Maybe it had something to do with the cup of coffee in the afternoon. Han Qi wasn't very sleepy now, so he just wanted to drive a few hours to Reykjavik before resting.
Driving in Iceland is a very interesting thing for Han Qi. There are not many vehicles on the road, and Han Qi has enough time to observe the surrounding scenery. Even though he has seen such Nordic scenery too many times, as long as he keeps traveling,
I can always discover a lot of new things.
for example……
"White Oak Inn?"
Han Qi stopped the car, got out of the car and walked to the roadside.
It was very dark, but this did not affect Han Qi. It was not difficult for his eyes to see in the dark.
Because he had seen the geysers before, he had left Highway 1 around the island and was now walking on a small road. It was between two small towns. If he looked at the distance displayed on the navigation on his mobile phone, he would still need to drive for more than two hours.
to enter Reykjavik.
It was on this small road that Han Qi saw such an old road sign.
A wooden sign the size of a keyboard has the words White Oak Hotel written on it in black marker. Judging from the handwriting, it is estimated that the words have been written for more than five years. I can't even see a few letters because of the wind and rain, but I can still guess at it.
I know what is written.
There are small prints at the back indicating a few kilometers further in.
Are there any hotels in the wild at the foot of the mountain?
White Oak, is it a wooden house?
Han Qi hesitated for a moment, looked at the dark environment around him, shuddered unconsciously, and had goosebumps all over his body.
If it were a wooden house, Han Qi would still be quite interested in it, but it was in the mountains after all. The path leading there looked like no one had passed it for a long time. It was more than two meters wide and could only accommodate one vehicle.
Go and have a look?
He clenched his fist, and the feeling of strength from his hand gave him confidence. Moreover, he also had a career upgrade ticket, which could upgrade his fighting to a higher level at any time.
He got in the car, backed away a little, and then he came to this small road from the wide highway.
Going this way is heading into the forest. You can't see other people's houses on both sides, you can only see rows of trees.
The Icelandic folklorist I met before told Han Qi that there were not so many trees in Iceland before. People planted them one by one, and with the protection of elves, there are so many trees in Iceland now.
forest.
Driving in a place like this in the middle of the night, even if Han Qi was brave, he still felt a little creepy in his heart.
A few kilometers passed quickly, and Han Qi saw a house in the distance.
After all, in such an environment, any light is very conspicuous and can be seen from hundreds to thousands of meters away.
He sped up and soon arrived under the illuminated wooden house.
The owner of the wooden house, Kevin, hadn't slept yet. When he heard the sound of a vehicle downstairs, he opened the window, which was also made of wood, and looked down. Generally speaking, such a sound means that there are customers, but the customers who came at this time can
Very rare.
In the darkness, he saw a man getting out of the car.
I can't see clearly, but it seems to be a man.
"Hey!" he shouted, "do you want to live here?"
Han Qi heard such a sound as soon as he got out of the car and was startled. The insects around him were also frightened, and their cries doubled in intensity.
Looking up, I found that the person speaking was an old man in his fifties.
Although he was learning Icelandic, he still couldn't master it in a few days, so he replied in English: "Hello, can you speak English? What did you just say? Is this a hotel?"
He asked three questions in a row.
"It's a hotel. Just wait a moment and I'll open the door for you."
The old man upstairs replied.
Hearing this, Han Qi felt relieved. Sure enough, the painting style was still urban and not deviated.
While waiting, Han Qi took a closer look at the wooden house.
It is said to be a wooden house, but to be precise, it is a tree house. It is built with several tall poplar trees and oak trees as the theme. It covers an area of about two hundred square meters and has five floors in total. It is very exquisite, but it is estimated that
It has been too long and many places appear to be in disrepair.
This house is at least forty years old.
Except for a few huge load-bearing tree stumps, the other structures are all made of wooden boards. If you look closely, you can see the nails on the wooden boards.
Han Qi wondered if the tree house would have a longer service life if it was entirely constructed with mortise and tenon joints.
The door on one side of the cabin was pushed open.
To walk from the ground to the tree house, you have to walk up a ladder with about twenty steps, which is about two to three meters, and the suspended part under the tree house is almost a little over one meter.
Han Qi walked up. The ladder was very stable and did not make a creaking sound. Although it was narrow, it felt very solid when stepping on it.
