Fréttir 2005

November 3, 2005
Ice Cup - in a unique Planet

One of the guest teams in Ice Cup 2005 came from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA. When back home one of the curlers posted this text in his club's newsletter:

Why Would Anyone go to Iceland? Well, for curling, of course.
Curling in Iceland - A Cool Experience - by Russ Lemcke

Bob and Rita Ottaviano, Meg and I traveled to Iceland in early May for the dual purpose of curling and sight seeing. We had a wonderful time, and if you have never been there, we have a three word recommendation - just do it. We curled in a 16 team open bonspiel in Akureyri on the north side of the island. The competition was good, with the US, Canada, the UK and Iceland represented. We did reasonably well, finishing runner up in the third event. If the vice skip (name not divulged here) had called the right ice for the skips final shot, we would have won the event. The Icelanders are among the friendliest we have ever encountered in our wide travels. The bonspiel was very well organized, and considering we played on arena ice, it was fine. It is a short hop to Reykjavik, only 4 hours non stop from Boston, so quite doable. One word of caution, this is not an inexpensive place. The country is like nothing we have ever seen. We walked on a dormant volcano where we could feel the heat on our feet, saw large glaciers sitting on top of dormant volcanos, traversed huge lava fields, drove through magnificent river valleys and snow covered mountains, witnessed geysers and large water falls and even straddled the Arctic Circle. The people and culture are clearly a product of the environment. Bob and Rita have a video that they may show next season after a club dinner, describing this unique "planet."