En route to Akureyri after a visit to Þorfinnr “Karlsefni” Þórðarson in Reykjavik

Thorfinn Karlsefni statue, Reykjavik

Spent the day yesterday walking around Reykjavik searching for the Einar Jónsson statue of the Icelandic explorer Thorfinn Karlsefni. It is one of two such statues in the world: the other is on boat house row along Kelly Drive in Philadelphia. Don’t ask me why. Finally found him in the northeast of Reykjavik–even the locals did not know where he was. The statue is next to a cinema which was showing, of all things, Captain America, described on the poster as “America’s first avenger.” But this title could rightly be claimed by Karlsefni, who fought, according to the Greenland Sagas, a myriad of skraelings in the years following the killing of Thorvald Eiriksson, Karlsefni’s relation through his marriage to Gudrid. I’ll be searching for Gudrid’s farm on Saturday. Had a spectacular view of the fjords of southern Greenland on the flight from Boston and will post some of this video on Vodpod after I get home and edit it.