THEY SHOULDN’T CALL ICELAND, ICELAND

[Music] this Young Land rises from the sea like a Viking Fire in its heart and snow in its hair it is called Iceland but little of it is ice the land itself is barely 20 million years old a mere infant in Earth time a living theater of those events would shape the world steaming hot Waters generated by the hot heart of the earth gush forth and chur turn and leap like dancing Spirits the Vikings the first to settle here 1100 years ago called them geysers and added a word to the language of [Music] man welcome to Iceland and welcome to Reiki the capital its name more proper than icelands means steaming Bay here the practical Icelander has harnessed the hot springs to heat his homes and fill his Bathtubs at a quarter the cost of oil here the air is still as sweet as a mountain breeze almost one/ half of Iceland's 220,000 people live in this city warmed by the Gulf Stream this is the capital of a Nation about the size of Ireland a nation with total literacy a nation which has captured the imagination of poets near here Jules Vern's Voyage to the Center of the Earth began modern hotels house a worldwide flow of visitors to this once isolated Atlantic Island somewhere between Europe and America under the nearly constant Light Of Summer The Traveler gets almost two days in the space of one a meeting place the convenient convention table of many [Music] nations democracy is the reality of daily living everyone from president to Common citizen enjoys the bads almost every day the pools of steamy health-giving mineral Waters range from hot to hotter to hottest the travel-wise visitor knows to bring his bathing suit to this northernmost Spa it's an easy way to break the ice and meet icelanders now it is January so why not wear your bathing suit to a snowball fight and top it off with a hot swim or take a walk in the occasional snow with a hot water pipeline to warm your way it is no colder on the average in Riku in January than it is in New York or [Music] Vienna winter and summer the slanting Rays of the sun play games with the city a kind of living light to tease the artist the photographer and they always return from the crystal shine of midday to the orange and rust of the Midnight Sun the solar brush tined the houses of raik javik oddly the most revered house in Iceland is not a house at all it is a natural rock theater the home of the world's oldest surviving Parliament here's where it began in the open over a thousand years ago the Vikings altered nature to make this hallowed plane more beautiful diverted a river to make a waterfall as if to cooperate Nature's Wind and Rain carved a Viking ship out of rock the Vikings wisely used the high wall of this open air Auditorium as an amplifier a sounding board to carry their words to the people so bound were the Vikings to the natural beauty of their Homeland that one of the worst punishments was Exile the Icelander commemorates this place with these Stone memorials where their forefathers camped the roadless way to the parliament was over these valleys these Hills the ancient icelanders traveled them by horse it was the original Viking horse which they brought with them from ancient Norway still a pure bread sure footed on the rugged land gentle as a toy to children but sturdy and staunch he fits the Nordic character in the old days the horse carried everything man and burden today he is used mostly for sport he brings something different to a horse race a fifth gate a quick Trot called the TT so steady and beat the rider sits bounc straight and tall and above all proud there are 40,000 horses in Iceland about one to a family the Icelander loves his Pony he has 15 words for horse that says it all some called their modern jetliners air ponies individual planes carry the names of legendary horses one Airline symbol is a horse's head this remote European island is tied to the World by air 5 hours from America 2 and a half from the European Mainland with no railroads the airplane is a vital internal link covering the breadth of this Kentucky siiz nation in an [Music] hour there Remains the old way to tour this fabled Countryside the Icelandic [Music] Pony but even cars Dare To Tread the pony pads and Ford the streams modern Bridges span the wide and Open Country but but here you have the road all to yourself and the Limitless vistas of mountain sea and plain in the subtle tones of Icelandic [Music] light a stride one of Iceland's many FS aari the largest northern city with a PO population of 12,000 everywhere are the fishing boats of this nation that lives off the [Music] sea and everywhere the little fishing villages are caught by the living light of the northern Sun a light like nowhere else in the world [Music] Inland where the trout and the salmon leap the Rapids Sports fishermen flock from all over the world in many rivers there is