by Pa Rock
Gadabout
I have mentioned this before in this space, but when I about travel abroad, one of the ways that I prepare my mind for the possible adventure that lies ahead is to read about the country that I would like to visit. Not travel guides, but fictional literature that takes place in the settings which I would like to experience.
My last trip "overseas" was a week-long jaunt to Cuba which is just ninety miles south of the southern tip of Key West, Florida. Before making that trip I read an assortment of contemporary mystery novels about life in modern Havana.
Over the past couple of years I have expanded that mode of research by including television shows filmed in locales that I would like to visit. I have seen several complete series that were filmed in Australia, including one campy jewel which featured zombies clawing their way out of their graves - and one great short series that took place in Tasmania (though the name now escapes me.)
Recently I have watched two complete seasons of a crime drama that was filmed in Iceland, and the scenery and lifestyles that those episodes revealed have conspired to give me the travel bug. The show, "Trapped" takes place primarily in a small town and rural area in northern Iceland, but the country is small enough that some of the necessary action drifts over to the large metropolitan area and capital of Reykjavik. Taken together those two seasons (twenty episodes total) reveal a panoramic vista of Iceland that could never be conveyed in a mere tourist video.
(The rugged coastline with its many fjords, the thermal springs and geysers, the quaint hamlets! If one was destined to be "trapped," Iceland would be a great place for it to happen. The country offers lots to absorb - in addition to the waters in its naturally-heated spas.)
And the crime dramas are first-rate as well. The dialogue is conducted primarily in Icelandic with subtitles, though some segments with certain characters are in English. The first season involves the discovery of a headless corpse in the ocean just as a ferryboat arrives from mainland Europe. As it unfolds the residents of a small town are trapped by one of the worst storms of the winter.
The second season, which I would personally rate as exceptional, begins when a middle-aged female government minister is attacked in Reykjavik by her twin brother whom she has not seen in nearly twenty years. The brother, who has pre-soaked himself in gasoline, rushes from the crowd and grabs his sister and then sets himself on fire. She is badly burned but survives - and her attacker dies. Then the action shifts to the rural north where another sibling is found hanging dead in his barn. Before all of the investigative threads come together there is yet another murder and an abduction - and a lot of things are revealed about a family whom the chief detective describes as "having more secrets than anyone can imagine."
Yes, sitting calmly and reading subtitles can be distracting and seem like a lot of unnecessary work, but this particular show is worth the effort. "Trapped" if featured on Amazon Prime.
So now I am thinking that Iceland might be a nice place to include on my bucket list. And to add to the temptation, Icelandair, now has three direct flights to Reykjavik each week out of Kansas City with connections from there to most of Europe.
Pa Rock hopes it is the travel bug that is biting - and not some damned tick!
Gadabout
I have mentioned this before in this space, but when I about travel abroad, one of the ways that I prepare my mind for the possible adventure that lies ahead is to read about the country that I would like to visit. Not travel guides, but fictional literature that takes place in the settings which I would like to experience.
My last trip "overseas" was a week-long jaunt to Cuba which is just ninety miles south of the southern tip of Key West, Florida. Before making that trip I read an assortment of contemporary mystery novels about life in modern Havana.
Over the past couple of years I have expanded that mode of research by including television shows filmed in locales that I would like to visit. I have seen several complete series that were filmed in Australia, including one campy jewel which featured zombies clawing their way out of their graves - and one great short series that took place in Tasmania (though the name now escapes me.)
Recently I have watched two complete seasons of a crime drama that was filmed in Iceland, and the scenery and lifestyles that those episodes revealed have conspired to give me the travel bug. The show, "Trapped" takes place primarily in a small town and rural area in northern Iceland, but the country is small enough that some of the necessary action drifts over to the large metropolitan area and capital of Reykjavik. Taken together those two seasons (twenty episodes total) reveal a panoramic vista of Iceland that could never be conveyed in a mere tourist video.
(The rugged coastline with its many fjords, the thermal springs and geysers, the quaint hamlets! If one was destined to be "trapped," Iceland would be a great place for it to happen. The country offers lots to absorb - in addition to the waters in its naturally-heated spas.)
And the crime dramas are first-rate as well. The dialogue is conducted primarily in Icelandic with subtitles, though some segments with certain characters are in English. The first season involves the discovery of a headless corpse in the ocean just as a ferryboat arrives from mainland Europe. As it unfolds the residents of a small town are trapped by one of the worst storms of the winter.
The second season, which I would personally rate as exceptional, begins when a middle-aged female government minister is attacked in Reykjavik by her twin brother whom she has not seen in nearly twenty years. The brother, who has pre-soaked himself in gasoline, rushes from the crowd and grabs his sister and then sets himself on fire. She is badly burned but survives - and her attacker dies. Then the action shifts to the rural north where another sibling is found hanging dead in his barn. Before all of the investigative threads come together there is yet another murder and an abduction - and a lot of things are revealed about a family whom the chief detective describes as "having more secrets than anyone can imagine."
Yes, sitting calmly and reading subtitles can be distracting and seem like a lot of unnecessary work, but this particular show is worth the effort. "Trapped" if featured on Amazon Prime.
So now I am thinking that Iceland might be a nice place to include on my bucket list. And to add to the temptation, Icelandair, now has three direct flights to Reykjavik each week out of Kansas City with connections from there to most of Europe.
Pa Rock hopes it is the travel bug that is biting - and not some damned tick!
1 comment:
Rest easy. Iceland has a low crime rate. They have fewer than 2 murders a year. Police in Iceland never shot and killed a person until 2013.
When you get there look up my friends Sigudor Gislason and Erla Olafsdottir.
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