonite should be the best rating since I thought it meant explosively great; for those like me who don’t know what it is, its actually a fictitious element (the only one in the comic world) that can overcome Superman.

Annika and the Pole Vault

1. Bjarni Fel

Bartender: Annika

Drink: Pole Vault

Ingredients: Raspberry rum, apple schnapps, fizzy lemonade and grenadine.

Verdict: Kryptonite

Their other house specialty drink is called Bench Press (whiskey, triple sec, orange liqueur, martini bianco, lemon and coke) and both are 1700kr. Id say stick to beer, both because its a sports bar and because Annika says she’s never drank it and rarely makes them.

2. Ensku Barinn/ The English Pub

Jói and Steven Segal

Bartender: Joi

Drink: Steven Segal

Ingredients: Rum, Passoa, Strawberry Liquor, Pineapple and Cranberry Juice, Grenadine

Verdict: Perky

Jói explained the bar doesn´t have a house specialty per se, but he (as the manager and award winning fastest bartender) makes up his own house drink. This particular drink was inspired by a customer who asked for a strawberry cocktail, probably because of the sunny Sunday afternoon enjoyedsitting outside on the patio. He also mentioned it changes from day to day, so this drink didn´t even have a name until after he made it. Extra points for coming up with a great name.

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Bjarki on the Floor by Oddur

3. The Dubliner

Bartender: Oddur

Drink: Bjarki on the Floor

Ingredients: Orange juice, vodka, peach schnapps, banana schnapps, brown sugar, grenadine, lime juice, and sprite

Verdict: Funky

picking the right orange juice

Halfway through mixing this cocktail, Oddur realized he didnt have orange juice, so actually went out and bought some just to make this house specialty, known to knock guys named Bjarki down to the floor and a big favourite among the female staff at Dubliner.

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Marija making the perfect mojito

4. Thorvaldsen

Bartender: Marija

Drink: Thorvaldsens Mojito

Ingredients: Rum, Raspberry Rum, mint, blueberries, strawberries, brown sugar, and sprite.

Verdict: VaVaVoom

We spent about an hour at Marija´s bar, keeping her from closing, picking her brain about the perfect way to mix a mojito. We also got a geography lesson, talked about all the specialty alcohols available from all over the world, and discussed salsa and tango dancing (which happens to pair very well with Mojitos on Thursday nights at Thorvaldsen)

all the citrus goodness getting mixed in

5. Radisson (Saga & 1919)

Bartender: Kris

Drink: Sour Mix

Ingredients: Orange bitter, grapefruit soda, tequila, vodka, triple sec, malibu, lime, orange, and lemon

Verdict: Stupendous

The bar and lounge at this downtown hotel doesn’t have a specific house drink, but Kris makes specialty drinks according to the tastes of his customers. His usual question is “do you like sweet or sour?”, and whips up an appropriate concoction according to their answer. This sour mix was his personal favourite. At Radisson Hotel Saga, the bartender Erol makes a drink called Delek, winner of the Finlandia cup a couple years ago, and is a mix of vodka, strawberries and soda. Also delicious.

Heiða drizzling the melted chocolate

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6. Hotel Reykjavik

Bartender: Heida

Drink: Forest Martini

Ingredients: Vodka, Cocoa liquor, cream, strawberries, topped with warm melted chocolate.

Verdict: well, its more like a desert in a martini glass, and definitely the first martini I´ve ever had to eat… so I would say quirky. Also a little deadly, since its only a 6 oz drink and 3 of those ounces are untasteable vodka shots.

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7. Fish Market

David and his Volcano

Bartender: David

Drink: Volcano

Ingredients: Absolut vodka pear, crushed berries, butterscotch vanilla schnapps, passion fruit puree, pineapple juice, vanilla flavor, grenadine, and edible lava rocks

Verdict: VaVaVoom.

an assortment of passionate drinks

The theme of his bar was definitely passion, as he made two more passion fruit drinks called Chili Passion and Passion Caiprinhia. Those were thought up by the owner Águst, and the chili one was really spicy. Just before I left, he made me blind taste the drink he´ll be using at an upcoming bartending competition, and Im not sure what it was but it involved a lot of rhubarb and deliciousness. David explained at Fish Market they are always trying to make new drinks that challenge stereotypical taste profiles, and I would certainly agree they are accomplishing this goal with all their exotic fruits and creative toppings.

The best part about writing this article wasn’t actually the great drinks, but the accidental travel experience I felt like I got from chatting to all the bartenders. Only a couple were Icelandic, and the others represented Hungary, Ireland, Panama, Turkey and Serbia. I feel like I heard a lot of great stories and made some new friends, so hopefully one day I can invite them all for a drink made specially by me 🙂

Oh, and also, if you’re a bartender in Reykjavik reading this article and have a great drink I should try, I know an aspiring drink critic, so be in touch…

May 9, 2011

Morgunblaðið Article

Im sorry I cant offer an English translation, but this was a cool article written up last week in one of the Icelandic newspapers.

