Lynn and I were on a tour with our garden club, so we had 20 women from Big D on the tour of this great place. If you ever get the chance to go to Iceland, do. It is otherworldly (Is that a word?) and really just a fantastic time.
NOTE: And always a bonus for the ugly American pigs -- pretty much everyone speaks English.
Yes, Iceland is certainly unique, but one thing about it made my mouth fall open...
During our free afternoon (Just know that the garden club trips are organized down to the minute and they really pack in tons of activities and the meals -- oh, the meals!) I did a little shopping with some of my garden club friends in Reykjavik, then decided that I would go back and visit one of the many delicious restaurants we patronized for a mid-afternoon snack. Here it is:
NOTE: May I be so bold as to say YUM?
Anyway, as I entered the restaurant from the street, I noticed a baby carriage out front. It was one of those old style ones -- the pram kind -- black and all closed up. Of course, I expected to see a baby when I entered the restaurant, but there was just a young woman sitting and having a drink in a chair. I really did think, well, I guess the baby is in the kitchen and belongs to someone who works there.
NOTE: I don't think it is because of my work at Community Partners of Dallas that I really did spend a bit of time thinking about that baby and where it was, but was it? Would you have wondered?
Anyway, I ate my fries and read my book and just enjoyed myself. After about 45 minutes, the young woman got up went outside, brought in the pram, and took out the baby.
NOTE: This is when my mouth fell open.
That baby had been outside the whole time. By itself. I will say the baby certainly looked warm enough (It was in one of those North Face looking body suits), but it was about 35 degrees outside.
Anyway, the baby and it's mother left and I called my server over lickety-split to question her about this craziness. She explained that this is totally normal there and that sometimes you'll even see 4 or 5 carriages lined up outside of a bar or coffee shop. Of course I said, but I could have taken that baby -- the mother's chair wasn't even in direct sight line to see that baby! She replied that Iceland is so small that someone would know that you didn't have a baby yesterday.
NOTE: According to our tour guide, the whole country only has about 300,000 people and 100,000 of those live in Reykjavik. As a reference, Dallas has 1.241 million, Plano has just under 300,000 and HP and UP together are about 35,000.
I've been back in the USA for about a week, but I still keep thinking about this. Would you leave your baby on the street? Would living in a small town make a difference?
