Here are some of the ways I’ve been caught out in Iceland and what I’ve learned:

1.     Iceland –  it’s not covered in ice – but…  I must admit, I was very underprepared on my first trip, which was the Landmannalaugar trek. I did this as part of a group and the organisers told us the weather would be changeable, but not how cold it might actually be in June.

Snow = better for walking in than sleeping in

So on the first night we all went to sleep in our tents with our normal UK-summer nightwear on. The rest of the night passed in a weird kind of haze where nobody really slept because they were so cold and we were “pleasantly surprised” when we emerged and saw snow in the morning.  So for the rest of the week it was sleeping in UK-summer nightwear plus hat, scarves, gloves, heavy socks…

Lesson learned: don’t ever hesitate about bringing and wearing winter clothes in summer months.

2.     Wind as comedy. In Iceland it can be what would be considered REALLY windy anywhere else at any time of year. I have spent time attached to the fence near Harpa and several signs along  Lækjargata being too scared to move off because of the wind. This is a case of poetic justice as I love to see other people being blown around by the wind or falling down.

Lesson learned: This is a tough one – embrace the wind? Or don’t laugh when you see other people being blown around, it can be really scary! (ok – I will probably still laugh at other people, which means I am doomed as far as this point is concerned)

3.     There really might be trolls. When out for a walk, my friend and I ended up in a place where we were completely on our own and we found a single huge footprint. We both looked at each other and said in hushed tones: “TROLLS”. I can see this sounds ridiculous, but what else could have left a huge footprint?? Stupidly neither of us thought to take a picture, we had got quite scared at this point and just wanted to get to a bit where we could see other people again. We did manage to take a picture of ourselves on this same walk which came out so ugly we couldn’t believe it – even the other people in our group screamed with laughter when they saw it. We looked like trolls ourselves. I’m telling you, we passed through a weird area.

Lesson learned: If something’s scary – take a picture of it before you run away. (before you ask, the picture of us is on an old computer and I REALLY wouldn’t post it anyway)

4.     I love to eat! Part 1  You know I love me a cheese pizza with jam. Imagine my horror when I dropped a big slice face down under the table. I still ate  it – we just don’t have the same kind of jam here and I wasn’t going to throw it away that easily.

Lesson learned: You can eat food off the floor.

I love to eat! Part 2  Well, it turns out even the most basic and seemingly familiar types of food can make you react badly. I never would have thought twice about eating anything in Iceland, until the time I had a kleina (doughnut) and got some crazy allergic reaction of the type that I’ve never had before or since.  It was very embarrassing and I probably should have seen a doctor. Apparently sometimes food might be cooked in an oil or fat you haven’t had before. I’ve since heard a similar story from another blogger around fish. I wrote more about this here, if you like to read about pain and fear.

Lesson learned:  Just grow up and ask for help if your face swells up to twice its size and you can’t breathe.

5.     You can’t always get what you want Part 1  As a general rule but in Iceland especially, if you see something you want to buy just buy it. It can even  be something as silly as a CD, which I’ve ended up going around 3 shops looking for because I didn’t just buy it in the first shop and nowhere else has it. (side note – something particularly charming in Iceland is the way the salesperson actually writes down your CD purchases – presumably because they only buy more in when they need to rather than overloading the stockroom with things that don’t sell. This seems to happen every time I buy a CD ).

Lesson learned: Just buy it! Even if you see something that seems like it will be in every other tourist/music/knitting shop it might not be. I’ve wasted a lot of time on this.

You can’t always get what you want Part 2  In the City Hall there is a large 3D topographic map of Iceland which isn’t really my cup of tea but is the kind of thing that

Handball vs the topographic map…difficult choice

seems to get mentioned on travel shows and I’d previously gone to look at it  “just because” rather than because it was something I was desperate to see.  However, we did make a point of going especially to see it once (and even had to come back as it turns out the building opens later on a Sunday) only to find it had been taken away to make room for a Christmas display. On the same trip I was also desperate to go the flea market – and guess what – that was also closed around Christmas!

Lesson learned: Things you want to see go away at Christmas. But you can go and watch handball instead if you’re lucky.