Morgunblaðið May 4th, 2011

May 4, 2011

Photo Highlight: Harpa on the last day of construction

workers finish the asymmetrical window panes at Harpan. Pressure for the house to open in a mere 24 hrs was probably resting heavy on the hundreds of busy construction workers running around.

May 3, 2011

Status Update

In my earlier travels, I always wanted to start a blog so that I could avoid spamming mass e-mails to a bunch of friends and family, but that was pretty much the only way I shared stories and pictures before facebook and dohop came along. Now that I have this blog, there´s a bit more pressure about how to write and when to write since I basically have little or no idea who reads it or how often people check it, except for a few googlestats. Ideally, I´d want to write every day, and keep a detailed travel diary for myself that others can read, but its so difficult to get regular internet access in some of the places I travel, and its not actually that appealing to sit in front of my computer when I´m in some new beautiful, beachy, or exotic place. However, I´ve been a lazy writer the last few weeks and wanted to give a slight summary of my year so far and a break down of my future plans.

In January, I was in Lyon for a week for the Bocuse d´or World Culinary competition, and Berlin for a week making Germany my first new country of the year. It was cold, grey wintery weather in both places, so I took the opportunity to soak in some heat and sun at an Indian wedding in Bangalore. I traveled around India for two weeks before flying to New York via London, and met up with one of my most adored friends for a week vacation to the Dominican Republic. We were meant to be in Haiti for 3 days first, but American Airlines crushed our Haitian dreams and we found a different dream to live at Salinas. Then back to New York for my 24th birthday celebration, and a last-minute flight change to extend my North American travels by another month. First I showed up in Berkeley unexpectedly for a week, did some wine tasting in Livermore Valley and met up with old professors and colleagues from UC Berkeley. Then, I was part of the most epic, amazing surprise birthday party you could ever imagine in Vancouver, reuniting a bunch of old UBC friends and making my friend Zoe the happiest girl ever. I stayed in Canada for a couple weeks, saw family and friends there, a lot of concerts and shows (VSO, Cavalia), and then back to Berkeley to eat at potlucks and smoke cigars with some of my most favourite people in the whole wide world. I then went back to Vancouver for body healing and wisdom teeth pulling – oh how I love Canadian healthcare. I flew back to Iceland via New York, and spent a week at home for my cousin Sara´s birthday and to see my dad who hasn´t been in perfect health lately.

May 1st in Iceland

Within a few days of being home, I was convinced to go back to California for Coachella music festival, so a week later was back in New York for a few days, then in Berkeley, then roadtripping to Los Angeles, partying my face off in the desert, dancing to really great music, and flying back to New York where I got an interview with Dr. John Mutter at Columbia for a potential Phd program. I came back to Iceland at the end of April expecting summer to be just around the corner, but instead we had a white out weekend cozier than Christmas day.

So, 8, err, 7 countries (stupid AA), 19 flights, $4000 and 3 months later its maybe forgiveable I haven´t had the focus or chance to write much. But, thats all in the past, with lots more travel coming up and a revamped dedication to my writing. Next up is a couple of weeks of travel in Iceland as summer slowly creeps up, then a couple weekends in London on my way in and out of Africa for 5 weeks. Im attending a conference on Sustainable Tourism in Kampala, Uganda, where I’ll have the chance to speak on Ecotourism. July and August I’ll be in east Iceland doing a little bit of ecotourism myself, riding horse tours with Ishestar, and also spending some time around Reykjavik to host a bunch of awesome visitors (ie. my older sister!!!) Im thinking of writing a book too, not sure on what, but something travel related. If anyone has any ideas, publisher friends, or wants to collaborate, holler.

April 29, 2011

Tourism of my body

(disclaimer: this whole blog seems a tad inappropriate for some reason, but I can´t quite put my finger on it to tell the stories differently so excuse any unintended raciness)

I´ve spent a lot of time in the last 2 months exploring my body, learning about all the ways it works and breaks. In January I had the New Year´s resolution to be more flexible and to learn how to do a handstand, so through yoga and other excercises I´ve been trying to accomplish both.

Going to India in February was inspiring for my yoga hobby, and I discovered ayurvedic massage.  Its supposed to do wonders for your body and well-being, and I´m sure it does when done correctly, but its also created the perfect tourist trap for any entrepreneur who has a massage table, some oil, and two hands. I woke up one morning after a 10-hour overnight train ride and discovered the hard way how uncomfortable third class beds are; my upper back was all out of wack so I paid the $9 it cost for a 30 minute “authentic massage,” but it ended up being a wooden table, laminated with that plasticy kitchen counter stuff, a moldy pillow, and cooking oil lathered all over me by a hefty little Indian woman in the back of her shop shack. Needless to say it didnt help much, but when I got to Canada a few weeks later I saw a massage therapist, a chriporactor, and a Chinese/Japanese homeopath all for the first time.

The homeopath walked me through a series of excercises I should do to correct my over-arched lower back (too many years of horse backriding makes me stick my ass out and chest up in a very latina way), said I may have mild scoliosis, and taught me my right leg is slightly crooked from my hip joint being “unsettled.” Then he stuck a bunch of needles in my back for my first acupuncture treatment, which wasn´t that painful except for the fact I had gotten both my left side wisdom teeth pulled that morning and I couldn´t think about anything else.

