Iceland review - 2007, Side 16

in reykjavik
kick and run
Ever since the national soccer team of Iceland was defeated by Norway 0-3
in the inaugural match at Laugardalur National Stadium in 1957, the venue
hasn’t always been the source of pride and joy the nation would have liked
it to be. However, its recently revamped Western Stand should fill any footie
fan with pride no matter what the score is on the pitch.
The renovated stand accommodates 6,300 people, increasing the stadium’s
capacity by 2,000 seats. It even boasts a few executive boxes for the well-
heeled and VIPs. Add this to the 3,500 seats in the Eastern Stand and the
5,200 spaces for those who prefer to stand behind the goals, for a whopping
total of 15,000 screaming football fanatics at full throttle. You might even be
able to convince yourself that you’re at London’s Wembley Stadium or Milan’s
San Siro – although you’ll never find hot dogs like these at concession stands
in England or Italy.
Speaking of the Italians, the biggest crowd to attend a match at Laugardalur
Stadium so far was the 20,204 spectators who watched as Iceland beat
Italy, the current world champions, 2-0 in August 2004. The downside? It
was only a friendly game.
ksi.is/english
like a Fine Wine?
Judging from the bedlam of downtown Reykjavík on weekends with shattered
shop windows, pint glasses flying through the air, and falling-down-drunk bar
hoppers, one could conclude that Icelanders’ relationship with the bottle is
adolescent at best. Enter French expatriate and founder of Iceland’s Wine
School, Dominique Plédel Jónsson, who intends to change the country’s
attitude towards drink from hooch to haute one Viking at a time.
Plédel Jónsson’s love of the grape is clearly infectious with an ever-growing
attendance of Iceland’s booming bourgeois clambering to rack up some
discerning taste. Ever since the State Alcohol and Tobacco Company of
Iceland opened up its restrictions on private wine importers in 2005, interest
in wine culture has flourished as the role of sommelier has moved from
bureaucrat to boutique. In fact, since the school was founded in 2006, she
and her converts have made several pilgrimages to the wine-growing regions
of Europe like Alsace, Jerez and Bordeaux. But don’t expect a lesson in
snobbery under Plédel Jónsson’s tutelage. A wine connoisseur from a young
age, her classes are devoid of pretension, instead encouraging questions and
comments from those of us who don’t know our Humagnes from a hole in the
ground. However, what you won’t get at the Wine School is plastered. The
first lesson? How to properly spit.
vinskolinn.is
14 in reykjavik