Lögberg-Heimskringla - 01.12.1995, Blaðsíða 3

Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur 1. desember 1995 • 3
By Tom Oleson
rhe city of
Reykj avík
seems some-
how both exotic and
familiar to a visiting
North American. It is
obviously a European
city. The patterns of
streets of the old part
of town — or, perhaps more correctly,
the lack of pattern in those narrow
streets ; the coffee shops scattered
about where people linger over a cup
of Iceland’s unique coffee — perhaps
the best in the world — reading news-
papers or debating for hours; the bars,
many of them small like English pubs
or French bars and where people gath-
er to discuss and share conversation
and good company as well as drink;
the way the locals drive their cars
down the streets and the way they
(juestion:
Answers
Halli Johnson of Oak
Harbour, Washington has
put forward a question to
test the scholars in our communi-
ty. He hopes that questions and
answers may appear periodically
on our pages. We think it is a
great idea and await your input.
Here is the fírst ofour Q&A’s:
A difference of opinion
exists as to the actual
stature of the Vikings —
some suggest a height
of only 4 to 5 feet, while
others suggest a height
of 6 or 7 feet. How tall
were they?
For our answer we went to Kevin
Johnson of Winnipeg who wrote:
“The youth today in Iceland stand
higher on the average than their
grandparents as a result of better
nutrition; the same holds true for
Japan. Nutrition impinges strongly
upon stature, but our genetic her-
itage closely resembles that of the
Viking age peoples.
“No reliable statistical evidence
provides us with evidence, but
anecdotal evidence recommends
the presence of giants.
“Egill Skallagrímsson stood
head and shoulders over his peers
— as big as a troll. Snorri
Sturluson calls Rollo, the founder
of Normandy, Hrólf the Walker,
because no horse could support his
gigantic stature.
“Any population reflects a range
of stature. Your answer may be
found by looking around Nordic
communities today, but the Viking-
age people enjoyed worse nutri-
tion, so generally stood somewhat
shorter than contemporary Nordic
peoples.”
wear their clothes and dress and look;
the preponderance of small shops and
stores — bakeries, fish shops, bou-
tiques, book stores, corner grocery
stores — all of these are definitely
European in their flavour.
Yet to North Americans, there is
something familiar about the city.
Outside of the old section, the roads
are straight and wide and designed to
move traffic. Here the houses are
newer, and one can find a shopping
mall. Some coffee houses offer
English-language newspapers for their
customers to read and some of the
bars aimed at younger people defy
you, once you are inside, to guess at
what city you are in; you could be in
almost any city in Canada or the
United States except for the fact most
people are speaking Icelandic.
American television shows appear
often on the TV stations available in
the country and one channel offers an
English-accented imitation of CNN.
The North American influence is
strong even here on this small island
in the North Atlantic.
Iceland is the westemmost part of
Europe — Greenland, although part
of Denmark, geographically belongs
to North America. That is a result of
history, however, and one might rea-
sonably argue that Iceland might be
considered to be the easternmost part
of North America. It is truly a place
where east does meet west and that
may be one reason that visiting North
Americans find it both exciting and
comfortable.
The contrasts of Iceland exist
beyond just its physical features, its
remarkable landscape — the fabled
land of fire and ice. Reykjavík, for
example, is an old city; it grew out of
the homestead of the country’s first
settler, Ingólfur Arnarson, well over
1,000 years ago. That’s old by North
American standards, but by European
ones it is new. There is little, howev-
er, about its cities and towns that is
actually old and the buildings that are
historic and look old are mostly mod-
Near Akureyri, a stop on the Ring Road.
ern reconstructions. There are no
ancient cathedrals here. Its most
famous churches are like Reykjavík’s
Hallgrímskirkja, which blends the old
and the new in striking form, or they
are small churches scattered around
the country, more famous for the histo-
ry they represent than for their archi-
tectural wonders.
Pictures of Reykjavík around the
tum of the century show it as being not
much more than a village. Even in the
1930s and the 1940s it still had a small
town look by North American stan-
dards. Today it holds more than half of
the country’s population and has a
sophisticated, cosmopolitan look to it.
