The Iceland language: Not so easy. . .

One thing in Iceland you will likely find challenging is the language. For me, it's impossible to speak, read and understand. Yes, there are a few words that sound the same or close to English. For example, "Hello" sounds like "Hello," with the e sounding a bit like an "a," as in "hallo. But most words are not so familiar

You needn't worry much about speaking or understanding Icelandic because nearly all Icelanders speak fluent English. I don't think they have much choice if they want to get along in the World. Outside Iceland, population 320,000, nobody speaks the language unless they grew up there and moved away. The language is close to old Norse, which was spoken by the Vikings. Present day Icelanders can read the language from the 12th and 13th century without difficulty.

So now go ahead and try to pronounce the words on the road sign. Good luck!

Roadkill in Iceland different than in USA

After you drive a couple hundred miles in Iceland you figure something out: the roadkill here is different than back home. There are far few familiar critters -- no rabbits, snakes, possums, armadillos, racoons, deer (there are reindeer) coyotes or squirrels. Now, some of these might be here, but I never saw any, dead or alive. Once you get outside Reykjavik there is so little population you don't even see squashed house cats.

There are a couple trillion sheep, of course, and cows and horses, but I didn't see any dead on the road.

What you do see are flattened birds, almost all seagulls. They must be stupid or unaccustomed to traffic because they barely get out of your way when you approach. That, of course, is why they end up dead, no brainer there.

I saw two live seagulls right on the road. I stopped at the second one, curious if it was resting or hurt. The little fellow looked up at me with very sad eyes and squirmed enough to reveal a broken foot and wing. "Help me Mister," I think he said, but I am not sure. I wanted to pick him up and take him to a bird hospital. But I didn't think there was anything like that. And I couldn't pack him in my suitcase for my flight home a few days later. So I left him and drove away. I felt like a heel, but what could I do?

Gas stations not so rare

The smallest N1 station I saw.

There are many gas stations along the 830-mile Ring Road. The most popular are N1 stations. The picture to the side is the smallest one I saw. It was pretty much all by itself in the countryside. I believe it was automated -- insert your credit card and pump. Many stations operate this way. I don't think I was ever 60 miles from a gas station.

Grocery store at an N1 station

The N1 stations in towns -- and by towns I mean any place with 100 residents or more -- has a grocery store and a cafe. I was told before I left on my trip that they all had free WiFi, but I never found it.

An average sized N1 station

The stations offer a surprisingly good selection of groceries including fruits and veggies -- plus sundries, auto supplies, stationary, beer and wine, bug sprays, toys, clothing, even shoes. For folks who shop there it's the only place to buy anything for perhaps 50 to 100 miles. The N1's cafes offer hamburgers, hot dogs, coffee and whatever you can buy on the store shelves (a microwave and small electric grill is usually available to heat up sandwiches) and may be the only restaurant for miles around. They can be hoppin' places with locals seeking an evening on the town.

The stores accept cash, but credit cards are probably used more in Iceland than in the United States. When I was there (Sept. 2011), the price of gasoline and diesel was about $7.50 a gallon.

Sheep, sheep, sheep!

Once you leave the big city of Reykjavik, you will soon learn that sheep outnumber humans. Everywhere you look you see sheep. They roam the country more-or-less freely, eating lots of tasty grass, and consequently when they grow up and get fat they make for yummy meals for we humans. Iceland is famous for only two types of food fare: lamb and fish. I was not able to get a photo of a Cod, just sheep.

Road signs warn of sheep on the road, and indeed they do show up there. When you approach in your vehicle they might run or they might just stand there and stare at you. The fellow in this ten-second video just chewed whatever he was chewing and stared at me. I think he was more curious about me than I was of him. One day his owner will round him up and at that point he'll either lose his coat or end up as lamb stew. Maybe both. He's lucky he doesn't know his fate.

The strangest statue in Iceland

I think this surely must be the oddest statue in all of Iceland. It's at Geysir Hot Springs, across the street from the geysers, just outside the hotel. If there is a plaque explaining it, I could not find it.

I asked one person who works in the huge gift shop about it, and she was clueless. I eventually learned that it's wrestlers. The statue honors the sport, which used to be a very big thing in the country. I think soccer is bigger now. Anyway, this statue was totally bizarre to me when I saw it, and looking at the picture now a week later, it's still bizarre. To me, it looks like one guy is holding up another guy with the upside down guy trying to cop a feel of the standing guy's underwear.

And, really, why a statue honoring wrestlers in a place famous for geysers?

The interesting statue near Akureyri

I spotted this status just about a mile from the crossing the bridge on Highway One that leads into downtown Akureyri. I'm not sure what it is or what it represents, but I liked it. If you know, please leave a comment.