first "night" in Iceland

at one am, it is still light enought outside to do just about anything except maybe read a book. After about four hours of solid sleep, i think i can share some of today's thoughts and observations.
I tell you, can the US pick a site for an airbase or what! Talk about the middle of nut'in', Keflavik is bleak to say the least. I have noticed that the Icelanders have a fine appreciation for art though, and you will see it in may unexpected places.
It was cloudy as we flew in today so i did NOT see the great mall from the air.....i cannot confirm or deny that it is shaped like a giant p-nis.
There are some colorful sculptures at the airport, and even on the drive to Reykjavik, there are interesting rock cairns along the road. Some of them look to be memorioals or grave markers, but some look like a multi hunk constructed tower that has the look of the big heads from Easter Island. Give credit, they have a LOT of rock here, and they use it! I mean, these chunks are just laying around on the ground, and if they get scarce, I think the gods wake up and Surtr tossed more from the mountains to them!
Most of the folks in the hostel are down for the night, but there are a few 'kids' still up and making a bit more noise int he room areas than might be nice. There are plenty of common areas for that sort of thing, but hey, kids will be kids. There is a group of HSer's from So Cal here, what are the odds! I do have a roomie for tonight, a woman from Canada who will leave tomorrow for the 10 day ring tour with friends who opted to stay inthe $170/night hotel a few blocks away.
Oh, back to the art! The city abounds with bits of art tucked into numerous little green spaces among the houses and buildings. I plan to see more later today as the museums open up. There is a bit of graffitti around town, but after all, i am in the urban area. small bits of litter on teh streets, wrappers and such, but overall a very clean city. Rather a fair number of vacant businesses were seen while i was out walking to the market, and on the bus, so the economic issue is hitting everyone and everywhere.
Must remember that when someone says "yao" to me, it means hello! I keep saying hello back, so much for trying to learn a bit of the language and actually USE IT!
I tried to ask for red cabbage on my hot dog earlier YESTERDAY, and th elady looked aty me like i was from the moon. oh well, who would have thought that ruthkal would not sound right when i said it!?
Too many excursions to think about for things to do. there is NO shortage of trips to be able to take, from snorkeling in a warm spring by Thingvillier to caving in lava tubes...knowing me I would get stuck, so i will try to go easy this trip...
So far plans are for a trip to the city center later today to see the museums and take many many pictures. I will also be looking fo rhte Icelandic wool coop folks for some wool to bring home, and then maybe the boat ride to see the puffins. I would LIKE to go on the fishing trip, but when they mention you might get a giant halibut, i got nervous about how much fridge space that would take up, you only get a little basket of space in the community fridge, and i have no idea if the fellow travellers at the hostel would want a fish BBQ. I am looking at one of the bus tours to the Gullfoss falls, and the geysir, as well as Thingvillier plain as a finiswh uypi excursion.
10/11 store, a mini mart liek the 7-11 back home. I found the personal bits i needed, shampoo, and toothpaste, my hambuirger kit- 4 patties and 4 buns in the package. PRices are a bit high, but not really for a convenience store. I will try to find the Bonus groacery store while here. There was a little market next door with frozen meats, skyr, fresh vegetables, and some local goods like home-made soap, Icelandic tea- of cours i bought some! The produce so far is very limited, I saw celery, though mostly the tops, not the stalks. Salad mix was not what we would think of,and a 100 g bag was about 4$ US if i did th emath right. One was what looked to me like lambs quarters, though the label said arugulam, the other was more like a spring mix fo leaves i have not seen before. Tomatoes were about 400 Ikr a Kilo, so that is about what i pay in the store at home, though these are greenhouse ones for certain. Plenty of fresh herbs, and herb plants, even a pony pack size of salad plants for the windowsill harbvesting i guess.
I did see a nyumber of plants that are not being used just growing as weeds along the walks and lawns, dandelion, huge ones, and plantain- not the bananna sort. One sort of odd observation is that the roadside and small hills are covered with Lupine, great purple masses of them in bloom! /also saw what i think were buttercups, and great hummocks of a type of bunch grass. hazrd to say from the bus!
More later, as this is getting long winded and i have a burger to cook! (AT 1:30 IN THE MORNING!)