Lögberg-Heimskringla - 01.01.2018, Page 6

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6 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • January 1 2018
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Stefan Jonasson
“How do you like Iceland?”
This question used to be
asked so often of foreign
visitors to the country that it
became something of an inside
joke. Needless to say, the
expected response was, “I love
it” or “it’s beautiful,” although
the occasional person would
use it as an opportunity to
vent a complaint or two. Some
Icelanders believed the question
to be to a thinly veiled appeal
for compliments, but I have
always accepted it as a sincere
inquiry.
You see, I’ve acted as
a guide for a few tours to
Iceland and every week I offer
travel advice to somebody
who has been directed my
way. After visitors have had a
taste of Iceland, I’m curious –
genuinely curious – to know
what they think. I’m not fishing
for compliments on behalf of
my ancestral homeland when
I ask people how they like it; I
genuinely want to know. I think
the same is true for the people
who live there.
I am sometimes quite
surprised to hear about the things
that people with no Icelandic
background unexpectedly
like. In the summer of 2016, I
took a group without a single
person of Icelandic ancestry
on a tour, expecting them to
rave about the natural beauty
of the countryside and the rich
cultural life of the city. Yet the
three highlights of the tour
for this group appear to have
been the textile museum at
Blönduós (where they had to
drag me), the emigration centre
at Hofsós (where they lingered
for nearly two hours past the
allotted time), and an exhibit
of some of the dresses worn by
Vigdís Finnbogadóttir during
the sixteen years she served as
President of Iceland.
ARE YOU READY, MADAM PRESIDENT?
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