My travels can open treasure chests

Chapter 324 White Oak Hotel

It may have something to do with the cup of coffee in the afternoon. Han Qi is not very sleepy now, so he thought about driving 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, he can always discover many new things.

such as……

"The White Oak Hotel?"

Han Qi stopped the car, got out and came to the side of the road.

It was very dark, but it didn't affect Han Qi, and seeing things in the dark didn't trouble his eyes.

Because he had seen the geyser before, he had left Highway [-] around the island and was now walking on a small road.Located between two small towns, according to the distance displayed on the mobile phone navigation, he still needs to drive for more than two hours to enter Reykjavik.

On this small road, Han Qi saw such an old road sign

A wooden sign the size of a keyboard, with White Oak Hotel written on it with a black marker, judging from the handwriting of the words, it is estimated that it has been written for more than five years.Even because of the wind and rain, I can't read a few letters clearly, but I can still guess what is written.

There are also small characters a few kilometers inward at the back.

There is a hotel in the wild at the foot of the mountain?

White oak, is it a log house?

Han Qi hesitated for a moment, looking at the pitch-black surroundings, he shivered subconsciously, and got goosebumps all over his body.

If it’s a wooden house, Han Qi is still very interested in it, but it’s in the mountains after all, and the path looks like no one has passed by for a long time. It’s more than two meters wide and can only accommodate one car.

go and have a look?

He clenched his fist, the sense of strength in his hand gave him confidence, and he also has a professional upgrade coupon, which can upgrade his fighting to a higher level at any time.

He got in the car, backed off a little, and then he came to this small road from the wide road.

To this side is to drive into the forest, and you can't see other people's houses on both sides, only rows of trees.

The Icelandic folklorist I met before told Han Qi that there were not so many trees in Iceland before, and it was people who planted them one by one, coupled with the protection of elves, that made so many trees appear in Iceland now. forest.

Driving in such a place in the middle of the night, even if Han Qi is brave, he still feels a bit intrusive in his heart.

A few kilometers passed quickly, and Han Qi saw a house in the distance from a long distance away.

After all, in such an environment, anyone with a light is very conspicuous, and can be seen hundreds of meters or thousands of meters away.

He quickened his speed and soon arrived under the lighted wooden house.

The owner of the wooden house, Kevin, was still awake. When he heard the sound of vehicles downstairs, he opened the window, which was also made of wood, and looked down.Generally speaking, such a voice means that there are customers, but customers who come at this time are very rare.

In the dark, he saw a man get out of the car.

Can't see clearly, but it looks like a man.

"Hey!" he yelled, "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 little bugs around him were also startled, and the number of screams doubled.

Looking up, I found that the person speaking was an old man in his 50s.

Although he was learning Icelandic, he 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, wait a minute, I'll open the door for you."

The old man upstairs replied.

Hearing this, Han Qi was relieved. Sure enough, the style of painting was still urban, and it didn't go wrong.

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 considered a tree house. It is built with several tall poplar trees and oak trees as the main body. The area is about 200 square meters. There are five floors in total. It is very delicate, but it is estimated It's been too long, and many places seem to be in disrepair.

The house is at least 40 years old.

Except for a few huge load-bearing tree stumps, the other structures are all made of wooden boards, and the nails on the wooden boards can be seen closely.

Han Qi wondered if the tree house would have a longer lifespan if all mortise and tenon structures were used.

The door on one side of the cabin was pushed open.

If you want to get to the tree house from the ground, you have to walk a ladder with about twenty steps, about two or three meters long, and the suspended part under the tree house is almost a little over one meter.

Han Qi walked up the ladder, the ladder was very stable, there was no creaking sound, although it was very narrow, it was surprisingly solid to step on.

"Hello."

Walking up, Han Qi said hello first. It is already three o'clock. No matter how serious the polar night phenomenon in Iceland is, everyone should go to bed at this time. The old man was obviously woken up 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 walked in while talking.

The weather outside is still very cold, and it is difficult to feel the howling autumn wind in Iceland. It is the end of October, and it 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's already on the way.

Walking into the room, the first thing Han Qi saw was an art wall in the hall.

It should also be called the signature wall.

There are paintings and signatures on it.The signatures are mainly in English, occupying 90.00% of the signature wall, and then there are words from other Nordic countries. Han Qi saw a few Norwegian words.

Old Norse is very similar to the current Icelandic, and can be said to be in the same line, but modern Norwegian is very different from Icelandic.

After searching for a while, I didn't see 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 keep 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, "It's a long story, I'd better take you to find a room first, if you are still interested in listening tomorrow, we will talk tomorrow."

"it is good."

Han Qi himself wasn't sleepy, but considering that this man's hair was half gray, it's better to let him sleep first.

You can listen to the story anytime, at worst, you can stay here for one more day.

"Which floor do you like to sleep on?"

Han Qi thought for a while, recalling the structure of the house he saw downstairs just now, and said, "Only the third floor. Does anyone live in that room with the small balcony?"

"No one, the tree house has not had guests for a long time. Because many places seem dangerous, the tourism bureau has restricted the guests of the tree house from many places since three years ago. The last guest who came here was two months ago. .”

The old man shook his head.

He couldn't hold on any longer, and after a while, when Iceland entered the polar night, he would move back to live in the city.

Take Han Qi to the third floor, open the door,
"This is the room you mentioned. The cups and mattresses are in the cabinet, just take them out. If you feel cold, you can go to another room and get another quilt. By the way, I have another piece of good news for you." Let me tell you, our hotel is free now."

