Instead of copying CDs that end up being used once for burning, and sit on the shelf, I thought for this release I’d put together something a little more unique, and could be used more like a keepsake. So for “Iceland,” I’m only going to be releasing the album on a super-limited run of audio cassettes, which you can see above here. The album is also streaming online at my basecamp, and if you buy the cassette, you’ll also get a download of “Iceland” as well.
The new album is coming soon, I’ll let you all know about it in a few days. In the meantime, check out the redesigned “GravenRecords” page, and listen to the entire “Silver Speakers” discography (including obscure instrumental albums and the Christmas EPs), which is also available for purchase here on Bandcamp.
Following my previous trip to Los Angeles, I felt like I had finally “seen it all.” I’ve now been to every major American city that I thought was worth visiting (New York, Chicago, Seattle, LA and um, Minneapolis), I felt like urban getaways didn’t appeal to me so much anymore… record stores all stocked the same records (not as good as records I could find in Toronto), the food was never as good as home (when the same chains weren’t staring me in the face), the museums were just… museums, the shopping was the same shopping as everywhere else. You get the idea.
And I’ve never been big on going on a tropical type vacation either: I live close to the beach, why bother flying to a lousy Caribbean destination and go to their beaches? I don’t drink or dance, so clubbing and partying isn’t really on my list of reasons to go. And online reviews of all of these destination places look absolutely dreadful (and or totally sketching with dishonest positive reviews).
I still have a list of “must” places to visit, but it’s going to be a while before I can save up enough scratch to put them together, and until my lovely bride regains her strength, it’s not worth it yet to take on “excursions” with tough physical demands. Iceland was never really on my list, though I have always wished to travel to Scandinavia (and someday I will!). It was actually an advertisement on the TTC for Icelandair’s new direct flights that got me thinking about taking a trip there. I put in a few hours doing some online research about traveling to the country, and I was quickly hooked: it was a perfect place to have a low-key getaway, with lots of tours and attractions, while not being too intense or demanding.
We booked the trip well in advance, and ended up booking everything separately, instead of through a multi-package deal through popular websites, and ended up with a pretty good deal. Icelandair was an amazing airline that treated us well, and offered up an amazing view of Greenland as we flew toward Keflavik. While there was a bus available from the airport that would take you to a bus terminal downtown, we took a cab for the 45 minute drive to where we were staying, Hotel Thingholt. It’s directly in the centre of the city, and provided us easy access to everywhere we wanted to walk while we were downtown. It was billed as a design-centric hotel, and it was very chic. The staff were super helpful and knowledgeable, and our room was very clean, if small (compared to North American standards… I assume of all of Europe/Scandinavia has tiny hotel rooms). We found lots of amazing places to eat while we were there, but we also grabbed a few items from the supermarkets to keep our costs down a little. I found nearly all the recommendations from the Wallpaper guide to Reykjavik (suggested to us by the good people at Mjolk) to be spot on and very, very helpful.
Surprisingly, we didn’t get a chance to visit many of the city’s awesome museums and art galleries, but we did book a couple tours through Reykjavik Excursions before we arrived in Iceland. As it turns out, that was mostly a bad idea: you’re far better off just coming to town and booking tours at the local visitor information centre with the groups that run the trips themselves. We even found out that if you have a group of four or so, it’s around the same price to just hire a cab to do any sort of daytours, like the Golden Circle. For example, Reykjavik Excursions abandoned the group of people waiting to go on the Golden Circle express tour from our hotel, and it was only after persistent calling that they sent out someone to pick us up, and give us a “tour” until we caught up with the tour bus. That’s not to say we didn’t enjoy our trips… especially the Volcano tour (our most extravagant trip) we took via Superjeep. The Blue Lagoon was a good “touristy” thing to see, but I preferred visiting Reykjavik’s public pools, which were very clean, and far, far cheaper than the lagoon.
The Superjeep tour to see the erupting Eyjafjallajökull volcano was the highlight of our trip: we had the perfect weather to see the massive ash plume, and enjoyed a relaxing trip across the country along the way. We also had an expert guide, Siggi, who made the tour amazing, driving a jeep that was a F350 pickup fused to an Excursion body with massive, massive tires. We apparently only does tours when he thinks he can deliver, and for the week prior to our trip, he had actually turned tour other tour opportunities, simply because he didn’t want to disappoint.
