Reykjavík Grapevine - 14.08.2009, Page 43

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The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 12 — 2009
Do you like drinking? ‘Duh,’ you say?
Good. Whether you are here for a while
or just on the classic flying weekend
visit, you can’t come to Iceland without
pounding a few back. Needless to say,
there are dozens of good places to
drink in this town, but these are a few
that offer a high quality experience, or
a downright insane one.
KAFFI ZIMZEN
HAFNARSTRÆTI 18
Zimsen is best known in this town for
the incredibly cheap price of beer. This
attracts a very mixed crowd: students,
travellers, local drifters, questionably
legal youths and obviously shady
characters. Needless to say, people get
hammered pretty quickly and shit goes
down. Former lovers scream at each
other from opposite ends of the bar,
their friends holding them back from
full on fisticuffs, while the staff and
other patrons simply watch and enjoy
the show. If you are really lucky, you’ll
get to watch some poor girl vomit in
the smoking area, and then order more
2-for-1 beers.
BAR 11
LAUGAVEGUR 11
First time I came to Iceland in 2006, this
was THE spot to see a good girl-fight,
with real punching and everything!
Now it’s more of a desperate meat-
market that reaches critical mass
around closing time when people make
a last ditch effort to find someone to
bone for the night. Even at an earlier
hour, the place is a slobbering hot
mess of depravity set to whatever’s on
the jukebox. Not that there’s anything
wrong with that! I do suggest leaving
if you need to pee, though—the toilets
are rough.
KARAMBA
LAUGAVEGUR 22
This bar opened up in the remnants
of the first place I ever went out to in
Iceland, Barinn. It is now a one-room
madhouse of loud jams and sweaty
people where you’re as likely to get
felt up as you are to have your beer
knocked out of your hand. Its only
shortcoming is that the size of the
place can’t accommodate the fantastic
parties it has become acclaimed for,
so there can be chaos at the door and
practically no dancing space inside.
If that’s the case, just climb onto
someone’s shoulders or dance on the
bar. Just try not to break your nose (or
anyone else’s!) while you’re at it.
JACOBSEN
AUSTURSTRÆTI 9
This place has a strange effect on
people that makes inhibitions seem
completely useless and sensible
behaviour optional. There is frequent
shirtlessness and impromptu make
out sessions with random people on
the dance floor. It’s probably caused
by the bass-heavy house music and
the dark, hot, glory hole of a basement
lined with built in leather beds and lush
pillows. The raving, wild parties can
go on longer than legally permitted,
which is all the better for those who
can’t call it quits at six in the morning,
but like I said, it can be a bit senseless
and overpowering. It’s very easy to lose
yourself in the music and even harder
to stop dancing.
AUSTURVÖLLUR
Okay, granted, it’s not a bar, but it might
as well be! It’s lined by bars on three
sides and Parliament on the fourth
so there is a nice healthy balance of
drunkenness and political fury at almost
all times. Besides, it’s always fun to get
shitfaced in the park. You may have to
put up with gong-banging protesters,
but chances are some vigilante will
march over and forcefully make them
stop before getting himself thrown in
a police car. What’s more, there are no
paper bag laws in this town (not ones
that are enforced, anyway) so you don’t
have to worry about Five-Oh getting on
your case.
Have fun and play nice!
Nightlife | Good, clean fun
U N I V E R S I T Y O F I C E L A N D P R E S S
haskolautgafan.hi.is – hu@hi.is – tel. 525 4003
RING OF
SEASONS.
ICELAND: - IT’S
CULTURE AND
HISTORY
Terry G. Lacy brings both
the perspective of an
outsider and the familiar
eye of a long-term resident
to this delightful exploration
of all facets of Iceland, past
and present. She conveys her
story with a skillful interlacing
of history, religion, politics, and culture to paint a vivid
picture of the way Icelanders live today.
„This fascinating book is a must for anyone who is interested
in Iceland.“ - Dick Ringler
SURTSEY - AN ECOSYSTEM FORMED
Dr. Sturla Fridrikson describes the birth of the island in
1963 and how in itself it became an interesting
geological phenomenon and a biological laboratory,
where scientists could investigate how organisms
disperse across the ocean to remote islands and how
plants and animals colonize completely barren areas such
as Surtsey. Available in English, French and German
Surtsey was inscribed on
UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 2008.
THE MANUSCRIPTS OF ICELAND
In this collection of articles scholars present the story of
Icelandic manuscripts, their medieval origins, the
literature they contain and its influence up to the present
day. This book is a tribute to the central role that
medieval Icelandic literature played in forging national
identities in N-Europe.
More than ten thousand fingers have
played beautiful music on this piano, since
it arrived in Eyrarbakki village in 1871. It
was brought across the Atlantic on a large
merchantman, then hauled into a small
fishing boat and rowed ashore, where four
strong men carried it into the village in a
terrible rainstorm. But you can touch it
now in the Húsið museum in Eyrarbakki.
TEN THOUSAND FINGERS
Open May 15th - Sept. 15th: 11 - 18. Other times by arrangement. | www.husid.com
Five Awesome Bars In
Reykjavík
And why you should go!
REBECCA LOUDER
REBECCA LOUDER