Ísafjörður Arrival

I flew to Ísafjörður on the "late machine" on Sunday. There are two flights a day from the Reykjavik provincial airport. The emphasis is on PROVINCIAL. I mean, there are signs saying you have to have your liquids in a clear bag and all, but gate 1 is right across from the cafeteria cashier and a guy takes your little boarding card and scans the bar code on it. You walk out and on to a nice, sturdy little plane. They even serve coffee during the 35 minute flight.

It was a clear, sunny day - what a view of the volcanic landscapes, the glacial lakes, the bits and pieces of snow still left on the mountain tops! The deep blue of the water, crystal clear, I swear I saw whales twice. In the sea are many rock islands, a few with houses on them even, and some boats were under way. Coming up to the Westfjörds there are very steep mountains and very narrow fjörds, you could see the shadow of the plane on the almost sheer mountainside and you wondered how ever they were going to land this thing.

Sure enough, there was a flat piece of land jutting out into the fjörd, it landed on that although up until a few seconds before landing I thought we were going to land on the water. This airport is even more provincial, if that can be imagined. There is a little window with a small roller thing, and some guy plucks the suitcases out of the plane and throws them through the window.

You go out the door - and there are the mountains. And a few cars. And a red thing that appears to be the bus. Tell the driver the name of the place you are staying, palm him a 500 krone note, and he'll drop you off at the door.

I have a nice little guest house, 5 rooms sharing a kitchen and 2 bathrooms. That's fine - it's cheap, too. The town is cute, there are a few stores, a swimming pool, a couple of churches and a lot of water around.

The school has Iceland's only outdoor badminton field in the inner court, and is a nice place. At the reception for the course we were shown around - regional development center, distance education rooms, offices, and: open WLAN. I love it!

On to learning more Icelandic!