How can you not go to a city that has a museum of penises? Of course, Reykjavik Pride is also a good excuse to go to Iceland, but hey, whatever gets you there…
Funny thing about Pride in Iceland; it is somewhat “after the fact” — we can marry there, adopt there, serve in the military there, and lots and lots of other things to which the USA, and a more than a few others nations, has yet to match. When it comes to equality, Iceland lands at the top of the heap; former Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir is a lesbian. In other worlds, in Iceland, we won. Reykjavik Pride is a great, big, fun party (with abs) and everybody is invited.
The Reykjavik Gay Pride always takes place around the second weekend of August, and that’s an important time frame to keep in mind. Why? August is the busiest month of the year for the city, even if Pride was nowhere near it. If a nation is called ICEland, the chances of it being nippy for most of the year is a given, so when the brief summer hits, everything happens at once. Like hotels getting booked. If a little Viking fling rubs you the right way, stop reading this and nab a room. Now. Trust me, hotel space goes fast. The Icelandic capital has long been “discovered” as a place one can get away from it all and still have First World comforts at the ready.
Most of the action, parade and otherwise, is along Laugavegur Road, one of the main arteries of the city. New club KiKi joins Kjallarinn, Barbara, Trúnó and Gay Bar 46 (not the most original name, but it gets the job done). Also new is Litla Gula Hænan, which translates as Little Yellow Chicken, and no, I have no idea why that’s the name, and quite frankly, probably don’t need to know, thankyouverymuch. No need to go into zoophiliac obsessions in the hallowed pages of Wire.
A few other perks: despite being an entirely foreign country that to this day does not believe in last names (what we would think of a last name is simply a paternal signifier: JóhannaSigurðardóttir is really “Johanna, daughter of Sigurðar”), everybody in Iceland speaks English. Also, the same recession that so dented the USA knocked Iceland F-L-A-T. Its stock market fell a biblical 90% (!), but the upside for Yankees is that the dollar is still wildly stronger than the króna, so you can make hay just by showing up.
Oh, and it’s the Icelandic Phallological Museum, BTW. I kid you not.
For more information, go to gaypride.is. Steele Luxury Travel has personally been to Iceland and experienced all that the country has to offer. We would be thrilled to set up an all inclusive luxurious and adventurous trip to Iceland! Visit www.steeletravel.com