Over 1,200 years ago, disgruntled Norse Viking sailed northward and started a new society, complete with a parliament, on an island they called Snæland, “land of snow.” Just as they were called to that improbable, frozen place, so was I. I went to Iceland for the vistas, for the endless daylight, for the feeling of being on another planet. I went there to be alone, small against the bigness of mountains and ocean. I did not go there to eat.