An Ideal Weekend Getaway

Reykjavik readies itself for a lot of company

The first snow of the season was already swirling down from Iceland's granite skies, softening the roar of the large, dark cargo jets descending over the treeless, volcanic landscape. Some, decorated with the silver stars and blue insignia of the U.S. Air Force, taxied past the familiar F-15s and AWACS surveillance planes stationed on the vast NATO base at Keflavik. Others, boasting the red star of the Soviet Union, looked jarringly out of place. Red and blue alike, the cargo planes thudded down on the asphalt and roared to a halt on Keflavik's 10,000-ft. runway, disgorging advance teams, communications specialists, security...

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