Iceland

Iceland...as cold as the name suggests, but full of natural beauty and well worth braving the freezing temperatures.  While in Iceland, we encountered rain, snow, sleet, hail and a bit of sunshine.  The weather changed frequently, but it was never a problem since we were prepared with our warm clothes and boots.  (We thankfully decided to hold on to our hiking boots instead of shipping them back home with our sleeping bags after Kilimanjaro.)

Reykjavik, the northernmost capital city in the world, is relatively small and we spent just one morning walking through and around the city center.  Brightly painted houses with various colored rooftops line the roads.  We were able to take an elevator up the clock tower of the main church (I will not attempt to spell the name of it) and get a nice view of the city.  The area is only partially enclosed and with the howling wind and freezing temperatures we didn't last very long at the top.

On our second day we joined the crowd, loaded onto a coach, and spent the day touring "The Golden Circle." Gullfoss (the golden waterfall) was the highlight for me.  Snow had fallen the night before making the waterfall incredibly picturesque.  The water was various shades of blue and looked spectacular even under the gray sky.  

Our next stop was the Geysir geothermal area.  The original "geyser" from which all geysers are named is now dormant, but we still saw "Strokkur," which is now the only active geyser there.  Several hot springs that are boiling and bubbling quite a bit are expected to take over from Strokkur in the future.  Strokkur erupts every 5 - 10 minutes and even when waiting in anticipation it still managed to surprise me when it finally shot up.

 The last stop on the Golden Circle tour is Thingvellir National Park - the site of Iceland's first parliament.  The Park is also located on the tectonic plate boundaries of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.  Here we crossed over from the Eurasian to North American plate passing from one side of Lake Thingallavatn to the other.  Lava fields, fissures, and faults give this area a very unique landscape.    On our last day in Iceland we visited the famous Blue Lagoon for a day in the geothermal pool. We floated around, put the silica mud on our faces, sat in the steam room and sauna, and just generally relaxed.  Our only disappointment in Iceland has been that the weather stayed too cloudy to get a chance to see the Northern Lights....I guess we'll just have to come back some time.