I'm the Uber Tourist!

So I gave up on getting a phone. All the places I visited asking for one met me with blank stares or offers of a blackberry. I might be able to talk to the Ground Zero guy when he is working again. He was having a good time last night kicking my ass in a LAN game so maybe he'll be willing to help me get pictures off my SD cards and up to my FTP server.



I spent the day doing the tourist thing: museums and shopping and lots and lots of walking around finding interesting things to check out. I think I've got this city figured out and I'm ready to go exploring the rest of the island. I'm starting tomorrow morning at 9 with a "Super Jeep" Tour of Mt. Hekla. Should be a blast. The Super part of the Super Jeep is that it's decked out to ford rivers and plow thru snow. I've seen a few around town and they look pretty beefy. silimar to SUV's, but with a wider stance and look more functional than the crap you see rolling out of Beaverton. I'll be gone all day putting that mountaineering gear I brought to good use. Speaking of Super, you should see the cats here. Talk about stout! They rub up on your leg and about knock you over. Petting them is like petting a wool sweater. Watch out Repo!

While visiting the Saga museum today I saw a replica of myself in a display case. Not me exactly, but damn close.

You would have to see the face up close to get wierded out by the resemblance. He has my nose. So it's official, I'm a Viking. The tour was good and Saga´s themselves are pretty funny in a tragic blood-drenched way. For instance when the inquisition was knocking at the door and the country was only half Christian, the pagan leader announced that the whole country would become Christian if people could: still practice pagan worship privately in they're homes; no mandatory church attendance; and the seasonal holidays would still be observed and celebrated in the usual manor. The church agreed, blessed the remaining pagans in a group ceremony and the next day everyone was Christian as far as the church was concerned. Sounds like a reasonable offer from a guy holding a battle axe and half the country on his side.

I´m taking tons of pictures and will get them online as soon as I can. I'm going to skip the clubs tonight and rest up for Hekla. They say it's an 11 hour trip with various stops including a swim in 75 degree river (sweet) after the climb. I'm still not checking email, so if anyone sees my girl Juli, send her my love. We've been out of touch since I left NYC. Call my cell and it will give you the home number.

The weather was clear and calm today. I´m hoping for some more tomorrow. If I´m picking up any Icelandic, the TV weather report looked like 13 knot winds and snow by week´s end. I hope I got that part wrong...