Candy and Booze

YEAH VIKING CANDY!

I'm actually not sure what it is, apart from being Viking's Gold ("Gull" means golden. So when you go and check out Gullfoss, the enormous waterfall that I sadly didn't have time for, you'll know that it means Golden Falls). I don't buy candy anymore since I consciously gave up high fructose corn syrup. I'm told that you're not allowed to make things with corn syrup in the UK or EU, but Iceland is part of neither, and it doesn't help I can't make sense of their medieval language. The language hasn't changed much since Viking times and Icelanders can read and understand the original sagas from way back when. Actually, on hindsight, since you can't really grow anything in Iceland and there are certainly no cornfields, it might have been safe for me to buy. But on the other hand, if they can't even produce sugar, what synthetic chemical composition are these seemingly benign viking candies made of?????



This is some very pretty vodka packaging. I've found out through scapegoats, guinea pigs and tourists hungry for a Real Icelandic Experience, whatever that means, that Icelandic liquor is quite awful. No one I met has sampled some of this, but a lady on the plane back to New York had a last Icelandic hurrah by downing some other local vodka in a vile green vial. Never again, she said.



and this is some Icelandic Schnapps with some weird arctic seaweed in it for MAXIMUM AUTHENTIC EFFECT. Icelanders use this to chase the rotten shark down, so I guess it doesn't have to try too hard to be tasty. Again, extremely suspicious and bizarre.

Opal.
Originally uploaded by Patrick Gage

But what took the cake was some a shot of Opal liquor. 4 people shared 1 shot of this and it was still too much. Candice and I met some Swiss girls on our bike ride and after a waffle, decided to go to Kaffibarrinn on Bergstaðastræti (till this day, I am still unable to pronounce this correctly), just 5 minutes from our apartment.

Kaffibarinn used to be part owned by Damon Albarn from Blur. Now what's left of his ownership is the tube sign awning. It's in a cute building that's very chill and unpretentious. It's cozy and has two bars, lots of chairs, a couple of couches, and some KICK ASS music.

One of the girls that we met asked the bartender for something that Icelanders would typically drink and she pulled out a bottle of Opal from somewhere and said that it tasted like Fisherman's (Friend, that is. The nasal passage clearing chalky lozenge). She said it was like candy and it was good, just DON'T DRINK TOO MUCH! She also poured a pint of Viking beer. Candice and our other Swiss friend ordered some Viking beer, which I heard was unspectacular. I had a glass of Iceland's national drink, Coke. People there consume so much Coca Cola, that in a year, they would drink about 380 bottles of it per person. Total consumption for the year is enough to fill up two of the giant water towers that supply the city with water at the Perlan. I just hope they make it with sugarrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

The Opal hit you like an ice storm IN YOUR FACE. It was like Fisherman's Friend, Woods Peppermint Cough Syrup AND Nin Jiom Pei Pa Gao (Chinese herbal cough remedy) all in one with 10 times the intensity of all combined.

If there is any advice I can offer you if you visit Iceland, it is stay awayyyy from the local booze. You don't need to have that immersive an experience.