Reading the Past.

Today was an interesting day. We really got into the academic side of things as we took a trip to the Arni Magnusson institute. The morning was taken up by the history of the manuscripts and the history of the institute, and then after the introduction we actually got to see real manuscripts! They were there on the table, right in front of us! They pulled out various examples, some made with paper, some made out of actual calf skin. There was one, the edda oblong that was amazing, it had some wonderful pictures and illustrations. There was also a tiny prayer book to St. Margerat that is said to be a relic that was strapped to the a women's thigh when she gave birth.




After a wonderful university cafeteria lunch we all headed back to the institute for some workshops. I took the more "scientific" option and learned about the restoration and investigative processes that are being employed to preserve the manuscripts. There is a current investigation underway to find animal hairs still in the skins that may still have DNA, and through that they can perhaps figure out what animals were used to make the book. Basically this resulted in us looking at a really old book under a microscope... which was kinda really awesome.




And then it was time to experience some real icelandic culture... sorta. We went to a spainish restaurant and ordered ourselves some good old historic foods. We ate everything, whale, puffin, kangeroo (ya I know, we never found out what that was doing in Iceland), sea trout, monk fish, lobster tail, snails, lamb, and finally duck. All with interesting sauces of course. A shot of Brenivan (an icelandic drink that I think tastes like trees) was pawned off on me, and with that our meal was complete. It was a wonderful time out, with many interesting flavours.





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And with that the day was over. Until next time Verði þér að góðu!