@brittarnhild
It is the darkest day of the year, and when I walk out around 9am it is still pitch dark. But as I walk, the dawn slowly embrace the island, and when I arrive on top of the hill, where the Hallgrim´s Church is, you can see a new day coming.
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@brittarnhild
I am in Reykjavik, Iceland, visiting my brother and his family for a few days. And today's video is from a walk my brother Børge and I did in Reykjavik last night, ending up with barbecuing on his veranda with an amazing view of the city center.
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@brittarnhild
Old readers of Britt-Arnhild´s House in the Woods might remember Whale Valley, the short film where my nephew Ágúst has the main role.
Today my brother took me to Whale Valley, Hvalfjörður, where the film was set.
An icy cold day of winter, with a beauty which almost takes your breath away.
We also went looking for birds, but with only a short period of daylight, and with an icy wind, we managed to find only a few.
Whale Valley got its name because it was a port for whalers. Even today the port is active, on the above picture you can see two ships on shore.
And here are som old whale bones.
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My other blogs updated today:
Vandring mot Kristmesse - the new advent blog
Vandring gjennom året - one nativity a day
dagens lille grønne - green ideas
maskerade - my knitting blog
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@brittarnhild
Stina, Maggastina, Fabula, Margrét Kristin - a dear child has many names we say in Norway.
This dear child, my sister in law, married to my middle brother Børge, had har anniversary concert last night. 20 years since she released her first of four cds. A full house in The Old Cinema/Gamla Bio in the middle of Reykjavik.
I knew already when I first heard about this concert that I was not going to miss it, and here I am, spending a few days in Iceland, starting with Stina´s amazing concert.
I wish I could have taken you all with me to the The Old Cinema last night. To listen to Stina´s singing and playing, to hear her lyrics, to breath the atmosphere. I couldn´t, but here are a few pictures for you to see :-)
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My other blogs updated today:
Vandring mot Kristmesse - the new advent blog
Vandring gjennom året - one nativity a day
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@brittarnhild
Tomorrow is December 1st.
It will be a different start of advent for me this year. I am in Reykjavik, Iceland, where my sister in law will have a 20th anniversary concert tonight. It is 20 years since her first cd.
The concert hall, Gamla Bio, The Old Cinema, is still empty, but ready to greet you a heartfelt and musical welcome.
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@brittarnhild
The surface is thin in Iceland, and many places boiling water is reaching the surface from deep inside the earth. This gives life to many a folktale and legend. Like the one about Gunnhver, or Gunna.
Gunna, or Gudrun Önundardottir is mentioned in a cencus from 1703, so we know for sure that she has lived. Her legend is an oral one though. Gunna was a cofter near Kirkjuból in Sandgerdi (not far from where you find Keflavik International Airport today). The owner of the land was the lawyer Vilhjálmur Jónsson. One day Gunna was unable to pay her rent, and Vilhjálmur came to collect the only thing she owned, a cooking pot. Gunna became mad with fury. The tale tells that she refused to drink holy water and fell dead. On the way to her funeral, the men carrying her coffin felt the coffin getting lighter and lighter, and they heard a voice calling: "No need deep to dig. No plans long to lie." The next day Vilhjálmur´s body was found, Gunna had got her revenge. And it didn´t take long till the whole penninsula was haunted. Pastor Eirikur was sent for. He was a well known sorcerer, and to help put Gunna down into her grave, he took a ball of yarn, telling them that the plan was that Gunna should take the loose end and follow the ball down to a place where she could do no harm. It happend like sira Eirik said, Gunna fell down the pit and got the name Gunnuhver.
If you have to right eyes to see with, you can still see Gunnuhver run along the edge of the burning water, and you can hear the noise she makes when she falls.
Iceland has a great many geirirs and hot spring. Over the years we have been luck to bath in a few of the hot springs where the temperature is perfectly hot. Finding a natural one is of course the best, like we did here (click on the link to get to my post about it), but if you don´t, second best, and believe me, this is a very good second best, is to swim in:
The Blue Lagoon
We hadn´t planned to visit The Blue Lagoon this time. It has become very expensive, and quite crowdy. Not at all like the place we visited with all four kids back in 1998, and we had to make sure not to swim out where the water was too hot. marta was only 18 months then, and we soon discovered that the water was too hot for her all over the place.
But as we were driving back to Reykjavik in the afternoon, we passed the place, we had swimsuits in the car, just in case, and we just had to look at each other to know that we couldn´t miss it.
