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How many Mudcatters have visit Iceland??
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Subject: How many Mudcatters have visit Iceland?? From: skarpi Date: 16 Nov 02 - 02:50 PM Okei all, I want to know how many of Mudcat people have visit this Island In the North Atlantic Ocean . What did you think of it, what was the most interesting places you saw, how was the food and the service, hotels and all the rest . Why? well I want to know so I can make a good tour for anyone who want to come to Iceland . I think I know what i can show people but It is also good to know what other people think about Iceland. So say what you think of the matter, I want be hurt. All the best Skarpi Iceland. |
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Subject: RE: How many Mudcatters have visit Iceland?? From: Fingerbuster Date: 16 Nov 02 - 03:22 PM I came to Iceland 18 years ago, i was most surprised to see people (at the airport Keflavik) filling up shopping trolleys with - beer! the only thing i took in was a bottle of whisky for the boss of the company i was working for. It was only when i reached the hotel/lodge/shop/restaurant/factory (all in one) that i found out that beer was not available, apart from some places in Reykjavic! Something to do with the "wives of fishermens" electoral powers i was informed. It was a sober three weeks, i can tell you. Nevertheless, My interpreter - Magnus Kristmansson, did his best to entertain me and show me the sights of Iceland; I (obviously) wanted to see a geyser in action, Magnus took me to a geyser which was dormant, unworried, he went off to a nearby shop and purchased a bottle of washing up liquid - this he promptly emptied into the orifice of the geyser, lo and behold a few seconds later she blew 100 feet into the air, stunning! Next he took me to a greenhouse with Grapes,Bananas and all sorts of tropical fruit growing in it - it was minus 23 outside! geothermal energy eh? Probably the most amusing trip was to see the fleet of 3 M.T.Bs that held Her majesties navy at bay during the cod wars, they were a bit battered and bruised but they did the job perfectly. Even though i was there on business i had a great time, and i'm looking forward to having a holiday in Reykjavik soon. Nic. |
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Subject: RE: How many Mudcatters have visit Iceland?? From: RolyH Date: 16 Nov 02 - 03:24 PM I went twice in 1992/93 (the second time on route to Greenland)and found it a wonderful place to visit.Everywhere was well kept and clean.I especially enjoyed the Myvatn area.I would recommend it to anyone looking for a holiday with a difference,although be prepared to be tea-total as alchohol is quiet expensive.(steer clear of the Brennivin!) The food was brilliant.I remember eating freshly caught salmon the likes of which I havn't tasted any other place.The Icelancic people were very polite and petty crime was almost unknown. I didn't get too much involved in the music scene.The only 'local' music I heard was similar to Gregorian chants. I keep promising myself I will go back one day. |
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Subject: RE: How many Mudcatters have visit Iceland?? From: skarpi Date: 16 Nov 02 - 03:31 PM Aah Nic , now you can get in any pup and get as much beer you want It has been like that for many years. All the best Skarpi Iceland. |
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Subject: RE: How many Mudcatters have visit Iceland?? From: Susanne (skw) Date: 16 Nov 02 - 09:13 PM Skarpi, it seems to me I haven't read your name for some time. Glad to do so now. Unfortunately, I can't offer anything but the wish to visit Iceland (preferably by boat, so it'll have to wait till I retire) and a couple of acquaintances who spent their honeymoon there. Not good enough, I suppose ... |
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Subject: RE: How many Mudcatters have visit Iceland?? From: Haruo Date: 16 Nov 02 - 09:26 PM I flew Loftleiðir from New York to Luxembourg (and, a couple weeks later, back) via your island in March, 1973. Although we touched down and got off the plane, that was about all. I bought a pint (probably really a half-liter) of vodka (Столичная™) in the duty-free shop and drank it in Switzerland a week later. I ended up with change in ¿Íslenska? currency which proved impossible to change on the continent. That's about all I remember. Ireland is the only country I've come closer to not visiting. In 1968 (when I was 14) we took an ocean liner from Southampton to New York, and it pulled into a bay (Cork harbor? Cobh?) in southern Ireland, so that we were at least 75% surrounded by the Emerald Isle, but we didn't actually touch the Sod. Little old ladies in speedboats came out and tried to sell us cardigans. It was Quaint and Green. Haruo |
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Subject: RE: How many Mudcatters have visit Iceland?? From: mack/misophist Date: 16 Nov 02 - 10:15 PM Sadly, I have never been there, but my father was! He said Iceland is 'very well mineralized' a great place for rock hounds. |
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Subject: RE: How many Mudcatters have visit Iceland?? From: GUEST,.gargoyle Date: 16 Nov 02 - 10:23 PM Skarpi - TODAY? You can get any alcohol - but what is the price?