Honourable mention goes to the husband who insisted on driving up a “road” up the cliff near Vík, even though the guidebook said it was only advisable with a heavy duty 4×4. Needless to say we abandoned it about halfway up and walked – at least we didn’t actually have to get towed out which would have REALLY been embarrassing.

As a side note, two years after closing my personal Facebook account and not missing it for one day, I’ve decided to trial a page for the blog on Facebook. Bizarrely I seem to get a lot of referrals from there, so it’s a bit of an experiment to see if it’s another good way of bringing readers in and making new connections. If you’d like to add me as a friend, I’m on as I’dratherbein Iceland. Takk!

This is an ambitious book told from the perspectives of the various police offers investigating the case. Interspersed are diary entries from Jacob senior, who kept diaries for over 30 years. Anyone who has ever wondered why there are no trains in Iceland will love the details of Jacob senior’s life, which revolved around engineering and trying to bring the railroad to Iceland. This vision brought him to Germany and plans were on the point of fruition when WWI broke out. His brother Matthias visited him there and is still alive, but a little secretive about the past.

Jacob junior has preserved the family history well and ended up living frugally in a house full of artifacts. Why would he have any enemies and what happened to Matthias in WWII when he went to visit Jacob senior?

If this all sounds a little complicated, it is. The book that covers a lot of ground and sometimes features unnecessary details. It’s also a book that will probably appeal more to men than women in terms of the engineering and railroad side. There are many characters, some of whom you would like to see developed a bit more.

This book is really more of a mystery than I thought it would be from reading the cover, and having been written in 1998, is not just jumping on the Nordic crime bandwagon.

I liked the fact that it was set in 1973 as it makes some of the plot more interesting and is the only way it could incorporate the WWII storyline.

I’ll be reading Ingolfsson’s The Flatey Engima next and will be interested to compare the two books.

Despite my silence I have still been keeping up with all things Icelandic. Shockingly I will also be going somewhere else on holiday this year and that makes me feel guilty enough to come back to the blog to share my latest thoughts on Iceland, in no particular order.

• I watched the election results with interest and am not sure how the one person that all Icelanders seem to dislike won the majority of votes. I suppose this is proof that what people say and then do don’t always match up! I have to admit that politics don’t excite me, but Icelandic politics are at least changeable and always seem to have something going on.

• I went to the Sóley concert in London recently and she did something I can’t imagine a non-Icelandic artist doing – actually crossed the whole venue through the crowd to come and sit and play at the venue’s piano which was against the back wall. It was really an interesting thing to do and gave a bit of excitement. Kind of like those icebreakers you get halfway through a conference sometimes. It’s great to be a fan of any famous Icelander as they are so accessible.

• We have had a late spring in the UK and it really gives you sympathy for those in Iceland who still have cold weather and even snow in April and May every year. I’ve always thought that would be the hardest thing about living there as spring is such a nice time of year.

• I was a bit surprised to see that the Hamburger Factory has been selected as one of the top 10 burger places in the WORLD. I do like this place, but it is very derivative of most American hamburger places and although they have a good selection of burgers I’m not sure they’re THAT much better than anyone else. But good news for them, and I hope they get some more visitors who may have seen this list.

• “Iceland – Ash Cloud Apocalypse” was shown on UK television recently.  Although I appreciate seeing any shows about Iceland, this was a typical scare-mongering show where the aim was to tell you how overdue Iceland is for a really disastrous eruption.

• I’ve watched a couple of Icelandic DVDs lately, although I have never reviewed films, TV or music on the blog as I feel it is too subjective. One observation though is how few Icelandic speaking actors there must be and most of them must not get very much work and have to have day jobs. It’s oddly nice to see the same people cropping up in completely different roles. You start to feel that you know all these actors.

• I am doing my most ambitious knitting project yet, thanks to help from my friend at Knitting my Day Away. It is an Icelandic flag cushion cover that involves knitting with three colours at once (gasp) and on circular needles. Both of these things are new to me and It takes me forever to do a few rows and there are many, many rows, but I will get there eventually. I don’t think you appreciate how much of a “fast” world we live in until you try doing something that takes as long as knitting.

