HNY from the Land of Fire and Ice

Happy, happy 2024! I’m always excited as one year ends and another begins and I’ll having spending that transition experiencing something I’ve never done before. And boy was that the case this year.

I’ll share more about my overall trip to Iceland later, but right now, as I sit in an infirmary in the tiny town of Vik, with a bag of ice on the rising egg on the back of my head – the result of a slip near a beautiful waterfall that I insisted we detour and hike to (I’m fine, but I’m gonna gave a bump for a while) – I just want to tell you about the hours from 10pm to 1am as 2023 became a memory and 2024 brought with it new opportunities for success, fun, love, and adventure.

We started the day at wonderful Reykjavik Art Museum, a contemporary gem that could rival any in Europe, and had lunch at the most famous restaurant in Iceland, the hot dog stand near the water.

Everyone we asked in Reykjavik said “just go to the church for fireworks” when we queried them about what to do. I’m a fireworks elitist (having worked the past 20 July 4ths at some of the biggest concerts nationally, I’ve seen some good ones), so I was skeptical at best.

But a quick nap and some celebratory champers at our hotel, we were ready to venture to the church. The church is no ordinary church. It is an architectural marvel and one of the countries most iconic structures. There a small crowd was gathered and fireworks were underway. We learned that anyone can set fireworks off in Iceland and it seemed like they all were doing so. We’d hear a whizzzz, look up and an anemic spray would appear in the sky.

As frequency of the whizzes increased so too did the quality of the spray. We noticed a crowd forming to our left and wandered over to see what the fuss was about. A roped off area housed a number of what we learned were firework launching pads and anyone who chose, could just wander in and light some off. And many folks did just that. Everything from tiny crackers, the kind we used when I was a kid, to large missile shaped things to entire boxes of multiple little bombs they would just light on fire and run away from like the dickens before the whole thing went up.

Many a small child was in there with a torch the likes of which I’d be nervous holding. As we started chatting with a nice Welsh couple as enthralled by the experience as we were, a young Nordic girl handed the husband a sparkler. He took two and handed one to me. Several minutes later she wandered back and he asked her for a light. “That’s what I was hoping you’d offer me,” she said “but you took the sparkler instead.” We sheepishly returned them as my travel companion Cassie and his wife howled with laughter.

The DIY firework display went on for hours and we never once tired of it. As the clock neared midnight, more and more lights went up and fire showered down on our heads. Little bits of soot and spark would hit our hair, skin and clothes, mostly harmlessly, but occasionally with just enough fire left to hurt a bit. After more bits in my eyes that I was comfortable with, I remembered I had a pair of sunglasses with me and watched the rest of the display with less vibrancy, but more protection.

By about 1am, we realized that Icelanders were far from finished with the evening, but we were getting close. We downed some champagne provided by our new friends, directed them towards the hot dog stand, as they were desperate for a late night snack and happily headed back to our hotel to figure out if sleep would come or not (only 3 hours of daylight has been an interesting challenge with regard to our rest situation).

I’ve spent a lot of new year’s eves in a lot of places around the world – downing grapes in Puerto Del Sol, Madid, watching for aliens in Marfa, Texas, watching the fireworks over water in Miami, Montreal, the Maldives, and Niagara Falls, dodging drunk frat boys in the French Quarter, New Orleans and heading to downtown Nassau at 1am for Junkanoo, to name just a few, but this may have been my most fabulous when it comes to the pure joy that everyone gathered felt and shared.

I’m wishing you all a Happy New Year! My resolutions for 2024 are to be the joy that I received last night and to share it the whole year through (and “follow through” on all the creative projects I swear year after year that I’ll accomplish!). 

Hey maybe the bump on my head could be just what I need – like one of those movies where the kind of a mess lead falls on their head and everything starts going there way. Oooooh – I like this idea.

Gotta go, Jude Law is at my door…..