Photo

Jón Sigurðsson

Often refered to as Jón Forseti (e. Jon President) was born on the 17th of June 1811 at Hrafnseyri in Arnarfjordur. His birthday the 17th of June 1944 would become the birthday of the Icelandic Republic. Jon Sigurdsson on wikipedia

A lot has been written about his remarkable man, but I'll be posting some pictures from where he was born giving you an insight into traditional Icelandic housing.





tags: westfjords, president, jon, sigurdsson, birth place,

- The Thor all rights reserved

Ever since the crash the anger has been brewing. We'll be uploading a video giving a feel for the atmosphere. Needless to say people are very angry. Angry at the politicians and the financial wizards who charmed us all, angry that nobody seems to really take the responsibility.

Following are a few pictures BloggingReykjavik style showing the proceedings. A picture is worth a 1000 words. Comments are welcome










- Banners read from top left to bottom right, loosely translated : Solutions without violence, Let's stop the corruption!, New Iceland now!, Lets stop paying!, Bloody f##ing f##k!, treason without intent is still treason, take responsability now, stop IMF, the ocean resources should belong to the people.

tags: Reykjavik, Althing, Protest, socialist, revolution, peaceful demonstration, down town, fresh elections, Iceland

- The Thor all rights reserved

This beautiful place is called Eyrarbakki, only 45 minutes drive from the capital area. It is a destination that most tourists miss. It is really worth a visit though. The houses are wonderful to look at and the location right on the ocean is fantastic.


Nice reflections


The town has been preserved beautifully. A great example of an Icelandic fishing village.


This church reminds you of a different era. Probably one where protection from God was a good idea before going out to sea.


Some houses being done up.


tags: Reykjavik, Eyrarbakki, Buildings, beautiful, ocean, Suðurland, Iceland

- The Thor all rights reserved

Last October (2008) the Icelandic banking system collapsed in a spectacular fashion. 3 out of 3 major banks were nationalized within one week. (Landsbanki, Glitnir, Kaupthing) It felt like all the stars were aligned against us.

People were angry and are angry. However there are a few bright points

- There is no hunger
- There are no homeless people
- Unemployment has still only reached 5% (this will go up though)
- The education level of the country is still good (perhaps a few risk managers need retraining though)
- The infrastructure is still here.

The dark point ofcourse is that the state went from being debt free to being one of the most in debt countries in the world with the highest policy interest rate (18%), a central bank without credibility, politicians who don't have a clue and a currency that has as much credibility as a Berhard Madoff (Made-off) fund .

So what happened? Ok first of all if you are asking BloggingReykjavik that you probably haven't been paying too much attention and should read up on the news first. However having been reading the book Hard Times, An oral history of the great depression by Studs Terkel. I came across a paragraph, from an interview with the American Industrialist Arthur A. Robertson, which could be describing Iceland:

Men who built empires in utilities, would buy a small utility, add a big profit to it for themselves and sell it back to their own public company. That's how some like Samuel Insull became immensely wealthy. The thing that caused the Insull crash is the same that caused all these frenzied financiers to go broke. No matter how much they had, they'd pyramid it for more.

While we do not live in 1930 I think that we could benefit from a history lesson and hopefully next time we get the balance right.




tags: Reykjavik, Glitnir, Depression, Kreppa, Kaupthing, Landsbanki, Icesave, Madoff, Hard Times

- The Thor all rights reserved

Outside of Reykjavik is one of Iceland's favorite tourist spots, the blue lagoon. The water is a very cool blue colour, warm and really really good for your skin. If ever you have to fly from the States to Europe you can also fly via Iceland and enjoy a soothing soak.


A favorite photo of the lagoon. I love the contrast between hot and cold. It is indeed very ying-yang. Iceland does extremes extremely well so to speak.


Another favorite photo of the lagoon. If you haven't been it is must go


Showing a bit of snow outside the windows in the lobby. Added here just for fun.


tags: Reykjavik, tourism, blue lagoon, spa, Grindavik, Keflavik

- The Thor all rights reserved