"Hello."
Han Qi walked up and said hello first. It was already three o'clock now. Even if the polar night phenomenon in Iceland is serious, everyone should go to bed at this time. The old man was obviously awakened by the sound of Han Qi driving over.
"Hello, how did you find me here?"
"The sign on the road outside, the sign I saw on a tree entering this road."
The two of them walked in while talking.
The weather outside is still very cold, and the howling autumn wind is hard to feel in Iceland. It is the end of October, which is fine during the day, but the temperature drops sharply after nightfall. I don’t know when the first snow will fall this winter. Maybe
It doesn’t necessarily matter if you’re already on the road.
Entering the room, the first thing Han Qi saw was an art wall in the hall.
It should also be called a signature wall.
There were paintings and signatures on it, but there were more signatures of various kinds, mostly in English, occupying 90% of the space on the signature wall, and then there were characters from other Nordic countries. Han Qi saw a few Norwegians.
.
Old Norse is very similar to modern Icelandic and can be said to be of the same origin, but modern Norwegian is very different from Icelandic.
After searching for a while, I couldn't find a single Asian signature.
"Can I sign it?" Han Qi asked.
"Yes, but it may be demolished soon... But even if the tree house is demolished, I will definitely preserve this art wall. This is an extension of my memory over the past few decades."
"The wooden house is going to be demolished, what's going on?"
He sighed and said: "This is a long story. I'd better take you to find a room first. If you are still interested in listening tomorrow, we can talk tomorrow."
"good."
Han Qi was not sleepy, but considering that this man's hair was half white, he had better let him sleep first.
You can listen to the story anytime, the worst you can do is stay here for one more day.
"Which floor do you like to sleep on?"
Han Qi thought for a while, recalled the structure of the house he had just seen downstairs, and said, "On the third floor. Is anyone living in the room with the small balcony?"
"No one. There have been no guests in the tree house for a long time. Because many places look dangerous, the tourism bureau began to restrict guests in the tree house from many places three years ago. The last guest who stayed here was two months ago.
.”
The old man shook his head.
He couldn't hold on any longer. After a while, when Iceland entered the polar night, he would move back to the city.
Take Han Qi to the third floor, open the door,
"This is the room you mentioned. The cups and mattress are in the cabinet. Just take them out. If you feel cold, just go into another room and get another quilt. By the way, I have another good news for you.
Let me tell you, our travel is now free."
"free?"
"Well, as the first guest in two months, of course you have the right to enjoy free treatment. Well, I wish you a pleasant stay. I'm going back to sleep first."
"Walk slowly."
Han Qi watched him go downstairs, then closed the door and entered the house.
The incandescent lamp emits a not-so-soft light, illuminating the entire room, including the wooden bed, wooden wardrobe, and wooden bedside tables. And look at the color, these woods and surrounding walls, and even the entire room.
The materials are the same, it seems to be the same wood.
Open the closet.
Fortunately, there is no musty smell, and it seems that the quilt has not been left in there for too long.
First spread the mattress, then throw the cup on the bed.
This was the first time he stayed in a hotel where even the bed was made by the guests, but when he thought about it, they gave you everything for free, so what else do you want for a bicycle? Of course, you can make enough food and clothing by yourself, and it doesn’t cost too much.
much time.
After laying the window, Han Qi opened the balcony door.
This balcony is only a few square meters, with the roof of a room on the right, railings over one meter high on the left and in front, and a set of tables and chairs in the middle.
Blowing away the leaves on the chair, Han Qi sat on it.
The chair is like a beach chair. The height and backrest are almost 180 degrees. You can't see the front when you lie on it. If you don't look up, you can only see the trees above.
The three-story building is not very high, and can only be considered half as high in the surrounding woods, so you can see the crowns of other trees while lying on the chair. The tree closest to the cabin has spread its branches and leaves.
I came over, and it seemed that I wanted to compete with the tree house for some sunlight.
The sky full of stars is faintly visible under the branches and leaves of this giant tree.
Gradually, Han Qi felt sleepy here.
It's just a little cold.
If I had known better, I would have brought the blanket in the car.
He returned to the room, hugged the cup, and came to the balcony again.
