I edge my way closer to the bar at the incredibly crowded b5 Lounge, too hesitantly for the Icelander next to me. I’d been told Reykjavikers are known for their directness, so I try not to be too surprised when he motions towards the bar and pushes me right to the front of the “line”.  It is Runtur, and we are at the second bar of the night. b5 looks like an art gallery/cafe during the day, but we were drawn in by the 80’s records the DJ was spinning at the early hour of midnight as things were just getting started. Not 45 minutes later I could barely make my way back to our little table with the pricey drinks I was now trying carefully not to spill.

Our little table, where I had left Kim, was now platform for a young, bearded, drunk, dancing Icelander.  Setting the mostly unspilled drinks down on the table, I also pretended not to be surprised by the vertical expansion of the dance floor.  Undaunted, Dancing Guy leans down and cradles my head in his arms, leaning close so I can hear him over the thumping dance music.

“Is this your woman?” he asks… realizing that no, she is not sitting there waiting to be hit on by drunk guys.

Staking my claim, “Yes,” I proclaim proudly.

“She is beautiful,” he responds, and that is that.  Kim tells me he had spent the time it took me to get our drinks to attempt to get her to dance, but my return was no cause for discomfort.  Without any self consciousness about trying to pick up my wife, he declares “true love is beautiful!” and proceeds to share with us a magnum of champagne that he and his friends were opening up.

And this is just our first night in Iceland!