The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.2004, Síða 19

Vol. 58 #4
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
165
pictures and said our goodbyes. On the
way, we stopped to meet an Icelandic artist.
Afi was the recipient of three of his works.
Then, once again, we were in the car on a
mission to locate the homestead of Afi’s
grandparents called Holmikoti. After dri-
ving many miles, Gretar announced that
we had arrived. The house was still stand-
ing, although abandoned. There was a
newer house nearby. Three children were
home - the oldest, a girl of 14 years, invit-
ed us to explore the old house. The large
concrete, two storey house still stood.
There was a tiny barn beside it where one
had to crouch down low to get through the
barn door. The stalls were so small that I
surmised it had to be used only for sheep,
since no cow would be able to fit. Gretar
stood patiently waiting for Afi and I to see
as much as we could. Suddenly, Afi was not
in view. It became eerily quiet. I climbed
the narrow, steep stairs of the old house -
and when I got to the top floor, there was
Afi. He was sitting in an old rickety wood-
en chair with his arms crossed and was
looking out the broken window towards
the river. He was completely silent and I
could sense that he was in deep thought. I
turned and quickly, but quietly left the
house. Eventually Afi came outside. He
had his special time while inside his grand-
parents’ house. He had a fresh and renewed
look about him. It was as if he had accom-
plished something and was very satisfied.
Once again, we were on the road and
Gretar announced that we would go to a
restaurant for some supper. We ordered a
hamburger, french fries and water. The cost
was 2,000 kronur ($40 CDN). We contin-
ued driving through a tunnel that goes
under the sea. There was a tollbooth to
allow us to continue for a price of 1,000
kronur. Our next stop would be a farm
owned by Arsadl Hannesson named Stori
Hols.
Saturday, August 1st, we were once
again in a four wheel drive vehicle where
Arsadl took us about 150 miles over the
mountains. The terrain was very rugged
and there were people hiking or riding
bicycles. We continued on to see the geyser
“Strokkur” - and just as the sign reads, it
erupts exactly at certain intervals. Onward
to see the very powerful waterfall Gullfoss
and to the town of SuSarkrokur. There we
made contact with Afi’s friend who is the
chief of police. His name is GuSmundur-
Oli Palsson. Following a nice visit, we con-
tinued on the road to Hofsos, where the
first Islendlngadagurinn on Icelandic soil is
to be held. Arsadl had rented a cabin there
for the night. We purchased tickets for the
event for 3,500 kronur ($70 CDN). We lis-
tened to many songs, speeches, and poems
and watched some puppet shows.
The next morning, we prepared our-
selves for more driving. Since it was now
Sunday, Arsadl told us it might be difficult
finding a place for breakfast. We eventual-
ly pull into a gas station and ate some pre-
packaged sandwiches with coffee. After
two more hours of driving, we entered a
town called Solvfk. We stretched our legs
and enjoyed an ice cream cone at a tiny
store. We started out again and headed to a
farm, not far from Akureyri, owned by
Stefan Halldorson who is a cousin of my
Amnia Jonina Gislason. We unloaded our
luggage and said ‘bless bless’ to Arsadl and
Steini.
The first item on the agenda at Stefan’s
and his wife Anna’s home was more food,
salmon, potatoes, bread, sliced tomatoes
and cucumbers - followed by a huge piece
of chocolate cake drenched in fruit cock-
tail. Afi conversed with Stefan while I went
outside for a walk. Stefan’s sons were hay-
ing in the field. I wandered around the
farmyard going into several buildings
before hopping a fence into a pasture full of
sheep. I thoroughly enjoyed two hours -
just walking and observing. Later, Stefan,
Afi and I went for a drive in the country-
side and came to a farm called pvera, once
occupied by my Amma’s grandparents.
The people that owned it invited us in for
coffee. The lady of the house was
Norwegian. She invited us to another
building where she made many different
kinds of crafts. The small workshop was
filled with different items. One in particu-
lar caught Afi’s eye. It was an unusual hat
which the woman made from a bull scro-
tum. She informed us they were a popular
item even with their 10,000 kronur price
tag.