Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.03.2010, Qupperneq 28

The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 03 — 2010
28
Guess what? Kringlan has a website. Yeah. It's www.kringlan.is.
WELCOME CARD
See more and save more
when visiting Reykjavík.
Free admissions and discounts
off tours, shopping and services
for 24, 48 or 72 hours.
Great value for money.
The Welcome Card can
be purchased at:
The Centre, major hotels, museums,
tourist information centres and
Hlemmur and BSÍ bus stations.
WELCOME CARD2009 - 2010
48
INCLUDING CITY BUS TRANSPORT, FREE ADMISSIONS, DISCOUNTS OFF TOURS,
SHOPPING, AND SERVICES
AVAILABLE FOR 24, 48 AND 72 HOURS.
WELC
OME C
ARD
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www.visitreykjavik.is
Aðalstræti 2 • 101 Reykjavík • Tel +354 590 1550 • info@visitreykjavik.is

Preserving quality
is our business
Open daily for lunch and dinners
Special off er on Monday
and Tuesday – 3 course dinner
for only 4200 ISK.
Reservation: tel. 552 5700,
e-mail: gallery@holt.is
Bergstaðastræti 37 s. 552 5700
holt@holt.is www.holt.is
Elegant surroundings
Superb cuisine
Modern comfort
article | Shopping article | Knitting
With an afternoon to kill and a wallet
full of cash, I naturally headed to the
mall where I could spend not only my
time, but also my money. Although I
had a hunch that my 5,000 ISK was
not going to put me on an extravagant
shopping spree, there is allegedly al-
ways fun to be had at Kringlan, which
is Iceland’s oldest shopping mall.
I didn’t quite know where to be-
gin, what with “150 shops, restau-
rants and services to choose from,”
so for tips on how to spend my time
and money I sought the advice of the
more experienced mall rat. And it
wasn’t long before I spotted just the
group I was looking for kicking it
by the elevators —three hip teenage
girls sporting black furry hooded
jackets, skinny jeans and colourful
hi-tops.
I explained my situation and asked
whether they could help me out. With
a who-are-you-and-why-are-you-talk-
ing-to-us-look plastered on their faces,
they suggested I buy a shirt, which I
might find for less than 5,000 ISK or
else hit up Hagkaup for some reason-
ably priced make up. Neither of these
ideas really appealed to me. So I asked
them what else they do at the mall be-
cause surely they don’t spend 5,000
ISK on shirts and makeup everyday.
Ah ha! I found out that Stjörnutorgið
(“Star Square”) is the place to hang
out.
After thanking them for their help,
I headed off to Stjörnutorgið, food
court and teenage hangout. But first,
because I was feeling slightly unhip,
I stepped into Skór.is to see if I could
pick up a pair of jazzy hi-tops. Sure
enough the shelves were full of them.
I grabbed a metallic gold, silver, blue
and purple shoe from the top shelf,
f lipped it over and read the sticker
price—a whopping 20,000 ISK. Need-
less to say, I put the shoe back on the
shelf and walked out.
Slightly bummed, I rode the es-
calator up to the second f loor and
scanned my fast food options— Rikkí
Chan, Subway, Sbarro, Dominos—
and then my eyes fell on Metro, Ice-
land’s homegrown McDonalds re-
placement. And just my luck, it was
Star Day at Metro, which meant I
could order an entire meal, including
one burger, one French fries or car-
rots, and one drink for 799 ISK.
I grabbed my tray with the Góðbor-
gari (“Good burger”), cup of carrots,
and soda water and sat down at an
empty table. It had been ages since
I had eaten at McDonalds, but I’m
sure this burger was of superior
quality meat and bread. The carrots,
however, were by far the noteworthy
part of the meal. Their orange colour
notwithstanding, they literally looked
like french fries in shape and form.
What’s more, they were even good
with ketchup.
After finishing my meal, I was
thinking about what to do next when
my phone rang. It was my cousin and
I invited him to join me for a beer. It
was almost five when we sat down at
Á Næstu Grösum with two Icelandic
Gull beers, which cost 1,520 ISK. I
dumped the remainder of my money
on the table and counted 2,600 and
some change. I had been at the mall
for nearly two hours and I had pur-
chased 0 hip hi-tops, 1 burger, 1 cup
of carrots (w/ketchup), 1 soda water
and 2 beers.
Well, I still had some time and
money to spend. So, after hydrating
ourselves, we headed to Hagkaup to
raid Nammiland (“Candyland”), the
bulk candy aisle. Getting a bland í
poka (mixed candy in a bag—an Ice-
landic classic) is always fun, especial-
ly when you can fill it with monkey
faces, caramel bombs, banana bombs,
caramel animals, keikos, erasers,
bombs, liquorices strips, deeps, and
chocolate balls. The cashier weighed
my loot and rang me up for 363 ISK.