Besides the strange lack of trees and large swaths of volcanic lava fields that made parts of the country resemble Mars, the weirdest thing about Reykjavik was the total absence of traditional American chains… I think I noticed a Subway downtown, and a pervasive presence of Coca-Cola, but beyond that, the city actually felt… different. I’m looking forward to heading back again someday, and instead of staying downtown, I’d like to rent a 4×4 and drive around the rest of the country, staying at B&B’s and camping along the way. It’s an amazingly beautiful place, with exceptionally friendly people, and offers a very cool, very unique experience.
Besides photos and ash, we didn’t take too many souvenirs back with us from Iceland for ourselves. My favourite find was this small, handmade planter made by Icelandic artist Gudrun Olof Gunnarsdottir entitled “Form.” I bought it directly from the artist after I spotted it in a design store in downtown Reykjavik called “Kraum.” The shape is inspired by the Nordic House, which reflects the house’s slanted library roof and rectangular windows. I love it, and if you’re interested in getting one yourself, you can try emailing her at gudrun@heima.is.
Technically our first meal in Reykjavik was at our Hotel, Thingholt, which was usual breakfast fare (eggs, bacon, potatoes, croissants, bread, cereal, etc) and nothing worth noting down. We were barely awake when we got up in time for breakfast, and I don’t remember much about it. So on our first day, we sauntered down Laugavegur and to our surprise, that Thursday was a holiday, and everything was closed… except for this little lunch spot, “Mmmmm…” which was a nice homey style place with a stark white decor. I had fried chicken, which was tasty.
Our first night, we didn’t go fancy, but we did go to one of the best restaurants in Reykjavik, “Icelandic Fish and Chips.” The name says it all… they have an extensive selection of fresh fish, and are located right beside the harbour.
I’m not one for Crepes, but I went for the plunge at Kofi Tomasar Frænda, which was another cafe near our hotel. It was also amazing.
According to our cab driver from the airport, the best lamb stew in all of Iceland is available at the Gullfoss rest stop near the waterfall, and he was completely right. They didn’t have “take away” containers, so we got our stew in coffee cups… it was totally worth holding up the tour bus.
Over the course of our stay in Reykjavik, I had many, many lattes and americanos at Mokka Kaffi, the first place in Iceland to install an espresso machine decades ago.
Besides fish, the best thing you can get in Iceland is a hotdog (called a Pylsur). These babies are “healthy,” made from ground lamb and pork, and pretty cheap (which is great, because you’ll want more than one at a time). When you get it with everything on it, the mustard/gravy combo is perfect, with a crunchy layer of onions underneath the dog. There’s one very popular place in Reykjavik, Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur, which we visited several times.
The best meal we had in Reykjavik, was the much hyped “Dill” restaurant, located in the Nordic House, just outside the city centre, near the university. As you can see, they serve a contemporary cuisine with many courses, and each one was surprising and complicated. This is the “can’t miss” restaurant of Reykjavik, and for the style and quality served, it’s an amazing deal cost-wise, especially considering the price would be over double in NYC or Toronto.
Back to reality, I adopted local haunt Prikid as my Scandinavian Java House spot, and enjoyed their easy going take on “regular” food (basically, as a not lover of fish, I was ready for a burger… any kind of burger). I followed this lunch up with their specialty desert, the “Bruce Willis” milkshake, which has caramel, two shots of espresso and two shots of Jack Daniels.
Second last lunch was at “Scandinavian” restaurant in downtown Reykjavik, and I had this nice little Danish style roast beef sandwich.
Finally, the last “great” dinner of our trip was with our new British friends Jim and Zoe at Fish Market in downtown Reykjavik. Someone had heard that the lobster dishes were to die for, and whoever said that were right. However, I went for the mountain lamb, which was also quite satisfying.
And then finally, the last meal in Reykjavik was back at Prikid, where I had this “California Love” chicken sandwich, while watching the traffic pass by under our window.
If you’re interested in looking at some of my photos from Iceland, including more shots of the volcano Eyjafjallajokull, check out the set here on Flickr. Here’s a few more highlights, I’ll be writing/posting more about my trip soon.
