In Iceland, we kissed on the bridge over the rift zone separating the North American and Eurasian Plates. We are talking about tectonic and not just Teutonic Viking terms here. Look at the chasm behind us. Iceland is a land mass that is only a million years old and in constant upheaval and transformation. The plates are pulling apart at a rate of about an inch a year. In another million years, that would be a million inches or about 15 miles. Some say that instead of rendering the land in two, the gap will fill in and actually expand the land mass. Then again, parts of Iceland are also sinking due to volcanic activity along the North Atlantic ridge, which runs down the middle of Iceland. In other words, this is an unpredictable and thus very exciting country to be in, now or in a million years. I tried and failed to learn a few Icelandic phrases. The Vikings came here in the 9th century and brought with them the old Norse language, and due to the isolated nature of an island sitting just south of the Arctic Circle, the language has not changed much since, and it is spoken by only the 320,000 people who live here. I dont think Rosetta Stone offers a crash course in Icelandic. Adding to the difficulty, there are 32 characters in the language versus 26 in English. That means that a Ouija board in Icelandic would come in only an extra-large size. But tourists need not fear being lost without linguistic footing when inquiring about their famous wool sweaters. Most people here speak a second or even third language, English being one of them. I bought a wool cap (see photo). Thanks to Game of Thrones, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, and other movies that were filmed here, people outside of Iceland are recognizing this is a pretty amazing place to visit. Its only five hours from New York, three hours from Germany, which is where we traveled from. In future trips between the US and EU, well leapfrog onto Iceland and explore a volcano or boat past glaciers or check on the sliding tectonic plates, before continuing on to the next land mass, which, in our case, will be Italy, where I will continue my book tour in Milan and Rome. Thanks to my Icelandic friends for a wonderful visit to Iceland and the Art in Translation international literary festival.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Sep 2014 19:13:44 +0000
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