Land
of Fire and Ice
The island nation of Iceland lies just below the arctic circle, atop the Mid-Atlantic ridge, and over a volcanic hot spot. Needless to say the geology is very interesting. Volcanic vents abound and a large part of Iceland's power comes from geothermal sources. Steam from underground heats their houses and produces their electricity. Earthquakes and lava flows are also common. In fact there was a 6.1 magnitude earthquake that hit near Reykjavik just a couple of months before our visit. The island of Surtsey, off the south coast, was formed by volcanic eruptions in the 1960's.
Culturally Iceland is also very interesting. The language is close to old Norse, the language of the Vikings. It still has the ancient letters thorn (Þ) and eth(Ð). Iceland is the only place in Europe that still uses patronymics and matronymics instead of family names. If we had been born in Iceland, we would be Frederik Herbertsson and Marie Dorthasdóttir.
In Iceland we visited Akureyri and Isafjordur going east, and Reykjavik on the way back.
