Maybe it would be best for both Jón Bjarnason and the whole country if he were to move to Grímsey, an uninhabited island in the West Fjords.
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The new Dreamliner, Boeing 787, landed at Keflavík International Airport yesterday morning for test flights in side wind. According to the airport’s information officer Fridthór Eydal, the airplane will be in Iceland for test flights for about a week.
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Click on the picture to watch an audio slideshow of a hike to Hraunsvatn lake in Öxnadalur valley in north Iceland, which lies at a height of 490 meters, interlocked between two steep mountains and a small glacier with a view of the majestic Hraundrangar peaks.
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Fjallabyggd (“Mountain Settlement”) is a skier’s dream. Its slopes are perfect for slaloming and there are also tracks for telemark skiing. Winter sporting enthusiasts can also go ice skating or rent snowmobiles. In summer, Fjallabyggd turns into a paradise for hikers. Read this special promotion about one of Iceland’s best hidden gems.
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A beauty pageant where it is considered acceptable for the contestants to show “signs of life,” including wrinkles, scars and a few extra pounds, is to be held in Ísafjördur in the Westfjords on April 18.
“Some think this is a joke, but it doesn’t have to be. This is just one way of expressing beauty,” one of the pageant’s organizers, Matthhildur Helgadóttir, told Fréttabladid.
“Extra pounds, wrinkles, scars due to child birth, sagging breasts, balding, hairy backs, cellulite etc. are regarded sexy [by the pageant’s organizers],” Helgadóttir said.
Titles like “Michelin 2007” and “Child Birth Scarring 2007” will be competed for.
“We have gotten a lot of response from people who are interested, but also from people who are worried about the execution of the pageant. They think they are being lured onto the stage to be made fun of,” Helgadóttir said.
“We are not asking people to go on stage half naked,” she explained. “We want to open people’s minds to that everyone is beautiful in their own way.”
“Of course there’s a little bit of irony involved, but I think it is never good to take yourself too seriously. A little bit of humor is never harmful,” Helgadóttir said.
The second issue of the print edition of Iceland Review 2010 has just been published. Entitled “Under the Volcano” the magazine dedicates 20 pages, words and pictures, to the volcanic eruption in Eyjafjallajökull glacier which made headlines all over the word. New subscribers will receive the book 2010 Eruptions as a gift and all subscribers are part of a draw to win a trip to Iceland. Click here to subscribe to the magazine.
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Dadi Gudbjörnsson's art with its smiley faces, Aladdin's lamps, gleaming hearts, blue mountains and psychedelic flora of unearthly origin reminds me of the cheesy R.E.M. song “Shiny Happy People”. The sugar-sweet naivety fails to amuse me but I must admit it infects my mood with delirious joy.
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Former President of Iceland Vigdís Finnbogadóttir turned 80 on 15 April this year and Mayor Hanna Birna Kristjánsdóttir—in making her an Honorary Citizen of Reykjavík to mark the occasion—observed that Finnbogadóttir’s life was interwoven with that of Reykjavík. In June 1980 Finnbogadóttir made history when she became the world’s first democratically elected female head of state.
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Today, August 30, and tomorrow is your last chance to visit the exhibition “Eau De Parfum” by Andrea Maack at the Spark Design Space in Reykjavík. In the exhibition space, Maack introduces three perfumes that are the result of her collaboration with French perfumery apf aromes & parfums.
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