Word: icelander
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...despite what often seemed like a trade fair for Iceland, the summit was an international magnet attracting a constellation of groups competing for attention and airtime: peace demonstrators, the families of refuseniks, Jewish activists, and summit perennials like Waluliso, 73, a fixture at last year's Geneva meeting, who wanders around the streets in his trademark bed-sheet toga, with plastic laurels around his head, shrieking for the need for world peace...
...soon as the summit was announced, the Icelandic government enlisted the services of one of its foremost emissaries, Miss Iceland, who is also the reigning Miss World. Holmfridur Karlsdottir, a blue-eyed nursery-school teacher, was called back from a trip to Singapore to dress up Reykjavík by traipsing around wearing a Reagan-and-Gorbachev-in-Iceland T shirt. "It's fabulous for Iceland!" she exclaimed. "It's the best publicity we could ever get." She was the soul of congeniality, but she adamantly refused to pose in a swimsuit. Prime Minister Steingrimur Hermannsson, on the other hand, showed...
...round of official Icelandic receptions was politely turned down by the U.S. and Soviet delegations; both pleaded the burdens of work. But with a news black-out in effect much of the time, reporters bore no such burdens. The Icelanders essentially put on a huge trade show for their captive audience of some 2,000 journalists. The basketball court in the gymnasium of a local high school was transformed into the "Iceland Center," complete with a generous spread of local delicacies (herring, smoked lamb and skyr, which is said to taste like honey-flavored yogurt). Outside the press center, half...
...solicited a discount by telling the salesclerk, "We can bargain in Russian." He wound up with 10% off, leading some observers to note wryly that the hard-line U.S. negotiator had settled for less than many White House aides, who successfully haggled for as much as 20%. Some shrewd Icelanders showed their capitalistic acumen in another realm. Many of them rented their homes to news organizations desperate for accommodations. Arni Arnason, marketing director for Iceland Waters, his wife and two children moved out of their apartment a block from the press center and into his sister-in-law's home...
Raisa Gorbachev fit into Icelandic plans perfectly. For two days the genteel Raisa was an enthusiastic booster of Icelandic ways and wares. Dressed in a three-quarter-length silver-fox coat and black suede boots with a matching handbag, she appeared at a popular public swimming pool fed by sulfurous waters from Iceland's famed geothermal springs. The swimmers, who apparently had not been informed of the visit, paddled through the steamy mist in rubber caps and goggles to greet the Soviet First Lady. When Raisa applauded them, they clapped in return like performing seals. She then leaned over...