Notes from Iceland. . .

(FRIDAY MORNING): Time is going way too fast. I can see now that a week to explore Iceland is not nearly enough time. Three weeks would be much better.

Go ahead: Try to pronounce it!

The Icelandic alphabet has some different characters than we have in English. Some people have these characters in their names. I'm finding it almost impossible to pronounce some of the names of the people I have met, and pronouncing the names of places is equally challenging.

Here's a bit of trivia for you: there are no McDonald's restaurants in Iceland. I can't remember anywhere I have been where there was not a McDonald's. Actually, the restaurants were here for awhile, then in 2008 when Iceland endured a terrible economic crisis McDonald's was forced out of business. The law at the time was that McDonald's could not serve Iceland meat, so it needed to import beef. During the crisis, the price of imported beef rose so high that McDonald's had to raise its burger prices way up to cover the extra cost: the result was that customers stayed away. Goodbye McD's.

Everywhere you go, sheep. Even on the roads.

The fastest speed limit here is 90 kilometers per hour, which is about 60 mph. The Ring Road is easy driving -- excellent pavement and there is so little traffic that you can stop on the road whenever you want to snap a pic. But the one thing you need to look out for are sheep, which are everywhere. Some are afraid of humans and run away when you pass in your car. Others stand right on the road and seem curious about you. It's not pretty when you hit one, so you need to keep your eyes wide open. The only road kill you see are birds -- mostly seagulls from what I have observed.

It's expensive to dine out here -- you can easily spend $100 for two in a restaurant, and the price of alcohol is about double what you would pay in most of the USA. One very popular food item is the hot dog, which you can buy all over the place. They are very tasty, too. I will report the ingredients later.

I need to go now as I only have a little bit of internet time available. But I will be back. Be sure to read my newsletter this weekend to learn more about my trip.