Safari Ferðast um Ísland

Back for season 2, and HG Safari was invited to come and do a 'ferðast', or tour, of Jimmy's recent build, Iceland, on Wolf Territories Grid. A nice big crowd showed up to inaugurate the season, which will last just seven weeks this time, ending at the end of May, so if you're thinking you might want to attend, don't delay. 

This lovely sim, our first stop this week, was built in a matter of a few days by Jimmy, and it absolutely captures the spirit of the island. HG Address - yep you guessed it, at the end of the post.

Jimmy Olsen, builder of Iceland

On hand to take the lead for the tour, the lovely Tessa and Xenon Darrow, a brilliant and funny lady, both were ready to help us find our way around this interesting sim. 

We arrived outside the Hallgrimskirkja, the Lutheran cathedral of Reykjavik, dating from the 1980's. 

It looks a little bit like a rocket ship to heaven, but the architect's idea was to capture a sense of the island landscape - the waterfalls, basalt columns, and the lava flows. This is a nation where nature rules.

A few minutes to admire the building and to generally let the group rez... and then, off! We all jumped on a bus with capacity for 45 - perfect for us! The road system on this region is excellent, so it promised to be a great way for us to get from place to place. 

Xenon at the wheel

Xenon spoke to us using Text-to-Speech which I gotta tell you - not a fan. In the preparation of this blog I spent an hour trying to parse and clean up what she had probably meant to say, since unfamiliar terms and misspoken words come out oddly in AI. Difficult for a native English speaker to understand, deadly for anyone with less than stellar grasp of the language, unless you're saying the most basic things. 

Still, considering that Xenon was multitasking and driving a bus in extreme lag, she couldn't have worked any harder, and we all really appreciated her efforts! 

First stop was the home of the Icelandic Symphony. It was an opportunity for us to see downtown Reykjavik and also to get a taste for the driving experience to come.

Xenon Darrow:  Here we are at the Harpa music hall. It is based on the real Harpa , Jimmy found this and was absolutely in love with this architecture. He created these quasi bricks which is what the real Music Hall is built with.

Harpa interior with Fitheach, James, Taarna, and Tessa. 
If you know who the guy in the shades is, write it in the comments.

Xenon Darrow:  I'm really just thrilled the way this turned out was really gorgeous it's very elegant and understated, minimalist. I think he really nailed like the way the textures work. You know if you got excited and wanted to have a presentation here, we would love it.

Grab a LM - there are some great freebies in the lobby

Xenon Darrow: The teleports in the building are perfect because we land right in front of the Viking store so you might Landmark it and later come back and get some good Viking goodies and I am going to head out to the bus...

Jimmy's version of the Arnarson statue, dominating the town

About two thirds of the entire population of Iceland live in the capital city, Reykjavik. The name translates to 'smoky bay', it was given to the area by the first settler, Ingólfur Arnarson. Steam, rather than smoke, from active geysers in the area, is what provides the atmosphere, and the city's electricity!

Weather Station

Jimmy, as we all know, is a huge fan of Scandinavia even though he lives half a world away in Brazil. On his Nordic sims he has figured out a way to use the RL weather reports for a specific place to recreate inworld the same conditions of fog, rain, snow etc. So it came as no surprise to find that he has put a Weather Station building on Iceland - it's a very neat way to make the experience even more lifelike.

After Reykjavik, the tour took us out of town, by bus... the ride alone was pretty memorable

Xenon Darrow: everybody hop off the bus and we are at the national park that has the volcano and we're going to walk up and take a look...

A long, long hike up a very well defined path brought us up into the heart of the wilderness. This is Snæfellsjökull one of three National parks in Iceland. In real life, standing this close to the action (and in the case of James, standing in the lava) would probably not be a healthy move.

Xenon Darrow: we would be dying from Poison toxic gases and burning up but here we get to have a nice close up of the lava flow.

Forest Azure: is that a hot spring?

James Atlloud: It's fine - come on in!

Dings Digital: giant bbq

Somehow, Xenon managed to convince us all to get back on the bus, and took us over to see the Arctic Henge, or  Heimskautsgerðið.  In RL, road traffic accidents are not very common, and are certainly well below the European average, however, driving in virtual Iceland can be dangerous but only if you are on a bus.

There's great signage on this sim, by the way, so you can tell what you're looking at. It helps a lot if you're touring alone. 

This picture of the bus stop and the sign were taken on a different day when, as you can see, conditions were rather dark and foggy. somehow the Safari visit ended up on a beautiful day, we really lucked out with the weather!

The Arctic Henge

This henge at  Raufarhöfn in the far North of the island, shares certain qualities with Stonehenge - it's a sort of sundial and calendar, celebrating ancient rites and legends - but with a twist, this Henge is only twenty years old and still under construction - something that generations to come will no doubt marvel at and puzzle over.

Shadows and stones at the Arctic Henge

The city has something for everyone. If you love legendary literature and neat buildings, there's the oval architecture of the Edda building on the campus of the University of Iceland. It has a collection of ancient manuscripts in the beautiful Icelandic language, with its unusual letters and the same grammar and syntax which has remained almost entirely unchanged in a thousand years. This land offers many opportunities to see puffins and whales, without a single Big Mac or Venti Latte anywhere around you for 500 miles. Bliss. If volcanoes are your thing, they have a doozy called Eyjafjallajökull that has been known to disrupt travel across the Atlantic when the mood takes it, plus many more.  Then there's the world's largest collection of penises, at Reykjavik's  Icelandic Phallological Museum. Nuff said.

Our tour concluded at Tessa and Xenon's sheep farm, we all jumped out and ran across the fields. We managed to get in a few comments and questions, between the laughter and the really scary bus moments. For example, on the left side of the photo below, you can see the bus on the roof of one of the houses. It drove right over the top. Very much in the spirit of the whole event.

Star Ravenhurst: It is a lovely build. Thank you Xenon.

Dings Digital: absolutely, this was a wonderful tour, so fun

Taarna Welles: Tons of detail to look at

James Atlloud: Thank you Xenon

Lavia Lavine: I love just about everything Jimmy has made

Star Ravenhurst: Xenon, what inspired Jimmy to build Iceland?

Xenon Darrow: Jimmy used AI engines to create these forms these landforms. He used AI to apply the Iceland shape. Before that he had done one that was Scandinavia that included Finland and Norway, which all of you know he's in love with. Norway and Sweden and Switzerland and I think Denmark was it. That was going to be one four by four... and then he changed his mind because that's what Jimmy does.

Xenon Darrow: would someone come and get a copy of the bus to see if it works

Thirza Ember: in true OSGrid Inventory-busting spirit... let's all get a free bus which we really don't need but ...hey Free stuff!

Forest Azure: yes!

Xenon Darrow: Hoping Sim is not about needing things

Thirza Ember: lol Hoping Sim is such a great name for it

Fitheach Eun: That is a perfect name

Forest Azure:'s tummy hurts from all that laughing

HG Address:  grid.wolfterritories.org:8002:ICELAND