Lögberg-Heimskringla - 01.03.2002, Qupperneq 1

Travel Issue
See our special travel ^ ' ‘Vislt the Gray Ghost Inn in
section Verifforit
^ pages 7-10 « page 7
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Friday 1 March 2002 • Number 7/ Föstudagur 1 Mars • Númer 7
Lögberg stofnað 14. janúar 1888
Heimskringla stofnað 9. september 1886
Sameinuð 20. ágúst 1959
Heimskringla
The Icelandic Weekly
www.logberg.com
Registration no. 08000 Agreement no. 1402161 116th year /116. Árgangur ISSN 0047-4967
PHOTO BY TRISTIN N. GOODMANSON
Sæl og blessuð. Meeting in the middle of the night in Þórsmörk, July 2000.
A Letter From Iceland
John Parr
WlNNIPEG, MB
"t’s been over
sixty years
.since the
acclaimed poets
W. H. Auden and Louis
MacNeice published their
acclaimed travel book Letters
from lceland. Perhaps then it's
time for another missive from
this northerly island —
perched about 870 kilometers
northwest of Scotland.
But first on to Stillwater,
OK, where Thora, the sister of
my wife, Joan, resides. One
February night Thora phoned
about an ad she had just read.
Icelandair was offering, during
the tourist off-season, a two-
for-the-price-of-one return
flight from Minneapolis. Did
we, along with her husband
and herself, wish to go? Sure.
Who wouldn't want to escape
from a Winnipeg winter to an
even more northerly one?
(Actually, as we discovered,
it's not as cold over there as it is
here — but it's a wet cold).
Anyway, this was a natural
vacation destination for Thora
and Joan since their parents,
some decades prior, had emi-
grated from Iceland. So here
was an ideal opportunity to
check out their roots back in
the homeland — and also see
what had grown from these
roots during all those year's of
family separation.
So in late February we two
Winnipeggers met the two
Okies at the Minneapolis
Airport and set off for a nine-
day sojourn in the so-called
land of ice (although it's actual-
ly comprised of lava, soil and
snow rather than frozen water).
At first sight, as we were
being driven in, by kinfolk,
from Keflavík Airport to
Reykjavík, the capital city,
where we would be staying,
Iceland didn't look too hos-
pitable — not with its rugged
landscape, ideal for space-suit-
ed moon walkers. However,
once we reached Reykjavík we
found a Garden of Eden — or at
least a City of Eden. A meti'op-
olis populated by a contented
bunch of Adams and Eves with
no sign of any conniving ser-
pents. More precisely, present-
day Icelanders — the descen-
dants of yesteryear's fomiidable
Vikings — are an unusually
friendly and affectionate folk,
who invaiiably hug and often
kiss when greeting and parting
from one another.
According to Auden and
MacNeice, the Icelanders are
the most whimsical of the
Scandinavians, and there's no
reason to quibble with that view.
Our principal guide was
cousin Grímur, a semi-retired
dentist. With distinct dexterity
and speed, he drove us along
Please see Letter on
page 11
Tomax building, the location of Iceland House during the
Olympics in Salt Lake City, UT
Visit us on the web at http://www.logberg.com