It does not appear old, but neither
does it feel new.
After going through the airport at
ICeflavík and the drive to the capital,
mostly through lava fields, Reykjavík is
the first experience most visitors have
of Iceland. After the excesses of New
York and the horrors of huge airports,
the city looks inviting, sprawled
around the bay that gives it its name.
Many North Americans of Icelandic
descent have already experienced the
dream of seeing it one day. Some may
Sour Cream Coffee Cake
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3 tbsp. white sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
Ron Eyolfson
1 cup margarine (2 squares)
1-1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
Topping:
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour, unbleached
Beat the margarine and white sugar together until creamy. Add the
eggs and beat again. Add the sour cream and vanilla, beat to mix. In
another bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to the
creamed mixture, beating constantly, until the batter has the consistency
of whipped cream. Put half the batter into 1 9 in. by 9 in. baking pan
(greased). Sprinkle with half of the topping mixture.
Add the rest of the batter and then sprinkle with the remaining top-
ping. Place in 350 degree F. oven. Bake for 50 - 60 minutes or until skew-
er put in centre comes out clean.
This recipe was taken from the cookbook Our Daily Bread. Within its
pages you will find many “Amma” special recipes which will prove a
valuable source of reference for future generations in maintaining the tra-
ditional foods of their heritage. It is available from the First Lutheran
Church, 580 Victor Street, Winnipeg, MB R3G 1R2.
be planning to enjoy that sight next
summer.
Anyone who is should be planning
their trip now. Iceland is busy in the
summer, when most tourists go. The
hotels can be full, the farm holiday
program, which arranges for holidays
on farms around the country that can
range from an overnight stay to an
extended vacation, is already taking
bookings for next year. Hotel rooms
around the country are usually at a
premium in the summer months.
Reykjavfk is also the logical starting
point for a tour of Iceland on the
Circle Road. The road goes right
around the island so one could, in fact,
pick it up at any point where there is
an airport, a car rental agency or a bus
stop. This is not a big island, so it is
not a very long road; you could proba-
bly drive the whole thing in two or
three days, depending on how hard
you wanted to push it.
But while it may not be a long road
it is a big one in the landscape it passes
through and the history that it passes
by. Just staying on the road itself will
take you through beautiful country of
unprecedented variety but the route
also affords you the opportunity of
innumerable side trips to some of the
country’s most spectacular sights and
historic places. Only a person in great
hurry or with a dead soul would miss
the chance to see these if he didn’t
have to.
The Circle Road also gives you
access to many of the farms registered
with the farm holiday program. These
vary greatly in the kind of accommo-
dation and services that they offer, but
all afford the visitor the opportunity to
see how a rural Icelandic family lives
and many invite the guest to take part
in the activities of the farm.
It is wise to book ahead in the peak
season as the program is becoming
increasingly popular. In the off season,
they are less busy and this fall I spent
one at the farm of Sigurlaug and Jón
at their farm guesthouse Brunnhóll á
Mýrum near Höfn on the east coast of
Iceland where I was the only guest.
At first I was a little embarrassed by
the situation. It seemed a little pre-
sumptuous to ask them to open up
their guest facilities for one day. But
they invited me into their kitchen, they
fed me coffee and cakes. They talked
about their farm — a dairy farm — and
their lives and asked me about mine
(my life, not my farm.) That night I ate
dinner in the guest quarters in solitary
splendour. I felt a bit like a medieval
king when a whole leg of lamb, a
heaping bowl of potatoes and several
other vegetables were set in front of
me (I had to pass on dessert). The next
day, Jón drove me the 30 kilometres
to Höfn to catch my bus so that I
could start the next leg of my joumey
on the Circle Road. The sky was a bril-
liant Icelandic blue against the snow-
tipped starkness of the mountains and
the glacier gleamed brightly in the dis-
tance. It was a remarkable contrast to
the scene in Reykjavík, not better or
worse but just different. I was looking
forward to being back in Reykjavík in
a few day’s time and here, at this
moment in time, it seemed as if all
were right with the world.