• It’s time to start getting excited about some new books from favourite authors Yrsa Sigurðardóttir (next week!) and Arnaldur Indriðason (August). I also still have some other books by Icelandic authors that I haven’t read yet.  It’s a bit like my Icelandic chocolates – sometimes it’s more fun to hang onto these things for a while and know you’re still got them to look forward to. I’m quite good at rationing things out between trips now!

As always I welcome your comments or thoughts on anything Iceland. The election has had quite a bit of coverage in the UK and whenever anything to do with Iceland is featured in the news I am reminded what a small niche group of people are actually attracted to the place. It’s a bit like like my two calendars at work – the cat one gets more comments than the Iceland one! Those of you reading probably know more about Iceland than anyone else you know and I’ve had some great input from you.

Ísafjörður– I love the setting of this place including its scary airport. It will really feel like civilisation after a few days in the car too.

From Wikipedia

Arctic Fox Center – the closest thing to a zoo here! A great place to see these animals which have such a hard life.

From melrakki.is

The Sorcery Museum – who doesn’t love an eccentric museum? Small but full of everything Icelandic-witchcraft related! I must read Last Rituals by Yrsa S (which references this museum often) again before going.
Bird cliffs of Látrabjarg – just hope it’s not windy! OK, it’s always windy.

from westfjords.is

Rauðasandur, or “red sands” – you’ll never guess why! This looks more like the desert to me than Iceland!

from westfjords.is

The weird world of Samuel Jonsson. This is the kind of “artwork” that freaks me out really but I like the thought of this being in the middle of nowhere.

from islandsbloggen.com

General abandonment – old ships, old factories, as life has moved on there are some fascinating relics left in this area.

from iceland.nordicvisitor.com

OK, I meant to only have 5 things but I got carried away…

Any recommendations of other things to do (or avoid!) in this region are welcome as always as I know many of you have been.

With the setting sun it was so spectacular that several people nearly missed the bus back…so yes, it was worth spending 6 hours on a bus in December for a few minutes here.

There is a sense of mystery throughout the book, and all the loose ends are wrapped up by the end – perhaps a little too quickly after all the drama of the story. Freya visits Iceland in the book both as a child and an adult, but does not have happy times there. The author herself clearly has a strong knowledge of the Icelandic language and includes many little facts about the sagas, the language and all things Icelandic. A casual reader with no knowledge of Iceland could pick up quite a lot from this, or perhaps get irritated by it!

For a debut novel I thought this was a very good one. It’s funny and sad, and I enjoyed the author interview at the end where you find out where much of the inspiration for the story came from.

This book is published in the US, but I was able to get it through Amazon. The author’s website includes a blog about a trip she took to Iceland before the book and includes some photos that are interesting if you’ve read the book. I hope she continues to write Iceland-related fiction.

Mugison had a tough one man show to put on as the support, where 99% of the audience hadn’t heard of him. The crowd did warm up and I see he got a lot of positive comments on Twitter.

Then on to OMAM – to be fair, they only have one album so there’s not a lot they can do with it – they played for just over an hour. I felt there were sound issues at times – despite being 7 people on stage you couldn’t hear what a lot of them were doing, or sometimes you would hear one instrument only. Regardless, I think they were very proud to be there and they held it together well. Some of the songs were better live and of course Little Talks was the most popular.

Given their short set, it seems a shame that they didn’t perhaps have 2 support acts, or play together with another band on some songs. This could be a great opportunity to give exposure to other young Icelandic bands and make more of a night of it

I’ve got no photos to share as my phone took terrible photos….I’m sure some better reviewers than me will be sharing some soon! The tour continues, as well as the “season of Icelandic artists in London” for the next couple of months.

The interesting thing about Icelandic pizzas is that in addition to the normal pizzas you would expect to find anywhere, you can also find some fun new toppings that you might not have thought would work on a pizza. Here are some of my favourites:

1. The “groovy” pizza at Shell in Egilsstaðir – featuring blue cheese, bananas, peanuts – many other great pizzas on their menu. Sadly, no photographic evidence as I ate this too quickly. They also do amazing ice cream, although I might be biased as it was about 15 degrees and sunny when we ate here.

