The neighborhood I live in bills itself as the center of the universe. A sign at the neighborhood’s main intersection indicates the distance to a whimsical assortment of destinations to prove it. The small northern Icelandic city of Akureyri has no such pretensions. But it does have this very similar sign. Maybe that’s why I felt so immediately at home there? Because quite inexplicably, despite having only visited the place twice and for less than a total of 24 hours, I have always felt that if I didn’t live in Seattle, I’d like to live in Akureyri.
I personally dislike sportsball of all kinds. But I like my kids and I like Iceland. Back in 2016, both of my kids were on soccer teams. And Iceland almost made it to the World Cup. So that year, I paid a little bit of attention.
Since I’m blurry on the details of European soccer (or, let’s face it, youth rec leagues despite years as a reluctant soccer mom) I’ll quote Wikipedia:
Iceland reached its first major tournament, UEFA Euro 2016, after a qualification campaign which included home and away wins over the Netherlands. After advancing to the knockout stages of Euro 2016, Iceland defeated England in the Round of 16, advancing to the quarter-finals, where they lost to host nation France 5–2.
That doesn’t sound like much, but until about a decade earlier, it was impossible to play soccer year-round in Iceland because there were no indoor pitches. Playing against some of the best professional teams in the world, Iceland’s top soccer players all had day jobs.
It was just a coincidence that my husband and I were in Reykjavik on the day they team returned. We had no foreknowledge of the event and just happened to be walking around the neighborhood when it became apparent that something was going on. And that’s how I came to join in as all of Iceland came out to hail the conquering heroes.
How many things that I love can you fit in one picture? A bookstore. Featuring diverse stories (which is another way of saying stories you haven’t heard a thousand times already). And Icelandic wisdom. Throw in a latte and you’ve got my perfect day.
Taste of Iceland, the annual, four-day Icelandic culture festival in Seattle (and a few other cities) turns 10 this year. October is high season for colds in my child-filled household, so I don’t always make it.
For the 10th anniversary, Taste of Iceland is pulling out all the stops, with so many events that they have begun to overlap like a miniature multi-art Airwaves, so even if you dedicate the whole week to it, you couldn’t make it to all the events. I was therefore incredibly stoked to be invited to the press preview. Read More
On my first trip to Iceland, I naively bragged that I had read all the sagas. My listener was too polite to do more than quirk an eyebrow. Of course, I had not read all the sagas. I had read that giant paperback Penguin Classics Deluxe collection, The Sagas of Icelanders, plus The Saga of Burnt Njál. At the time, I didn’t know that more was possible.
For English speakers outside of academia, the ten sagas and assorted short stories of the Penguin compilation remains definitive. But there is another. Read More
