Atlantica - 01.09.2004, Side 70

SNACK&BEVERAGE MUSEUM
If you can hammer together a coffin, the old saying goes,
you can build just about anything.
Okay, so there’s no such saying. But tell that to coffin-
maker Kristinn Kristmundsson who built a solar-powered
candy and soda machine in the middle of the barren
Icelandic countryside.
“I called Coke and asked if I could have an old dispenser
which they said was ‘no problem.’” Then I built a small
house around it,” says Mr. Kristmundsson, who hails from
Egilsstadir, east Iceland.
Tourists who stumble upon the snack and beverage
machine powered by the sun are caught off guard.
“Most people think it’s a toilet and are then surprised to be
able to grab a coke,” Mr. Kristmundsson says.
The solar-powered kiosk… finally, Ralph Nader can say the
old slogan: “Have a Coke and a smile.” EW
Dying for a Coke
On the song “Used Cars”, Bruce Springsteen sings: “Now,
mister, the day the lottery I win I ain't ever gonna ride in no
used car again.” Most of us can sympathize. I for one am
currently driving a ’91 Lada Sport.
But in Ystafell, near Husavik (north Iceland), Ingólfur Lars
Kristjánsson turned a collection of used cars into the bril-
liant Transportation Museum. The museum, now run by
Ingólfur’s son, is a car-lover’s fantasy. While the better
maintained cars are kept inside, the museum’s true trea-
sures are outside, in the “car graveyard”.
It’s here where you can spot an old London taxi becoming
part of the earth, a rusty truck that’s being eaten by weeds.
Man’s machines decomposing into the land. EW
For more information on the Transportation Museum
log on to www.ystafell.is or phone (+354) 464 3133.
Used Cars
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68 A T L A N T I C A
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