Tue, 19.March 2013
In Time Magazine in the last week:
Iceland’s austere essence can be found in the Westfjords, a claw-shaped peninsula facing Greenland. First visit the Vatnasafn/Library of Water, a striking Modernist building where artist Roni Horn has installed columns of melted ice from 24 Icelandic glaciers, each a different color based on its geological history. Then take the ferry across and stay at Hotel Latrabjarg, in Patreksfjordur, an appropriately homey ex-schoolhouse. At Breidavik, where the guesthouse is a notorious former boys’ home, we were told the saga of two farmhouses in nearby Sjounda: in 1802 an adulterous couple murdered their respective spouses, as recounted in Gunnar Gunnarsson’s novel The Black Cliffs. High up on the windy cliffs of Latrabjarg, the westernmost tip of Europe, we communed with black-and-white puffins in the midnight sun. Memory is long here, and the landscape has a palpable supernatural spirit. Visit westfjords.is for more. More:
—Cathryn Drake
Fri, 15.March 2013
In der letzten Woche war sehr schlechtes Wetter bei uns in den Westfjorden. Man konnte nirgendswo hin gehen. Für mich ist dies normal, aber für Sie als Tourist hier kann es ein richtiges Abenteuer sein, weil Sie vielleicht bisher noch nicht solch ein Wetter erlebt haben. Der Wind bläst Ihnen ins Gesicht. Sie brauchen all Ihre Energie, um vorwärts zu kommen, manchmal gehen Sie rückwärts. Jeder muß an wetter- und windfeste Kleidung denken, bevor er aus dem Haus geht, weil die Temperaturen bei starkem Wind erheblich sinken. Schneewehen bauen sich schnell um mein Haus herum auf. Es ist nicht besonders spazig sich an schneereichen Tagen immer wieder aus dem Haus zu graben, aber es hält mich fit.
Die Eis- und Schneebilder habe ich nach dem Unwetter am letzten Wochenende im Ísafjörður Djúp aufgenommen.
Fri, 15.March 2013
In the last week there has been some very bad weather on the West Fjords. You couldn´t go nowhere. For me it is normal but for you, the tourist it can be a really adventure, because most of you have never experienced such weather before. The wind blows the snow in your face. You need all your energy to go forward, sometimes you go backward. Everybody need's to think about wind- and waterproof outdoor clothes before going outside, because the temperature feels much colder in the wind. Snow drifts quickly arise around my house. Indeed it's not that fun to dig me out of my house every snowy day, but it's a good fitness exercise.
The ice and snow pictures I took after windstorm last weekend in Ísafjörður Djúp.
Wed, 13.February 2013
Yesterday I went in beautiful sunshine up to the slopes of Ísafjörður. There I saw a group of Snow Grouse or Snow Chicken search for food between the bushes.