Iceland meetup: 15-19th October

September 25, 2008 6:09 PM

Iceland Airwaves meetup: Reykjavik, 15-19th October.

This is probably optimistic beyond words, but in three brief weeks I and a few thousand others will be grinding a return through the black landscape into Reykjavik for the Iceland Airwaves music festival. Are any other MeFi denizens attending?

I know there are a couple of Icelanders amongst us, but this may be an Austin, TX situation, where the circus rolls into town and the residents flee. If you're around between the 15th and 19th I'd love to spend a couple of hours learning the hangouts and trying to avoid the Brennivin.

posted by NinjaTadpole to MetaFilter gatherings at 6:09 PM (28 comments total)

Avoid the Brennivin indeed - and may I recommend Cafe Hjomalind for a meetup location - hipstery, organic, and not usually all that crowded. (Or at least, it didn't used to be. Reykjavik, being insufferably hip, may have changed greatly in the year and a half since I was there last.)
posted by grapefruitmoon at 7:24 PM on September 25, 2008

Not Kaffitár? Oh, you’ll probably want to drink.

OH MOTHER OF GOD I LOVE ICELAND
posted by joeclark at 7:43 PM on September 25, 2008

God, I'd love to just randomly fly in and show up at the Iceland meetup.

Can't afford it, but if I could, it would be awesome.
posted by Miko at 7:53 PM on September 25, 2008

I have non-mefite friends who are going, I'm terribly jealous, and I don't want to talk about it.
posted by the jam at 11:12 PM on September 25, 2008

I've just come back after my first visit. I can't think of a place that I've been that I enjoyed more, despite its being the most expensive place in the whole universe. Worse even than London, I think.

Reykjavik was kind of odd though. How can any country have a capital city that doesn't have a single department store?

I wish I was going back though. Can you see the lights in October?
posted by PeterMcDermott at 5:34 AM on September 26, 2008

How can any country have a capital city that doesn't have a single department store?

It does. They hide them in the sort of Icelandic "strip-mall/suburb" equivalent. Granted, there aren't any downtown in any areas where a tourist is likely to bump into one. (And I am totally, totally blanking out on the name of the chain. Begins with K. G-ddamn. I can see their insidious ads, and yet, the name totally escapes me.)

As for the lights: I've never seen them any earlier than November, but I only had four years of on/off Iceland experience with one solid year of living there, so my experience might not be indicative of any actual trend. Still, I wouldn't hold out *too* much hope for them. Should be enough drunk people with glo-sticks to approximate some kind of "Northern Light" activity.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 6:09 AM on September 26, 2008

Avoid the Brennivin

I like Brennevin. (and it's hard to find in New York. The only place that has it is my corner dive in Astoria. I've scoured the city and never found it anywhere else)
posted by jonmc at 6:38 AM on September 26, 2008

Oh my god I'm so JEALOUS!!!!
posted by sveskemus at 8:24 AM on September 26, 2008

There are MeFites in Iceland, but not that many. I tried to call for an Airwaves meetup last year but got no bites.
posted by Kattullus at 10:24 AM on September 26, 2008

I never did find the penis museum. We had a map but, where the entrance should have been, only a wall. Unexpectedly disappointed.

Unrelated, I tend to visit places and come away naively convinced that I've left the lovelist people in the world behind. Iceland (especially in the North East) has ruined that rather, because now it's clear exactly where they are.
(disclaimer: never been to New Zealand)
posted by NinjaTadpole at 1:09 PM on September 26, 2008

I never did find the penis museum. We had a map but, where the entrance should have been, only a wall.

This sounds like a metaphor of some sort.
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 2:08 PM on September 26, 2008 [1 favorite]

Have fun, guys. I think I might get the wife over there sometime in the next few years, but I don't think I'll be making Airwaves again any time soon.

Anyone who hasn't gone yet, it's a fantastic time and a beautiful city. Try to take a few days before or after to get to know the place. Try the dried fish in the plastic bags next to the checkouts -- it's better than you'd think. Eat lots of hot dogs. Walk down by the water -- there are a few small black-sand beaches right in town with lots of pretty water glass.

(And I actually like Brennevin. Especially room temperature. It's like a good Jewish rye you can drink.)
posted by lodurr at 2:09 PM on September 26, 2008

Oh come on! The MeFi meetup should be at the Althing! Birthplace of Parliamentary Democracy people, what the hell!? Someone could jump up on the Law Rock and start declaiming Guidelines, then people could snark at them and reveal personal emails. Then everyone would fight with axes and drink Brennevin and jump in the ice cold river that spans the continental plates! Live it like a saga people, damn!
posted by freebird at 4:13 PM on September 26, 2008

I live in downtown Reykjavík...how many people are we talking about here?
posted by Zero Gravitas at 6:51 PM on September 26, 2008

It does. They hide them in the sort of Icelandic "strip-mall/suburb" equivalent

That's completely perverse, but I should have figured it out. There's a fishing tackle shop downtown by the harbour, been open for the last 100 years or so, run by the same family and they had a sign in the window about how they were giving up the business because the city didn't actually want real shops in the downtown area because they weren't conducive to tourists images of ye olde worlde Iceland.

