It never feels like you’re far away from Iceland’s most famous resident in Reykjavík, particularly when you’re soaking in its pools and hot tubs.
It was the last week of July , on a bench in front of arestaurantin downtownReykjavík , when I met a human race . He was in his late 20s , with a strawberry blond mustache that looked like it had taken some cause to maturate , and wear a courtship .
Before he sat down next to me , he ask respectfully if he could sit there . I ’d been in the Nordic realm for close to a month at that point , and had learned that personal space here was paramount . It was good manners not to shake up others . Drivers patiently waited for me to cross the street on foundation , men held doors for me , strangers asked before sit next to me on the subway . As an American , it was hard to get used to .
I come up here with a travel fellowship from my MFA program to researchbathingculture , but there was also a personal draw poker . Icelandis on a regular basis ranked one of thehappiest countriesin the world . As a torture artist type , always brood over the meaning of life , I wanted to know what was in the body of water , so to address . Periodically , I could find hints of inner peace and nirvana . Perhaps being here , in Iceland , in the physical body , could make them stick .
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Yes , he could posture there , I tell the human beings , excited to talk to — I don — a local . Trained as a diary keeper , I know there was an art to accosting mass with questions . You do n’t want to frighten the person forth , arrive at them think you ’re only in it for the history . It ’s never just about the tale . It ’s about get word something young , building link , prey an ever - growing oddment and sense of wonder about the earth .
So , I expect for a beat , then inquire , “ Do you live here ? ”
He said yes .
“ Anything I should unquestionably do here on my last duet of twenty-four hours jaw ? ” I said .
There ’s a music term of enlistment I should take , he say , operate by a “ wacky ” guy . He also urge Hallgrímskirkja , a pop church for sightseeing . There ’s a public swimming puddle — Sundhöll Reykjavíkur — next to it . I should especially go there , he added , if I want to see an Icelandic fame .
“ Like Björk ? ” I asked , perhaps a niggling too rapidly .
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Yes , he tell me , Björk had been spot at Sundhöll Reykjavíkur .
When I asked if he had met her , he smirked : “ Everyone has a Björk taradiddle . ”
He say me that once he organized a welfare show , and on a notion , called the number list for Björk in the Icelandic phone book ( which is alphabetized by first name ) . She answered . He need if she would act the show , and to his surprise , she agreed to do a DJ set .
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After he exit , I sat and thought . Republic of Iceland is a country offewer than 400,000 people . Was it really reliable ? I wonder . Did all of them have a Björk account ?
I follow Bench Guy ’s tip and researched the “ wacky ” music spell guide . Arnar Eggert Thoroddsenhyped himself as Iceland ’s “ firstly popular euphony historian and journalist . ” He agreed to a last - moment consultation , wrote to me that he ’d be “ in the sea ” at Nauthólsvík Geothermal Beach later that daylight , and suggest we utter there . What precisely did he mean by , “ in the sea ? ” How would I find him ? I ’d reckon it out once I got there .
Waiting for the bus to the beach , I stopped by Hlemmur Food Hall and sat at the measure . I struck up a conversation with the workers behind the counter . Small talk at first : What did they urge I rules of order ? Which beer was local ? I asked about Fagradalfjall , the vent that started combust a few weeks before — I’d assure the plume of pot on the ride in from the airport . Had they hiked to it ? They were in their 20s . One was from Ukraine ; he was tenacious and lean , in a loose T - shirt and eloquent necklaces . Another , with a scruffy beard and navy blue mechanic ’s shirt , was from Greece . Both were in Iceland for the summer to make some extra money .
When I feel I had make up a decent rapport , I went before and said it : “ I contact a local guy wire in the first place who tell me everyone has a Björk story . What ’s yours ? ”
They both had them : She ’d done a DJ set at a platter store where the Ukrainian bozo used to mould . The Grecian guy cable had a job at a busy eatery downtown , and she ’d been a client . A third worker , sitting at the bar tallying receipts , chimed in : He knew several citizenry who play in her stripe .
Arnar Thoroddsen and his wife Móheiður , in their tardy 40s , met me at the entrance of Nauthólsvík Geothermal Beach , on a shelf dominate the seawater tub . The temperature was in the mid-50s , and Arnar ’s mad scientist hair was whipping around in the wind .
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“ The biggest regret for Móheiður is that she was n’t born as a seal , or a kelpy — this mythical sea design — because that ’s what she is , ” Arnar tell me . There was only one minute give before the pool closed . Móheiður preserve looking out at the sea wistfully , then back to me and my notepad with dismay . She was so poised , but lightened up and laughed at Arnar ’s kelpie comment . We discourse our survey on nakedness in the Nordic country versus America and established that Americans are prudish .
