Iceland is for Liars, London is for Nudity, and Lindy is for Sleeping...

Hello Mother, et. al.

I'm in London!  But first the Iceland:

All of my life people have been telling me that Iceland is a misnomer, that it is really quite mild and warm, etc. (in fact, I was told this not 2 hours before landing.)  Lies!  Iceland is a land of ice.  The plane had a landing that even made my stomach flip a bit.  I laughed, but it was mostly for the benefit of the woman seated to my right - she was gripping my hand quite tightly.  When I mentioned the rough landing to an Icelandic couple ahead of me they seemed to think it was normal for planes to land so roughly... hmmmmm



It was snowing and sleeting the entire time, and the darkness has already started to creep into the days.  Being outside was beautiful, as there are glaciers and mountains within view of town, but I had no long underwear.  So, a Lindy-cicle, I hopped a bus to Reykjavik!  I walked to the city hall, they house the wolds largest topographical map of Iceland - actually quite cool.  I was also advised by at least 7 locals to see the city's pond... a pond with geese and swans and ducks, nearly all of them had their tails toward the sky and their heads underwater.  (I thought they might be dead, but they came up, one by one.)  The pond is a bit of a big deal, but I have yet to figure out why...

Coffee shop, brisk walk, coffee shop, repeat.  I saw a higher concentration of hipsters than I have seen anywhere in my life!  (And I'm from Olympia).  I lusted after every knit thing in sight...and there were many.  I have a suspicion that this had more to do with the freezing wind and snow than any obsession I might have with knitting.  The jury's still out.  I even saw the coffee shop where Bjork, the Kings of Convenience, Sigur Ros and all of the Icelandic musicians of International renown spend time drinking and writing their songs (no cameras allowed, but the coffee and wine were cheap).

Going back in the Summer...some year.  Silly people, Iceland is icy.  It's okay that it's icy. 

I got to London a full 32 hours after having left home orrigionally. (yes, I just spelled originally wrong...it's to emphasize the sleepiness.)  I was so tired, having not slept on the plane, that I got off of the tube in the wrong place.  I found this strange hotel, asked for directions, was hit upon by a very silly man with moony eyes - he offered to let me sleep at his place.  An old college professor from the virgin islands came to my rescue.  He shooed away the lustful one, got a map and helped me to find my hostel.  He then told me that he's teaching at Oxford on exchange, an expert in protestant missionary work in Africa during the colonial period. 

36 hours with no sleep, and I found myself at the hostel.  I checked in to my 'female only' dorm and stripped off all of my clothes, I was so sleepy that I didn't notice the man staring at me.  There was a man staying in the women's only dorm!!  6 of them, actually.  So, while scrambling for clothes, he apologized and said: "if it's not too strange, you should know that you have a lovely body, you're gorgeous."  I sputtered something about no sleep and crawled under the duvet on my bunk.  I was out in a matter of seconds.

The next morning (today) I woke at about 11:45.  no one was in the dorm but me.  I'd slept through the cleaning crew's reorganization of the room.  I decided to take a shower in the room marked 'Ladie's shower.'  Twenty naked minutes later and a man walked in! (also naked).  We both screamed.  Then apologizing and smiling he said something about there being worse ways to wake up... 

I went to a coffee shop before this Internet cafe and ordered a coffee.  The owner is from Pakistan and he gave me a mocha for free!  After chatting for a while, he told me that his brother and sister in law live in Spokane, WA.  He said that if I come back tomorrow morning he'll have pictures of them and from his trip to WA to show me.  Then he invited me to have dinner with his wife and him tonight.  I declined.  But he is now on my travel email list!  (so he's receiving this email.) 

Still no email from Nick.  I'm guessing that he's having a grand time, so we shall see what transpires in the hanging out, but I'm meeting Amy and maybe Owen today!  I love random friends in far off places.  (can you tell that I'm still exhausted?  'Cause I sure can!)

I'm off to the British library and then I plan to walk until it's dark!  My normal day four crash is happening today, so I'm in a foul mood.  I think that it's early because of that head cold that I still have and not sleeping for so many hours.  So, ice, nakedness, free coffee, British museum.  I'll be in touch again soon!

Love from Lindy
Lindy Cameron Schroeder