The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.2004, Qupperneq 22

168
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Vol. 58 #4
We happened upon a group of people rid-
ing horseback. We stopped and my Afi
talked with them for at least an hour. There
were fourteen horses, but just three riders.
They informed us that they always take all
of their horses with them when they go rid-
ing.
Back at the farm, Afi and Arnbjorn
went into one of the buildings - while I
chose to go for a walk. I watched as people
with haying equipment busily worked in
the fields. It was well after 9 PM with no
sign of any of them stopping for the night.
We realized our trip was quickly com-
ing to an end. It was August 8th and we
were going to a small airport where we
would fly to Reykjavik. We said our good-
byes to Arnbjorn and boarded the flight at
9 AM. After a short stop in EgilsstaSir, we
were on our way to Reykjavik where
Bjarki Eliasson was waiting for us. He
drove us to his daughter’s house where we
would stay for the remainder of our trip.
Her name is Bjork, but likes to be called
Lolo. She lives with her family in
Mossfellsba^r, a suburb just minutes north
of the city.
Bjork invited us on a short tour of
Reykjavik. We arrived at the home of
Gudfinna Jonsdottir who had visited Afi’s
farm at Arborg with her late husband
Sigurdur in the 1970’s. Afi stayed to visit
with Gudfinna while I went to the mall
with Bjork for some groceries. Bjork’s
home is perfectly organized and spotless. A
wonderful supper was set before us and
soon, Bjarki and his wife arrived. Bjork,
her husband Kristjan and I watched T.V.
until well after midnight. We discussed sev-
eral items of world news - expressed our
opinions on certain matters - ending up
with the subject of the phone book!
Kristjan thought it ridiculous that other
societies would print phone books in
alphabetical order by surname rather than
the way in Iceland, where the Christian
name is first and in alphabetical order. He
insisted it was so much easier.
In the early afternoon, Afi and I were
picked up by Gudfinna’s 82 year old broth-
er. We would spend the day at his house.
We picked Gudfinna up on the way so she
could join in the visit. The lady of the
house, Asta, had prepared many plates of
Icelandic desserts for us. Later, we were
taken to a downtown museum that hap-
pened to be showing Canadian pho-
tographs. Afi and I recognized several from
the Manitoba Interlake region. Back at the
house once again, we watched a video tape
of the volcanic eruption in the Westmann
Islands before dining on another great meal
of lamb.
The next morning, August 10th, Afi
and I were taken on a full day tour of
Reykjavik. Bjarki was our guide. We went
to the University. It was evident, by the
way people were acknowledging him, that
he was very well respected there. We went
to the National Library and down to the
basement vault that contained actual manu-
scripts that were printed in the year 1000. I
proceeded to adjust my camera to snap
some pictures, and, not knowing the rules,
was told rather firmly by our university
security escort that photographs were not
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