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Fire and ice - the land of contrast

Price

• The most expensive - certain things are more expensive then almost anywhere else in the world. Things like fast food

• The least expensive - other things are the least expensive. Nowhere else can you get such a variety of top international cuisine at lower prices (if you skip the wine)

• Free parking almost everywhere except in the city center and cheap public spas

Unspoiled nature

• It is hard to find so much readily accessible nature anywhere

• This pleasantly barren landscape were there are very few trees to block the view was created by overgrazing and overexploitations by the Vikings and their descendants

• Iceland is now a leading participant in teaching the world (as part of the UN University Environment Program) how to recover desert areas

More western than Hollywood

• More liberal than Hollywood

• Yet a small society where the opinions of others matter

Equality

• The greatest equality for women on earth. A woman can do anything that a man does in Iceland without being judged differently

• Only a third of University students are men

• If you care about women's and LGBT rights Iceland is the place to admire and experience

Keeping up with the neighbors

• Extreme tendency at least by certain sections of the middle class

• From the end of the 2nd world war. Iceland was one of the richest nations. After the unnecessary crash of 2008 no more. Despite some news to the contrary Iceland has taken a long time and has yet to fully recover let alone catch up with the rest of the world

Spas

• The most unique upscale spas such as the Blue Lagoon, public spas such as countless swimming pools with hot pots (even every village of 500 people will have its own facility)

• Lacking in mixed nude sauna landscapes as can be found in Switzerland and Germany. You might be able to get a similar experience in some remote natural pools though

Technologically advanced

• Very well educated people

• Some things just don't change. The maximum speed limited is the lowest in Europe even on dual carriage roads. This might be an advantage driving at leisurely speeds while taking in the wonderful landscape

Drugs and Smoking

• Young Icelanders, children and teenagers use less recreational drugs than anywhere else. This is attributed to having enough healthy free time activities available as well as facilities to practice them. Less than 2% of teenagers smoke. Compare this to 20% of teenagers in Lausanne Switzerland.

• Adult Icelanders use more drugs than adults in any other country. This can be blamed on the Icelandic doctors that subscribe more opiates than elsewhere. So sad because there is so much success with the teenagers.

• Unfortunately these doctors are also responsible for too much use of drugs like Ritalin.

Democracy

• The first parliament in the world was created in Thingvellir, Iceland

• The judiciary although supposedly independent is unduly influenced by popular public opinion

Religion

• Now and traditionally the least god fearing and the least church attending nation (the exception may be the immigrants from Poland and the Baltic nations

• One of the most Christian nations on earth in terms of the most important Christians virtues such as forgiveness, honesty and care for humanity

Racism

• Considered by many as the most "Aryan" nation on earth and admired as such by racists

• Whereas such admiration by racists is flatly rejected by the people themselves who are by and large more accepting of different races than any other nation

• This does not mean that the people accept blindly what they consider bad behavior such as apartheid, bad treatment of women etc.

• Icelanders love all people, black, white, colored, Jews, Palestinians, Christians, Muslims etc.

Bold

• Iceland was the first country to recognize the independence of the Baltic nations, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania despite Russian threats

• When Iceland and the Philippines both had a seat in the UN Human Rights Council, Iceland had not qualms about calling for an international investigation of Duterte's extrajudicial killings. For it would be a total hypocrisy for the council to be advising other nations on human rights while a Council member country was it self suspected of ignoring human rights. Duterte be fair - don't bully other nations and don't let other nations bully the Philippines!

• When the United States and Japan left Bobby Fischer the former World Chess Champion (a US citizen) without a passport. Iceland welcomed this old eccentric friend and gave him an Icelandic passport.

• Iceland sometimes forgets to stand up for its own rights. Being in part on the American Continent and given its strategic position and the key role it plays in the defense of others it should simply be granted the most favorable trading status with the countries of America, period.

Small

• Iceland has a population of 1/3 of a million

• Iceland is 2.5 times as big as Switzerland

Temperate

• Iceland is perfectly located just below the Artic circle. This means that no day is completely dark in winter and in summer the sun never completely disappears beyond the horizon. In practice because of twilight there is 24 hour light for a few months and in winter you always have a few hours of light each day as the sun is just below or above the horizon. This is the kind of light that is so pleasant to the eye and adored by photographers.

• The temperature in Reykjavik and in most habited places is very mild and in winter comparable to most European cities. What keeps Iceland warm are the warm ocean currents coming from the Gulf of Mexico called the Gulf Stream. What keeps Icelanders generally warm are the geothermally heated and well build houses.

• The windiest place. The Atlantic Ocean next to Iceland is on average the windiest place on Earth. Windspeeds may approach Hurricane levels without Icelanders being at all concerned. When you have snow and wind at the same time you might rightly call that a severe snow storm despite the relatively mild temperatures. Of course a city has a lot of infrastructure that slows down the wind and your exposure to the elements.

• Dwellings are dry and warm so much so that Reykjavik is the only capital in the world where you have no pillow bugs.

Pollution

• Icelanders pollute less per person than any other thanks to geothermal and hydroelectricity, as individuals

• Icelanders pollute more per person than any other thanks to industry, mainly aluminum smelters

• Icelanders pollute less than any other nations (now not talking about per person but in total) thanks to the small size of its population and the type of power in use

• Icelanders pollute more than any other nations on earth (again now not talking about per person but in total) if you count the volcanos on average. The current volcano actually pollutes very little compared to the recent eruption in St Vincent in the Caribbean which brought haze to Europe and beyond. But remember the Eyjafjallajökull eruption, although not very bit it managed to disrupt flights in and out of Europe. An earlier eruption in 1784 had a series of craters 27 km long , produced 80 million tons of sulfuric acid, blocked out the sun in the Northern hemisphere where it lowered temperatures for decades and brought about the French revolution.