Adventure Katie and I had a great time exploring the capitol of Iceland, Reykjavik. There are so many things to see and lots of new foods to try. My favorite so far is hot chocolate, which I don't think is something special and just for Iceland, because we also have hot chocolate in Seattle. Adventure Katie says that most places she has visited have hot chocolate, but they taste different depending on where you are. Iceland's chocolate must be similar to Seattle, because it tastes very similar.
While we were walking around Reykjavik, we saw so many strange things. We learned that in the summer, the sun never sets because we are so far north. However, in the winter, the sun never comes up! During one part of the year it is always light and the opposite part of the year is always dark. Because the winters are so dark and cold, may of the stores have playgrounds right in side of buildings. In this store, there was an upstairs and a downstairs, and kids could use the slide to get from one floor to the next. There was also a stream and a waterfall right in the store!
Outside of another store, we saw statues that were playing instruments. The statues were made out of fun things like springs and gears and other pieces of metal. They looked a lot like knights, but I was told that they are vikings. I didn't know what vikings were, so Adventure Katie and I went to find out more information about them.
We decided that to find out the answer about the Vikings, we would need some books telling us about Iceland. We walked and walked and finally found a bookstore that was very different from any bookstore I have seen. There were books everywhere! They formed stacks and piles and pyramids. There were books written in Icelandic, books written in French, and books written in English. The shelves of books were like a maze, and on top of the shelves were more books! I was very nervous that I would bump into the books and make them all fall. Or, if I flapped my wings too hard, a pile would fall over and bury me! Adventure Katie carried me in her pocket and we looked for books about vikings.
I found this picture on a shelf. It reminded me of how Charles Boo loves books and loves to read to you and Lizzie Bee.
Finally, Adventure Katie read something to me called a Saga. A saga is a very old and exciting story about Vikings. In a saga, there is a viking hero that goes on lots of adventures and never gets scared when things are dangerous. Instead, he keeps fighting dragons and sea monsters to keep his family and his village safe.
Because this was a very long time ago, there were not televisions or computers or even books! The sagas, or stories, are told at night when the family is sitting around a fire and wanting to hear something exciting. The viking hero is not usually still alive, but he was a grandfather or someone that people remember because he did so many amazing things. The viking heroes have very funny names like Egill, Ufeig, and Grettir.
Vikings are kind of like knights and kind of like pirates. They wear helmets with two big horns on their head and armor on their chest, like knights. But they also sail in large wooden ships like pirates, with a wooden dragon on the front and large wooden oars on the side. When the boat gets stuck, the vikings have long wooden oars they use to paddle the boat where they would like to go. When they are sailing, they look for adventures and monsters, as well as explore new countries. Here is a sculpture of a viking boat near the water in Reykjavik. Can you see the oars or the three points of the viking hats?
Adventure Katie and I also learned why vikings are so important in Iceland. A long time ago, there were no people living on Iceland. Then, one day, a viking named Ingolfur sailed in his wooden boat from Norway, a different country in a place called Europe. When he reached Iceland, he decided to build a farm and stay in Iceland. Vikings and Ingolfur are important because they were the first people to live on Iceland!
Eventually, we stopped reading sagas and left the bookstore to keep exploring. We found the shop filled with candy and the store with the polar bear. I learned that "Konfekt"means chocolate in the language Icelandic! I also learned that real polar bears are very large and if I see one, I should fly away. In Iceland, polar bears sometimes live in the north part of the island, but sometimes they swim to different countries and stay there instead (like Norway in Europe). If I were a viking living in Norway with the polar bears, I might want to leave on a ship as well.
We also found a large church on the top of a hill. It was so big that I almost fell over when I was looking at it from the ground! It is shaped a little bit like a sword, because it was first made by vikings, and vikings really like swords. The inside is very large and makes small sounds loud. I am told this is because of something called acoustics. The floor was made of smooth stone and even though I tried to walked quietly, the flap-flap-flap of my webbed feet filled the whole room the same as if I was running. I tried to tip-toe quietly, but it is so difficult with big webbed feet!
We took the elevator to the very top of the church and could see all around the city. Adventure Katie was so surprised to see that the buildings all have colorful roofs. How many different colored roofs can you see from the top of the church?
We learned so much today, about Reykjavik, the history of Iceland and vikings! We also learned that some people believe Iceland has giants and hidden people who are a lot like elves. Adventure Katie and I are leaving in the morning to go hiking in the mountains where the giants and the elves live!
But first, we are going to sleep. It has been a very, very exciting day and I am a very tired mallard.
With lots of quacks to Ducky, Boo and Bee,
Marvin the Mallard
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