Saturday, May 29, 2004
Hrútspungar, Anyone?
Meet #2 of Iceland´s Five Wierdest Things To Eat: Hrútspungar are pickled ram testicles, pictured here, often served pressed into a cake with garlic, as a jam, or as a kind of paté. My guidebook comments: ´Not bad if you don´t think about it too much, especially in paté form. Mom and I ate at Hummerhusið, or Lobster House. That´s not a typo in the restaurant name, but the Icelandic letter for ´th´as in then or those.
It´s 9:30pm. Sun´s still high in the sky. No Golden Circle today, Aaron drove 110km in the wrong direction, over dramatic fjord and mountain seascapes, including a 6-kilometer, 14-dollar ride through a tunnel under the fjord. Pictured left is Reykjavik´s Gay Pride Parade.this entry's permalink
Land Of The Almost Midnight Sun
Lo and behold, it was 10:50pm when the sun slid behind the Reykjavik bay horizon last night. Well past midnight, dim orange light reflected off the low clouds, i.e., civil twilight. We awoke at noon today to another rare partly sunny Iceland day. By 1:30pm we should hit the road. Destination: The Golden Circle. Details to follow!this entry's permalink
Friday, May 28, 2004
Happy Birthday Dave!
My brother-in-law Dave turns 41 tomorrow (Sat May 29). Here´s his wedding picture w my sister Deena, taken October 1, 1988. this entry's permalink
Scissor Spotlight: here´s NME´s on-target review of the Scissor Sisters show I took in with Thomas at the Bowery Ballroom last Sunday. Even better, what they´re all about, plus a vivid and helpful review of their amazing CD.
Impressions of Iceland so far: eerily beautiful, lots of volcanic rock and green tundra, snowy mountains framing deep blue harbors, two-lane strips of highway, and groupings here and there of cheerfully colored little houses, a crayola-box cornucopia of paint aimed at chasing away the arctic blues... Reykjavik and environs are home to half of Iceland´s 250,000 inhabitants. Thus, the population of Chelsea and Greenwich Village occupying an island the size of West Virginia.
Aaron climbs the stick-shift learning curve! My reflexes are kicking in, this was a superb idea. It is, however, just as well that I did my first spin without Mom in tow. That was a 45-minute version of a 10-minute trip, stretched out by infinity missed turns and street names that are all extremely long, similar-sounding, and printed on very small signs : - ) I am happy to report most of my mistakes involve gears, hurting the car, rather than traffic, which would endanger me and other people! A stick-shift car lets you know very quickly when it is unhappy, in the form of a noxious, burning chemical smell which is literally sparks flying around the rubber cords in your gear box.
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Burning Rubber In Wonderland...
Impressions of Iceland so far: eerily beautiful, lots of volcanic rock and green tundra, snowy mountains framing deep blue harbors, two-lane strips of highway, and groupings here and there of cheerfully colored little houses, a crayola-box cornucopia of paint aimed at chasing away the arctic blues... Reykjavik and environs are home to half of Iceland´s 250,000 inhabitants. Thus, the population of Chelsea and Greenwich Village occupying an island the size of West Virginia. Aaron climbs the stick-shift learning curve! My reflexes are kicking in, this was a superb idea. It is, however, just as well that I did my first spin without Mom in tow. That was a 45-minute version of a 10-minute trip, stretched out by infinity missed turns and street names that are all extremely long, similar-sounding, and printed on very small signs : - ) I am happy to report most of my mistakes involve gears, hurting the car, rather than traffic, which would endanger me and other people! A stick-shift car lets you know very quickly when it is unhappy, in the form of a noxious, burning chemical smell which is literally sparks flying around the rubber cords in your gear box.
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66 N Getaway
Hey everyone. Arrived in Iceland safe, sound, and jet lagged. It´s 2pm and Mom refuses to get up, arguing, correctly, that it is not morning : - ) Impressions thus far are that Iceland is quite pretty, so far quite sunny, odd-colored volcanic rocks dotted the green tundra as we zipped by many tiny and colorful little towns to Reykjavik, a harbor city facing the ocean and flanked by snow-capped mountains. It´s not unlike Northern Norway, if you´ve ever been there. Hope you´re having a great Memorial Day Weekend everyone. Will write more when I have some decent internet access - this is a stand up terminal, one window only, time limit and confusing keyboard : - ) Better go eat some smoked fish and try to look inconspicuous : - ) Later!this entry's permalink
Thursday, May 27, 2004
From New York, To Chez Björk..
I will be posting from Iceland of course, so that you can accompany my stick-shift midnight sun unrepentant Viking adventure...I love the last day of work before a break...
For company on this junket I've invited along my Mom (pictured below on Arizona's Apache Trail)
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Wednesday, May 26, 2004
Iceland tomorrow night! Here's another picture from my web site's embryonic 'travels' page. Here's a Professkimo (professional eskimo) I encountered on a Norwegian Coastal Voyage from Bergen (60N 5E) to Kirkenes (70N 31E) and back. Next to him is a reindeer. The fur on their antlers sheds, and then the antlers themselves shed. You can buy and eat reindeer sausage in Norway. I tried to bring back some for my JPM office Xmas party, but it was confiscated in customs.. Curses, foiled again!
This trip was in August 2000, and it rained for 9 of the 12 days! The boat was akin to a 'local train,' and between stops and land excursions I felt like I visited every town and village in Norway... except Oslo, which is inland.
Bergen:
Kirkenes, the Norwegian-Russian border
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This trip was in August 2000, and it rained for 9 of the 12 days! The boat was akin to a 'local train,' and between stops and land excursions I felt like I visited every town and village in Norway... except Oslo, which is inland.
Bergen:
Kirkenes, the Norwegian-Russian border
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Tuesday, May 25, 2004
The many colors I can use:
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aliceblue antiquewhite aqua aquamarine azure beige bisque blanchedalmond blue violet burlywood cadet blue chartreuse chocolate coral cornflowerblue cornsilkcrimson cyan darkblue darkcyan darkgoldenrod darkgray darkgreen darkkhaki darkmagenta darkslategray darkturquoise darkviolet deeppink deepskyblue dimgray dodgerblue firebrick forestgreen fuschiagainsboro gold goldenrod gray green greenyellow honeydew hotpink indianred indigo khaki lavender lavenderblush lawngreen lemonchiffonlightsalmon lightseagreen lightskyblue lightslategray lightsteelblue lightyellow lime limegreen magenta maroon mediumaquamarine mediumblue mediumorchid mediumpurple mediumseagreen mediumslateblue mediumspringreen mediumturquoise mediumvioletred midnightblue mintcream mistyrose
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Small World
Well, Well... Our Scissor Boy sure gets around! Yesterday I learned that Jake Shears aka Jason Sellards, lead singer/songwriter of the brilliant Scissor Sisters (more on them later), dated someone I know, and tried to date a good friend's partner a few years ago while in college (when the partner was still single). I confess I'm a bit envious! Finally recovered from Sunday's revelry. Left me thirsty for more rock shows, and this is looking like a good summer for it. Iceland in two days, Mom arrives tomorrow. Got my ears cleaned out in anticipation : - ) My ear doctor is actually named Dr. Desloge (picture below), a fitting name for a wax Dislodger : - )
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Monday, May 24, 2004
AWESOME!
Had the enormous pleasure tonight of seeing Scissors Sisters, an exciting and promissing band, play live at Bowery Ballroom. More on this tomorrow (meaning today after 6 hours sleep).¡Buennas Noches!
George Bush's election chances, in my opinion:
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