Page 14 - 2000 ICELAND

We heard many birds singing, croaking, cackling, chuckling all around us as
well. Iceland does have a great variety of bird-life, though much of it is

shore and sea birds. Since we were marching along near Lake Thingvellir
(Iceland’s largest), there were many birds in the area. Along the walk, we

often got good views of the Lake which looked gray and very cold! Not very
inviting to be sure. Iceland does not look “comfortable.”

After a couple of hours of walking, we were given a demonstration of how

most of our lunches would be handled. We met up with our bus where

Magnus began unloading the trays holding sandwiches, pieces of cake,
packaged cookies, and then thermos jugs filled with a Tang-like orange

drink, hot water for tea, and coffee. The sandwiches were on really good
breads and usually contained hard-boiled eggs, tomatoes, slices of green

peppers, cucumbers, and sometimes cabbage for lettuce. Sometimes there
were would be a fish salad type of concoction and on at least one occasion

we got an Icelandic “specialty” which seemed to be some sort of paste

made with sheep blood and flour rolled into a sort of jelly roll shape. That
one we could not enjoy.

After lunch, a piece of fruit was offered—either an apple (imported from

New Zealand) or an orange (from Spain). Lunches were hearty fare and
certainly gave us enough energy for the afternoon hikes. Only occasionally

did we actually carry our lunches with us on a hike where Magnus could not
meet us at a halfway point.

After that wonderful lunch in the clear, sweet air, we walked along a

mountain escarpment where, in celebration of a thousand years of

Christianity in Iceland, a display of art and photos was mounted, illustrating
the Biblical virtues such as faith, hope, charity and then the modern virtues

which were arrived at by a recent poll of the Icelanders themselves. These
included such things as industry, family, community.

There were mega-sculptures purportedly depicting both the ancient and

modern virtues as well as photos of Icelanders involved in various activities