practically no limit to the catch so plentiful are the fish fish but the conservation-minded icelanders limit the number of Anglers to each stream and River so plentiful are the rivers and [Music] streams and what can match the joy of a stream fisherman with a brace of 10 lb salmon and the memory of the fight they gave something to serve a Viking's appetite and what an appetite these Museum shelves hold the king-sized wooden tankards that held the Mead and the wooden table wear that graced the banquet the Viking appetite is Alive and Well in modern Iceland and the feast is served on the same wooden table wear the culinary Experts of today's Iceland set a pretty table with the Bountiful fruit of the sea lumpfish caviar [Music] Icelandic shrimp delectable salmon and Icelandic Lobster smaller than other lobsters but tastier the product of life in the pure Crystal [Music] Waters the fruit of the Fertile pasture lands is just as tasty the cheeses of Iceland [Music] the table mimics the land first cups made from lava then a spark to the Fine lure and then the steaming coffee topped with a dollop of purest whipped cream called lava coffee from the icelanders purebred sheep come some of the lightest Woolen in the world a major [Music] export the Icelander loves Vivid colors and daring design and by the way the beautiful faces of Icelandic models are popular in the salons of Paris and New York the Bold designs of Icelandic jewelry reflect the boldness of the [Music] land the Icelandic Artisan Fashions everything from headwear to undergarments with an eye for comfort and [Music] style warm enough for a trip to Greenland largest island in the world seven times the size of Great Britain and home of the glaciers that feed the icebergs into the North Atlantic it's only an hour and a half by jet from Iceland this man has just brought some green plant plants to Greenland from guess where Iceland nearly all of Greenland's 45,000 people are eskimo administered by Denmark Legend has it that Eric the Red ban from Iceland called this place Greenland to attract settlers that was before truth in advertising the water is so near freezing that it appears oily as it parts for the prows of Eskimo [Music] boats you can prowl through the ice flows and icebergs yourself a frozen green and blue world that has an eerie and Crystal beauty of its own a majestic vision of the ages of [Music] ice Iceland is a little smaller and a little Greener a little more colorful a little gentler a little [Applause] livelier and a little more hospitable the icelanders have been molded by this land born of lava and the Sea and the shapes and colors of their homes make a pleasant contrast with the land or merge with [Music] it this is one of the few places in the world where people have to mow their roofs [Music] traveling on you might have to share the road with some non-t taxpaying [Music] icelanders the landscape is forever changing volcanoes in a million years could double the size of this country still in the process of creation that comes and fits and starts the barren volcanic Hills and Plains are more like the moon than the earth in fact American astronauts trained here for their lunar Voyage life struggles to gain a tow hold in the lava and Ash of past [Music] eruptions some volcanic areas Harbor caves and pools of hot water no one should miss these romantic [Applause] rotos next to the fire is Iceland's ice glacial snow and ice cover barely 1/8th of the island a small part of the country's singular world but a dazzling and magical element of the spectacle that is Iceland [Music] the blending of fire and ice and water and man create a magic a spell that has hung over Iceland for centuries there is a Mystique here a closeness to Nature and the works of God and the unknown the Vikings were first Pagan then Roman Catholic and finally Lutheran a healthy Superstition persists in a land that breeds a steamy breath and creates castles out of rock and ghosts out of Shadows and out of History even here on the outskirts of raik chv the capital are two Boulders where some say live impish trolls the 20th century whizzard by on the pavement busy with its daily Affairs but barbed wire keeps the trolls in and the 20th century out only a few icelanders believe but in this country a few is enough Iceland has become a rock hounds Delight you can buy a little bit of Iceland at roadside or go and gather it yourself and Marvel at the stratas of sea life 5 million years dead take a little bit of Iceland [Music] home this is a kitchen bus another Icelandic phenomenon it follows the Icelandic Safari a bus tour of the island of one of two weeks with hot meals cooked on the spot and a hotel or a school to sleep in the participants come from all over the world [Music] [Applause] some nights are spent in the coziness of a tent under the [Music] stars the Autumn morning brings the