The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.2000, Side 32

Vol. 55 #4
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
330
us to Hotel Saga for breakfast. After we rest-
ed for a couple of hours, Valgeir had arranged
media interviews with both the newspaper
"Morgunbladid”, and with National Radio.
The drive North into beautiful
Skagafjordur, later that day was awe inspiring
and sentimental, especially when we saw and
recognized some of the names of the farms as
we were travelling through. We realized that
we were seeing the same scenery that our
grandparents saw, before they left their beau-
tiful homeland.
Hofsos is a tranquil little seaside village
on the east coast of Skagafjordur. Colorful lit-
tle houses hug the hills above the harbor, and
there is a feeling of peace and tranquility
there. We were fortunate enough to stay in
one of the oldest homes in the village
"Brimnes," which is over 100 years old. It sits
just a few feet from the ocean's shore so we
were able to observe a multitude of shorebirds
and seabirds in their natural habitat.
It is said that Brimnes even has it's own
resident ghost!! Although we were never
aware of her presence, we were told that some
guests have been aware of the aroma of fresh-
ly baked ponnukokkur!
We mounted the first show at the
Emigration Museum at Hofsos, where it
opened on July 10th. The carvings looked
quite natural on a table covered with a sand
colored cloth and accented with natural habi-
tat (shells, stones and grasses) collected from
the immediate area. The exhibition consisted
of some Canadian birds, some Icelandic birds
and some that make their homes in either
country.
The opening was well
attended and the show
seemed well accepted by
the public. The Emigration
Centre seems a popular
tourist destination for both
Icelandic and foreign trav-
ellers alike, and at times
the daily attendance
exceeds 250 people.
As both of us speak,
read, and write Icelandic
reasonably well, we were
able to appreciate the
beauty of the language in
dialogue, song and verse
and to feel a part of all the daily activities
around us, whether we were shopping for gro-
ceries or at a family reunion. We enjoyed
speaking Icelandic on a daily basis, although
we knew that our “Vestur Islenska" was, at
times, a source of amusement for the people
around us. However, the Icelandic people
always commented on how amazing they
thought it was, that we could speak the lan-
guage at all. While the show was on, in
Hofsos, we took about two weeks and trav-
elled East as far as Egilstadir with stops at
Dalvik, Akureyri, Villingadal, Husavik,
Fjollum, Vopnafjordur, Sedisfjordur and
Egilstadir. We had the loan of Valgeir's car
for the duration of our stay in Iceland! During
this time we visited with family and friends,
took part in several family reunions, and did a
lot of sightseeing. One memorable day was
spent going up to Mount Snaefell in a 4x4
truck, in hopes of catching a glimpse of a rein-
deer herd that is "managed" by Einar's cousin
Adalsteinn Adalsteinsson.
We were always amazed at the continu-
ously changing panorama and the stark con-
trasts between the barren volcanic highlands
and the verdant valleys below; the crystal
clear creeks and the pretty little waterfalls; the
midnight sun and the way that the lighting
changes the scenery before your very eyes!
Mountains can change from a rose violet
colour to a moody blue in a matter of a few
hours.
We returned to Hofsos for the last week
of the exhibit. This week included the long
weekend in August—"Verslunamanna
Helginn." Large numbers of
people visited the
Emigration Centre that
weekend and we were pre-
sent to greet the people and
to answer questions. A tele-
vision crew arrived, one
day, to interview Einar and
film the exhibit. This seg-
ment was then re-broadcast
twice as a news story, prior
to the shows in Reykjavik.
The Icelandic people
are very interested in, and
knowledgeable about the
bird life which abounds in
their country. We also found