Not bad, not bad.
With about 2,300 ISK and nothing
in my hands except a quickly dimin-
ishing bag of candy, I decided to go to
Eymundsson with the goal of finding
something a little more lasting, like a
good book. Books in Iceland are gen-
erally pretty expensive, but I was able
to find Ævintýraeyjan (Frozen Assets)
by Ármann Þorvaldsson for 1,900
ISK, marked down from 4,900. After
spending the entire afternoon in the
haven of consumer culture, it some-
how seemed appropriate to buy a book
about Iceland’s economic meltdown.
Finally, determined to spend ev-
ery last króna, I made one last stop at
Tiger, which is Iceland’s equivalent
to the 99-cent store. There were all
kinds of nifty things to choose from,
but it was really a no-brainer. The roll
of Sudoku toilet paper was a must.
So there went the last 300 ISK and
I was spent.
From the outside looking in, Iceland
looks like a highly stylish, hip and
cool place, mostly due to the excel-
lent and very awesome patterned-
yoke Lopi sweaters that natives like to
wear at any given photo op. However,
while to the untrained eye Iceland-
ers may look like a bunch of happy
people swathed in beautiful, soft,
warm and cuddly sweaters, closer in-
spection will reveal an unmistakable
look of hypnotic trance on their faces.
The fact is that Icelanders are in deep
denial about the true nature of their
sweaters.
Wool harvested from the back of
the sturdy Icelandic sheep is coarse
and itchy and can drive a person cra-
zy in seconds if allowed to come into
direct contact with bare skin. Clearly
this means that Icelandic wool has
its drawbacks, but these very same
detrimental qualities can also work
to the wool’s advantage. For, as is
widely acknowledged through the
community of knitters known as the
cash-strapped kind, coarse wool is
generally way more affordable than
softer and f luffier specimens. What’s
more, coarse wool keeps its gruff and
handsome appearance even when it’s
been worn into oblivion, while soft
wool tends to pill and get stretched
out of shape and pretty much look
like crap after just a couple of out-
ings. To couch this equation in eco-
nomic terms, you get more for your
money when knitting with and wear-
ing coarse wool. If you can stand the
itching, that is.
Here we get to the heart of the
matter: the main problem with
coarse wool is not an aesthetic one,
but rather a sensual one. Itchy wool
looks great, but rub it against your
sensitive areas and you will fall out
of love with it faster than you can say
“international banking crisis.” Many
people feel that the best, or even only,
way to deal with this issue is to al-
ways wear a layer of non-itchy fabric
between the skin and the offending
article of clothing. This is indeed a
sensible solution to the problem, as
the wearer creates a physical bar-
rier between comfort and uncomfort.
Further, itchy wool items tend to be
worn most in the coldest months of
the year, so extra layers of clothing
also come in handy to stave off the
frostbite. But sometimes a physical
barrier just isn’t feasible; when your
undergarments were stolen as you
dipped into a hotspring, say. This
is where the ancient Icelandic tech-
nique of wool-mind-control becomes
the mental barrier that you need.
The method is simple. Do not try
to distract your mind from the itchy
sensation, but rather embrace it. Feel
the clawing of the jagged wool fibres
as they rub up against your naked
skin and think to yourself: “This sen-
sation of a thousand tiny bees prick-
ing the delicate skin of my neck hurts
so good. The pain and discomfort
caused by this wool gives me plea-
sure and the satisfaction of knowing
that I am still alive. Oooohhh yeah,
hurts so good!” Recite this mantra in
your mind over and over as you wear
your Icelandic wool sweater on your
naked torso and know that you have
reached the state of mind necessary
to survive on this windswept North
Atlantic rock. Icelanders love pain.
Ka-ching!
anna anDeRSen
JulIa STaPleS
VIGDÍS ÞORMóðSDóTTIR
JulIa STaPleS
• Address: Kringlan 4-12,
103 Reykjavik, Iceland
• Hours of Operation:
Mon.- Wed. 10 - 18.30
Thurs. - Fri. 10 - 19
Saturday 10 - 18
Sunday 13 - 17
• 150 shops, restaurants and
services, including movie theater
• Mall anchors are Hagkaup, Útilíf,
and next
• Iceland’s oldest big shopping
centre (opened 1987)
• Located within a 5 to 10 minute
drive for 80% of the capital
area's residents
• Received 6,716,733 visits in 2007
• The word Kringlan is now
synonymous with shopping
centre in Icelandic
KRInGlan
Hurts So Good –Icelandic wool,
of course!
A Grapevine intern with
money to burn has THE
time of her life at Kringlan