9/27/2009

General info & observations

Nature
  • Rainbows are a common sight. You can see them on a daily basis, usually on the mountains.
  • Weather forecasts are accurate only about the temperature. The weather changes constantly: usually it's sunny, rainy, cloudy and windy every day.

Transportation & traffic
  • Public transportation is free for anyone.
  • Parking is free.
  • Internal flights are cheap. One-way ticket from Akureyri to Reykjavik costs 4990 ISK (27 €) at the lowest. Same trip by bus is 9000 ISK (49 €).
  • Drivers respect pedestrians. Usually you only get a nice smile (instead of serious honking) when crossing a street at the wrong time.

Food & drink
  • Opening hours for grocery stores are weird. Usually they open between 10–12 AM and close at 6–7.30 PM. 1011 is open 24/7 and Samkaup Strax until 11 PM but their selection is narrower and pricing is outrageous.
  • There are no fresh meat counters. Fresh fish can be bought from fish stores.
  • Cow meat in Icelandic is 'nauta' which is the same in Finnish.
  • There are no scales at vegetable compartments. Cashiers weight them.
  • Non-fat milk tastes like white-colored water.
  • Icelandic drink sour milk too.
  • There are a lot of products with Finnish labels. Some are only in Swedish and Finnish.
  • Grocery stores sell only low-alcohol beer < 2,25 %.
  • Liquor store Vinbuðin has only one cider (apple flavoured Kopparberg) in their selection. Tap ciders are unknown concept at bars. Local women drink beer.
Misc
  • Hearts are all over Akureyri. Even the red light in traffic lights is heart-shaped.
  • A pack of tobacco costs normally 700 ISK (3,8 €) but on "night sale" (after 9 PM) 900 ISK (4,9 €). All tobacco products are hidden under the counter by law.
  • Local operator Siminn censors sites. For example, I cannot drool on recent celebrity nipple-slips at egotastic.com.

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