2.  The “Pollo Paradiso” at Gamla Smiðjan, Reykjavík -  Chicken, mushrooms, peanuts, sundried tomatoes, jalapenos, cream cheese. Genius pizza, and a good place for people watching out the window.

Why can’t I make pizza this good?

3. The “Downtown 101″ at Eld Smiðjan, Reykjavík – Chicken, cream cheese, jalapenos, paprika, corn, black pepper. A really good combination of ingredients.

The cream cheese must be nice and blobby like this!

Honourable mention – any pizza place will do some sort of cheese combination pizza that comes with jam on the side. Such a great idea – and actually you can have jam with any pizza at home too as I’ve discovered after careful experimentation.

Visiting Iceland has definitely inspired me when making my own pizzas at home to be more creative with combinations. Adding peanuts to any pizza will improve it and mixing up the cheeses is also interesting, although it does make you realise how much cheese is put on anything you buy in a restaurant! Langoustines are also an interesting topping and far meatier/tastier than the prawns you might find on pizzas here. I look forward to expanding my pizza repertoire on the next visit.

I’ll be very impressed if any of you try these ideas at home. What are your favourite foods that others consider “weird”?

Although it was hard work, I recovered from the race really quickly and was inspired to sign up to do the same again this year, and even throw in a second marathon a few weeks later to make the most of my training. (why?? why??)

Second time around the training is not really any easier, but at least I know what to expect now and that I can do both the hideous amount of training and the actual race. I’m under more pressure this year as now I have a previous  time to beat! I’m now in the dreaded weeks where my weekends are taken up by doing long runs and then recovering from them. I’m not sure how much faster I am this year – annoyingly I don’t seem to be most of the time, but then I just had a really good long run – so who knows!

What is handy about doing it the second time around is that I can put into practice earlier the things I learned quite late on last time around:

1. I know what I can eat and drink, and that a recovery drink afterwards is bliss. Still it’s easy for me to over or under-hydrate, it seems to be a fine line.

2. Compression socks after a long run help – I’m not sure if it’s just psychological but who cares.

3. A foam roller is also really good and you don’t really have to spend much time using it. It just relaxes your pains somehow.

“The Grid” – does it look like it hurts? It does!!

4. I should have more sports massages as they find little niggles you didn’t know you had and correct them.

5. I’ve realised I don’t actually like “racing” – I’m much better at endurance than speed. I should just accept this and enjoy what I’m doing rather. I like the majority of my runs because they’re done at my own pace and at the times I like to go out. Racing contradicts both of those things! Maybe I just need to do some shorter distance racing for a time but keep up the longer training mileage. (yes, I’ve had a couple of bad races lately too)

6. Eating better helps, but is still a struggle sometimes. It’s amazing how when you are trying to watch what you eat, you really notice what lengths people will go to get you to eat the bad stuff they have brought in to the office, or a bad lunch. I keep having to tell myself that they aren’t doing all the running, and I do have to eat differently to them. Anyway, it would be nice if it wasn’t a daily battle of ignoring the array of junk food that is brought in to my office every day…

OK, it wouldn’t be so bad if it was at least Icelandic stuff they were bringing, but it’s not…

7. This will sound dreadful if you don’t run – I never understood why people were always going on about chafing, but once you start going further than half marathon distance you find the edges of all your clothing sear a really painful mark into you – so my final top discovery was Bodyglide, which looks like deodorant but coats your skin as a preventive measure. I’ll spare you a picture of what chafing looks like.

If you know someone who is training for a spring marathon, spare a thought for them, as they are probably thinking about running much more than you realise. Sometimes everything is going great and you really love your training, and sometimes you’re in pain a lot of the time, but either way, running has to take over your world for a little while. It’s really nice when people genuinely take an interest in what you’re doing, and equally it can come across as rude when someone close to you forgets for the hundredth time that you’ve told them about a certain race you’re doing. (see ranty post from last year on tactlessness here.)

Hopefully when it’s all over I’ll be writing a post to tell you I broke my own record! Until then I’ll be counting down the weeks…