reykjavik

June 24, 2013

Midsummer Night Weekend

Since Friday, I’ve been moving around south, west and east Iceland, and everywhere I’ve gone, I’ve found sun… 24 hrs of sun. And warmth. Its like seeing heaven fall down on a place you’ve grown to accept is always cold and dark, since every passing winter makes you forget what summer is like. Summer in Iceland also has a smell, the smell of people barbequeing meat and grilling hot dogs in green backyards and sunny patios. The sound of summer is the roaring lawn mower, with the smell of freshly cut grass always lingering around town.

my new gardener

The midnight sun also gives a special kind of light, a more dramatic sunshine that never makes it feel like high noon, but that the sun is always on its way up. When you realize it is actually on its way down, it takes forever for shade to spill into open spaces, and eventually, just when you think it might get dark, the sun is already rising again, and you’re never really sure when the sunset turned into another sunrise.

People have superstitions for full moons and Friday the 13ths, but midsummer night in Iceland is probably the most magical, mystical night, since there really is no night. There are more people on Laugavegur at 5 am than at 5 pm, and the skantily clad partiers bare their sunkissed skin without a single goosebump. Downtown Reykjavik over midnight summer weekend is probably the only place you can get away with wearing your sunglasses at night. The midnight sun still peeks behind the low horizons, and the skies around the blazing sun turn into pale hues of pink and orange. If the temperature drops enough, a low cloud of fog sits on the dewy grass, and you can actually taste and see the air cooling as steam rises from the day-warmed lakes.

Last night I went riding with 5 others until midnight, and the dust from 80 horses in the free-running herd between us couldn’t rise above the midnight fog. The sun had just dropped behind the mountain rise above the valley, but the mountains behind us, still covered in snow, reflected the pink sunset/sunrise we couldn’t quite see anymore. After returning the horses to their field and driving home around 1:15, the subtle darkness started to lift and the pink skies had now moved around the horizon as the ever-circling sun started rising again. If only midsummer nights could last longer than a weekend…

February 14, 2013

Happy Valentine´s Day

A Copy of my Guide to Iceland Valentine´s Day post:

Today is a day for love and lovers, to share St. Valentine’s joy and all the cheesy romance one can possibly handle.

St. Valentines day is not really a big deal in Reykjavik, but at least a few lucky souls will be getting red roses or boxes of chocolates today. It’s a beautiful sunny day so maybe you’ll meet someone cute at the pool or walking their dog in the park. No one who wants to celebrate Valentines day should stay at home alone tonight, so just ask that person you’ve had your eye on for a while out on a date!

And for all you lucky people in lovely relationships – try not to rub it in to all the sensitive singles. Today’s a day when facebook, twitter, and instagram overflow with pretty pictures of flower bouquets every woman wishes she had, and all the  wall posts of how much you love your ‘baby boo’ could really be sent as a private sms instead. But for all the sensitive singles out there, don’t use social media to advertise just how single and alone you feel – it makes the happy couples feel bad to know youre at home watching the Notebook alone while cuddling your cat(s). Its also not nice to hate on Valentines day or publicly complain how stupid a holiday it is, because if youre angry and bitter on the one day a year when we’re supposed to celebrate love, then you must be a pretty grumpy person anyway and no one needs grumpy people in their lives.

Just remember that Valentines day is not just for romantic love, but to celebrate the love of friends and family too. I had my first Valentines date today with the one and only man in my life – my dad. Im going on a hot date tonight with my girlfriend (clarification: a friend who is a girl, we’re not dating), and we’ll be salsa dancing at Thorvaldsen if anyone else is dateless tonight and wants to learn Salsa!

If you are wondering what to be happy about today if you don’t have a Valentines date, then you should remember: todays a day when all those handsome bachelors and independent woman can celebrate how great it is to meet new people, flirt freely, date whoever (and however many) people they like, and never have to deal with the drama of relationships. Think about how much time and money you save without a partner, and how endless the opportunities are for meeting someone beautiful here in Reykjavik (Iceland has some of the most beautiful people in the world according to various sources, with the most Miss Universes per capita than any other nation!). With the liberal nightlife scene in Iceland, you can always fill your life with romance and a healthy sex life without a boyfriend or girlfriend in Iceland, so, cheers to that!

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

 

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 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.

August 21, 2010

Menningarnótt, Culture Day in Iceland

With only a few days in August spent not on horse back, every time I went back to Reykjavik I had this weird culture shock of not being in the middle of nowhere. What’s good for culture shock is probably culture overload, and I got just that.

Menningarnott is literally translated as Culture Night in Reykjavik, but its actually an all day festival where the entire downtown area of Reykjavik is a big street fair with concerts and markets lining various neighborhoods. All ages walk around, kids, party people, adults and seniors, and you can see balloons and streamers and hear live music from almost anywhere. People have garage sales on their doorsteps and restaurants make temporary street food stands to sell delicious hot dogs and hamburgers in all the major squares.

Lost shoes

There is so much going on in a day that the schedule is just crammed with event listings in hundreds of different locations and venues that its impossible to even pick what you want to do or see everything you want to see. I decided just to spend the day wandering around following my senses. I started by walking with the direction of the wind since it was a bit chilly, and ended up at the National Art Museum by the pond to see some classical music. Then I followed my cousin to a street fair where all the neighbours were trying to sell old treasures.

I ran into a famous actor from Iceland there and couldn’t help but stare since he looked like he was stuck in this surreal movie scene of an antique craft market in the middle of modern day Iceland. Next I followed a black and white cat through an alleyway, and he would never let me get close enough to pet him so after rubbing his furry self on all the doorways and doorsteps, led me towards the Norwegian embassy where Retro Stefansson were giving a live show. I bobbed my head to some great music there, ran into a friend who has the most beautiful, long red hair that you could never miss seeing him in a crowd, and then continued on past a fire-roasting naan bread food stand. Random, no?

I then passed a pair of leather shoes on the sidewalk, politely placed beside each other as if someone were to step in them any minute. Everyone kept walking past them taking no notice so I decided to do the same. Then I walked past the same scene, this time also with a pair of pants, and I looked around for the pantless, barefoot owner and saw no one. Again no one seemed to care so I didn’t think of notifying any sort of lost and found. Shortly after I saw the same thing again, a pair of mens dress shoes and pants on the sidewalk, and two blocks later passed just a pair of pants crumbled on the floor. They must belong to the first pair of shoes… but who knows.

I stumbled past many other entertaining scenes and colourfully dressed people. The young women have such incredible, individualistic style, and I love when they paint their lips in the brightest shades of pink and red with their porcelain pale skin as contrast. Everyone has style and looks super cool as if advertising some personal culture on Menningarnott. The actual night time gets even more crazy and ‘cultural’ with public drinking bringing out everyones true selves.

Aerial view of menningarnott

Headliner bands play in the main square and another stage beside the famous hotdog stand also gets a full crowd. After nudging shoulders every step of the way to get anywhere, me and my 6 friends visiting from Canada went between stages and ate a couple of hot dogs, and then took in the firework show that my British friend Evelyn swore were the best fireworks she had ever seen in her life. The party continued on the streets as one third of Iceland could never fit into all the bars and nightclubs even with every single one filled to capacity. Its basically like new years eve night but with better weather, but still imagining how busy it was didn’t compare to how crazy it actually was. We made it into 2 different venues after waiting in moderate line ups, but when we left to go home at 4 am, we realized why – the true Icelanders were just getting started then, and all the line ups were full of people prepared to be out til broad daylight.