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The Blog of Axel Lidenbrock : June 15th 1863

From: Harry Hayfield <harryhayfield~at~googlemail.com>
Date: Sun, 15 Jun 2008 20:41:49 +0100
To: "Jules Verne Forum" <jvf~at~gilead.org.il>

BlankWell, it's the big day tomorrow and so today was nothing more than a
glorified send off. Of course we were not going to announce to the world
what we were really going to do but thanks to a little sleight of hand we
managed to convince the local press that we were doing nothing more extreme
than investigating the cause of Sneffels last eruption (although when one
journalist asked a question relating to Arne we all shifted rather
uncomfortably but that was soon calmed down by a simple "Well, show me a
Scartaris and I'll be able to tell you!").

As you would expect at these things, there was a great deal of civic pride.
Baron Tramp, the mayor of Reykjavik gave us all the freedom of the City,
Doctor Hyaltalin, the city's primary doctor was also in attendance (and made
careful note of Hans' physical standing) although sadly Professor
Fridrikssen wasn't present (apparently he and the Governor had a
disagreement about the island's governance and swore never to stand next to
him again), but that said we did get to address the Icelandic parliament
(which considering that meant me having to speak a few words of Icelandic
was a little scary but this box of tricks helped me out no end).

That evening, back with Professor Fridrikssen, he gave us a wonderful
leaving present. It was a map of Iceland made by Herr Olaf Nikolas Olsen
which was much more detailed than the one we had bought. This map was
1/480000th the size of Iceland (in other words for every inch on the map,
480,000 inches would be covered on land which converts to 40,000 English
feet or just under 2 Danish miles) and had been published by the Icelandic
Literary Society for which we were all very grateful.

The rest of the night (well, night in the conventional sense of the term)
was spent in deep conversation with Professor Fridrikssen before we all
retired which is where I am now. Whether I will get any sleep remains to be
seen, but I do know one thing. This will be the last bed I'll sleep in for
quite some time.

Received on Sun 15 Jun 2008 - 22:41:58 IDT

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