But the thing that I liked least about Iceland were those vile little strip malls dotted about from place to place. It's like driving on the moon and then all of a sudden, you'll come up on some mini-version of Florida. And they all have those 24 hour M1 cafes, which also confused me for a while, because I kept thinking every road I was on was called M1.

I'm still going back soon though.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 6:18 AM on September 27, 2008

Hey, freebird -- them's fightin words -- right now, you and me -- let's take it to the island!

... and if I'm not there in five minutes, start without me.
posted by lodurr at 6:33 AM on September 27, 2008

the city didn't actually want real shops in the downtown area because they weren't conducive to tourists images of ye olde worlde Iceland.

Certainly sucks, but to give an idea of how important the tourist trade is to Iceland - 300,000 people LIVE in Iceland. Over 500,000 people *visit* Iceland every year. It's pretty damn important that they spend a good chunk of cash while they're there.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 7:00 AM on September 27, 2008

I never did find the penis museum. We had a map but, where the entrance should have been, only a wall. Unexpectedly disappointed.

When I went to the penis museum about 8 years ago, it was somewhere in the city centre IIRC. It looks as though it has since moved.
posted by triggerfinger at 8:02 AM on September 27, 2008

I can't believe I forgot to mention this before. The penis museum is now in Húsavík, on the other side of Iceland from Reykjavík.
posted by Kattullus at 10:49 AM on September 27, 2008

"how many people are we talking about here?"

erm, the festival or the meetup count? Because at the moment I'm going to be drawing amusing MeFi signs and photgraphing myself holding them.
posted by NinjaTadpole at 11:23 AM on September 27, 2008

Argh... I may be in Iceland next year though, since Iceland Air has that thing where you can get a flight connecting through Reykjavik, and then just hang out in Iceland as long as you want to, and continue on your way with the same ticket.
posted by synaesthetichaze at 3:20 PM on September 27, 2008

It's pretty damn important that they spend a good chunk of cash while they're there.

Sure, but I think that's an argument for more and better shops in the city centre, not shipping the good ones out to God-forsaken malls somewhere in the suburbs.

I didn't notice any shortage of car dealers. Why don't they ship all those out to the sticks? Tourists surely aren't going to be buying new cars.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 3:28 PM on September 27, 2008

Also, surely: 100 year old fishing tackle shop by the harbour = ye olde worlde iceland (even if it is selling horrendously expensive fly fisherman fetish gear).
10 year old touriste tat on main street != ye olde worlde iceland (and probably mitigates against the particular tourists they're trying to attract).

Also: Arnaldur Indridason rules.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 3:41 PM on September 27, 2008

Oh come on! The MeFi meetup should be at the Althing! Birthplace of Parliamentary Democracy people, what the hell!? Someone could jump up on the Law Rock and start declaiming Guidelines

You're talking about two different places here. Alþingi is in downtown Reykjavík. The Law Rock is at Þingvellir, a few minutes out of town, and is the historic site of the world's first parliament. Alþingi is open to the public, but I don't know how well it would go over to have a bunch of people meet in there ... maybe in the cafeteria upstairs. Although if you just wanted to meet in front of Alþingi, that could be fine. Weather permitting. And by weather permitting I mean you're talking about Iceland in October. Hope you like rain, wind and cold!
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 1:40 PM on September 28, 2008

I'm concerned by the level of "I-know-about-Iceland" cock-measuring here; you guys did read the post about the museum moving to Húsavík, right? I just don't want you to be disappointed and find you're straining to measure up against someone's ego instead, 'cos those things can get pretty inflated.

...even in the cold and rain.
posted by NinjaTadpole at 2:11 PM on September 28, 2008

I'm concerned by the level of "I-know-about-Iceland" cock-measuring here; you guys did read the post about the museum moving to Húsavík, right? I just don't want you to be disappointed and find you're straining to measure up against someone's ego instead, 'cos those things can get pretty inflated.

Does this mean we should or shouldn't let people know the actual location of possible meeting places? I'm a little confused.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 2:22 PM on September 28, 2008

Aw, man, I just got back from Iceland. Amazing place, although I didn't much care for Reykjavik. Can't wait to go back. But, the next trip won't be Airwaves this year. Hope you guys have fun.

(There is a cafe in the City Hall, around the corner from the Alþingi, that I hear is nice. It is also, IIRC, cash only.)
posted by QIbHom at 9:15 AM on September 30, 2008

Know Iceland? I can't even find the department stores...

So, the meet-up is now at the penis museum in Husavik then? Smallest cock buys the rotten shark meat and sheeps heads?
posted by PeterMcDermott at 7:41 AM on October 1, 2008