Ten years ago 1989 they searched automobiles leaving the base, for fear of alcohol (mainly beer) making it to the black-market. (Its' restrictive laws made it a place to refine the homebrewing process and move into distillation.) Raytheon/Hughes was installing radar systems and the U.S. military was the only source of cheap alcohol.
Yes, you could get beer in town, but at close to $5.00 a bottle. Iceland is an expensive place to live, but if you can live cheap and thereby bankroll yourself with U.S. tax credits, it is a goldmine.
Raykjavik is a nice, clean city. Your folklore is wonderful, perhaps, born of long nights inwhich to spin wonderful tales. But it is your natural resources that are astounding, the hotsprings, the waterfalls, the pecular land formations.
I find it ironic that Iceland has little ice, even in the winters. Iceland in the summer is green, green green. However Greenland, as far as I am concerned, is a frozen, baren, brown, and full of ice hunk of rock.
You live in beautiful and grand country. You have reason to be proud.
Sincerely, |
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Subject: RE: How many Mudcatters have visit Iceland?? From: GUEST,adavis@truman.edu Date: 16 Nov 02 - 11:59 PM RolyH and Gargoyle have been to Greenland? What the hell FOR? No, I'm really curious. I've actually always wanted to go. What's there? Adam |
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Subject: RE: How many Mudcatters have visit Iceland?? From: EBarnacle1 Date: 17 Nov 02 - 02:06 AM Let's hold the MudCat festival there. It's halfway between continents. By the time we get it organized, my schooner will be ready for a shakedown run from New York. |
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Subject: RE: How many Mudcatters have visit Iceland?? From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull Date: 17 Nov 02 - 03:29 AM i heard the bear is expensive there, i saw a programme about it once, jeremy clarkson went.john |
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Subject: RE: How many Mudcatters have visit Iceland?? From: MMario Date: 17 Nov 02 - 08:51 AM Garg - there are a lot of venues in the states where beer goes for $5.00 a bottle - |
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Subject: RE: How many Mudcatters have visit Iceland?? From: lady penelope Date: 17 Nov 02 - 12:03 PM $5 a bottle is London club prices. I'm sure it can worked around........ I must say Iceland is one of the few places I have an actual desire to visit ( Not very well travelled is an understatement and then some ). It would be nice to have a friendly face at hand, as it were, should I go mad and actually leave the Uk for the first time in 20 years!!! TTFN M'Lady P. |
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Subject: RE: How many Mudcatters have visit Iceland?? From: Dave Swan Date: 17 Nov 02 - 02:32 PM I had plans to spend part of September there in 1993, but a death in the family caused to cancel at the last moment. Your thread reminds me of how much I still want to visit Iceland. Can't really say why, I've felt drawn there for a long time, and read about it whenever I can get my hands on something new. Maybe 2003. D |
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Subject: RE: How many Mudcatters have visit Iceland?? From: sed Date: 17 Nov 02 - 02:56 PM I'd love to visit. Is there anything like street music during any season? In Boston we used to sing in the subways even during the winter. Maybe Iceland has special geothermal greenhouse entertainment???? |
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Subject: RE: How many Mudcatters have visit Iceland?? From: Big Mick Date: 17 Nov 02 - 03:18 PM At one point we were talking with Skarpi about going there to do some gigs. It didn't work out, and I must tell you that it disappointed me not to be able to visit. I am in full concurrence that the International gathering be held there. I think that would be wonderful, with Nova Scotia running a close second. Any country that has the folklore, in word and song, that this one does is guaranteed to be a great place. Mick |
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Subject: RE: How many Mudcatters have visit Iceland?? From: RolyH Date: 17 Nov 02 - 03:25 PM Do they still have the giant chess sets in the centre of Reykjavic? It puts a whole new perspective on the game. |
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Subject: RE: How many Mudcatters have visit Iceland?? From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 17 Nov 02 - 03:30 PM My husband and I went to Iceland for about ten days in 1994. We were worried about the high price of hotels, et cetera, so we tried camping. It was mid-June, but it was still too cold for that. After a while we discovered the family hostel in Stykkhisholmer and stayed there. We only ate in a restaurant one time. (The food was delicious but the music was unpleasant.) We found that food from the grocery stores was delicious, so that's what we ate almost all the time. The thing that led us to take the trip (after years of dreaming about it) was an article in Birder's World Magazine which which told exactly where to go in Iceland to see what kind of birds. The bird-watching in Iceland is incredible! So we rented a car and followed the ring road around western Iceland, stopping at the sites listed in the article. After that we went inland to see Gullfoss and Geyser (sp?). Everyone who visits Iceland should see Gullfoss. The air was clean, the scenery was great, the people were nice. The only things we didn't like were the high prices and the ugly rock and rap music which was forced on us while riding on the ferries and other public places. To get even, we bought a tape called "Melodies in the Midnight Sun" and we drove around Reykjavik with the windows open, playing it loud. |
