Ever wonder what it’s like to take a shower in a stink bomb? Well, come to Iceland and you’ll be close to the experience. I thought there may be something wrong with the pipes in our hotel, Leif Erickkson. Nope, that’s just the natural smell when you run hot water. The ground here is alive with minerals and magma from the center of Earth. You get use to it after awhile. The best part is this same water when run cold is better then the best bottled water you’ll find in the states. Very refreshing.

We’re here visiting Amanda’s good friend from Bates College who just had a baby girl. We call her Ali, they would call her Helga outside Iceland and I’m not about to attempt the spelling of her real Icelandic name. It’s important that 95% of the locals speak English otherwise we would be doomed.

As for the scene, it’s like everyone here belongs to a local theatre and every night is theatre night. And after the performance they head to their favorite hang out. For us, this is Boston. No, not the city we’re from, the bar. The name is ironic cause no where in Boston will you find a bar this hip and cozy. Maybe in Cambridge (River Gods is close to the vibe).

And I can’t write a quick post about our trip so far without talking about their hot dogs. You heard me, Iceland may have the greatest hot dogs I’ve ever heard. Sorry Nathans.

Finally, I have yet to run into Jonsi or the rest of Sigur Ros. No Bjork sittings yet. We watched the Icelandic American Idol last night and boy, if only Joel McHale from The Soup got his hands on some of this footage. Gold I tell ya.

I caught a quick free show today in a local skater shop where a couple of kids, maybe 15 at the oldest, were mixing it up on their macs, korg and guitar. Really great electronic dance tunes from these two. Tried to get their name but failed in my attempt. We’re hoping to catch some tunes tonight. Bummed caused Jonathan Richmond is going to be here the week after we leave.

Will have more pics to come and hopefully some new music to report on as well.