When we came to the tivket boot, we got the two last tickets available.......
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@brittarnhild
There is a painting on the wall in the home of my brother and sister in law. Well, there are many paintings, but this one has always caught my eyes because of the dramatic nature. It makes me think of the western coast of Ireland, but now my brother could tell me it is from Iceland, not far from keflavik International Airport. Yesterday Terje and I had "a day off", we borrowed Børge and Stina´s car, and we drove west.
It was a wet and very windy day. Perfect for several coffee stops along the way.
And we were dressed warm and rainproof, which made us have a million photo stops along the road.
The more I see of this country, the more it fascinates me.
Well, our drive went on, the rain stopped, though the wind got harder, and suddenly we were at Reykjanestá, where the painting was made.
The landscape was dramatic, and the force of the wind made us very cautious. Being a Norwegian I know that you never know the full force of nature. But what a beauty. What an amazing beauty.
Our fingers froze. Our cheeks went red. Tears in our eyes.
The cliff from the painting.
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@brittarnhild
Ágúst acts not only in one, but in two theatre performances this weekend. Last night was a bonus for Terje and me to take part in, Saturday at lunch time the main reason came. Blai Hnötturinn, The Blue Planet at Borgarleikhúsid in Reykjavik, The City Theatre. The book which this performance is based on is written by an Icelandic, Andri Snær Magnason, and is translated into English, The Story of the Blue Planet. A lovely tale about sharing, sacrcifice and love for the world and its people.
Ágúst gave me the book some months ago so I knew the tale, but over a morning coffee, it was time for my brother Børge to retell the story for Terje.
Reykjavik has a million coffee houses, cafés and restaurant. We found the funniest, which I plan to write more about in a coffee and travel post in Caffe Avec later.
The performace was amazing, a firework in light and sound and colours and dancing children. It was stricktly forbidden to take photos, but when it was all finished and we applauded like mad, I sneaked my small camera up from my purse.......
.......and lucky me, I already had two screenshots from snaps sent me by Ágúst earlier in the day, while he already were in the theatre, practicing.
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Later in the day we were invited to a vernisage, with watercolours made by the cousin of my brother´s father-in-law,
and I fell in love with one of the aquarelles, Summer kiss from the veranda.
But that´s another tale.
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@beittarnhild
It started with the most amazing dinner. While Terje and I had been out for a walk, in rainy, windy, Reykjavik, my brother and sister in law mad made the table and prepared a most amazing welcome dinner for us. In their charming penthouse flat in the capital of Iceland.
No matter the weather, nor the season, my brother has a grill out on their small terrace, overloooking Reykjavik center, and he uses it all year long.
This time he had kangaroo meat on the grill.
Something we had never, ever tasted before.
Believe me, it really tasted so good :-)
After the meal it was time for the first part of our main reason for coming to Iceland this weekend. Àgùst acting in the performance Stéfen Ris.
Before the performance.
And after :-)
What an amazing performance. We don´t understand much Icelanding, just a few words, but we had been explained the plot in advance, and had a most lovely evening following the story.
Stéfan Ris has a facebook page, where you can see more photos. You find it here.
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I have followed Ágúst and his love for theatre for some time no. In January 2013 I wrote this post about Ágúst and his best friend, the boy who now had the main role in Stéfan Ris, make their own private performance.
text and images britt-arnhild
Three nights a week at the National Theatre for Macbeth.
A role in children´s´television on Icelandic TV.
Up early to shot a scene for a movie.
This is not enough for Àgúst.
"Aunt Britt-Arnhild, I love acting. I want to act all the time. I will never stop"
Àgúst and his friend had been to the theatre Saturday morning to watch Karius and Baktus by the late Norwegian Thorbjørn Egner, and as soon as they came home, the livingroom was transformed into Jens´mouth.
The boys wrote their own version of the story, and spent hours playing and acting.
The aunt from Norway had a lovely time,
watching two boys too busy for computer games.
Not difficult to see that this is a mouth, is it?
Do you know the story about Karius and Bactus,
the two tooth trolls?
Àgúst, you are inspiring me.
I tend to spend to much time on the computer.
I´ll learn from you and do some "playing and acting" instead.
You find the original post here.
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@brittarnhild
I have sent postcards to all of you who emailed me your address (+ a couple more). Now we are back in Norway, so it is too late for more postcards. Instead I am sharing a few with you here.
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A few other blog updates lately:
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