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Subject: RE: How many Mudcatters have visit Iceland?? From: Cobble Date: 17 Nov 02 - 04:16 PM I was there in 1966 with Her Majestys Navy visited Reykjavik, all I really remember was a lot of salesmen trying to sell us sheepskins. The fishing in the harbour was good tho. Cobble. |
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Subject: RE: How many Mudcatters have visit Iceland?? From: skarpi Date: 17 Nov 02 - 04:36 PM Well there are some witch have come to Iceland and I hope many more will but I know Dan Milnerhas been to Iceland many year in row he´s got some good friends In Reykjavík, The beer is still in high price and the chess is in Reykjavík in the summer time.The food price are going down . And the weather at this moment is BAD very bad high wind and it is snowing in the montains but still it is November. Skarpi Iceland |
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Subject: RE: How many Mudcatters have visit Iceland?? From: Les from Hull Date: 17 Nov 02 - 06:01 PM Hey skarpi - although I've never been to Iceland, you should know that Reykjavik is one of Hull's Twin Towns. You may look at the various threads featuring Hull in a new light now. |
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Subject: RE: How many Mudcatters have visit Iceland?? From: Llanfair Date: 17 Nov 02 - 06:22 PM When I was 11, my mum won a competition run by the News Chronicle and Nestles chocolate, and I got 4 days in Iceland to meet Father Christmas. We had lunch with the President, swam in a swimming pool heated by natural springs, visited the far north of the Island, and lots more. The alcohol wasn't an issue!! It got light at 10am, and dark again at 2pm, I remember, and I was sick in the taxi on the way to the airport in London. I intend to visit again before I'm too old!!! Cheers, Bron. |
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Subject: RE: How many Mudcatters have visit Iceland?? From: Haruo Date: 17 Nov 02 - 09:12 PM Les and Skarpi, Reykjavík is also one of Seattle's Sister Cities, which I take to be yankee for "Twin Towns". FWIW. The others are Bergen, Beersheva, Cebu, Chongqing, Galway, Tashkent, Gdynia, Perugia, Mazatlán, Mombasa, Haiphong, Kaohsiung, Kōbe, Christchurch, Limbé, Nantes, Pé, Sihanoukville, Surabaya and Taejŏn. Was a time when Dawson City, Perth, and Managua were on the list, but maybe that was just my imagination. Haruo |
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Subject: RE: How many Mudcatters have visit Iceland?? From: GUEST Date: 17 Nov 02 - 10:13 PM For verification of the high cost - go to this page http://www.explore-reykjavik.com/549/Reykjavik_Nightlife.html
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Subject: RE: How many Mudcatters have visit Iceland?? From: Haruo Date: 18 Nov 02 - 12:26 AM My goodness, you'd think the Icelanders would devise a way to make a wine substitute out of their local bananas. ;-) Haruo |
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Subject: RE: How many Mudcatters have visit Iceland?? From: Teribus Date: 18 Nov 02 - 04:33 AM Hi skarpi, I have been to Iceland but many, many years ago. Went to Egilstadir (near Seydisfjord?) over in the east of Iceland, then up to Akureyri, then back to Scotland from Rekjavik. Many, many great memories and truly inspiring sights, most dramatic being the emergence of the island of Surtsey from the Atlantic. Flying into Reykjavik and on departure, the Captain of the Icelandair flight, flew us round so that all the passengers could ahve a good look at it - brilliant. I have every intention of returning someday. |
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Subject: RE: How many Mudcatters have visit Iceland?? From: Wolfgang Date: 18 Nov 02 - 09:35 AM I've been there mayn many years ago (touring around) and it was one of my finest holidays. Wolfgang |
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Subject: RE: How many Mudcatters have visit Iceland?? From: EBarnacle1 Date: 18 Nov 02 - 03:38 PM We can all sing with pleasure as we enjoy the saunas and hot tubs between sets. Aaaah the joy of it all. |
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Subject: RE: How many Mudcatters have visit Iceland?? From: Naemanson Date: 18 Nov 02 - 03:40 PM My mother and sister visited Iceland for a few days on their way to the UK. They still rave about how wonderful it is. Skarpi, if you can persuade the civilian contract specialist at the base to go home I can take his place and move to Iceland (hint, hint) Brett |