He pulled the table in a little so that his legs could rest on it, and then he covered himself with a quilt, watching the North Star that could occasionally be seen blown by the wind, and gradually fell asleep.
You shouldn't make the bed, it's a waste of time...
The sound of birdsong woke Han Qi up.
He got up and stretched himself, looking around to find what kind of bird it was.
It's so cold, don't these birds migrate?
It was daytime now. Han Qi lifted the quilt, hugged him and threw him on the bed in the room. Then he raised his hand and looked at the time. It happened to be eleven o'clock, no wonder it was already dawn.
Back on the balcony.
The scenery you see during the day is different from that at night. You can only see the stars of the Tianshan Mountains at night. After all, the only thing that can be called scenery in the dark is the night sky. There are more things to see during the day, and the entire forest is coming back to life. What do you think?
It seemed very quiet, there was no sound at all.
If you listen carefully, you will realize that there are too many sounds in the woods during the day.
Han Qi could hear that there must be a small stream not far away. The water flow was very fast and it was always flowing. He could hear the chirping of birds and insects. He could also hear the strong wind blowing the leaves, making it late autumn or early winter.
The leaves fell off as did the programmer's hair.
He took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled.
"The air is so good." He sighed with emotion. When he heard some movement downstairs, he remembered what he had said to his boss last night and walked downstairs.
In the lobby on the first floor, the boss was adding milk to his coffee. He glanced at Han Qi who came downstairs and asked, "Do you want some coffee? I have a lot of coffee beans given by friends here, and there is also a lot of milk.
Guests, please help yourself.”
"Then I'm welcome."
Han Qi really went to make coffee by himself.
Drinking a cup of coffee in the morning is the most comfortable. It can quickly relieve sleepiness and keep you energetic for several hours.
And this old man doesn't seem to be short of money.
He didn't like adding coffee to his coffee, so after brewing it, he pulled out his chair and sat across from the old man.
"Now we can continue the topic that we didn't finish yesterday," Han Qi said.
"Topic? What was the topic yesterday?" The old man was stunned for a moment, then thought about it, "Oh, you mean why my store has to close?"
"kindness,"
"Why else? Is it that the construction took too long? Although I have replaced many parts, the appearance still looks old. The tourism bureau is afraid that my hotel will collapse someday, so they simply don't
Let the tourists come.”
The old man raised his hand towards Han Qi and said with changing gestures: "In 1972, my father and I built this tree house, and it has a history of fifty years. It's long enough to say it, but I can guarantee that
There is nothing wrong with this building.”
"But they don't believe it?"
"Yes, those people didn't believe it, but I don't blame them. I should have retired long ago and returned to Reykjavik to have a good rest for a few years. I didn't want to worry about repairing the tree house so much and spent more time with my children.
Take care of your granddaughter, and if you think about it carefully, maybe this is a good thing."
Han Qi said: "I really like this place. The style is very unique. I think if there were elves, they would live in a tree house like this."
The boss smiled and said: "Elves don't live in wooden houses like this. They like small houses built on the ground just like us."
Han Qi wanted to argue that he didn't mean that. The elves he was talking about were the elves who wore very revealing clothes, held long bows, had green hair, the face of an angel, and the body of a devil. They were not the elves in the Icelandic legend.
.
Ever since he saw the elf's ten-centimeter pocket-sized house, Han Qi had a hard time connecting the elf here with the tall elf in European mythology. Instead, he kept thinking about the dwarf among Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
"What about you?" Han Qi asked, "How did you come up with the idea of building a house on a tree?"
And that was fifty years ago.
The old man smiled, took a sip of the hot coffee, and said slowly:
"This is a dream of my father. He is a pastor, and one day he told me that God gave him the inspiration for a tree house while he was praying, which also included wall art, an elevator, and everything.
"He fell into memories and looked out the window into the distance.
Han Qi also looked over. Outside the window was a storage room. This storage room was made of countless scraps of wood that were only ten or twenty centimeters.
If you have seen the stained glass windows of the church, you will probably know how messy the wood is.
But because of this, it has become a work of art.
"God also said that if you build a tree house, I will let you have endless supplies of demolition materials. At that time, many places in the town were building houses, and we used their leftover materials and after the lumber mill had finished cutting them.
The leftover scraps were used to build this tree house, which took a total of twelve years."
