...colorful and cute, a toy-sized town nonetheless packed with good music and fun people and oh so many hipsters wearing bizarre combinations of clothing items that somehow work.
...surprisingly, full of great vegetarian restaurants, where you could get the delicious, health-food-y plate of the day, plus as much bread and toppings as you cared to eat, for an entirely reasonable price. Apparently the days of Iceland being super-duper-expensive are over.
...fueled by coffee. Free refills everywhere. I've heard the theory posited that because alcohol was prohibited for so long, Icelandic people turned to coffee instead. ("What do Icelandic people like to drink?" Lisa asked. "Whatever they can get their hands on," Sölvi replied without missing a beat.)
...absolutely as good as its reputation as a music city! We saw great local concerts at a music bar called Café Rosenberg, ranging from a partly-Californian group making mellow, atmospheric music on guitar, harp and keyboard, to a trio of Icelandic sisters who sang stunning harmonies.
...despite its trendiness, a place where everyone truly does wear the iconic Icelandic two-tone sweater. Even to the coolest clubs. (Or, in my case, on a hike. It's versatile, the Icelandic sweater.)
...possessing of many swimming pools, at which hot tubs and saunas are de rigueur. I actually found the local pool far more relaxing than the much-touted Blue Lagoon outside of town. The whole thing is set up to be part of daily life, since people go to the hot tubs so often, so in the changing rooms there are seats with mirrors and electrical outlets, and women placidly going about their routines of curling their hair and such things.
...heated by geothermal energy! Something like 90% of homes have geothermal heating, and hot water in homes comes directly from hot springs, too. Yes, the water sometimes smells of sulfur. But it's possibly the only place in the world where you don't have to feel guilty about taking a long, hot shower!
...completely devoid of signs that there was a big financial crisis here recently. Prices are no longer extremely high, the country has definitely turned more toward tourism as a major industry, and apparently there's some unemployment now. But on the whole, people in Iceland just seem awfully...happy. Especially for people who live up at the top of the world where there's barely any daylight all winter and it's chilly and overcast all summer. But they live in a beautiful place, and they seem to know it.
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