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Subject: RE: How many Mudcatters have visit Iceland?? From: skarpi Date: 18 Nov 02 - 04:39 PM Brett I know there are some cicilian who want´s to go back home , but you have to talk to airforce about the rest. Here in Iceland we have many places to as in many other country´s but there are some strange something that attracks you like in the north west of the country the mountains they just take your mind and give you some power to move on with your live and ofcourse we have alfs and trolls and the fairy´s I think this last word is not right but I am gonna be in Halifax next October 2003 On some folkfestival and visit my friends there. So I´ll see something new I hope. All the best to you all your friend Skarpi Iceland. |
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Subject: RE: How many Mudcatters have visit Iceland?? From: GUEST,Essex Girl on another PC Date: 19 Nov 02 - 08:58 AM I visited Iceland on a 1 day stopover a few years back in October. We drove around in the dark for a few hours trying to find some breakfast but nothing was open. Finally made it out to the hot springs which were great, but still had great difficulty getting anything decent to eat and drink either there or in Reyjavik. Perhaps the situation has improved now more people visit. |
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Subject: RE: How many Mudcatters have visit Iceland?? From: GUEST Date: 19 Nov 02 - 09:46 AM When I was in my teens in the sixties I found myself working as a R.O. on the Humberside trawlers and often visiting Iceland -usually Seydisfjor and Norfjior. About a year after I left the trawlers and went deepsea, one of my ex boats, the St Rominus, went down in Seydisfjor loosing all crew except 2 men. It was the deadly black ice that caused it. I have always admired the Icelandic fishermen who have taken control of their fishing grounds and protected the stocks. To be on the bright side, Skarpi, there must be some great fishing songs in your tradition. Do the young folk in Iceland keep them alive today? Andy |
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Subject: RE: How many Mudcatters have visit Iceland?? From: skarpi Date: 19 Nov 02 - 05:41 PM Dear Andy , out in the country the folks keep them alive yes ,and in one place Vestmannisland witch I am from we have many old fishermanns songs . A one weekend in Agust we have festival in VestmannIsland and there we sing and teach all the young folks the song , so they live on. Exxex girl, you can get food on 24 hour bases In Iceland now a day. Don´t worry about that. All the best Skarpi Iceland. |
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Subject: RE: How many Mudcatters have visit Iceland?? From: GUEST,.gargoyle Date: 19 Nov 02 - 10:43 PM Skarpi -
Are you aware that the Icelandic Government has sold and recieved cash value for your DNA - GNOME type?
I am sorry that they view you like a common mouse, rat, or guinnea pig.
Sincerely,
Good place to spend a couple years - but a nice place to leave. |
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Subject: RE: How many Mudcatters have visit Iceland?? From: GUEST,Skarpi at work Date: 20 Nov 02 - 03:00 AM Gargoyle, I have to tell that it´s not working and will not work because our doctors are fighting back and wile they are doing that nothing s going on and it may take many years before it will go on. But we can thing of this in other way if I can help you to get over some bad illness by giving you a medison that was found from my dna, that would be great is it not?, there is always diffrents about this matter and I will thing about for good use not bad becouse I want good things come out of this. All Icelanders where giving options to take abart in this or not so I coult choise do I want this or not.I am still thinking about this is this right or wrong?. All the Best skarpi Iceland. |
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Subject: RE: How many Mudcatters have visit Iceland?? From: GUEST,allen woodpecker Date: 20 Nov 02 - 08:17 AM Oh yeah, their "two for one" offers on fish fingers, beer, charcoal briquettes, and pickled beetroot can't be beat. a.w. |
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Subject: RE: How many Mudcatters have visit Iceland?? From: 53 Date: 20 Nov 02 - 03:34 PM never have left the usa Bob. |
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Subject: RE: How many Mudcatters have visit Iceland?? From: Fortunato Date: 20 Nov 02 - 04:35 PM Greetings, scarpi. Well, I can't speak for the other Mudcat performers here, but my bride and I would love to do a few gigs in Iceland. We could stop over on the way to the UK or Europe. I'd love to see your country, expensive beer or not. I have found you, through your posts here on the Mudcat, to be a very pleasant person and I would love to come. World gathering? Yes, of course, why not Iceland? All the best to you, and put up more of those great pictures of your gigs and pubs which I have enjoyed so much. Cheers, Chance. |
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Subject: RE: How many Mudcatters have visit Iceland?? From: skarpi Date: 20 Nov 02 - 05:48 PM Well Chance, if come and let me know in good time. All the best Skarpi Iceland. |
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