"free?"

"Well, as the first guest in two months, of course you have the right to enjoy free treatment, well, I wish you a happy day, I have to go back to sleep first."

"Walk slowly."

Han Qi watched him go downstairs before closing the door and entering the room.

The incandescent lamp emitted a not-so-soft light, illuminating the entire room, including the wooden bed, wooden wardrobe, and wooden bedside table.And looking at the color, the wood is the same as the surrounding walls, and even the whole house, it seems to be the same kind of wood.

Open the wardrobe.

Fortunately, there is no musty smell, and it seems that the quilt has not been placed in it for too long.

Put the mattress on first, then throw the cup on the bed.

It was the first time for him to stay in this kind of hotel where guests even had to make the bed, but think about it, they give you everything for free, what more bicycle do you want?Of course, I have enough food and clothing by myself, and it doesn't take too much time.

After making the bed, Han Qi opened the balcony door.

This balcony is only a few square meters, the roof of a room is on the right, a one-meter-high railing is on the left and in front, and a set of tables and chairs is placed in the middle.

Blowing away the leaves on the chair, Han Qi sat on it.

The chair is the kind of beach chair, the seat and the backrest are almost 180 degrees, and you can't see the front when you lie on it. If you don't look up, you can only see the tree above.

The three-story building is not very high, and it can only be counted as half of their height in the surrounding woods, so you can see the crowns of other trees when you lie on a chair.The tree closest to the hut has grown its own branches and leaves, and it seems that it wants to compete with the tree house for sunlight.

A starry sky looms beneath the foliage of this giant tree.

Gradually, Han Qi felt sleepy here.

It's just a little cold.

If I had known earlier, I would have taken the blanket from the car.

He went back to the room, hugged the quilt, and came to the balcony again.

Pull the table closer so that my legs can rest on it, and then cover the quilt, watching the North Star that can be seen occasionally by the wind, and gradually fall asleep.

Shouldn't have made the bed, waste of time...

The sound of birdsong woke Han Qi up.

He stretched himself and looked around, trying 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 to check the time, it was exactly eleven o'clock, no wonder it was already dawn.

Back to the balcony.

The scenery seen during the day is different from that at night. At night, you can only see the stars in the sky. After all, only the night sky can be called the scenery in the dark night.But there are more things to see during the day, and the whole forest is revived. At first glance, it seems to be very quiet, and there is no sound.

Listen carefully to know that there are too many voices in the woods during the day.

Han Qi could hear that there must be a small stream not far away, the current was very fast, and it was always rushing.You can hear the chirping of birds and insects.I can hear that the wind is very urgent, and the wind blows the leaves, causing the leaves in late autumn or early winter to fall off like programmers' hair.

He took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly.

"The air is so nice." He sighed, and when he heard the movement downstairs, he remembered what he said to the boss last night, and went downstairs.

In the lobby on the first floor, the boss was adding milk to the coffee. He glanced at Han Qi who was downstairs and asked, "Do you want coffee? I have a lot of coffee beans from my friends, and there is still a lot of milk. Guests please help yourself."

"Then I'm welcome."

Han Qi really went to make his own coffee.

Drinking a cup of coffee in the morning is the most comfortable. It can quickly relieve sleepiness and keep you energized for hours.

And this old man doesn't seem to be short of money.

He didn't like adding milk to the coffee, so he pulled out the chair with the hot coffee and sat opposite the old man.

"Now we can carry on 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 remembered, "Oh, you mean why my store is closed?"

"kindness,"

"Why else, because it took too long to build? Although I have used and replaced many places, the appearance still looks so old. The tourist bureau is afraid that my hotel will collapse sometime, so they simply don't Let the tourists come."

The old man raised a hand towards Han Qi, and said with different gestures: "My father and I built this tree house in 1972, and it has been 50 years old now. It's long enough to say, but I can guarantee it. There's nothing wrong with the 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. I should go back to Reykjavik to rest for a few years. I don't want to repair the tree house so much. I should pay more attention to my children and take care of them. Taking care of the granddaughter, 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 are elves, they should live in such a tree house."

The boss smiled and said, "The elves wouldn't live in such a wooden house. They like small houses built on the ground just like us."

Han Qi wanted to explain that he didn't mean that. The elf he was talking about was wearing revealing clothes, holding a longbow, with green hair, an angel's face, and a devil's figure, not the elves in Icelandic legends. .

Ever since seeing the ten-centimeter pocket house of the elves, Han Qi had a hard time connecting the elves here with the tall elves in European mythology. Instead, he kept thinking about Snow White and the dwarfs among 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 it was 50 years ago.

The old man smiled, took a sip of the hot coffee, and said slowly:
“It was a dream of my father. He was a pastor and he told me one day that God gave him the inspiration for a tree house during one of his prayers, complete with wall art and elevators and everything. "He fell into the memory, looking at the distance outside the window.

Han Qi also looked over, and there was a storage room outside the window. This storage room was made of countless pieces of wood that were only ten or twenty centimeters long.

If you have seen the stained glass windows of the church, you can probably know how messy the wood is.

But because of this, it becomes a work of art instead.

"God also said that if you build a tree house, I will let you have materials that you will never run out of. It happened that many parts of the town were repairing houses at the time, and we used their leftover materials and leftovers from the lumber mills. It took 12 years to make this tree house with leftover materials from the tree house.”

(End of this chapter)