Then I saw a chiropractor who got me butt naked to look at my spine and said I didn´t have any abnormal curvature, but that I did have flat feet and would need orthodics for a cool $700. Then he cracked me all over, including my pelvis to make my right hip straight, before taking my feet prints for my new orthodics.

The massage therapist was a big English guy who taught me I had tight hamstrings since I couldn´t touch the back of my legs to the bed when laying on my back. He taught me excercies to fix that, and then suggested I sleep with my feet tied together to keep my pelvis straight. The massage he gave me was actually the most wonderful release of tension in my lower back and around my neck, and I felt noticeably better when leaving his office instead of bruised and battered.

I´ve got my new orthodics in my favourite shoes now and hopefully something good is going on in the inner workings of my ageing body… although I don´t notice any $700 differences. Getting an ergonomic desk set up was one thing they all told me to do, as well as have lumbar support when I´m sitting or driving for long periods. Sadly most of my sitting for long periods occurs infront of a piano or my laptop and I´m not sure how to make them more comfortable. I learned I shouldn´t sit cross legged since itll make my right leg crooked again, carry heavy bags on my back, or sit on horses or stand in dance posture because its bad for my lower back, but unfortunately, I dont think giving up my favourite yoga pose, backpacking, riding, or dancing is going to happen anytime soon… but I have learned a lot about my body and perhaps when I´m old and broken one day I´ll atleast know why and how to fix it 🙂

April 21, 2011

Coachella

Coachella Main Stage, as it finally cools down on Saturday evening and people wait for Mumford & Sons to play

Coachella Valley is in the middle of the desert, a few hours east of Los Angeles, and hosts this amazing 3 day music festival every April. Its a pretty young festival, started in 1999, and was only 1 or 2 days long in years prior with headliners like Madonna, Prince and Björk. This year, it was the Chemical Brothers, Arcade Fire, and Kanye West, plus another 120 other bands/musicians playing 6 different stages from 11am til 1 am every day. It was so overwhelming and incredible, scrambling among 75,000 other spectators to try and watch everyone you wanted to see, but with 6 stages running consecutively and only 1 hr sets, it was impossible to see all your favourite artists.

On day 1, it was, like every other day, over 35°C, and exhausting to just be outside in the dry desert sun. But we started the day right, poolside at La Quinta resort, where 30 of us friends were staying together in 2 houses. There was dozens, hundreds maybe. of other Coachellers (I think I may have made up that word) in the same resort, drinking, tanning and dancing poolside as well, showing off their beautiful beach bodies and fashion savvy Hollywood bathingsuits and sunglasses. Everyone there was beautiful, between the ages of 20-30, so I couldn’t actually pick out the models and actors in attendance from everyone else.

pool party at La Quinta

It took over an hour to drive the 5 miles to the festival parking lot; moving an inch a minute with no air conditioning at 12 noon = not so pleasant. But, then we spent the day watching Cee Lo Green, Lauryn Hill, Arojack, Interpol, the Black Keys, Kings of Leon and the Chemical brothers, so an overall great day. Day 2 and 3 started the same way, with martinis for breakfast and some excellent DJ and sound system setting a great vibe around the pool. Trying to deal with the heat of the day knowing that sunset brought pretty chilly temperatures was a daily battle, but the strategy was to always be in the midst of a crowd, running between stages, or dancing your butt off to stay warm. Although, a few times a day, you had to stop for food, water, and just sit for a while to make sure you made it… On the second day, we watched Erykah Badu, Laidback Luke, Yelle, the New Pornigraphers, Broken Social Scene, Bright Eyes, the Kills, Mumford & Sons, Empire of the Sun, Paul van Dyk, Arcade Fire, the Scissor Sisters and finally Steve Angello. We only took a few minutes to park that day, but an hour to leave – I’m not sure how it was so difficult to get cars in an out of huge fields onto 60mph roads with no traffic lights.

There was one tent called the Do Lab between the main stage and the Sahara tent, so whenever I was walking between them I would stop into Do Lab to get water sprinkled. The music there was some of the best, all disc jockeyed, but the main highlight there was watching Lucent Dossier Vaudeville circus perform. Its hard to describe exactly what you were watching, but it was like Cirque du Soleil meets Stomp, with the wardrobe from Pirates of the Caribbean, directed by Tim Burton to dub step music. Absolutely sensational.

the Burning Man inspired tent, with water sprayers soaking the crowd and some great dubstep

We spent the least amount of time day 3, but still managed to see Nas & Damien Marley, Sven Vath, Duck Sauce, Death from Above 1979, Duran Duran, Chromeo, the Strokes, PJ Harvey, Bloody Beetroots, Axwell, the Presets and Kanye West in 6 hours. At the end of the festival, I had found $110 on the ground, so almost half of my $300 ticket was paid back to me just by attending. My list of highlights changes everytime I tell the story because I can’t actually remember who I saw or when or where, but it was an amazing three days of music and fun. Put it on your bucketlist if it’s not already.

See http://www.coachella.com/event/set-times for the complete lineup, it’ll blow your mind!