Iceland Has A Great Blog!

   It is interesting, witty and all together cool! Here are a few examples:

Anonymous asked:Hae! Is this guy somekind of legend in Íceland or is just the photo legendary?

IcelandPictures:The sign has become legendary. I don’t know the person on the photo or if this is the original sign. Somebody, perhaps this guy, brought a sign with “Helvítis Fokking Fokk” written on it to one of the early protests after the financial crash. It’s then been copied repeatedly and become somewhat of a common saying. It was also featured repeatedly in the Áramótaskaup. Áramótaskaupið is a comedy tv program summing up the year, shown just before midnight on December 31st. Somewhere close to 100% of the nation watches this program every year. The only legendary protester in Iceland would be the late Helgi Hóseasson. Maybe I’ll do a post on him later.
Helvíti, literally means hell and is a common Icelandic curse word. Fokk is the Icelandicization of fuck, commonly used as fuck up in English. It’s use is generally less vulgar than in English I would say. “Helvítis fokking fokk” would be best translated to English as “Fucking fuck up of Hell”. Actually quite an accurate description of the Icelandic economy right after the crash.

   
The Grímsvötn Eruption is Over

Well hopefully at least. The eruption began calming down yesterday evening and has dwindled down to a puff of steam today. A group of people drove across the glacier last night to experience the last breaths of the volcano. Kristján Kristjánsson from Mountain Taxi was part of the group and took the above picture. It shows the middle of the crater burping up small spouts of steam and ash. This small crater in the middle is essentially a new island. Grímsvötn is a very peculiar volcano, as it is situated in a lake under a glacier. Lakes of course do not normally form under glaciers, but due to the constant geothermal heat, there is a large lake under the ice cap. This lake is usually not exposed, but covered completely by the glacier. It is only exposed when an eruption occurs.

I have been up to Grímsvötn a few times, but never shortly after an eruption. I hope I’ll have an opportunity to go up there this summer. On top of the volcano, there is a mountain hut, the most unique mountain hut in Iceland. To get there you either have to ski for 2-3 days or drive up on super modified 4x4s. Once you get there you can go into the warm hut and relax. The Icelandic Glaciology Societywhich owns the hut has harnessed the heat of the volcano to keep the hut warm all year long. It even has a hot sauna heated up by the volcano. The temperature of the sauna varies depending on the activity in the volcano. I’m guessing that in the past few days, the sauna has been very very hot.

A seven-year-old child in Iceland carries a lamb to shelter ahead of an ash cloud

      Lots more great stuff at: Iceland In Pictures




     Be seeing you.