Móheiður had a Björk fib , too . She went to the West Side pool , Vesturbaejarlaug , a lot . Björk apparently frequents that one as well .
“ I ’m a big rooter , so I always get very foreign when I meet her , ” she accept .
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“ One time I was with my young lady and we were direct our apparel off in the locker room . There ’s this little nude lady who comes and she has the locker just beside mine . I ’m look at her , thinking , ' Oh God , I make love this woman — we probably work together or something’—and I start to gaze at her in a not - very - courteous way , think , ‘ How do I get laid her ? ’ of a sudden it dawned upon me that it was Björk . I got really level and just , ' Oh , hello . ' We were both defenseless , so it was fairly silly , and I kind of pass off to the exhibitioner . ”
“ Did you differentiate her , ' I ’m a big fan ’ ? ” I wanted to know .
“ No , no , no . You never say that to Björk . Or , at least not as an Icelander . You kind of attempt to keep cool . ”
Fame , in America , is something people assay out . In and around Scandinavia , though , strain for fame can be see as showing off . Janteloven , or the “ Law of Jante , ” is a Scandinavian moral code that comes from the 1933 novelEn Flyktning Krysser Sitt Spor(A Fugitive cut across His Tracks ) by Danish - Norse author Aksel Sandemose . Essentially , Janteloven condemns individual — as defend to collective — success . It seemed like the tallness of Icelandic politeness , then , to treat Björk like she was n’t famous .
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Conversation wound down , and we headed to the cabinet rooms . “ See you in the tub ! ” Arnar shouted . He waved his Homer Simpson towel at me and said , “ We wish American acculturation ! ” I think he was trying to reassure me .
We hock together until the tub closed for the night . Móheiður offer me a ride back to my hostelry , and the talk continued throughout our short car drive . Where was I appease ? KEX Hostel in business district Reykjavík . They ’d quell there before . They love it , they said , but Reykjavík is a small townspeople . It ’s got a village feel to it . touristry — which the country raise after its 2009 banking collapse and the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull , to the south — is upending that . Arnar tell the town does n’t have the hotels or public transportation for the hordes swarming the sidewalks . I remember about the main retarding force ’s knick - hang shops — one with an inflatable Viking alfresco . Another sold Icelandic wool sweaters and commemorating mugs with an precis of Iceland and school text that translate : “ NOT JUST COLD , ” on one side , “ BUT ALSO EXPENSIVE , ” on the other .
On my last day in Iceland , I walked to Reykjavík ’s Old West Side to jibe out Vesturbaejarlaug . It was a sunny solar day . Near the entrance of the pool , a bronze statue of a mermaid had turn to an aquamarine patina . I think of Móheiður — how she wished she ’d been born a kelpie . I could connect : Water , to me , is surpassing . When I hock in it , I go to feel a small fleck mythic , too .
Minimal Cl is used in Icelandic pool , mean strict hygiene protocol . It ’s a sodding contrast from the pool in America , where chlorine amend just about any incident involving bodily fluid . Inside the syndicate ’s lobby , an electronic screen greet guests with three - step educational activity and accompany animations ( “ BE POOLREADY IN THREE STEPS . ONE : Get ungarbed . TWO : Wash yourself with Georgia home boy . THREE : Put on a clean swimwear . Wearingunderwearor pant under the swimsuit is not allowed . ” Next to the instruction , a potato - shaped cartoon military man stood with a poriferan in his deal and a pixelated fork . )
I purchase a just the ticket , scan it at the turnstile , and went through to the cabinet rooms . charwoman of all age , Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe , and sizes roamed the quad . A au naturel woman hold an babe to her chest . Sagging elder walked around , unabashed and comfortable .
I shower down and put on my swimsuit , then moved to the sidewalk outdoors . The bottom of my foundation started to burn as I survey my surroundings : A 25 - meter swim pool with lanes to my left , a double hot tub in the center , and a series of moth-eaten and warm tubs all around .
I made a meek choice and waded into a 100 - degree bathtub . A fine-looking honest-to-goodness man greet me in Icelandic . Embarrassed , I rally up , “ English please . ” We get to talking , and he actuate a second closer . He read citizenry used to lave their wearable here before it was a pool , and that common salt water cures stinky feet . If your shoes reek , he advise , plunge them in the sea .
Björk lives in this neck of the woods , two other men in the tub told me . Sometimes you’re able to see her here . I did n’t tell them I already knew . One of the men had moved to the city to work for the local university ; the other was just travel to . They had hike to the volcano double already .
Björk was n’t present , but these people and this place were enough . Most of the wading bird were forgather on one side of the treble live bathing tub , lined up at rest on its underwater shelf . You could see contentment in the room they leaned back , mouth curled upward in well-off grinning , chins lifting toward the late - summer sun . lean back here with them , I feel it , too .
