Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Iceland Blog - Day 1

Hi everyone, greetings from Reykjavík. I traveled to Iceland about 9 years ago on the way back from a European trip. We only stayed here for 2 days, but it was so spectacular that I always promised myself I would come back one day and I really wanted to be able to bring my kids.  I truly believe in immersing children in nature; we need to get our children away from the shopping malls and away from the cineplexes. So often we take our kids on summer vacations just to some beach where the whole family lies like the dead on sand— that’s not my style and that’s not what I believe.  Iceland has some of the most breathtaking natural beauty in the world. 2 years ago we traveled to Alaska and you can see footage of that on YouTube and other places. We then made a full TV show of that footage and we’ve decided to make a TV show here, as well, in an attempt to show families the wonders of nature and inspire them to get out there themselves. People stay away from Iceland firstly because it’s expensive and more importantly because it’s not an easy trip to make. It involves a lot of hiking, it’s somewhat cold, and it rains a lot, but none of that deterred us. First of all, it’s not as expensive as it used to be, it’s a lot cheaper now because of the collapse of the currency. Also, as far as weathering the elements, it didn’t bother us because the rewards of seeing its beauty are worthwhile. We took an overnight flight from New York and arrived in Reykjavík; although none of us slept, we got started right away.

We traveled to the Blue Lagoon, where you can see pictures of us.  It’s the world’s most famous geothermal spa and it was well worth it.  The water comes from 2000 meters under the ground full of sulfur and many nutrients. In fact, many people go there for skin treatments—you have to see it to believe it. Also, the terrain around the Blue Lagoon and the entire peninsula surrounding Reykjavík and the airport Keflavik is almost impossible to describe its beauty. Its very forbidding and it’s even quite lonely—it’s dark, there’s salt rock from the volcano, with no trees—very little vegetation except for green moss growing on the lava formation. We also toured a lot of Reykjavík, a small city of about 180 thousand, which even then it composites 2/3 of the country’s population.

We also went to one of the beautiful fishing villages, as fishing is one of the biggest industries here in Iceland. It was a rainy and cold day, but that really didn’t make a difference because it was so beautiful. There’s a place in Reykjavík called Perlan, which is one of the high hills from which you can see the entire city and the water, which surrounds the city on 3 sides. There was another air base right near Reykajavík up until 2004 when it was closed down. The Icelanders miss the Americans because the Americans spent a lot of currency,  and conducted a lot of business, but it was closed due to military budget cuts.

Today is Day 2 of our trip to Iceland.  It is a spectacular day. While there are some clouds in the sky, it is mostly blue, it’s not raining, and a little chilly (probably mid-50s) but absolutely gorgeous.  We’re traveling to a place called Borgarnes, which sits on a fjord called Willow Fjord. And actually, the area has become controversial because a few years ago, Iceland decided to restart its whaling operation. If you watch the famous show on Animal Planet, Whale Wars, you will learn that this is one of the places being targeted. It’s actually quite silly for Iceland, let alone immoral, to do the whaling given that tourists would pay a lot more to see a whale than to buy its meat.

Everyone here has been so nice, so nice helpful, and they seem to love Americans, which is a big surprise because I don’t know that we are the most popular people in Europe. Still, they could not be nicer; everyone’s helpful and they speak perfect English.

The only guy who was not nice was one who was traveling to Iceland on our plane who literally threw a magazine at some of the kids. He and I ended up having a small altercation because I strongly believe you cannot and should not throw anything at a child. But he was just an elderly curmudgeon. So,  I guess there’s always drama involved in traveling but who would expect such a controversy? I guess I just attract it. I’ll keep you updated as we go along.

Dictated by Rabbi Shmuley.  Unedited and unchecked.