friendliest of neighbors out for a stroll before [Music] breakfast what a way to greet the day after a night's sleep on the softest of mattresses the Moss that covers the [Music] countryside then for a country breakfast of blackberries hidden amid the tiny leaves that duck was no fool the glory of fall in Iceland's changing Countryside is unlike the season anywhere else each day brings new adventures the Deep pile of the velvet Moss carpets The Meadows it's like walking on [Music] air the icelanders share their Countryside with many gentle creatures but the ubiquitous sheep nearly five for every Icelander are part of every rural [Music] scene each day brings a new surprise waterfalls the largest in Europe everywhere cold Rushing Water from melting I hot Rushing Water from below the Earth's surface some only an hour or two from raik [Music] so much running water that Iceland has tapped only a small percentage of it for electricity so much and so cheap that there is talk one day of beaming Icelandic electricity to the United States via satellite [Music] outlandish well perhaps it was once outlandish for icelanders to Brave the Seas when their only Power was The Wind and The Ore one named Leif Ericson and a crew of 35 sailed Westward and found a land he called vland or winland and which we now call America 500 years before [Music] Columbus this is Iceland's National Cemetery the only two national heroes singled out to be buried here are poets that says a lot about the country and its people the country's contribution to world literature is renowned the Edis the sagas of Icelandic Heroes this is the home of Iceland's president no guards no guns just his friendly dog Iceland's president today is Christian El yarin he is not a professional politician he is an archaeologist and was a museum director here in his home in his spare time he pursues his study Iceland's most valuable resource its people their faces stamped with their Viking and Celtic Beginnings theirs is a free and classless society as much a family as a nation so important is the individual that a woman carries her own name through [Music] marriage each child receives his father's first name plus the suffix son or daughter that becomes his new family name thus every child becomes his own person at [Music] Birth every new family name is posted on the mailbox it makes it a little tough on the mailman children take on the role of Citizen early in life the responsibilities the duties the work and the work can be hard but icelanders play hard too they may very well have invented the weekend every weekend is like New Year's Eve it's another of Iceland's great melting pots for Doctor fisherman tourist farmer or lawyer every Icelander you meet you meet on firstname basis which can cause some confusion when you try to find them again in the Icelandic phone book which lists Everyone by their first name first Elizabeth who From Dusk on Friday till Sunday night Iceland or most of it is out on the town a nation that acts like a family in many [Music] ways here Beauty lives so close to violence to the Icelander the Earth he loves is a threat as as often as every 5 years without warning the Gates of Hell erupt so the people of HMA a and the Westman Islands only 30 minutes by air from rake jav were tossed from their beds in January 1973 even this seal swam about in confusion as the lava threatened to block the harbor entrance but the resourceful icelanders as they always have rallied the whole nation they pumped seawater onto the molten Earth the lava was stopped in its track the harbor remained open miraculously no one was hurt during the 5 months Holocaust HMA A's link to the sea was saved this is HMA a today a third of the town was lost life is back to normal the Puffin Birds prized as game and as Beauty have returned to the cliffs and the harbor the volcano is still now it is safe to climb to the crater Iceland has been given the gift of new land again the lava line This House escaped the lava flow here the icelanders are busy grading the slopes taming the land that is still hot enough to warm your hands on it will remain like this for centuries a steaming reminder of the fury of creation the visitor can take time now to Marvel at how nature created a church out of lava high above the surviving Church of the [Music] town the steaming Earth of this modern Pompei has a dramatic poetry of its own but again the icelanders have the last laugh they pumped seawater into the hot lava and pump out hot water to heat the town the youngsters of HMA a heap hay onto the new Earth to make it fertile one more small chapter in the icelanders unending struggle with his land this then is The Saga of Iceland that life is indomitable that flowers grow grow within steps of Nature's brutality that nature asks only the best of man his courage his love and his unbreakable spirit [Applause] oh