Mar. 20th, 2002

Wednesday, 13 Mar 2002 - 4:15 pm


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There's something about wading in water that almost forces life into slow motion. Arms and legs flow through salt-thick liquid at half-speed and rushing anywhere seems pointless. We're hanging out at the Blue Lagoon, a hot spring with water that shines in an unearthly shade of blue. It's raining today, and the droplets impacting with the 100 degree lagoon surface covers us all with an ethereal fog. I see Spriggan wading slowly ahead of me, his full-body tattoo is a dark contrast against the pale mist, and another tourist glides past with a favorable comment that makes us all smile.

We take our time exploring the spring, reaching between rocks to pull out handfuls of pale blue-grey clay that we smear on our faces with the vague idea that they're supposed to be therapeutic. We seek out the superheated sections and dare each other to see who can stand there the longest. We take pictures, joke around, and all agree that we have to come back here as often as we can.

Not surprisingly, we miss the first bus back to Reykjavik. Our tardiness with public transportation has become a running theme for the trip, but this time, we're in no rush. I buy a deck of cards and play solitaire while trading travel stories. Playing solitaire by hand is odd at first, and spriggan needs to consult his PDA to verify that I have the correct number of rows. I don't get the neat little card cascade whenever I win a game, but I do get to cheat whenever I want, and I'd say that's a fair trade.
Thursday, 14 Mar 2002 - 1:15 am


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I'm starting to appreciate the location of our hotel. We're a block away from Hljomalind, the local indie music store, where we've been stocking up on local Icelandic releases to flaunt to friends back home. One of the city's vegetarian restaurants is across the street from us, and we're four blocks away from the Icelandic Opera House, where Godspeed You Black Emperor is playing tonight.

The Icelandic Opera House sounds more impressive than it actually is. Opera inspires images of evening cloaks, long gloves and cigarette holders. In truth, it's the size of your average art-house movie theatre, and the crowd is anything but elegant. They're all indie kids, after all, and they come dressed in requisite shades of scruffiness. They are, however, Icelandic indie kids, and are thus possessed of all the advantages of Nordic genetics -- sky blue eyes, platinum hair, sleek cheekbones -- they don't fulfill my personal archetype for "Most Beautiful People Ever" but they aren't unpleasant to look at.

The opening band, Stafrænn Hákon, gave us about forty minutes of mellow rock instrumentals. Chillout rock music seems to have become an Icelandic specialty, with no less than a half-dozen bands like Mum and Sigur Ros giving us languid soundscapes with alternating periods of welcome intensity. In between acts, I went out to the lobby to get a drink, and run into Jen and Gudny, who introduce me to Hallur, the bassist in Leaves.

"Cris, this is Hallur. Hallur, Cris is a DJ from America."

gah! My reputation precedes me! I panic briefly, but play it off as just being a little sick and dizzy. We make small talk before I beat a swift retreat and head back to my chair to see Godspeed.

Godspeed You Black Emperor!, for the uninitiated, is a musical collective with nine performers, including two percussionists, three guitarists, two bassists, a cellist, and a violinist. There's film, there's light, there's crazy drummers getting carried away with the rhythm, there's gorgeous violin solos and languid guitar intros. It's easily one of the finest performances I've ever seen, and while I didn't make this trip just to go see them, I'd have to admit that getting a chance to see them play live did make this whole voyage worthwhile.

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